SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICAN COLLECTION 79 
surface of the vessel is burned with a hot iron and afterwards smeared 
with hot bee’s wax, which is thoroughly rubbed into the wood, giving 
the surface a dead black finish. Perhaps the finest type of wooden 
vessel is the oval flat tureen with a lid. On the top of the lid is usually 
a carved elephant, hippopotamus or other large quadruped. 
Pottery is of several forms, varying from large handsome jars to 
small drinking cups with handles. ‘The most common type, however, 
is the water bottle. wo kinds of clay are used, which are mixed in 
certain proportions and modeled | 
by a combination of the coil and 
beating processes. In the begin- 
ning, the bottom of the pot is 
fashioned in a shallow basket- 
work tray, which is turned with 
the left hand somewhat after 
the fashion of a potter’s wheel. 
All of the pottery in the collec- 
tion is red, but decorated with 
triangular designs in black or 
dark red. ‘These designs are 
quite simple and consist usually 
of single or double rows of equi- 
lateral triangles. ‘The same sort 
of decoration is applied to wood- 
en ware, the triangles being pro- 
duced by scraping away the 
previously blackened surface of A CARVED WOODEN STOOL 
the wood. ‘The people from About 14 inches high 
whom these collections came 
also manufacture black pottery of excellent quality, but this art is fast 
disappearing and no specimens could be obtained. 
Wood carving is rather highly developed, the best types of which 
are to be seen in stools and sticks. While the common people usually 
sit upon the ground or upon mats, chiefs and other prominent people 
sit upon low wooden stools. ‘These stools are usually cut from a single 
block of wood. One very common type is that in which the base and 
the top of the stool are joined by a human figure, supported behind by 
two or three upright posts. ‘These figures always have the attitude of 
