compass-houses

Updated: August 14, 2026

Behind each larger establishment there is a dwarf hut, the miniature of a dwelling-place, carefully closed; I thought these were offices, but Hotaloya Andrews taught me otherwise. He called them in his broken English "Compass-houses," a literal translation of "Nago Mbwiri," and, sturdily refusing me admittance, left me as wise as before.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1