The hartebeeste hut shown in the full-page [camp scene] in Kafirland, mostly used by colonial Hottentots, is simple and easy enough to make. It has one straight side, and one lean-to, and derives its name from its resemblance to the sloping back of the animal.
The huts of the Damaras are generally of very rude construction. A circle of sticks is planted in the ground, and the tops bent over and lashed together, generally with their own bark; they are then roughly wattled, and plastered over with clay and “kraal mist.” Rain so seldom falls that they seem to take no precaution against it, preferring rather to risk the few drenching showers of the wet season than to take the trouble of making their huts waterproof. Sometimes the hides of the few cattle they slaughter are spread over their huts, and kept in their places by stones or heavy poles laid on them. In one respect only they have an advantage over the Kafir hut, and that is, the smoke escapes through the cracks and interstices of the roof. Internally there may be a dried hide to sit or sleep on, an earthen pot for cooking, a calabash or two, or a bambuse or wooden bowl for milk or water; two or three skins stripped off whole, as sacks for “uintjies” or earth nuts; and it may be an axe, of Ovampo, or more rarely of European, manufacture.
The box made of stiff leather, in which they carry grease and red ochre, may also be here; but, with the exception of their cattle, the Damaras seldom possess much more property than can be carried on the person.
The huts of the Berg Damaras are still more primitive; and sometimes they seek no other shelter than one or two small bushes, the lower branches of which are cut away, while the upper ones are brought together and interwoven—others being added if needful—and grass thrown loosely over all.
Indeed, small trees, with the lower branches cleared away, and the upper ones drawn together and interlaced, form very convenient huts or arbours. The Bechuana women, in making a kraal, beat the mimosa branches on the ground till they flatten them into a fan-like form, then they plant them side by side and interlace the branches.
The Namaqua Hottentots, the Makobas or canoemen of the Bō-tlét-lē River, and many of the Bechuana tribes in the Orange River Sovereignty and elsewhere, build hemispherical frames of flexible wands, and cover them with mats of rushes like cheese mats. These are very neatly made. The Hottentots use flat awls, 18in. or 20in. long, for this purpose, but the Makoba awl is not more than 5 in. or 6 in. Small thongs of dressed antelope skin, or cords twisted from the fibres of different plants, are used for sewing the mats. These might be easily made by a traveller needing them, and he could best do it by having two or three needles of any convenient length, from 4in. or 5in. to 20in.; they should be flattened at the point, and pierced with an eye to carry the cord on which the reeds are strung. The most convenient method would be to fix the needles upright at the proper distance from each other, and then press upon them as many rushes as their length would allow; these, with the strings drawn through, should then be removed, and a fresh set threaded on, care being taken to see that the strings are kept clear, so that they reeve consecutively through all the rushes, and make a smooth uniform mat. Generally, however, it will be found that, where the proper materials grow, the natives will make and sell them cheaply enough. Mats of this description are much used by the natives of North-West America in hut building; the needles used in that country are not unfrequently 5ft. long.