112 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



ruin, but half the shell still stood, and we wondered 

 at the skill that had achieved a perfect dome of 

 thirty feet out of thin mud alone. Since my return 

 to England Mr Percy Waldram, who has seen some 

 of my photographs, has published an account of them 

 in his book on Structural Mechanics. In a letter to 

 me he wrote : " These huts form the most striking 

 example which I have yet discovered of the true 

 theoretic form in thin dome construction, containing 

 minimum thickness with maximum strenpfth. The 



Detachable Fireplace. 



external ribbing, apparently only ornamental, is also 

 excellently designed to minimise the risk of local 

 injury as distinct from general failure." It is also 

 put to a further use by the inhabitants, who run 

 nimbly up and down the walls. The interiors are 



decorated also, 

 though the orna- 

 mentation shows 

 a curious decad- 

 ence from that 

 found in the neigh- 

 bouring villages, 

 the porches over 

 the doors and the beds being particularly inferior. 

 Many of the fireplaces were fine, and Mrs Talbot 



Fireplace. 



