344 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
seemed to have entree into every part of the kraal. It 
is a very unusual privilege to he allowed to walk through 
the harem. Slaves of both sexes and of all ages and 
sizes were moving to and fro among the huts. 
A new house was being erected for His Majesty, the 
material being bricks, and the builder an old British tar, 
a Yorkshireman named Johnny, who years before, while 
cruising on the east coast, had suddenly left his ship of 
his own accord, and found his way to the happier and 
freer atmosphere of the far interior. Johnny was a 
genial soul, and a very funny old boy. There he stood 
slinging mud like a Thames dredger, and yet in feeling 
as free and independent as an American senator. He 
has built the only houses that are worthy the name in 
Matabeli-land. 
Many of the Matabeli queens -were peeping in at the 
windows of the partially-finished house, and evidently 
made a good deal of fun of Johnny, who would turn 
round every now and then and give them the contents 
of his trowel. 
I was astonished to see the interior of a queen’s hut, 
which had a cleanly black polished floor, and everything t 
arranged in the tidiest manner. Floors are composed of 
ant-heap, ox-blood, and cow-dung, which when set be¬ 
comes very hard. The occupant of this hut showed me 
how the floor was polished, by means of a fine smooth, 
round pebble, which, held in both hands, w T as rubbed 
along the surface, the operator spitting every now and 
then to supply the necessary moisture. There was a 
rack on one side of the hut on which were placed 
numerous baskets and all sorts of little tricks, while 
against the walls, neatly folded up, were the cane mats 
on which the dwellers slept. 
A queen’s mark of distinction is unique. All of them 
shave their heads and wear at the top, and well at the 
back, a small inverted cup of about one and a-lialf 
inches in diameter made of red beads. Round their 
waists they wear kilts of black ox-hide, falling to the 
knees. 
The kraal was full of slaves who had been caught 
