1891-92.] Dr R. W. Felkin on the Wanyoro Tribe. 
149 
drinkers, and the favourite method of drinking is to suck up the 
beer through three or four straws, or through a drinking-tube specially 
manufactured for the purpose.* 
Fire . — Fire is produced by the friction of a sharpened piece of 
hard wood rotated between the hands in a notched piece of soft 
wood. No instruments are used for its production. The fire is 
caught by either bark-cloth tinder or sometimes tinder made of dried 
grass. The only fuel utilised is wood and charcoal. The natives 
sometimes carry fire with them on a journey, either in the form of a 
burning log or a slow match composed of a long coil of tightly 
twisted bark-cloth. 
Habitations . — The Wanyoro are not very expert hut builders, but 
they occupy a position between the neighbouring tribes in the north 
and the Waganda in the south-east. The huts are usually from 20 
to 30 feet in diameter and 20 to 25 feet high, dome-shaped and 
circular or semi-circular. They are constructed of light wicker- 
work, which is supported by a central pole and some five or six 
other poles placed in almost a complete circle. They are thatched 
with grass, which reaches down to the ground. The entrance consists 
of a porch-like opening, 4 to 6 feet high, and closed at night with a 
strong basket-work door. Very usually the huts have a partition, 
sometimes formed of wicker-work and grass, at other times of bark- 
cloth curtains. Sometimes, but rarely, three or four huts will occupy 
a distinct compound, being surrounded by grass fences, but more 
commonly they form scattered groups without any inclosure. Smaller 
huts are sometimes built as storehouses, but more usually goods are 
stored in the common dwelling. The beds are either heaps of 
grass laid upon the floor and covered with hides, or sometimes they 
are raised shelves some two or three feet from the ground. 
As before mentioned, the huts are very dirty. Goats and poultry 
live in them, and they are infested with mice, fleas, rats, and cock- 
roaches. No arrangements are made to carry away the rain which 
falls upon the huts, and consequently they are damp. The floor is 
simply composed of beaten earth. 
* I have omitted a detailed description of brewing, as it does not differ from 
that which obtains in Uganda. See Proceedings of the F^oyal Society, vol. xiii. 
pp. 717 to 718. Each family brews its own liquor, but any wdiicli is in excess 
of their requirements is sold in the public markets. 
