chisel mounted like an axe, with which they strike short
quick blows, or else they employ it like a plane, seizing
it in both hands; as a chisel, for handwork, they draw
it from the handle. They have also picks. j
Their manufactures comprise cords, pottery, leather,
baskets, stone instruments, and metal-work. The Zambezi
tribes are very hard-working people. Much of their time
is given to utilizing the iron that they find in the beds
of the rivers, out of which they make assegais, knives,
picks, hatchets, and chisels for wood-cutting; they are
clever at wood-carving and sculpture. They make seats,
mortars, and pots with covers of all shapes and sizes;
these are nearly always, round, and are really very well
fashioned. Everything is made out of a single piece,
as they have no idea of joining. They thus carve out
their own boats, which are naturally very solid and can
attain a good rate of speed. They are also very deft at
making baskets out of straw ; these are of all shapes and
colours. They know also how to work in clay, making
bottles and pots in a kind of terra-cotta very prettily
ornamented. They dig holes in the ground, and cover
the vessel they wish to bake in red-hot ashes. After
baking, it is polished with a piece of horn, usually the
foot of an ox or antelope. They only know of one
colour for ornamenting their pottery—red—which they
produce by the use of ochre. From leather they make
bracelets and shambocks, mats from reeds, fishing-nets
from a string they manufacture. From the fibre of the
palm - tree they make bark cloth, with which they
cover their grain. The cords used for common purposes
are made by cutting out a strip from a simple palm-
leaf; for finer objects they make a cord by rolling these
strips on their knees. They know neither the use of nails,
nor how to weave. I think I have said that the men
do all the sewing, never the women. Straw hats form a
large portion of their work, in order to sew which they
have to make holes for the thread. Gold, silver, and silk
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are unknown. They have cotton, but not the least idea
how to use it. With feathers they make large “ pompons,”
which the chiefs use to decorate their heads, but they look
most like a dusting-brush.
The native habitations on the Zambezi are well
made and well arranged. They consist of several huts
surrounded by an enclosure of bamboo or branches.
These huts are divided inside; the inner compartment
Spear.
BAROTSE IMPLEMENTS.
Knobkerry.
IS the sleeping-room, while the outer gallery is the place
w ere they spend the day and receive their guests.
he usual position of the natives is a squatting one
but on the Zambezi they use little seats. The partitions
in the huts are made from a mortar composed of earth
and cow-dung. The door is ornamented with different
esigns. . They light no fire in these huts ; a separate
u is generally used for cooking purposes. In a
corner ° f the courtyard is placed the altar on which
ey deposit their offerings—bones, and birds’ tails or
eathers. Every woman has a hut to herself. The chief
3 no sPecial dwelling — the King only, as I have
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