86 
The Minor Tribes 
African generally; every man is a host in him¬ 
self ; he builds and furnishes his house, he makes 
his weapons and pipes, and he ignores division of 
labour, except in the smith and the carpenter; in 
the potter, who works without a wheel, and in 
the dyer, who knows barks, and who fixes his 
colours with clay. The men especially pride 
themselves upon canoe-making ; the favourite 
wood is the buoyant Okumeh ; or bombax, that 
monarch of the African forest. I have seen a 
boat, 45 feet to inches by 5 feet 11 inches in 
beam, cut out of a single tree, with the Mpano or 
little adze, a lineal descendant of the Silex imple¬ 
ment, and I have heard of others measuring 
70 feet. These craft easily carry 10 tons, and 
travel 200 to 300 miles, which, as Mr. Wilson 
remarks, would land them, under favourable cir¬ 
cumstances, in South America. Captain Boteler 
found that the Mpongwe boat combined symmetry 
of form, strength, and solidity, with safeness and 
swiftness either in pulling or sailing. And of late 
years the people have succeeded in launching 
large and fast craft built after European models. 
The favourite pleasures of the Mpongwe are 
gross and gorging “ feeds,” drinking and smoking. 
They recall to mind the old woman who told 
“Monk Lewis” that if a glass of gin were at 
one end of the table, and her immortal soul at the 
other, she would choose the gin. They soak with 
