NILOTIC NEGROES 



/ /•-) 



like a huge bamboo basket. They also add porches of wattU^ and daub 

 in front of the doors of their houses, somewhat like those of the forest 

 negroes in the Semliki Valley. The sketch plan in Fig. 423 will show 

 the general arrangement of the interior of an Acholi house. Above the 

 space where the grindstone is kept there is a jtlatform of stout poles, 

 under the roof, where firewood is stacked. The sleeping dais is of hard 

 mud, and raised one foot above the level of the floor. The jars that are 

 placed round a portion of the wall are used to contain dried grain and 

 other articles of food or equipment. The fireplace is a narrow, semi- 

 circular trench. The interior of the walls in these Acholi huts is daubed 

 with black mud. the surface being made remarkably smooth. On this 

 grey or black surfiice bold designs are painted in red. white, or pale 

 grey. These designs are either geometrical patterns or conventional 

 iigm'es of men or lieasts, such as the girafie. The giraffe appears very 

 often in these decorations, and not infrequently the figure of a man is 

 placed just above the giraffe's head. This indicates that the owner of 

 the hut has killed a giraffe. 



A similarly arranged interior to that of the Acholi huts is met with 

 in slightly \arying degree among the ^ladi and Bari. The I'ari people. 



*■ 



r 



ta. 



422. IN A D.i.NKA Ml.l.Ar.E (to show MODK OF THATCHING HITS LHAKAI TKK1>T1C OF 



THE XU,E NEGROE.s) 



owing to various causes, have been of late mi.-erable and poverty-stricken, 

 and are therefore inclined now to put u[) ramshackle dwellings of a very 

 VOL. II. 20 



