On the backwaters of the Nile : studies of some child races of Central Africa /cA.L. Kitching

Front matter

TESO FUNERAL ; A POISONED WOMAN.

STUDIES OF SOME CHILD RACES OF CENTRAL AFRICA

BY

Preface

When my old pupil and friend, Mr. Kitching, in whose attempts at recording languages heretofore unknown I had both a personal and a professional interest, undertook to write this book I promised him that I would contribute the Preface. But it would be idle to pretend that the modern fashion for those who stay at home to commend by a preface the experiences of pioneers abroad is of any more value than were the laudatory verses in Greek and Latin by personal friends which ushered in learned works two centuries ago. In truth, Mr. Kitching’s book needs no such commendation. In a plain and simple style he has recorded what his eyes have seen and his ears have heard among peoples within the British Empire indeed, but some of them as yet little known even to travellers. And herein, if I may venture an opinion, lies the chief value of his work. No great advance is made without being attended by some drawback, and it appears to be a real danger of the recent rapid progress of the science of Anthropology that men in Mr. Kitching’s position may be tempted to

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Preface search for evidence to support theories which they have been taught or which have occurred to themselves, instead of recording faithfully what passes before their eyes. Should this unfortunately happen, the observation of savage life and customs which missionaries have opportunities beyond most men to make, must of necessity be rendered less valuable than it has been in the past, and the criticism of sources in this field, as elsewhere, will have to form a larger part of the anthropologist’s task. If Mr. Kitching has theories, whether borrowed or original, he has put them on one side and has given us a faithful picture of the peoples among whom he has passed so many years.

P. GILES.

Emmanuel College Lodge,

Cambridge.

February, 1912.

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Foreword

This book embodies the experiences and observations of ten years spent among the outlying tribes of the Uganda Protectorate. It makes no pretence at being a scientific study of Anthropology, but aims rather at representing, as it appears to the traveller and dweller among them, the life of races still savage or but lately raised from savagery, in the agitation of a first contact with “ other customs, other minds.”

For a right understanding of the African native, it is above all important to know him and converse with him as he is in his daily occupations and favourite haunts, not as he is after contact with civilisation in the service of the white man, or after instruction in letters and religion. An attempt has therefore been made in these pages to put on record details of the daily life and surroundings of the people dealt with, with such of their obiter dicta as may seem to throw light on their methods of thought and motives for action. By this means it is hoped that some may be enabled better to realise the raw material out of which the missionary

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Foreword has to make his convert, or the Government Commissioner his soldier, his judge, or his ruler. Three chapters have been devoted to personal experiences and life in the Uganda Protectorate in order to give some idea of the way in which information has been gathered in the course of various journeys through the country and the acquaintance made of the native friends whose conversation has supplied the material for much of the later chapters. At the same time a clearer picture may perhaps be gained of the routine of life in Uganda, as it is lived out of sight of the world by some of the Empire’s sons who have taken up the “ White Man’s Burden.”

NOTE

In the spelling of native names, &c., the usage has been adopted that is followed in literature printed for Uganda. In the Bantu dialects, Luganda and Lunyoro, ng is written as such and is pronounced as in the English “ stronger.” In the Nilotic and Teso languages this sound of ng is not found, but the symbol n' is used to denote the soft ng in the word “ singer.” The letter c in all dialects represents ch; the symbol h is the equivalent of ny in English. ... In referring to members of Bantu tribes, the prefix Mu- indicates the singular and Ba- the plural.

PREFACE FOREWORD NOTE .

PAGE

ix xi

xiii

Chapter I

INTRODUCTORY : BANTU TRIBES .... I

Uganda and Buganda — Lack of people and open water —

Four other kingdoms — Mwenge and Kabarega — Butiti and Kabarole — Bunyoro and its provinces — The Bakonjo — The Basoga and their troubles — Two cannibal tribes —

The sudd-dwellers — Buffer tribes.

CHAPTER II INTRODUCTORY : NON-BANTU TRIBES . . . l6

Nilotic tribes — Origin in the Soudan — The Gan’ tribe and their country — A race of hunters, not travellers — Physique and character — The Madi, Latuka and Bari — The Teso tribe — Waterways and climate — A dense population —

Early administration — Physical characteristics — Language affinities — A heterogeneous protectorate.

