Building the Permanent Camp. u 



one has to study the prevailing winds, and the natives will 

 be able to say from what direction they usually come. The 

 door should be placed on the lee side so that the wind will 

 not rush in and bring dirt with it, and blow out the lamps or 

 candles. 



When the poles for the walls had been cut and trimmed 

 to the right length they were put in the ground, and strips 

 of bovu wood were brought and the poles firmly bound in 

 four circles. 



Then long poles for the roof were procured, and care 

 should be taken not to get wood that the borer will eat into. 

 Masuko and maula are best, as these are common trees over 

 most parts of the country. To get the pitch of the roof, 

 four men hold up a pole each while another stands about 

 25 yards off to see that the angle is right. Then these four 

 sticks are firmly tied and others are put in between and 

 tied. Some of these poles, especially the first four, have 

 forked ends which are pushed into one another and the 

 spaces form gaps to insert other poles into. Then, when 

 the poles are about a foot apart on the tops of the wall 

 poles, the roof is fastened with strips of wood firmly tied 

 with maluzi string. The floors of the huts should be raised 

 about 9 inches or a foot, and then children can be got 

 to hammer it with slabs of wood flattened at the ends. 

 The verandah is made by placing poles from one of the 

 circular strips of binding on the roof to poles laid across the 

 upright verandah poles, and these should be at nearly the 

 angle of the upper part of the roof. I was fortunate 

 enough to find some white clay in a dambo not far away, 

 which was of a nice French grey colour when it had dried 

 on the walls of the huts. 



I got native women to smooth up the floor with flat stones, 

 and to do this they got some dark coloured earth, which was 

 made into a paste, and when half dry the flat stones were 

 rubbed over it, making a fine polished surface, which, however, 

 did not last long, even when covered with mats and skins. 

 I am afraid this account of hut building will prove rather 

 tedious and dry reading, and though I would like to get on 



