THE VILLAGE " PUBLIC." 



27 



sticks, and provided with a bedding of mat and cow- 

 hide, occupies the greater part of the outer room. The 

 triangle of clay cones forming the hearth are generally 

 placed for light near the wall-side opposite the front door; 

 and the rest of the supellex consists of large stationary 

 bark cornbins, of gourds and bandboxes slung from the 

 roof, earthen-pots of black clay, huge ladles, pipes, 

 grass-mats, grinding-stones, and arms hung to a 

 trimmed and branchy tree trunk planted upright in 

 a corner. The rooms are divided by party walls, 

 which, except when separating families, seldom reach 

 to the ceiling. The fireplace acts as lamp by night, 

 and the door is the only chimney. 



The characteristic of the Mnyamwezi village is the 

 "Iwanza" — a convenience resulting probably from the 

 instinct of the sexes, who prefer not to mingle, and for 

 the greater freedom of life and manners. Of these 

 buildings there are two in every settlement, generally 

 built at opposite sides, fronting the normal Mrimba-tree, 

 which sheds its filmy shade over the public court-yard. 

 That of the women, being a species of harem, was not 

 visited ; as travellers and strangers are always admitted 

 into the male Iwanza, it is more readily described. This 

 public-house is a large hut, somewhat more substantial 

 than those adjoining, often smeared with smooth clay, 

 and decorated here and there with broad columns of the 

 ovals before described, and the prints of palms dipped 

 in ashes and placed flat like the hands in ancient Egyp- 

 tian buildings. The roof is generally a flying thatch 

 raised a foot above the walls — an excellent plan for 

 ventilation in these regions. Outside, the Iwanza is 

 defended against the incursions of cattle by roughly- 

 barked trunks of trees resting upon stout uprights : in 

 this space men sit, converse, and smoke. The two 