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Chapter III First Experiences

Early work in Toro — A disaster and condolences — Perpetual building — Butiti and itinerations— A trip to the snows — Off to new work — Crossing the Nile — Independent Nilotics — Joining Mr. Lloyd — Station on Mount Keyu — Furlough.

LANGUAGE ....... I25

The point of view — Gaps in the vocabulary — A written language in the making — Traps for translators — The key to idiom — Proverbs of the Banyamwenge — Fables.

Chapter IX

SOCIAL LIFE ....... I45

Primitive animality — Semi-civilisation — Marriage the great aim — The status of woman — The cult of the hunter — The advantages of polygamy — Free love — The purchase of wives — Bunyoro wedding ceremony — A passion for authority — The all-important drum — Baganda agents — Native courts — Devplution run mad — Wanted, a Solomon — The black man’s “Don’t” — The mystery of European etiquette.

Chapter X

Four stages in a baby’s life — The trials of a mother — Dangers increasing — Baby’s toilet — Burns and wild beasts — Beginning to work — Domestic education of the girls — Names and naming — Black and white boys.

xvii A 2

Chapter XI Page

Ideas of decency — Styles of hair-dressing — The giwic and hair helmets — Pencils of glass — Dressing for a dance — Armlets and wrist knives — Feminine fashions — Sandals —

Teso costumes — Torturing bracelets — All-conquering calico — Trousers, their acquirement, use, and abuse — European garments — Soap and water at a discount — The doubtful value of clothes.

Chapter XII Crafts And Implements

The coming of the curio-hawker — Extreme prices — The hoe facile princeps — Native bellows — Styles of hoe-handles The uses of the spear — Various knives — Shields and axes — Baskets and their uses — Primitive art — Woodwork — Dug-out canoes — The potter — Civilised industries.

Chapter XIII Pastimes

Indifference to toys — The love of pretending — A spearing competition— Namuziga— Attending court— A favourite game — Musical instruments — Rat-hunting — Dances— European games and music.

Chapter XIV

Fear and folly — The origin of disease — Methods of revenge—Edeke— Medicine men— A seance— Poison— The dancing cure — Splints and isolation — Cupping and

plasters A cure for warts — An amateur operation

Modes of burial— Extravagant mourning— Funeral of a Patiko chief.

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Chapter XV Pagb

The demons of Mwenge — Leaping to the drum — Demon offerings — A three-mouthed pot — Sacrifices to Edeke — Praying to Amon’i — Petty superstitions — The dread of lightning — Dangerous twins — The powers of “ medicine ”

— Witch-doctor v. physician.

Chapter XVI

Half-devil and half-child — Veneered devilry — Natural gentlemen and natural savages — The advent of the white man — A lesson in motives — Education — All-essential religion— Influence dependent on language proficiency — Wanted, the best men.

Appendix To Part II

. 281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TESO FUNERAL ; A POISONED WOMAN . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

MOMBASA : PUBLIC GARDENS AND TROLLEY LINES ON THE

MAIN STREET ...... 3

MOMBASA : THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL . . .3

MWENGE WOMAN GRINDING MILLET . . -9

SMALL HUTS ON THE SUDD OF LAKE NAG WO : DEVIL-HUT

IN FRONT OF THE LEFT-HAND HUT . . -13

BAKENI GIRLS PADDLING IN OLD DUG-OUTS ON LAKE NAGWO 13 A TWO-STORIED HUT IN PATIKO . . . -19

THE COTTON INDUSTRY IN TESO . . . .26

FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE BIRDS . . . -33

OLD MUD AND WATTLE CHURCH AT BUTITI, MWENGE . 41

LOADING UP THE FERRY BOAT AT PAJAO . . -47

METHOD OF BLOWING THE GAN’ WHISTLE . . -53

SLEEPING-SICKNESS PATIENTS GATHERED AFTER SERVICE

IN THE CHURCH . . . . . -59

List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

A TESO MAN WITH SHELL HEAD-DRESS . . -65

A TESO GIRL ....... 65

CAMP ON THE UMA RIVER, BETWEEN NIMULE AND GONDO-

A PATIKO HOMESTEAD IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY . . 77

