of Edinburgh, Session 1885—86. 
*713 
is occupied by the chief. The women belonging to his harem 
inhabit others beyond it, and separated from it by a strong 
hedge containing a door. The huts between the chief’s dwelling 
and the main entrance are allotted to the slaves or are used as store- 
houses. 
The huts are dome-shaped in form, and being thatched down 
to the ground look like huge bee-hives. The materials em- 
ployed in erecting them are the stout stems of the tall tiger-grass, 
poles made from the fig trees, and grass. They are constructed 
as follows : — A fine ring of grass, closely enveloped with the fibrous 
outer part of the banana stem, is laid upon the ground, and a 
number of tiger-grass stems are implanted in it and securely tied to 
it with strips of papyrus. Then a second and third ring are added 
at intervals of about 15 inches. At length when the curvature of 
the rings becomes sufficiently slight to allow of the tiger-grass stems 
being bent without breaking, the rings are formed of them instead 
of the fine grass employed at first, the whole umbrella-shaped frame 
being gradually raised as the work proceeds. This forms the frame- 
work for the top of the roof, and when finished it is turned over 
and raised by means of poles to its requisite position. The ground 
to be occupied by the hut is then covered with poles in parallel 
lines but decreasing in length from the centre outwards. These 
support the roof and also form a scaffolding to enable the builders 
to complete the rafters of the roof and subsequently to thatch it. 
Long bundles of grass are now tied to the ribs to form the thatch, 
beginning from the bottom, and finally a peak, formed of a large 
sheaf of grass very tightly bound together, is added. The free edge 
of each layer of thatch is carefully trimmed to give it a regular 
appearance ; inside the hut wickerwork walls are constructed, the 
pattern in many cases being extremely neat. 
A large door 8 or 10 feet high is cut out of the side of the hut, 
over which a neatly curved porch is erected. When this is done 
many of the poles supporting the roof are removed, and the interior 
of the hut is divided by numerous partitions of tiger-grass into 
various compartments, in the innermost of which the owner’s bed 
is constructed. The floor of the hut is level and beaten firmly by 
■clubs; the door is of wickerwork, made to slide backwards and 
forwards, and fastened behind by a bar and pins; handles are 
