24 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
II 
can ; it is greatly appreciated by them and has replaced 
gourds in their domestic economy. 
The kerosene can is used as a bucket for drawing 
water from a well, or as a pail for its conveyance. 
When such a can is 
divided and a hole 
made in the end of 
either half it becomes 
a useful funnel. On 
visiting a village it is 
common to see these 
cans used as sauce¬ 
pans, baking - tins, 
ovens, and parrot 
cages ; receptacles for 
pombe (beer); useful 
boxes for clothes or 
books, and travelling 
trunks ; one can well- 
packed is a sufficient, 
as well as a con venient 
load for a porter to 
carry on his head, and 
two of them are easily 
adjusted as panniers 
for donkeys. 
The European sett¬ 
lers use the kerosene 
can as tubs for shrubs 
and as flower pots; 
the edges of the cans 
when used for flowers 
The kerosene can has largely replaced gourds are CUt iutO triangular 
for the conveyance of water in British , , 1*^,1 
East Africa. . patterns, much in the 
same way as the Masid 
herdsmen clip the ears of their cattle. When the kerosene 
can is useless as a vessel for holding liquids, it is hammered 
out and the square sheets are useful for roofing huts. 
