The "but" combines the functions of hall,
dining-room, saloon and bachelor's sleeping quarters. The "ben"
contains a broad bed for the married, a standing frame of split
bamboo with mats for mattresses; it is usually mounted on props
to defend it from the Nchu'u or white ants, and each has its
mosquito bar, an oblong square, large enough to cover the whole
couch and to reach the ground; the material is either fine grass-
cloth, from the Ashira country, a light stuff called "Mbongo," or
calico and blue baft from which the stiffening has been washed
out. It is far superior to the flimsy muslin affairs supplied in
an Anglo-Indian outfit, or to the coarse matting used in Yoruba.
Provided with this solid defence, which may be bought in any
shop, one can indulge one's self by sleeping in the verandah
without risk of ague or rheumatism. The "ben" always displays a
pile of chests and boxes, which, though possibly empty, testify
to the "respectability" of the household. In Hotaloya's I
remarked a leather hat-case; he owned to me that he had already
invested in a silk tile, the sign of chieftainship, but that
being a "boy" he must grow older before he could wear it.
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