Thousands of virgins line up for inspection by Swazi king

Sep 2, 2007, 16:53 GMT

Lobomba, Swaziland/Johannesburg - Tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins lined up for inspection by King Mswati III Sunday in Swaziland's annual reed dance, which is always riven with speculation over whether the king will choose a new bride.

The event is an important fixture in the cultural calendar of this deeply traditional southern African kingdom of around 1 million people and is held in honour of the Swazi queen mother.

But the 39-year-old king, who already has 13 wives, also sometimes controversially uses the occasion to select a new bride.

Participation in this year's dance was thought to be up on previous years with some reports putting at up to 40,000 the number of girls that converged on the royal residence at Ludzidzini, some 25 kilometres south of the Swazi capital Mbabane.

The festival kicked off Wednesday when the girls were dispatched by the king to cut reeds on a nearby river bank and ends Monday with a second dance.

In the absence of shower blocks some girls had to wash in a river before lining up in their 'regiments' to present the reeds to the queen mother and file past the king.

The monarch was clad in a leopard-skin loincloth worn over a wrap skirt indicating his clan and carried a traditional arrow-shaped axe for the occasion.

In searing 35-degree-Celsius temperatures, the girls then reassembled on an open plain in front of the kraal, known as the 'arena,' to dance in front of the king, his retinue and thousands of tourists.

Visitors from Australia, the United States and Britain were among the spectators, who were under strict instructions not to wear hats, point or kneel.

Among the king's guests were Zambian King Levy Mwanawasa and South Africa's ANC deputy president and ANC presidential candidate Jacob Zuma.

As part of the celebrations dozens of cattle were slaughtered and their hides hung to dry on the walls of the kraal, giving off a powerful stench in the hot sun.

The reeds collected by the girls are used as a wind breaker in huts and fences.