The boys of the village plait basket-work shields about 3 feet long and 8 inches wide, and with stout water-grass and young plantain stalks as spears and clubs, and imitation wooden knives in their belts, they take sides in a great sham fight, and amid much laughter and good humour a mimic battle is waged until one side is driven from the field—the village street. Such “fights” are interesting to watch, for the movements of the more than half-naked bodies are swift, precise, and graceful, and undoubtedly help to keep them in good form; and the accuracy with which they hurl their imitation spears is a fine display of dexterity. [Illustration: _Photo by_: _Rev. C. J. Dodds_ NATIVE CARPENTER AND HIS WORKSHOP This young man is only one of several expert carpenters trained on our Monsembe stations. ] Besides mimic war, the youngsters have their make-believe games of marketing, cooking, feasting, and housekeeping. The more expert among the lads make toy steamers in imitation of those running on the river; and it is interesting to see two lads approaching from opposite directions pulling their “steamers” behind them. As they pass each other they whistle three times as a salute to one another, then comes a long whistle as a sign to stop, and the “steamers” are supposed to stop at a beach, and the two boys, who are acting as captains and wearing any old hat they can find for the occasion, approach each other, raise their hats, bow, shake hands, and then jabber for a few moments in bits of French and any of their own syllables that sound to them like French; then come the ceremonies of parting, and the whistling of a pretended farewell from the “steamers,” and the _shu! shu! shu!_ of the working engines. The lad pulling the steamer is engine, whistle, pilot, steersman, and captain all combined, and seems to enjoy it. The best model has the largest crowd of followers after it. These boys are splendid actors, and the whole scene just enacted is a fine, humorous imitation of the actions of State steamers and captains meeting on our beach. A hat is as necessary almost as the “steamer,” for it has to be taken off when the bow is made, and if a boy does not possess a hat, or cannot borrow one, he will make a good imitation of a helmet or a straw hat out of papyrus pith and plantain leaves. The following is a list of the games[17] played among the Boloki boys and girls: Footnote 17: For Lower Congo games I would refer the reader to _Folk Lore_, Vol. XX, 1909, p. 457, where the writer has given a full description of them.