OUR JOURNEY UP THE UBANGUI 245 



stretched like tyres round enormous wooden discs, often 2| 

 in. in diameter. When the discs are taken out, the lobes fall 

 down on the shoulders. 



The men wear loin-cloths made out of beaten bark. The 



YAKOMA WOMAN FISHING 



small tree from which the bark is obtained grows round 

 their villages ; it is straight-stemmed and clean up to half its 

 height, from which point the branches grow out almost 

 upright ; the dark green oval-shaped leaves are opaque and 

 shiny. To obtain the cloth-fibre, the bark is peeled off the 

 stem near to where the branches spring. After a time a 

 closely knit, reddish fibre grows down from the bark of the 

 upper tree and encases the naked stem. This is taken off 

 and the strips beaten till they become welded together ; 

 then the whole piece is pegged out to dry in the sun. It is 



