154 Village Life in Pongo-land. 
“ tie-tie,” bast-slips, runners, or llianas. For the 
more solid buildings thin “ Mpavo,” or bark slabs, 
are fitted in between the double posts ; when cool¬ 
ness is required, their place is taken by mats woven 
with the pinnated leaves of sundry palms. This 
is a favourite industry with the women, who make 
two kinds, one coarse, the other a neat and close 
article, of rattan-tint until it becomes smoke-stained : 
the material is so cheap and comfortable, that 
many of the missionaries prefer it for walls to 
brick or boarding. The windows are mere holes 
in the mats to admit light, and the doors are cut 
with a Mpano (adze) from a single tree trunk, which 
would be wilful waste if timber were ever wanting. 
The floor is sometimes sandy, but generally of 
hard and level tamped clay, to which the European 
would prefer boarding, and, as a rule, it is clean— 
no fear of pythogenie from here ! The pent-shaped 
roof of rafters and thatch is water-tight except 
when the host of rats disturb it by their nocturnal 
gambols. 
Rich men affect five or six rooms, of which the 
principal occupies the centre. The very poor 
must be contented with one; the majority have 
two. The “ but” combines the functions of hall, 
dining-room, saloon and bachelors sleeping quar¬ 
ters. The “ ben” contains a broad bed for the 
married, a standing frame of split bamboo with 
mats for mattresses; it is usually mounted on 
