NILOTIC NEGEOES 



775 



like a huge bamboo basket. They also add porches of wattle and daub 

 in front of the doors of their houses, somewhat like those of the forest 

 negroes in the Semliki Valley. The sketch plan in Fig. 423 will show 

 the general arrangement of the interior of an Acholi house. Above the 

 space where the grindstone is kept there is a platform of stout poles, 

 under the roof, where firewood is stacked. The sleeping dais is of hard 

 mud, and raised one foot above the level of the floor. The jars that are 

 placed round a portion of the wall are used to contain dried grain and 

 other articles of food or equipment. The fireplace is a narrow, semi- 

 circular trench. The interior of the walls in these Acholi huts is daubed 

 with black mud, the surface being made remarkably smooth. On this 

 grey or black surface bold designs are painted in red, white, or pale 

 grey. These designs are either geijmetrical patterns or conventional 

 figures of men or beasts, such as the giraffe. The giraffe appears very 

 often in these decorations, and not infrequently the figure of a man is 

 placed just above the giraffe's head. This indicates that the owner of 

 the hut has killed a giraffe. 



A similarly arranged interior to that of the Acholi huts is met with 

 in slightly varying degree among the ]\Iadi and Bari. The Bari people, 



422. IX A DINKA VILLAGE (TO SHOW MODE OE THATCHING HUTS CHABAOTEEISTIO OF 



THE NILE NEGEOES) 



owing to various causes, have been of late miserable and poverty-stricken, 

 and are therefore inclined now to put up ramshackle dwellings of a very 

 VOL. II. 20 



