NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 459 
WEAVING ON THE NYASA-TANGANYIKA PLATEAU 
by staining the white wood black and then cutting away portions, leaving a 
raised pattern of black on white. Occasionally these bands of thin wood are 
attached to baskets which have bottoms of plaited straw. Sometimes sandals 
are made of basket-work. 
Pottery, like many other arts in Central Africa, has retrogressed from a once 
higher standard to a low one. The old earthenware we dig up from time to 
time is superior in design, shape, 
and finish to the native pottery of 
the present day. The women are 
the potters. The best pottery is 
made at the north end of Lake 
Nyasa, on German territory, by the 
Ba-kese people. The kind of pottery 
ordinarily made is :— (a) cooking 
pots—wide mouth, no neck, sides 
nearly perpendicular; (b) porridge 
pots — shaped very similarly; (c) 
large ovoid beer pots—shaped like 
an egg with the pointed end cut 
off; ( d ) water jars—with a “ neck ” 
broadening into an everted rim ; 
(e) round pots with a hole at the 
top : some of these have a short 
narrow neck ; (f) many kinds of small pots resembling the preceding some¬ 
what in shape—used for storing medicines, condiments, fat and salt; (^) saucers 
and pans ; (li) the bowls of pipes. Some of the smaller ware is coloured with 
red oxide or a black glaze. The inscribed patterns are not of any elaborate 
design and much of the pottery is without any ornamentation. Such decoration 
as there is, is either made by cutting marks into the soft clay with a sharp 
pointed stick or else painting a design in black or red. After the pot is finished 
it is put in the sun to dry for a day or so and is then burnt in a wood fire. 
String is fabricated by the natives from the fibre of a Hibiscus shrub, from 
plaiting palm leaves, from the skins of animals, from bark and above all from 
the leaves of the Hyphaene fan palms . 1 
The strands of the fibre of such shrubs and plants as are made into string 
are rolled by the hand on the thigh. String is sometimes made in this way 
from cotton, especially for stringing beads or ornaments. 
Bowstrings are usually formed of thin strips of skin, softened, pulled out, 
and tightly twisted. Gut is sometimes used for this purpose also. Fishing nets 
are made of string, usually string of Hibiscus fibre. They are sometimes of 
fine mesh and are very strong. 
The Rev. D. C. R. Scott states in his Dictionary, that the Wambo tribe 
of A-nyanja, living to the south-east of the Protectorate, are able to construct 
wooden locks and keys. The keys have teeth of two or three inches ; when 
they turn they move a wooden bolt into its place. It is probable that these 
locks and keys are not of indigenous invention but are derived from the teach¬ 
ing of the Portuguese. 
Skins are dressed in an elementary manner. They are pegged out to dry ; 
most of the thicker part of the hide and the tendons are removed by scraping 
1 This palm is singularly useful. From its leaves are made mats, baskets and head coverings, besides 
many kinds of string and stout rope for tying fences. 
