If the vessel is for the chief’s own use, he often attends, to see how it is progressing and cheer up his men with libations of _moa_. There is not much variety in the shape; but some have incurved gunwales like those in the illustration, some straight. The paddles are short, with oblong blades, about the size and shape of an ordinary spade. In low water, the canoe is propelled with punting-poles, which are always necessary because the level of the river changes very quickly and sand-banks shift their places from season to season. Canoes are kept at the regular crossing-places of rivers by men who will ferry passengers over for a consideration. When not in use, the paddles and poles are carefully hidden, to prevent the canoe being summarily ‘borrowed.’ The largest canoes are, perhaps, thirty or forty feet long, and have ten or twelve paddlers, who work sitting, and sing in time to their strokes. WEAVING We have already said that spinning, weaving, and sewing are considered emphatically men’s work, as they were by the ancient Egyptians. The material spun is most frequently cotton, though, in the Chipeta country, south-west of the Lake, the fibre of the _bwazi_ (_Securidaca longipedunculata_) is more in use. This fibre is very strong, and is used for fishing-nets; but native cloth, whether cotton or _bwazi_, is not often seen now, since European material (very inferior to it in quality) has been easier to obtain. The spinning-wheel is unknown, and the process of twisting the thread by hand and then spinning it on the _njinga_, a wooden spindle with a whorl or reel of tortoise-shell (or hard wood), is a very leisurely one. Three or four bobbins full of thread are used to ‘set’ the loom, which consists of four posts driven into the ground and connected by cross-bars. It is set up in the open space near the owner’s hut, or perhaps in the _bwalo_. The web is never very large; two yards long by a yard in width appears to be the outside. The process has often been described, and can be seen in the illustration. There are also two excellent photographs of it in Sir H. H. Johnston’s book. [Illustration: 1. MAT-MAKING. 2. NATIVE LOOM]