6/4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sixty feet long, from two and a half to tliree feet wide, and fifteen 

 or eighteen inches deep. Their sides, especially on the bottom, 

 are left very thick for protection when they run aground or strike 

 the rocks in passing the rapids. They are full aft and astern. 

 The prow is surmounted by a small oval platform, cut out of 

 the log, and carved more or less elaborately ; on the poop is 

 a small round seat, likewise shaped out of the log. The pilot 

 sits here. 



A quarter or third of the whole length, in front, is left free. 

 The three or four polers who propel the boat work in this space. 

 They go and come in file, generally with the gymnastic step, strik- 

 ing the platform, already mentioned, with their feet to give them 

 spring. The passengers and baggage are amidships, and a half 

 dozen paddlemen behind, seated on the sides of the boat, assist 

 the polers in hard places. The crews change places every two 

 or three hours. The management of the long and heavy poles, 

 which, in time of high water, have to be from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet long, is much more laborious than that of the short 

 paddles. 



There are generally one or two women on board to do the 

 cooking and keep a fire constantly burning on an earthen hearth 

 in the bottom of the boat. An encampment of Banziris offers a 

 picturesque scene, with the pirogues beached on the shore, the 

 crews grouped on the sand, each around their fire, and the long 

 poles stuck in the ground near them, like so many gigantic 

 lances. On the route in fine weather their songs, and the races 

 between landings, with their lusty cries, and all trying to splash 

 the rival boat, make the hours pass pleasantly. Their boisterous 

 gayety is as wholesome and fresh as that of the young demigods 

 of primitive Greece. They have a sculptural beauty, with their 

 well-developed busts and vigorous limbs, the muscles of which 

 have been well brought out by their rude sailor's life ; and their 

 nudity, and even the color of their skin — black, with a coppery 

 tinge like bronze — complete the picture. They show their qual- 

 ity in the hard passages, when the pirogues pass the dangerous 

 rapids, when they throw themselves into the whirling waters to 

 hold the boat up or push it on, and they ward it off with their 

 poles from the rocks at the precise moment when it seemed 

 about to break against them. They are wonderful swimmers 

 from infancy. As soon as he is four or five years old the little 

 Banziri is given as his first plaything a pirogue and a paddle 

 suitable to his size, which he sails alone in the creeks around 

 the village. Their features are pleasant and rounded in grace- 

 ful curves, with not excessively broad faces, full cheeks, round 

 and shortish nose, not flat, the lips not too thick, revealing ad- 

 mirable teeth, and large black eyes, intelligent and merry. They 



