256 THE MAECH THROUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XIII. 



whose villages are close to theirs. They are not such 

 skilful workers in iron as the Fans, or as some other 

 tribes further to the east. The iron-ore which they 

 use is found plentifully in some parts of their prairies ; 

 it occurs in lumps of various sizes, and is dug from 

 the soil ; the deeper they dig the larger and jJnrer 

 are the lumps. They melt it in little thick earthen- 

 ware pots, holding about a pint each, and use, of 

 course, charcoal in tempering the metal. Their 

 anvils are large and well-made, but the construction 

 of them is apparently beyond their ability, as all 

 the anvils which I saw came from the Abombo and 

 Njavi tribes, who live further towards the east. The 

 Abomhos and Njavis manufacture also a superior 

 kind of straight sword four feet long, the handle of 

 which is made of wood and is in the shape of a dice- 

 box, through the middle of which the handle-end of 

 the sword passes. 



The bows of the Aponos are very different from 

 those of the Fans, which I described and figured in 

 ' Adventures in Equatorial Africa ;' they are not 

 nearly so powerful, but, at the same time, not so 

 clumsy ; they are of very tough wood, and bent 

 nearly in a semi-circle, with the chord measuring 

 about two feet, and the string of vegetable fibre. 

 The arrow is rather heavy ; the head is of tempered 

 iron, triangular in shape, and prolonged in a tubular 

 form for the insertion of the shaft ; the shaft is not 

 secured into the head, so that when the arrow enters 

 into the body of a man or animal, the sharp trian- 

 gular lance-head, coated with poison, remains in the 

 wound, whilst the shaft drops out. The arrows are 



