Smithsonian Libraries From the RUSSELL E. TRAIN AFRICANA COLLECTION MAN AND BEAST IN EASTERN ETHIOPIA MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO Oo tMHeU 3cim (^20 MAN AND BEAST IN EASTERN ETHIOPIA From Observations made in British East Africa, Uganda, and the Sudan BY J. BLAND-SUTTON, F.R.C.S.Eng. With Two Hundred and Four Engravings 07i Wood MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 191 1 Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. AND AT BUNGAY", SUFFOLK, DT 6^3 n 1 1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . I L— MOMBASA . 4 IT— THE UGANDA RAILWAY . 1 5 III. --THE VICTORIA NYANZA . . • . 2/ IV. — ARCHIPELAGOES AND ISLANDS OF THE LAKE ... 4I V.— UGANDA . 56 VI. — KAMPALA . 68 VII.— DRUMS . 83 VIII. — MASAI . 92 IX. — WA-KIKUYU . 105 X.— ORNAMENTS FOR EARS AND LIPS . I18 XI. — NDOROBO . I3I XII. — KAVIRONDOS . . . 140 XIII. — ETHIOPIAN FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING . 1 56 XIV. — ON SAFARI' . . . 166 XV. — AN UNCAGED ZOO . 180 XVI.— THE LION . 201 XVII. — THE CROCODILE . . 213 XVIII. — THE CRATERS OF THE RIFT VALLEY . 226 XIX.— THE RIFT VALLEY AND ITS LAKES . 243 XX. — THORNS . 252 XXL — HORNS . 266 XXII.— ANTELOPES . 276 XXIII.— GAZELLES AND COBS . 287 VI CONTENTS PAGE XXIV.— GNUS AND DUIKERS . . . 299 XXV.— PESTS : JIGGERS, TICKS, AND MOSQUITOES . 307 XXVI.— FLIES AND SLEEPING SICKNESS . . 31S XXVII.— TERMITES (WHITE ANTS) . 3^7 XXVIII.— BEAKS . 337 XXIX.— CRESTS . 354 XXX.— TAILS . 367 XXXI.— IVORY . 387 XXXII.— HIPPOPOTAMUS . 405 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Porter with an elephant’s tusk . 3 An Arab doorway, Mombasa . 5 Papaw tree . ... 7 Baobab tree . 9 Castor Oil plant . 10 Gecko . . . 12 Thomson’s Gazelle . 16 Parasitic Ficus . 19 Water-carrier . 24 Nandi woman and baby . 25 Iron twisted by an elephant . ' . 26 Bagrus docmac . 28 Screaming Sea-Eagle . 29 Speke’s Antelope . 34 Mud-fish . 36 Head of Mud-fish . 37 Mud-fish in its Cocoon . 38 Papyrus raft . 39 Victoria Nyanza (map) . 42 Fetish Hut . 47 Uganda boat . 49 Sesse boat on the lake . 51 Hippopotamus harpoons . 53 Hippopotamus and calf . 55 Banana . 61 Banana leaves . 63 Boy collecting termites . 64 Scaly anteater . 65 Spirit-shelter . 67 Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Ant-hill . . . 69 Chameleons . 73 Mutesa’s tomb and Mutesa’s grave . 74 The Thatched Cathedral and drummery . 77 Interior of the Uganda Cathedral . 78 St. Paul’s Cathedral, Uganda . . 79 Hannington’s Raven . 80 Uganda drum . 84 Women drummers at Suna’s tomb . 85 Sesse Guitar . 87 Ashantee fetish drum . 88 Church drums . 90 Niam-Niam war drum . 91 Masai warrior . 93 Masai arm-clamp . 94 Masai woman . • . 97 Masai bleeding an ox . 99 Masai Bull . loi Honey barrel . io6 Gallipot as an ear-ornament .... * . 107 Honey barrel in a tree . 108 Woman carrying wood . no Kikuyu woman pounding grain . t 1 1 Kikuyu woman with many ear-rings . 112 Ear ornament . 114 The Spotted Hymna . 115 Skull of hymna . 116 External ear, or pinna . 119 Ear of a Masai . 120 Stone ball for the ear . 12 1 Ear stone m situ . . 122 Masai ear-ring . 123 Ear with reeds in it . 124 Ear with wooden plug . 125 Woman with a labret and ear plugs . 127 Murle woman with labret . • . . . 128 A pelele . 130 Ndorobo elephant spear . 132 Ndorobo with ear buckets . 133 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix PAGE Ndorobo fire-making . 136 Colobus Monkey . 138 Kavirondo woman with tassel . 141 Kavirondo’s tail . 142 Kavirondo matron . • . . . . 144 Ja-luo girl . 145 Kavirondo women with fish-baskets . 147 Stone wall of a Kavirondo village . 148 Interior of a Kavirondo village . 149 Unmarried Kissii girl . 150 Kavirondo milkmaid . 151 Kavirondo charms . 153 Doorway in the wall of a village . 155 Kikuyu man with a paunch cap . 157 Masai mode of hair-dressing . 158 Nandi dandy . I59 Suk with chignon . 160 Shilluk dandy . 160 Dodinga head-dress . 162 Mashukulumbi chignon . 163 Ja-luo hair fashion . 164 Ja-luo ear-rings .... • . 164 Head of Reed-buck . 170 The Flamingo . . . 17 1 Head of Wart-Hog . 172 The Impalla . 174 The Serval Cat . i75 The Silent Lake with Ibis and Hippopotamus . 178 Serval Kitten . i79 Aard-vark or Antbear . 185 Defassa Waterbuck . 186 Grant’s Zebra . 188 Donkey with cross stripes on the legs . 189 Oxpeckers . 193 Coney . 195 Honey-guide . 197 Organ Shrike . 198 Speke’s Black metahtoned Whistler . 199 Prickle on the lion’s tail . 