Life at Banza Nokki . 
203 
cannon-shot, there are not less than twelve villages, 
with a total, perhaps, of 2,400 souls. 
Banza Nkaye, as usual uninclosed, contains 
some forty habitations, which may lodge two hun¬ 
dred head. The tenements are built upon plat¬ 
forms cut out of the hill slopes; and the make 
proves that, even during the rains, there is little to 
complain of climate. Ten of these huts belong to 
royalty, which lives upon the lowest plane; and 
each wife has her own abode, whilst the “sen- 
zallas ” of the slaves cluster outside. The founda¬ 
tion is slightly raised, to prevent flooding. The 
superstructure strikes most travellers as having 
somewhat the look of a chalet, although Proyart 
compares it with a large basket turned upside down. 
Two strong uprights, firmly planted, support on 
their forked ends a long strut-beam, tightly se¬ 
cured ; the eaves are broad to throw off the rain, 
and the neat thatch of grass, laid with points up¬ 
wards in regular courses, and kept in site by bam¬ 
boo strips, is renewed before the stormy season. 
The roof and walls are composed of six screens ; 
they are made upon the ground, often occupying 
months, and they can be put together in a few 
minutes. The material, which an old traveller 
says is of “leaves interwoven not contemptibly 
with one another/’ is a grass growing everywhere 
on the hills, plaited and attached to strips of cane 
or bamboo-palm (Raphia viniferd) ; the gable 