A CHAT IN A PATIKO VILLAGE . . . -83

A TUNNEL ENTRANCE TO RAISED BACHELOR QUARTERS AT

DOKOLO IN THE LAN’O COUNTRY . . 87

CAMP ON RUWENZORI WHERE IT RAINED ALL DAY . 93

ARCH OF LOGS AT THE ENTRANCE TO A TESO VILLAGE . 99

A MUKENI CHIEF AT HOME, LAKE NAG WO . . . 105

GRAIN HARVEST IN MBOGA, NOW PART OF THE CONGO

THRESHING MILLET; PATIKO . . . . 115

WINNOWING MILLET . . . . . 1x5

A MUKENI AND HIS FLOATING GRANARY . . .121

FISH-TRAPS ON LAKE NAGWO .... 121

“ LAKA TAR TWATWAL ! ” . . . . X27

TOUCHING-UP THE WAR-PAINT . . . . 132

LISTENING TO A LAUGHING-SONG ON THE PHONOGRAPH . 138

A CHRISTIAN WEDDING AT BUTITI, MWENGE . . 145

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List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

A SHAM FIGHT IN PATIKO . . . . . 151

AT THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT ; KING DAUDI KASAGAMA OF

TORO AND HIS KATIKIRO SITTING TO HEAR DISPUTES . 157

HAIR HELMET, DECORATED AT THE TOP WITH A POMPOM

OF OSTRICH FEATHERS ..... 167

DISTRIBUTING MILK TO CHILDREN AT TORO DISPENSARY . 173

A HERD OF GOATS AND SHEEP, PATIKO . . . 179

THE KARARMOJO CHIGNON ; THREE VISITORS AT KOLIMON’S

METHOD OF DRESSING THE HAIR IN PATIKO . . 193

VILLAGE ON THE BORDERS OF THE PIGMY FOREST . 209

NATIVE DRAWINGS ON A PATIKO GRANARY . . -215

TESO SAWYERS AT WORK ..... 221

THE GAME OF NAMUZIGA, PLAYED BY BOYS IN TORO . 225

A GAN’ DANCE IN FULL SWING .... 231

GAN’ BRAVES DECKED OUT FOR A DANCE. AND FULLY

A TESO WITCH-DOCTOR ..... 239

AN AMATEUR OPERATION ..... 239

EXTRACTING AN EYELASH ; TORO DISPENSARY . 243

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List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

CHIEF OBONA, WHOSE FUNERAL IS DESCRIBED ON PAGE

FUNERAL DANCE IN HONOUR OF CHIEF OBONA GRAVE OF CHIEF OBONA ....

PRAYING TO AMON’l FOR RAIN

DANCING FOR THE CURE OF THE SICK ; TESO COUNTRY A TESO VILLAGE .....

GROUP OF N’ORA SCHOOLBOYS

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PART I

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY— BANTU TRIBES “ And what should they know of England

Who only England know ? ”

Rudyard Kipling.

The Protectorate of Uganda is a miniature edition of the British Empire. It has its central core or nucleus, where is situated the seat of government, and whence go forth the administrators and ordinances to penetrate to every part. It has its race of enterprising travellers and traders, who find their way into every hole and corner as rulers, shopkeepers, tourists, and disturbers of the peace. It is made up of races as diverse as those which compose the white part of the Empire, and which have as little in common with one another as an Indian and a Maori.

Yet to most people in the homeland, and to the majority of casual visitors, it is just Uganda. The

I B tourist lands at Kilindini, and perhaps gets no nearer than a trip on the so-called Uganda Railway, which has not one single rail in the Uganda Protectorate. Or he visits Entebbe, rickshaws inland to “ do ” the stock sights of Kampala, and goes on his way rejoicing in the possession of a dozen picture postcards and an impression that he has seen Uganda. Another will descend upon us from the north by the Soudan Government steamer, and spend the two or three hours allowed at Gondokoro in exposing a roll of kodak films on the palm-trees and wharf labourers ; he will ask where the elephants are or where they keep the lions, and return to his cabin with a complete set of Uganda stamps purchased from the Government clerk, to congratulate himself on having discovered by personal investigation that Uganda is a flat, sandy country, covered with thorn-trees and dome palms, and too dry to grow even pine -apples or paw -paw.

Even many residents of long-standing are familiar only with the now well-known core of the Protectorate, the kingdom of Buganda, with its native parliament, police force, motor roads, markets, atid other appurtenances of civilisation. The dominant impression of the country, as one leaves the capital with its white-robed throngs, is one of loneliness. Hill and dale succeed one another with monotonous regularity, but except for the passers-by there seem to be no people. On every hand the luxuriant vegetation, both wild and cultivated, appears to cover the whole face of the

MOMBASA ; PUBLIC GARDENS AND TROLLEY LINES ON THE MAIN STREET.

