Wanika. 
123 
framework of poles, say eight feet high at the ridge 
pole, from twelve to eighteen feet long, and eight or 
ten wide. It is thatched from top to bottom with 
hay or straw, and looks when complete like an oblong 
haycock. There are no windows, nor any means of 
light or ventilation, except a small hole in the 
centre of one side, three feet high by two wide. This 
hole is the only means of ingress and egress for the 
family and all else. Goats, fowls, etc., are often ac- 
commodated with the family. Entering them from the 
outside glare they appear pitch dark, and as a wood 
fire is kept perpetually burning upon the floor, and 
there being no outlet for the smoke, nor any inlet 
for air, the atmosphere is suffocating, breathing, 
except to those who are inured, being almost 
impossible. 
The furniture and utensils are easily summed up. 
In one corner of the hut, raised on posts, two or three 
feet above the floor, is a framework of sticks, bound 
together with thongs, called the " chaga " (corn-bin) ; 
beneath that on the floor are three loose stones which 
form the fireplace ; and near by is a low bench of 
sticks bound to cross pieces, called "uriri'' (bedstead). 
Sometimes a small stool is to be found ; generally 
speaking also a mat or two, and a few skins or parts 
of skins. Two or three earthen cooking-pots, a large 
water-pot ; a few calabashes, large and small ; a 
"kata'' (drinking-mug of cocoa-nut shell), a wooden 
bowl (" pishi ") in which to serve the great meal of the 
day ; a mortar and pestle for pounding grain ; a 
slab and a pebble for grindstones ; two or three 
hooked sticks for spoons ; and a basket or two for 
the carriage of things from place to place, complete 
