652 



BANTU NEGROES 



over the porch and a portion of the verandah, the grass is shaved off 

 with sharp knives to a smooth edge. This gives the house a very neat 

 aspect, and is a great improvement on the untidy, weeping straws which 

 usually terminate an African's thatch. The interior of the house and 

 the outer walls of the porch and front verandah are most neatly covered 

 with canework. This is made of the long stalks of the elephant grass 

 packed closely together in an upright position, and bound by transverse 



362. THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER AND A CROWD OF BAGANDA GUESTS OX THE LATE 



queen's BIRTHDAY 



bands of bast. This canework is almost a speciality of the Baganda, and 

 with it they clothe unsightly poles, which then become glistening columns 

 of pale gold. Doors are even made of this canework. The apex of the 

 roof is usually finished off by a cap composed of several flounces of 

 thatch, one on top of the other. 



A large house may contain, besides the central fireplace (generally 

 a raised dais of hard clay on which stand the three big round stones which 

 compose the African's grate), from one to five sleeping berths, usually 



