404 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



sort of twine. One of these beds in my collection is some three 

 feet wide by seven feet long, and can be rolled up into a cylin- 

 der so compact and light that even a child could carry it. 



Of course, when the Kafirs are on a journey, the women have 

 to carry the beds, together with the heavy wooden pillows and 

 other necessaries, the men carrying nothing but their weapons. 

 I have a pair of figures made by a native artist, representing a 



I.OBBEU-CRA.B. COCOA-NUT MAT- 



Kafir man and woman on a journey, the woman staggering 

 under her heavy burdens, the bed being included, and the man 

 stepping lightly along, with nothing but his spears and knob- 

 kerries. 



ON the sea coasts, however, where the cocoa-nut palm 

 grows, the fibre of the husk is the principal material for bed- 

 ding. These fibres lie so parallel to each other on the surface of 

 the cocoa-nut, that they are easily stripped off, fastened together, 

 and formed into mats of any shape or thickness. One of these 

 mats is shown on the right hand of the illustration, and the 

 reader will see how simple is its manufacture. 



Owing to the ease with which it is made into a fabric, the 

 cocoa-nut fibre was in great use as armour before the bullet set 

 all armour at defiance. It will be remembered that when Cap- 

 tain Cook was murdered, he committed the mistake of firing a 

 charge of small shot instead of a bullet, and the fact that 

 the cocoa-nut mat carried by the man at whom he fired 

 resisted the shot, encouraged the natives to attack and murder 

 him. 



