DOMESTIC ARTS IN DAMARALAND. loi 



the root of the tree, and kept burning till the tree falls. One man 

 can attend a considerable number of such fires, so that the work, as a 

 whole, may go on quite fast. Stones which it is desired to remove 

 from the road are sj)lit by the aid of fire, and wells are bored through 

 the rock sometimes to the depth of thirty feet or more. 



Hardly any stone implements are used by the Africans, and no trace 

 of a stone hammer or a stone knife has been found in the country. 

 The nearest approach to anything of the kind is when the Bushmen 

 and mountain Damaras occasionally bore through a stone, and load 

 their digging-sticks with it. The stick, having been pushed through 

 the hole till the weight is about at its middle, is grasped with one 

 hand below the stone, and with the other hand above it ; and is 

 used more advantageously, just as better work can be done with a 

 heavy crow-bar or mattock than with a light one. These stones are 

 of a similar shape with those that are used for net-weights, but are 

 considerably heavier. Fire-wood is broken uj) by throwing heavy 

 stones upon it. Long stones seem better adapted to this purpose than 

 others, and, when one peculiarly fitted for the work is found, it is gen- 

 erally kept. Flat stones are employed as lower millstones, and a 

 convenient round stone is looked for with which to do the grinding. 

 So far as I know, no art is applied in shaping the millstones, but the 

 upper one naturally becomes more rounded and the lower one more 

 hollow by use, and both are thus better adapted to their purpose. Old 

 grinding-stones are, therefore, more highly prized than new, unused, 

 and rough ones. These grinders resemble to a hair those that were 

 formerly used by the northern peoples. Small, longish stones are 

 used as hammers, but without any handle, being held directly in the 

 hand. The native smiths now prefer the large bolts with which 

 wagon-tongues are fastened ; but stones were formerly used exclusive- 

 ly when native metallurgic art was not competent to produce iron tools 

 adapted to hammering. 



The use of clay in pottery is well known in Africa, and the potters 

 are familiar enough with the places where the best material can be 

 found. The pots that I have seen have the form of an egg, and will 

 not stand without a support. Before the natives learned from the 

 Europeans to put feet under their vessels, they laid stones around the 

 bottom. The pots were made with the free hand, without a wheel, 

 by adding to a ball of nearly dry clay a roll of similar clay, and then 

 welding the two together, and smoothing them with the moistened 

 hand ; then another roll, and another, till the sides of the vessel were 

 extended far enough ; and the marks of the joints between the added 

 rolls could usually be distinguished in the finished vessel. The Here- 

 ros characterize the method of this process quite strikingly in their 

 expression " to build up a pot," for " to make one." The vessels are 

 never glazed, but, as the people are not particular about cleanliness, 

 they soon become water-tight. They are burned only as much as can 



