262 FURNITURE OF A CAFFER HUT. 



in consequence ; but among the Amaponda, where 

 the men usually work as well as the women, this is 

 seldom the case, except when war prevents their 

 attending to agricultural pursuits. Their huts, which 

 have the form of a hemisphere, are from eighteen to 

 twenty feet in diameter, and from six to seven feet 

 high ; they are generally built by the women, poles 

 being first stuck into the earth, from which flexible 

 boughs are arched over the top. This bower- shaped 

 wattle-work is then thatched with straw, and plas- 

 tered over with clay or cow-dung. A small aperture 

 is left for the door, which is formed of basket-work, 

 and usually screened by a rustic kind of portal. 

 The fire-place is formed in the centre, and the only 

 opening for the escape of the smoke is the doorway : 

 to this may be attributed in a great measure the 

 circumstance of the inmates of these rude dwellings 

 being so frequently afflicted with weak and sore 

 eyes. The floor is usually composed of the earth 

 of ant-hills, which by long exposure to the heat of 

 the sun has become dry and hardened, being thus 

 well adapted for the purpose, and producing a smooth 

 and even surface. 



A few mats to sit and sleep on, a smaller one to 

 hold the food when dressed, a few coarse earthen 

 pots of native manufacture for cooking, a basket of 

 peculiar workmanship, so closely woven as to be 

 capable of containing liquid, and a bundle of assa- 

 gais or spears, constitute the furniture of a Caffer 



