330 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Great care and attention are paid to the aged, and counsel and 
teaching from them is considered of special value. The sick and 
infirm are cared for and nursed with much solicitude. Much affec- 
tionate care is exhibited by husbands to their sick wives. 
Communications . — The construction of the roads is very simple, 
a track of some two feet wide being formed by merely cutting down 
the underwood of the forest. More than this is not attempted; a 
network of small paths in the forest being made by use. Swamps 
are usually passed by wading, although occasionally a way across them 
is made by filling in with stones, sticks, and grass. 
Kivers are crossed by swimming, an art which is learnt very 
early, as is also an acquaintance with the haunts of crocodiles and 
hippopotami and the shallow parts of the rivers, so that should a 
man be carried down by a swift current he is quite at home, and 
knows where best to make for land. Boats and even rafts are 
unknown, but bridges are occasionally constructed over rivers, and 
are made as follows : — Trunks of trees are firmly fixed in the bed of 
a river in the dry season, being supported by stones, and having 
forked tops along which is laid a single row of logs^ — thus forming 
a simple kind of bridge. 
Xo accommodation is provided for travellers between villages ; 
they rest where rivers or wells supply them with water, and then 
continue their journey till a village is reached. 
On a journey, if a man cannot find a stream, he digs for water in 
the ground; and the wells thus formed last for a time, and serve for 
the use of other travellers. 
When a village is reached there is no lack of accommodation, 
hospitality being universally shown alike to friends and enemies. 
Immediately a stranger is seen, he is asked how many stones he 
carries (see Tribal Signs). If the man who accosts him is of the 
same number, they fraternise directly; but in any case, the stranger 
is escorted round the place to see all there is to be seen, and a hut 
and food are given him. 
Ho vehicles of any description are used, the only mode of con- 
veying persons who are too old or too ill to walk is by means of a 
kind of litter made of branches laid side by side, and fastened 
together on to cross pieces of wood. Upon this rude contrivance 
the individual lies or sits, and is carried by two or four men. 
