216 THROUGH ANGOLA 



sollos, and Loandas of the coast wear, if men, a 

 loin-cloth ; if women, two pieces of cloth sewn 

 together which they wind round the body and 

 waist, the upper end being tucked over the breasts. 

 In the remoter and poorer villages both men and 

 women wear just two small mats or skins suspended 

 one in front and the other behind the loins. 

 Completely naked tribes were never met with. 

 Of course " civilization " and the influence of the 

 European have greatly altered the dress of the 

 native, and not always for the better ; as any 

 one can realize who sees a native woman decked 

 out in ridiculous white stockings and high-heeled 

 shoes. 



The hut architecture in most parts of Angola 

 is poor, a round hut of poles and mud surmounted 

 by a conical sloping roof of thatch. In the Congo 

 province the huts are better built and square. 

 Some huts are simply formed of sloping boughs 

 covered with leaves or grass, and the shelters of 

 the more nomadic tribes of the south, changed 

 from day to day, are more primitive still. The 

 houses of the river island dwellers are raised on 

 piles often several feet high. Most of the older 

 villages are surrounded with palisades, a relic of 

 former intertribal raids or a protection against 

 wild animals. 



When Europeans or natives come in contact 

 with negro Kings or big Chiefs there is a good deal 

 of ceremony used in mutual salutations ; but 

 since the Portuguese have broken the power of 

 the Angolan Chiefs, and now that one only meets 

 head-men of villages or very petty Chiefs, much 