MOMBASA ; THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL.

switchback-like landscape, and to leave no room for human habitation. It is only by the ear that the traveller learns of homesteads hidden away behind the walls of elephant -grass or amid the banana groves ; the bleat of sheep and goats gives evidence of prosperity, the twanging of a harp or the tootle of a reed suggests an abundant leisure, or the clank of iron on iron or of a wooden mallet on soft fig bark the existence of industries even in a land where the labour of one woman may extract from the fertile soil the sustenance of a family.

Another conspicuous lack is open water. The traveller is told he must cross a river, and may almost do so without noticing it ; the path may change to a causeway, the wall of reeds into towering papyrus, the odour of moist earth or dry grass into one of rank weeds and stagnant pools. But all of the river that is visible is an occasional crawling stream of red ooze, with perhaps one swifter cleaner rivulet flowing through a clearing in the middle of the swamp, and wide enough to need a log bridge to span it. Only by constant labour can even the ten-foot clearing necessary for the causeway be kept open ; from the roots of the papyrus spring hosts of shoots, which, feeding on the debris of their fallen ancestors, hang dew-laden across the pathway, to drench with icy showers the early morning wayfarer ; up their stems rush trailing creepers, which stretch clinging fingers from plant to plant and lock all into a natural trellis -work. The very reeds used to fence in the bridge take root and sprout, and join with the deathless grass in smothering man’s handiwork.

Only when the summit of a hill is reached is any clear idea to be obtained of the true nature of the country ; houses are then seen to be nestled in among the banana plantations and potato fields, women with their water-pots are passing and repassing on their way to the well, boys are driving out the flocks to feed, the river that seemed but a swamp is seen to open out for a space further down the valley, and patches of forest make black splashes upon the grey-green of the jungle grass.

This kingdom of B Uganda will always be referred to in this book as Buganda, its proper native name, as distinct from Uganda, which is used to designate the Protectorate as a whole. But little will be found here about the Baganda themselves, among whom the writer has never been stationed, although having constant dealings with the many individuals scattered in other parts of the Protectorate, in their capacity as teachers of religion, Government agents, settlers, or traders.

Round the central kingdom cluster other four kingdoms, Bantu tribes more or less akin to the Baganda in physical, mental, and political characteristics. To the north and west lie the Banyoro with their branches and subdivisions, now consolidated into the two kingdoms known as Bunyoro and Toro. They, inhabit a country similar to Buganda in the wearisome reiteration of swamp and hill, in the density of vegetation and apparent lack of population. In physique the people are distinctly inferior to the Baganda in many districts, and show much less aptitude for education. The branch of this tribe which will be most often referred to is that known as the Banyamwenge, the inhabitants of what is now a province of the Toro kingdom, but was once a separate fief of the notorious King Kabarega. Even now some of the Banyamwenge may be heard to speak with a measure of regret and respect of the bloodthirsty monarch who is still to them just Omukama, “ the King,” as if he were still in power. In the heyday of prosperity Kabarega kept many of his cows in Mwenge, which is excellent pasture -land, and his dependents grew fat and lusty in caring for them, and doubtless basked in his favour as keepers of his hoarded wealth.

Mwenge is a thinly populated district, bounded on the west by Toro, reaching away northward up to the south-west corner of the Albert Lake in Butuku, and eastward to the smaller provinces of Kitagweta and Kyambalango, which lie next to the borders of Buganda. It is famous locally for its hoes, esteemed for their durability and thickness of backbone. The chief place in the district is Butiti, where I made my home for two years or so on my first arrival in Uganda.

From a point about half-way on the road from Butiti to Kabarole, the capital of Toro, is to be obtained one of the best possible views of the snow-peaks of Ruwenzori, the mighty mass of which dominates the landscape in every part of Toro. As the traveller tops a certain hill in the early, morning, he sees the sun light up the glaciers with exquisite tints of pink and delicate primrose ; the lower slopes still lie in the twilight of dawn, or glow with a dull purple, while the snows of the topmost peaks catch the earliest rays and glitter with all the hues of an aurora borealis. The colours deepen as the sun climbs higher ; the gloomy mass beneath takes form as the light picks out hill and valley, until with growing daylight the icy fairyland recedes into the gathering clouds and the world beneath is warmed into activity for the labours of another day. Its mystery gone, Ruwenzori takes up again for the hours of daylight its role as barrier between West Africa and East, between Uganda and the Congo State.

