MAKING CLOTHES. 205 
we laid unsuccessfully the Ashingas three times, and I 
began to think that we would have nothing but hyena 
for dinner and supper, and no skins to make clothes 
with. We must make another trial. 
We went a long distance to haul our nets again, and 
then captured two ncheris andtwo nchombis. We killed 
them on the spot with clubs, and then returned home. 
I insisted on having these four animals skinned, for 
I wanted their skins to make a pair of trowsers. We 
had taken off the hyena skin and left its body on the 
spot, no one fancying the meat, especially as we had 
other game to eat. 
Njali and Nola received us with open arms, but did 
not show their heads above the fence until they had 
heard our peculiar whistle. I was glad of our success, 
for I wanted some clothes very much. 
I dried the skins, and then tried to tan them by beat- 
ing them, and using the bark of a certain tree. Then 
with the fibres of the leaves of the pine-apple I made 
some thread; and I had with me strong needles, which 
I used in preparing the skins of animals. I cut these 
_ skins in such a shape that I thought I would make from 
them a pretty comfortable pair of pantaloons. 
I wish you had seen me dressed in those pantaloons. 
They were very tough and hard. Then I made a kind 
of shirt with the skin of the hyena; that.is, I joined two 
flat pieces together, left a hole for my head to pass 
through, and on each side holes for my arms. I did not 
want any sleeves. This hyena shirt was short, and only 
reached my waist. How strangely I looked, dressed 
in these long shaggy skins! ‘ 
Afterward we went to work, and closed with sticks 
