The construction of houses in villages in Africa is almost uniform, as far as our studies have led us.[70] Or, rather, we ought to modify this statement by saying there are but two plans of construction.  One is where the houses are erected on the rectilinear, the other is where they are built on the circular plan.  In the more warlike tribes the latter plan prevails.  The hillsides and elevated places near the timber are sought as desirable locations for villages.  The plan of architecture is simple.  The diameter is first considered, and generally varies from ten to fifteen feet.  A circle is drawn in the ground, and then long flexible sticks are driven into the earth.  The builder, standing inside of the circle, binds the sticks together at the top; where they are secured together by the use of the “monkey-rope,” a thick vine that stretches itself in great profusion from tree to tree in that country.  Now, the reader can imagine a large umbrella with the handle broken off even with the ribs when closed up, and without any cloth,—­nothing but the ribs left.  Now open it, and place it on the ground before you, and you have a fair idea of the hut up to the present time.  A reed thatching is laid over the frame, and secured firmly by parallel lashings about fifteen inches apart.  The door is made last by cutting a hole in the side of the hut facing toward the centre of the contemplated circle of huts.[71] The door is about eighteen inches in height, and just wide enough to admit the body of the owner.  The sharp points, after the cutting, are guarded by plaited twigs.  The door is made of quite a number of stout sticks driven into the ground at equal distances apart, through which, in and out, are woven pliant sticks.  When this is accomplished, the maker cuts off the irregular ends to make it fit the door, and removes it to its place.  Screens are often used inside to keep out the wind:  they are made so as to be placed in whatever position the wind is blowing.  Some of these houses are built with great care, and those with domed roofs are elaborately decorated inside with beads of various sizes and colors.

The furniture consists of a few mats, several baskets, a milk-pail, a number of earthen pots, a bundle of assagais, and a few other weapons of war.  Next, to guard against the perils of the rainy season, a ditch about two feet in width and of equal depth is made about the new dwelling.  Now multiply this hut by five hundred, preserving the circle, and you have the village.  The palaver-house, or place for public debates, is situated in the centre of the circle of huts.  Among the northern and southern tribes, a fence is built around their villages, when they are called “kraals.”  The space immediately outside of the fence is cleared, so as to put an enemy at a disadvantage in an attack upon the village.  Among the agricultural tribes, as, for example, the Kaffirs, they drive their cattle into the kraal, and for the young build pens.