150 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



every hamlet the knocking of the heavy wooden 

 mallet with which they beat out the strip of bark 

 which is taken from the tree. They usually cut 

 away a nearly complete cylinder from as high as 

 they can reach to the ground. This is spread upon 

 the trunk of a tree and every portion is gently 

 and regularly hammered till it becomes almost 

 twice as wide as before. The cloth so formed is 

 rather coarse in texture but of a very nice brownish 

 terra-cotta colour. It is very easily torn, and 

 becomes often completely spoiled by a single 

 shower of rain. 



Their houses are very neat and built with some 

 care. The foundation is composed of burnt clay, 

 and carefully raised at the edge to prevent water 

 coming in ; over this is mud beaten hard, and 

 apparently carefully swept every day. The general 

 shape of the hut is circular, or, rather, dome- 

 shaped, and it is composed of arched sticks, on 

 which is a thick roof of banana leaves ; the outer 

 part is covered by a close matting of old banana 

 leaf stalks, carefully tied down. In the hills all 

 the houses have a neat little porch about 3 feet 

 long. Inside, the houses are very warm and quite 

 watertight, and they are cut up into rooms by 

 palisades of mateitei. 



The Wawamba seem to sleep on long flat boards 

 made of a single piece of wood, and they have little 

 stools, also cut from a single piece of wood, which 

 must have taken n\\ enormous time to make with 



