HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE. 



373 



seasoning — bows, quivers, bird-bolts, knob- sticks, walk- 

 ing-canes, reed-nozzles for bellows, and mi'iko or ladles, 

 two feet long, used to stir porridge. The large and heavy 

 water-pots, of black clay, which are filled every morn- 

 ing and evening by the women at the well, lie during 

 the day empty or half empty about the room. The 

 principal article of luxury is the " Kiti," or dwarf 

 stool, cut out of a solid block, measuring one foot in 

 height by six inches in diameter, with a concave surface 

 for convenience of sitting : it has usually three carved 

 legs or elbows ; some, however, are provided with a 

 fourth, and with a base like the seat, to steady them. 

 They are invariably used by the Sultan and the 

 Mganga, who disdain to sit upon the ground : and the 

 Wamrima ornament them with plates of tin let into the 

 upper concaves. The woods generally used for the Kiti, 

 are the Mninga and the Mpingu. The former is a tall 

 and stately tree, which supplies wood of a dark ma- 

 hogany colour, exuding in life a red gum, like dragon's 

 blood: the trunk is converted into bowls and platters, 

 the boughs into rafters, which are, however, weak 

 and subject to the xylophagus, whilst of the heart 

 are made spears, which, when old and well-greased, 

 resemble teak- wood. The Mpingu is the Sisam of India, 

 (Dalbergia Sissoo) here erroneously called by the Arabs 

 Abnus — ebony. The tree is found throughout Eastern 

 Africa. The wood is of fine quality, and dark at the 

 core : the people divide it into male and female ; the 

 former is internally a dark brick-dust red, whilst the 

 latter verges upon black : they make from it spears 

 and axe-handles, which soon, however, when exposed 

 to the air, unless regularly greased, become brittle. 

 The massive mortar, for husking grain, called by the 

 people " Mchi," is shaped exactly like those portrayed 



B B 3 



