POTTERY. 



313 



From the country of the Kazembe, however, an excellent 

 red and heavy, soft and bright variety, not unlike that 

 of Japan, finds its way to Ujiji, and sometimes to the 

 coast. It is sold in bars from one to two feet long. At 

 Ujiji, where it is cheap, four to five pounds are pro- 

 curable for two doti, there worth about four dollars. 

 Native copper, therefore, is almost as expensive as that 

 imported from Europe. It is used in making the rude 

 and clumsy bangles affected by both sexes, sambo, 

 and ornaments for the spear and bow, the staff and the 

 knobkerry. 



The art of ceramics has made but little progress in 

 East Africa ; no Anacharsis has yet arisen to teach her 



sons the use of the wheel. The figuline, a greyish- 

 brown clay, is procured from river-beds, or is dug up in 

 the country ; it is subjected to the preliminary operations 

 of pounding, rubbing dry upon a stone, pulversiing, 

 and purifying from stones and pebbles. It is then 

 worked into a thick mass, with water, and the potter 

 fashions it with the hand, first shaping the mouth ; he 

 adds an inch to it when dry, hardens it in the sun, 

 makes another addition, and thus proceeds till it is 

 finished. Lines and other ornaments having been 

 traced, the pots are baked in piles of seven or eight, 

 by burning grass — wood-fire would crack them — con- 



