NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 457 
by drilling holes through which leather thongs or bark strings are passed 
and tightly tied. All small holes and apertures are stopped up with india- 
rubber derived from the rubber vines or some other source. Smooth, lopped 
branches of trees are placed on the ground as rollers and an enormous crowd 
of people push the canoe down 
to the water and launch it. 
The canoes are worked by 
punting poles and by paddles . 1 
Though the natives seem to 
have little idea of using the 
mast and sail they rapidly pick 
up the notion when taught by 
Arab or European. 
The people of Nyasaland 
and of most parts of British 
Central Africa near the great 
lakes or rivers become singu¬ 
larly adept in the management 
of boats and ships. All the 
seamen on the lake gunboats 
are now natives of the country, 
whereas formerly we imported 
sailors from Zanzibar, or even 
employed bluejackets from the 
British Navy .' 2 The natives 
can be taught to row well, and are very smart in managing sails. Not 
infrequently the launching of a canoe is accompanied by feasts and dances and 
by prayers to the ancestral spirits with their accompanying libations or sacrifices. 
The large importation of European cloth has almost killed the native 
weaving industry. Before the advent of Europeans they wove—and in outlying 
districts they still weave—very coarse-textured cotton cloth. As is probably 
well known to my readers the cotton plant grows wild or semi-wild over large 
portions of this country and the cotton produced is 
excellent. It is spun by the natives and woven by 
them in the following manner:—A frame is made 
of two heavy smooth bars of wood supported at either 
end by a couple of short posts which bifurcate. The 
beams are steadied and fastened to the ground by 
pegs. The cotton threads are then stretched across 
the frame lengthwise, from end to end. The alternate 
threads are “ locked ” on a smooth stick (ordinarily a 
bamboo). When these alternate threads are raised a 
long bamboo shuttle with the cotton thread wound 
round the end is passed between the upper and lower 
threads and the cross-thread is tapped up tightly by 
another smooth bamboo. The cloth is usually finished 
with a fringe. 
1 Outriggers are ignored. All canoes are of rough construction, simple dug-outs, and have no seats, 
no elaboration, no ornament. Punting poles ( mapondo) are usually of bamboo and are much used in 
shallow rivers. 
2 We only employ naval seamen now as petty officers. 
A RIVER PILOT 
(Mnyanja, of the Lower Shire) 
NATIVES MAKING A PRONE TREE TRUNK INTO A CANOE 
