156 Village Life in Pongo-lana. 
The furniture of course varies; a rich man near 
the river will have tables and chairs, sofas, looking- 
glasses, and as many clocks, especially “ Sam 
Slicks,” as love or money can procure. Even the 
poorest affect a standing bedstead in the “ ben,” 
plank benches acting as couches in the “ but,” a 
sufficiency of mats, and pots for water and cook¬ 
ing. A free man never condescends to sit upon 
the ground; the low stool, cut out of a single 
block, and fancifully carved, is exactly that of the 
old Egyptians preserved by the modern East 
Africans; it dates from ages immemorial. The 
look of comparative civilization about these domi¬ 
ciles, doubtless the effect of the Portuguese and the 
slave trade, distinguishes them from the barbarous 
circular huts of the Kru-men, the rude clay walls 
of the Gold Coast, and the tattered, comfortless 
sheds of the Fernandian “ Bube.” They have 
not, however, that bandbox-like neatness which 
surprises the African traveller on the Camerones 
River. 
Tl\e only domestic animals about these villages 
are dogs, poultry, and pigeons (fine blue rocks) : I 
never saw in Pongo-land the goats mentioned by 
M. du Chaillu. The bush, however, supplies an 
abundance of “ beef,” and, as most South Africans, 
they have a word, Isangu (amongst the Mpongwes), 
or Ingwamba (of the Cape Lopez people), to ex¬ 
press that inordinate longing and yearning for the 
