Native Occupations. 57 



them were very shy, and twice when we pitched our 

 tents near an encampment the people were soon busy 

 rolling up the matting and cloth forming the walls of 

 the huts, and in a few hours disappeared, carrying away 

 their roofs by the four corner poles, their rolled-up 

 walls, and all their goods and chattels. When asked 

 why they moved away from us they gave no reason 

 beyond remarking that they objected to our tents being 

 near them. 



In two or three places we found natives living in a 

 much rougher sort of hut, built under very thick bushes 

 which had been cut out in the middle and thickened 

 on the outside, thus forming natural " Zareebas." 



The reason for such diversity in dwellings lies in the 

 mixed character of the population of this stretch of 

 country. Arabs and blacks of many tribes inhabit it, 

 and although rather thinly populated, the people were 

 so evenly distributed along our route that we were 

 scarcely ever out of sight of a native. At the time of 

 our visit the men were enjoying idleness, but the women 

 were always hard at work carrying water or grinding 

 corn. The corn is placed upon a wide and heavy stone 

 and is then ground with a smaller stone, which is rubbed 

 and rolled backwards and forwards. The stones wear 

 away rapidly, and a family must actually consume a 



