The Abattis Has Usually Four Entrances Which Are Choked Up With
Heaps Of Bushes At Night.
The interior space is partitioned off by dwarf
hedges into rings, which contain and separate the different species of
cattle.
Sometimes there is an outer compartment adjoining the exterior
fence, set apart for the camels; usually they are placed in the centre of
the kraal. Horses being most valuable are side-lined and tethered close to
the owner's hut, and rude bowers of brush and fire wood protect the
weaklings of the flocks from the heat of the sun and the inclement night
breeze.
At intervals around and inside the outer abattis are built the Gurgi or
wigwams--hemispheric huts like old bee-hives about five feet high by six
in diameter: they are even smaller in the warm regions, but they increase
in size as the elevation of the country renders climate less genial. The
material is a framework of "Digo," or sticks bent and hardened in the
fire: to build the hut, these are planted in the ground, tied together
with cords, and covered with mats of two different kinds: the Aus composed
of small bundles of grass neatly joined, is hard and smooth; the Kibid has
a long pile and is used as couch as well as roof. The single entrance in
front is provided with one of these articles which serves as a curtain;
hides are spread upon the top during the monsoon, and little heaps of
earth are sometimes raised outside to keep out wind and rain.
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