Continuing the march westwards from Butiti, Kabarole is reached some twenty or more miles from the former place. Now that the great cathedral in Buganda has been destroyed by lightning, Kabarole possesses the finest church in the country, a new hospital is nearly completed, and altogether the station is one of the best equipped in all Uganda. The upper classes of the people are mostly Banyoro, differing only slightly in speech from the Banyamwenge, while the lower classes belong in part to the true Batoro, a somewhat inferior tribe now more or less merged in the Banyoro and almost indistinguishable.

Toro is bounded on the north by Bunyoro proper, a separate kingdom inhabited by people of the same stock as those of Toro and almost identical in habits and dialect. Mutual jealousy rather tends to exaggerate slight variations of pronunciation and vocabulary, but even Europeans from either district are intelligible in the other. The northern part of Bunyoro is known as Busindi, and the Basindi are somewhat superior to the Banyoro in physique and capacity for work ; we found them most useful as porters and workmen in the Nile province, where the local braves were too fond of dances and personal adornment to take readily to regular employment outside their own daily routine. The hoes from Busindi are most esteemed next to those from Mwenge.

The sub-district Bugoma is famous locally for its fine forest, which teems with life of every size and description, from the herds of immense elephants and the chimpanzees which are frequently met with, down to the gorgeous butterflies which often throng the air and paint the pools in the paths in countless brilliant hues and patterns . Next to Bugoma is Bugahya, where the dialect spoken is so broad as to correspond to the Yorkshire which Tennyson loved to imitate. From these districts the plateau dips suddenly over to the Albert Lake, on the shores of which live people whose habits have been moulded by the abundance of fish and the proximity of the brine supplies, which provide them with exports.

On the foothills of Ruwenzori and on the sides of the range nearly up to the bamboo line, live a little known tribe of low order, whose language has so far not been reduced to writing. These are the Bakonjo, -whose physical hardihood enables them to hunt the conies and sleep in the open close up to the snow-line, but whose tastes do not exclude rats and snakes from their daily dietary. Those who accompanied our party up to the foot of the glacier would sleep sometimes in caves, but at other times in the open, with no protection from the cold but each other’s bodies and a huge fire round which they squatted, leaning each man against his neighbour, for all the world like a row of monkeys huddled on a branch in the forest.

To the south of the kingdoms of Toro and Bunyoro lies that of Nkole, a great stretch of plain on which feed the numerous herds of cattle which are to the Banyankole as food, wealth, family, almost the whole of their being in fact. Their language, while closely akin to Lunyoro, is softer in sound, j, for instance, being pronounced something like sh. Tall and thin, with aquiline noses and high cheek-bones, the men often suggest to the eye the mummified forms of Pharaohs to whose descendants the Banyankole are perhaps related. With this people the writer is acquainted only as represented by the cow-herds employed all over Uganda, and to describe the race from such data would be much like judging of the people of London fiom the riff-raff met with at the Derby. The Uganda cow-herd is always expected to be a liar and a cheat, and sharp indeed is the white man who can keep pace with his depredations on the milk, if not on the calves. So the Banyankole will find no place in these pages.

Another tribe about as difficult to deal with are

MWENGE WOMAN GKIND1NG MILLET.

the Basoga. With a high reputation for expert thieving and a nature that seems to be unable to believe in the honesty, of the intentions of any other person, the average Musoga slinks through life on the principle of “ Do somebody or you’ll be done ! ” When employed as workmen, they are perpetually trying to get an advance of wages, and if for some just reason a deduction is made from the amount paid, the recipient will go away with an air of perplexed and injured innocence, as if to say, “ Here’s this European cheating me again ! ” There is no honour even among these thieves themselves. We employed many Basoga in the Teso country, and found that none of them dared leave any clothes or other property unprotected in their huts for an hour. The better off among them would hire a boy to watch the hut, the poorer carried all their belongings on their backs, or did them up in a bundle which was laid beside them while at work.

