■^ Anthropolog"y : Physical 



stiffer kind of mat is made from the outer rind of the palm 

 stems or frond midribs of the much-used Raphia vinifera. 

 The same material is used for the plaiting of fish-baskets and 

 fish-traps. Baskets of all descriptions are manufactured from 

 palm filament and fibre or from grass, some of them made with 

 i^reat neatness. Other fibres go to the making of string and 

 coarse rope, and of thick string are made the slings which 



401, A MENDE LOOM, ON WESTERN FRONTIER OF LIBERIA 



are still used for hurling pebbles in some parts of the Kru 

 country. 



In the interior of Central Liberia (the Kpwesi countries), 

 anci also still more amongst the Negroes speaking Kru dialects 

 near to the Cavalla region, bark-cloth is still in use. This bark- 

 cloth is a kind of felt made from the bast, or fibre under the 

 bark, of a fig tree, possibly of diverse species ; bark-cloth, in 



1015 



