THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



times end with a short "pigtail." Other women of the 

 same race do not braid their hair at all, but let it stand 

 out in big bunches all around the head. 



These people have probably been taught by their early 

 masters to build better houses than the inland tribes. They 

 first put into the ground poles in a square or rectangle, 

 then fasten crossbeams on to these with ropes made from 

 creepers and tree bark, and, after having filled in with 

 smaller twigs and branches, so that the whole resembles 

 open basket work, they plaster the walls with clay or 

 mud, which makes the houses fairly rain and wind proof. 

 The roofs, sloping down at an angle of about forty-five 

 degrees, are thatched with coarse, long grass, and not 

 seldom covered on top with palm and banana leaves, 

 which often are put on fresh before the rainy season 

 begins. 



When a Swahili couple go to housekeeping they cer- 

 tainly do not need a great many things, for the furniture 

 of the house generally consists of a roughly made bed 

 covered with boards, or with a network of bark ropes on 

 which is laid grass and banana leaves ; but " well-to-do " 

 Swahili people have begun to use the more comfortable 

 Hindoo bedsteads. One thing is sure : neither shoemakers, 

 tailors, nor dressmakers would be able to make a living 

 among these people, as they use very little covering, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the " better class." The common Swahili 

 women only wear a little loin cloth and a cheap, brightly 

 colored piece of calico, which they throw over their 

 shoulders in much the same way as the East Indian 

 women. The children, both boys and girls, run around 

 naked during the first six or eight years, except in the 



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