Some sympathy is certainly due to them for their many recent troubles and hardships . Their country lies to the east of the Nile, where it takes its birth from the Victoria Nyanza at the Ripon Falls. Surrounded on three sides by water, for the most part low and thickly wooded, Busoga was at one time the garden of Uganda, and a thriving, populous province. But it is also one most beloved of tropical pests such as mosquitoes, embwa or dog -flies, termites, wild pigs, leopards, and worst of all the tsetse fly. It is as the Irishman said, a “ disthressful country.” One may get used to having one’s person devoured by the embwa, one’s house by the termites, and one’s children by the leopards and hyaenas. One may even ignore the bites of the tsetse, until he brings the dread infection of the sleeping-sickness. Then, as the deadly lethargy of the disease creeps over the infected, the equally deadly numbness of despair and indifference and fatalism paralyses the healthy. Weeds choke the banana plantations ; the plots of sweet potatoes grow smaller, the ever-hungry wild vegetation devours foot after foot of cultivated ground, and in its trail spoils, tramples, and devours the wild pig. The sleeping-sickness has “let in the jungle.”

Then upon a people decimated and enfeebled by disease comes that ever-dreaded tropical scourge, a drought. Famine completes what the tsetse has begun, and whole countries are left to the ravages of the jungle folk, who thrive accordingly and grow bolder and lustier as their natural foes diminish in numbers and hardihood.

Only by strenuous endeavours upon the part of the Government and missions has the total extinction of the Basoga been prevented. Final depopulation of infected areas by statute has limited the scope of sleeping-sickness devastation ; large expenditure of time and effort on the part of all Europeans, and of money on the part of the Government has saved the lives of thousands who must otherwise have died of famine. Rewards for the destruction of pigs encourage organised hunts, which rescue some crops at least from the devourer.

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And last, but not least, the building of the short railway from the Ripon Falls to Kakindu, the highest point where the Nile is navigable, is now providing work at good wages, with ample rations, for many men who may thus be enabled to make a fresh start in life.

On the confines of the Protectorate in the extreme west and the extreme east lie the two cannibal tribes of Uganda, the Bahuku and the Bagisu. The Bahuku are the last tribe met with to the west before the traveller plunges into the gloomy wilds of the pigmy forest. They are not very numerous and speak a Bantu dialect of which nothing much is known at present, and they have as yet no written language, no European having ever lived among them. I found them in 1902 very wild and shy, owing to the unwelcome visits of Belgian soldiers, and with difficulty persuaded one or two to lead me for an hour or so into the great forest. On the same occasion pigmies were not to be seen, having fled south for the same purpose of avoiding the attentions of uncontrolled police !

The other cannibal tribe, the Bagisu, inhabit the slopes of Mount Elgon, where they are crowded together in a comparatively small area of fertile country, which they have brought to a high degree of cultivation. The clan system is well developed among them and its regulations rigidly observed. Each clan, for the most part, occupies a strip of country running down from the foothills of Elgon, and to that strip it is obliged to keep for all purposes. Many are the fights due to the poaching

1 1 of firewood and pasture, and the mission dispensary at Nabumale is often busy with broken heads and limbs in consequence. The cannibal practices indulged in are many of them very loathsome and disgusting, and the tribe naturally present a low type of character in every respect which provides the very stoniest of soil for sowing the seed of the Christian religion. Their dialect is one of the oldest forms of Bantu speech in Uganda, and exhibits a great fondness for sibilants, which is rather irritating to a stranger at first. A letter of frequent occurrence is an explosive s, resembling is in pronunciation, and corresponding to z in other kindred dialects, such as Lunyoro. I found that a knowledge of Lunyoro enabled me to gather the meaning of Lugisu to some extent, even when it was quite unfamiliar to me.

Like the Banyoro, the Bagisu combine the cultivation of plaintains with the growing of grain ; they plant large areas with plaintains, but as often as not allow them to get quite overgrown with grass and weeds, so as to be useless for food production. So much time is spent on the manufacture and consumption of beer, that little is left for clearing and weeding, and famine threatens in consequence, whenever a dry season results in a poor millet crop. The Bagisu keep large numbers of very poor cattle, but so overdrive and overmilk them that it is no wonder the stock is a degenerate one. Often when cycling along the roads, one is put in danger of one’s life by the sudden appearance of a herd of harassed cattle, which come dashing

SMALL HUTS ON THE SUDD OF LAKE NAGWO : DEVIL-HUT IN FRONT OF THE

LEFT-HAND HUT.