say, end mourning. If these pious rites be neglected, the
children incur the terrible reproach, "Your father he be hungry."
The widow may re-marry immediately after "living for cry," and,
if young and lusty, she looks out for another consort within the
week. The slave is thrown out into the bush--no one will take the
trouble to dig a hole for him.

The industry of the Mpongwe is that of the African generally;
every man is a host in himself; 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 10 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 implement, 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 circumstances, 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