A Journey Through the Congo State 161 



three; huts of the; floating village;, katanga 



honey, creepers as ropes, and leaves for 

 thatching in exchange for vegetable 

 produce. Tilling the ground is an occu- 

 pation regarded with scorn by the true 

 pygmy. Bows and arrows are his 

 weapons of war. With these he is a 

 skilled marksman, for he is constantly 

 practicing on monkeys and other small 

 beasts. All the ironwork used by a 

 pygmy is traded from other tribes. Bark 

 cloth dyed terra-cotta or a soft gray is 

 his principal manufacture, but he also 

 makes wooden honey-pots, pipestems, 

 bows and arrows, together with personal 

 ornaments of fur and feather, and sleep- 

 ing mats of skin. The dances of the 

 pygmies are the most interesting of any I 

 have seen, and are carried on with great 

 energy and enthusiasm for hours at a 

 stretch. Nearly all of them portray some 



feature of a hunt, and end up with the 

 feast that follows its success. 



a floating island 



Katanga was the most southerly point 

 we touched. This village was one of the 

 most curious I have ever visited. The 

 main group of thirty huts was built on 

 one huge floating platform some little 

 distance out on the waters of a sheltered 

 bay. The platform rises and falls with 

 the surface of the lake, being moored by 

 poles driven into the mud. The villagers 

 are a robust, well-built race, in spite of 

 constant intermarriage, for the men never 

 choose their wives from among the 

 women of the plains. They subsist by 

 hippo hunting and fishing, carrying on a 

 lucrative trade by the purchase of salt 

 from Katwi to exchange for sheep at the- 

 southern end of the lake. 



