Liberia <^ 



dosed by a shutter. The window serves as a passage for the 

 smoke, and also admits a little light to the cooking apartment, 

 the rest of the dwelling being lit by the open doorway. 



In the houses of the wilder Kru people of the bush there 

 is very little in the way of furniture. Perhaps one or two 

 rude seats or chairs made of tree branches or raphia midribs 

 serve the purpose. As a rule the plank flooring is sufficient for 

 a bed, with perhaps a skin to sleep on and a round block of 

 wood for a pillow. But the houses of the well-to-do Krumen on 

 the coast, and especially in the Liberian towns, have already 

 attained a certain degree of comfort. The floor, as also in 

 the case of the Greh houses, is not infrequently of hard clay, 

 raised slightly above the level of the ground, and there are 

 beds, tables, benches, chairs, and even pictures (coloured supple- 

 ments of The Graphic, for example) fastened to the walls. 



The yai houses are usually round and plastered with clay, 

 as are also those of the Mandingo. The Vai and Mandingo 

 always use beds, generally made of the indispensable palm mid- 

 ribs fastened longitudinally and side by side on a wooden frame 

 with short legs. 



The Greh houses are frequently plastered with clay on the 

 outside, and decorated with striking patterns in black and white. 

 The floor is raised above the level of the ground outside, but 

 is of solid clay ; not of planks. The interior of the house is 

 often much more spacious than it will appear from the outside. 

 It is generally clean. These Greh houses are often circular in 

 shape. There may be a few screens or partitions erected to 

 ensure privacy for the sleeping apartments. The interior may be 

 open to the apex of the roof, but in all probability there are 

 rafters from which things hang by string, or on top of which 

 are put away impedimenta. The doors of these houses are 

 usually made of raphia midribs fastened closely together by 



ioo6 



