386 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 
off for a store or lumber closet — they are very rarely of 
two stories. A few have flat ceilings, of the ribs of 
palm-branches laid diagonally, but they are mostly open 
to the apex of the high conical thatched roof. The 
floor is of mud, sometimes tessellated with broken 
pieces of earthenware- jars, more frequently, however, 
of the rough uneven ground. The only admission of 
light and air is by a small doorway, with the upper 
part so low, and the threshold so high, that a stranger 
is very likely to pay his respects to the “ Penates” by 
breaking his head and his shins at the same time. 
Some huts have two of these inconvenient apertures, 
but when such is the case, it is for the purpose of com- 
munication from one court to another. Of this kind 
is invariably the outer or entrance-hut ; in the Haussa 
language, the “ Zauli” An individual hut is called a 
“ Daiki,” an assemblage of them, forming one dwelling, 
‘‘ Giddah.” They are only used for sleeping and cooking 
in when the weather is bad, for grinding corn, store- 
houses of grain, &c. The proprietors always eat in the 
open air. Some have verandahs — formed by the pro- 
jecting thatch — under which the master of the house 
luxuriates with his friends, but while they send forth 
volumes of smoke, they do not appear to have met 
for the interchange of ideas. 
The huts are built of roundish lumps of sun-dried clay, 
covered with mud, coloured sometimes with indigo, and 
ornamented round the entrance with circles and zigzags, 
stamped in the soft mud. When there is a door, it is 
carved in tlie same elaborate manner, sometimes with a 
