146 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XII 
merits and mucli of the produce finds its way into the 
local markets, especially that of Kisuinu. ' At this 
market, fish, fowls, and eggs as well as fresh milk can 
be obtained. They are fond of fish, which they catch 
by rod and line and in traps. These traps consist of 
converging walls of stone carried into the bed of the 
river at an angle of about sixty degrees : the space 
between the stone walls is filled with fish baskets. The 
fish coming down stream have their only exit blocked. 
Around Kisumu we found them diligently fishing in the 
lake, and they appeared to obtain good catches of fish 
by means of seines made of dried papyrus stems. A 
seine is a large net, oue end of which is provided with 
sinkers and the other with floats. It hangs vertically in 
the water and, when its ends are brought together or 
drawn ashore, encloses the fish. The seines are arranged 
in the water by a man on a raft made of the dried stems 
of the papyrus, or of ambatch. 
The Kavirondos possess cattle and use milk, but as 
all readers of Thomson’s description of this race know, 
they dilute it with cow’s urine. They also clean the 
milk vessels with cow-dung. I made some inquiry into 
this matter and And it is the practice to keep the milk 
after it has been mixed with cow’s urine for two or three 
days, as these people prefer to drink it sour. 
The Kavirondos smelt and work their own iron. 
Thomson has given an interesting account of their 
methods : he was astonished at the dexterity with which 
the men worked a very primitive form of bellows. He 
found that with very crude apparatus they could pro¬ 
duce fifteen to twenty pounds of metal in a day. The 
wire made here is square instead of round, but it takes 
a beautiful silvery polish and is used in the form of rings 
to ornament the arms, legs, and necks of the fashionable 
young men and women of the village. The blacksmiths 
are very clever and make weapons such as spears, and 
agricultural implements such as hoes. 
