DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0358
342
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Njusi near Zomba. Sometimes pots are also rubbed all over the outside or in patterns with
munyu, a natural graphite.
Patterns of a simple character, often of the herring bone order, are commonly graved
about the neck of the pots with the aid of a stick of bamboo. There is considerable variety
in the size and shape of the pots made. As with gourds, the pot takes its name from the
use to which it is put and not from the shape or size. All pots have rounded bottoms; none
have a flattened base or standard.
The following varieties of pots may be mentioned:
1. Liter eko, large pots for beer-making. These are usually roughly made and seldom
have any decoration on them; they stand about two feet high and are wide-mouthed
(Pl. XV, figs. 1, 4).
2. Luulo (ntsuko, Chin.): water-pots. These are usually well moulded and well finished
pots, full bellied with broad base and a certain amount of neck. They are practically
always decorated and often colored. They are about twelve inches high and twelve inches
across the broadest diameter (Pl. XV, figs. 8, 9, 10).
3. Chiulugo (nthalo, Chin.): cooking pots used for cooking the flour porridge, ugali.
These are wide, open-mouthed pots six to ten inches high, with belly and more or less
straight sides (Pl. XV, figs. 5, 6, 7). This name also applies to the cooking vessel for medic-
inal concoctions.
4. Chijungu (mpika, Chin.): smaller pots of the same type as 3, used for cooking beans,
fish, green stuff, and the relish mboga (ndiwo, Chin.) (Pl. XV, fig. 3).
5. Mtala (nkate, Chin.): the bath water pot. The smallest pot used for heating water
to bathe the husband after sexual intercourse bears the same name. It is found among
both the Anyanja and the Wayao (Pl. XV, fig. 2).
6. Mbale (Yao and Chin.): the plate, a shallow, wide-open vessel.
Baskets. The basket work of the Yao is all of one type and is done by the men. All
baskets are made of plaited strips of bamboo, the free edges of the strips being bound be-
tween thicker pieces of the ^jne wood forming the rim, the binding being done with the
stem of a creeper. They are made in various shapes and sizes. Some are rendered water-
proof and used as beer mugs. The following types of basket are in use:
1. Chiselo (lichero, Chin.): a circular, open basket, shallow and wade, six to ten inches
in diameter; it is used as a food dish or to measure flour, etc. (nsengwa, Chin.),
a rather larger one of the same shape, often decorated with beads is used to carry flour,
while a still larger basket called chipeta is commonly used by the women for winnowing
out the chaff from the partly pounded maize (Pl. XVI, figs. 11, 15).
2. Lukalala and chitunda (in Chin., both are called ntanga): deep baskets usually
about as deep as they are broad; the bottom is approximately square, but the rim is cir-
cular. Chitundu is about six inches high and six inches in diameter; lukalala is about a
foot in all dimensions. These large baskets are used for carrying any food-stuffs in bulk,
e.g. grain and pumpkins (Pl. XVI, fig. 16).
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Njusi near Zomba. Sometimes pots are also rubbed all over the outside or in patterns with
munyu, a natural graphite.
Patterns of a simple character, often of the herring bone order, are commonly graved
about the neck of the pots with the aid of a stick of bamboo. There is considerable variety
in the size and shape of the pots made. As with gourds, the pot takes its name from the
use to which it is put and not from the shape or size. All pots have rounded bottoms; none
have a flattened base or standard.
The following varieties of pots may be mentioned:
1. Liter eko, large pots for beer-making. These are usually roughly made and seldom
have any decoration on them; they stand about two feet high and are wide-mouthed
(Pl. XV, figs. 1, 4).
2. Luulo (ntsuko, Chin.): water-pots. These are usually well moulded and well finished
pots, full bellied with broad base and a certain amount of neck. They are practically
always decorated and often colored. They are about twelve inches high and twelve inches
across the broadest diameter (Pl. XV, figs. 8, 9, 10).
3. Chiulugo (nthalo, Chin.): cooking pots used for cooking the flour porridge, ugali.
These are wide, open-mouthed pots six to ten inches high, with belly and more or less
straight sides (Pl. XV, figs. 5, 6, 7). This name also applies to the cooking vessel for medic-
inal concoctions.
4. Chijungu (mpika, Chin.): smaller pots of the same type as 3, used for cooking beans,
fish, green stuff, and the relish mboga (ndiwo, Chin.) (Pl. XV, fig. 3).
5. Mtala (nkate, Chin.): the bath water pot. The smallest pot used for heating water
to bathe the husband after sexual intercourse bears the same name. It is found among
both the Anyanja and the Wayao (Pl. XV, fig. 2).
6. Mbale (Yao and Chin.): the plate, a shallow, wide-open vessel.
Baskets. The basket work of the Yao is all of one type and is done by the men. All
baskets are made of plaited strips of bamboo, the free edges of the strips being bound be-
tween thicker pieces of the ^jne wood forming the rim, the binding being done with the
stem of a creeper. They are made in various shapes and sizes. Some are rendered water-
proof and used as beer mugs. The following types of basket are in use:
1. Chiselo (lichero, Chin.): a circular, open basket, shallow and wade, six to ten inches
in diameter; it is used as a food dish or to measure flour, etc. (nsengwa, Chin.),
a rather larger one of the same shape, often decorated with beads is used to carry flour,
while a still larger basket called chipeta is commonly used by the women for winnowing
out the chaff from the partly pounded maize (Pl. XVI, figs. 11, 15).
2. Lukalala and chitunda (in Chin., both are called ntanga): deep baskets usually
about as deep as they are broad; the bottom is approximately square, but the rim is cir-
cular. Chitundu is about six inches high and six inches in diameter; lukalala is about a
foot in all dimensions. These large baskets are used for carrying any food-stuffs in bulk,
e.g. grain and pumpkins (Pl. XVI, fig. 16).