Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/62

48 frond, and laid one by one flat on a smooth surface, the bottom end was held firmly by the finger and thumb of the left hand, with the right hand a knife was put on the leaflet, as near the holding place as possible, and then the leaflet was drawn steadily between the edge of the knife and the board. The skin was thus taken off the leaf, which was turned, and the operation repeated. In this way the thready fibres were left, and were dried and sold on the markets to the weavers of mbadi. These threads were called "mpusu." The mbadi were woven on frames in pieces about twelve inches wide and fifteen to eighteen inches long. On the introduction of pineapples a mpusu was manufactured from their leaves, and these threads were called "mafubu," and the cloth woven from it "mbadi za mafubu." Twelve of these small cloths were sewn together and made one proper-sized cloth, which was named "nkuta."

On arrival at the trading factory, and the price for the produce having been agreed upon, the "money" the native traders received comprised the following articles,—salt (mungwa), cloth (nlele), plates (malonga), dishes and basins (mbasinga), mugs, cups, and glasses (kopo), gunpowder (tiya twa mputu or white man's fire), etc. Guns (mata) were sometimes bought; the short ones were called "lung' e kumbi," and the long ones "nkombo." To all trading caravans was given a demijohn, large or small according to the amount of produce sold, of gin or rum as a present. It may be interesting to note here the derivation of a word that has now travelled all over the country and is used as an equivalent for present, free gift, tip, etc., viz. "matabixu." It is made up of two Portuguese words,—matar, to kill, and bicha, a serpent or snake. It was the custom for the Portuguese trader to give a customer a tot of rum to kill, as they phrased it, the serpent or snake, i.e. a biting in the stomach. By-and-by this word was applied to any make-weight given on the top