IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
29 
The manner of spinning is somewhat ingenious 
A spindle fastened to a long stick, put in mo- 
tion with the fingers like a top, makes the entire 
spinning machinery. 
The thread thus made is woven in strips of from 
four to six inches wide, and these are sewed to- 
gether until the size desired is obtained. The 
thread, though coarse, is tolerably even, and the 
weaving is also passably good. 
Most of these cloths are colored, and the figures 
of some are very tastefully executed. The indigo- 
plant is a native of the country and is much used 
in coloring. These cloths make excellent bed- 
spreads, table-spreads, piano-covers, etc., in this 
country. They also manufacture grass-mats in 
great abundance, and some of excellent quality. 
These they make by hand altogether, as they do 
their country cloths. Mats are also made of the 
bamboo branch. 
Blys, or baskets, are made from the ratan twig, 
which is very fiexible, and not easily broken, and 
hence is well adapted to that purpose. 
The only trades, or approximation to trades, 
they have, are canoe-building and blacksmithing 
— of the latter only enough to make iron-fast- 
enings for canoes, and a few rude implements of 
husbandry and of war. The canoe made from 
the tree is raised by fastening timbers on its sides, 
