Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/384

 mausoleum is erected to the memory of every important member of the royal family. It is a matter of much regret to me that I failed to get far enough north to enable me to inspect these monuments; the only accounts that I received of them were from Sepopo and several of the chiefs, and from Westbeech and Blockley, who, under the king’s authority, had visited the district in 1872 and 1873.

Audiences with the king are conducted in prescribed form. When subjects who have come from distant provinces enter the royal courtyard they keep repeating the cry “tow-tu-nya” over and over again, and then squat down close to the entrance in silence, and wait until they are summoned; in course of time they are generally introduced by their own koshi or kosana residing in Sesheke, who crawls up to the king and announces their arrival; on their admittance they have to creep forwards on their knees, and when within a few yards of the king they have to halt and keep clapping their hands gently, while their leader acts as spokesman. As soon as they have received the royal answer, the audience is at an end, and they have to retire in the same way as they advanced. Visitors from the neighbourhood greet the king with the cry of “shangwe-shanewe;” other forms of salutation are “shangwe-koshi,” and “rumela-rarumela intate,” the former of these being more particularly addressed to white men.

There is one form of salutation to a stranger which is observed by every householder, from the king downwards. After a few words have been exchanged, the host produces a snuff-box that hangs from his neck or his waistband by a strap, or