203 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Crocodile . Head of young Crocodile . Teeth of a Crocodile . Skull of Crocodile . Monitor . Plover . Buff-backed Heron . Danger at the Pool . Giant Lobelias . Lobelia ground . . Giant Groundsel . Lobelia ground on Ruvvenzori . . , Flower column of a Giant Lobelia . Ambatch Canoe . The bow-string hemp . . Sisal Plant . Acacia thorns . Leaf of a willow with stipules . . . . Candelabra euphorbia . Kigelia tree . . . Antelope’s skull and horn-core . . . Skull of Roan Antelope . Skull of Hartebeest . Skull of Bubaline Antelope . . . . , Tail of African Elephant . Head of Chameleon with three horns Bushbuck . . Bongo . Kudu . • . . . . Elands . Oryx . . Horn sheath of Kudu . Grant’s Gazelle . Gerenuk . Steinboks . Head of Dik-dik . Karamojo necklace . Oribi . Waterbuck . PAGE 214 215 216 218 -220 22 I 222 223 227 230 234 238 241 248 253 254 256 258 260 263 268 270 271 272 274 275 278 279 281 282 284 285 289 291 292 293 294 295 296 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi PAGE Horns of Mrs. Gray’s Waterbuck . 297 (}nu . 300 Heads of Gnus . 301 Hartebeest on ant-hill . 302 Duiker . 303 Wild Dog . 305 Sand Flea . 3°^ Tick . 310 Mosquito . 315 Tsetse Flies . . . 320 Fossil tsetse-fly . 321 Trypanosomes . 323 Tsetse-fly . 326 Termites . 328 Queen . 329 Ant-hill of unusual shape . 333 Aard-Wolf . 335 Skull of Aard-Wolf . 336 Open-bill . . - 338 Shell of Ampullaria . 339 Hornbills . 341 Head of Ground Hornbill . 342 Whale-headed Stork . 344 Darter . . 345 Marabou Stork . 348 Head of Skimmer . 350 Skimmer . ' . 352 Hammerhead . 357 Secretary Bird . 358 African Hoopoe . 359 European Hoopoe . ' . 360 Great Crested Touraco . 361 Head of Crowned Crane . 363 Crowned Crane . 364 Helmet Shrike . 365 Weaver Finch . 369 Weaver Finch (dancing) . 370 Mouse Bird . 372 Shrike . 373 XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1‘AGK Sunbirds . 374 Tecoma flowers . 375 Crested Bustard and Bee-eater . 378 Coucal . 381 Racket-winged Nightjar . 382 Pennant- winged Nightjar . 383 Long-tailed African Dove . 385 Buff-backed Heron on an elephant . 389 Musket ball surrounded by secondary dentine . 392 Elephant trap . 394 Spear in an elephant’s tusk . 395 Spiral tusks . 397 Ivory panel. B.c. 850-700 . 398 Fetish tusk-trumpet . . • . . . . 399 Elephant’s tusk in transverse section . 401 Musket ball in the pulp chamber of a tusk . 403 Hippopotamus . 406 Skull of hippopotamus . 407 Circular tusk of hippopotamus . 409 Thorn in the foot . 41 1 MAN AND BEAST IN EASTERN ETHIOPIA INTRODUCTION A STUDY of the distribution of animal life over the globe, especially in regard to birds, has taught zoologists that the division of the Earth into hemispheres and continents is not convenient for their purpose. In 1857, Sclater suggested a division of the world from an ornithological point of view into six regions ; Africa, a part of Arabia, and Madagascar constitute the important Ethiopian Region. The revival of the name Ethiopia is a happy event. The ancient Grreeks called a large tract of north-eastern Africa Ethiopia ; to them it was a land of magic and mystery. To Europeans in the twentieth century large tracts of the African continent remain mysterious. From a zoological stand¬ point the Ethiopian Region is one of the most remarkable on the globe. Those parts of it known as the British East Africa Protectorate and the Uganda Protectorate (thanks to the Uganda Railway) have been rendered accessible to all men and women interested in the native races of these two countries, as well as the mammalian and avian forms which have lived there almost undis¬ turbed by man from remote periods. I say undisturbed by man, because it will be obvious to those who visit the great meridional trench known as the Rift Valley that the district has been the seat of volcanic disturb¬ ance on a stupendous scale within a comparatively recent period. In the immediate vicinity of the valley B 1 2 EASTERN ETHIOPIA there are many extinct volcanoes, and the craters of some contain forests in which mighty beasts, such as lions, elephants, and elands, roam. Dotted along the trench are numerous lakes, the resort of immense numbers of birds, including some of the strangest forms living on the earth to-day, and also the biggest. The lion dominates the “rolling seas of grass”; the rhinoceros shows resentment to trespassers among the bushes and scrub ; elephants use the dense forests as retreats ; and crocodiles lie in wait in nearly all the lakes and rivers, ready to drown any unwary man, beast, or bird that comes within reach of their dangerous, trap-like jaws or treacherous tails. Anxious to see something of Eastern Ethiopia I made a journey, accompanied by my friend and colleague Dr. Corny ns Berkeley, to the Victoria Nyanza. We started from Mombasa, and in due course reached the lake and visited its northern shore. On the return journey we went “On Safari” in the Rift Valley. Whilst writing this book I realised that some subjects discussed in it could be m_ade clearer by a visit to that part of the Nile which courses through the torrid Sudan, especially the Sudd region around Lake No. With this object I made a boat journey up the White Nile and the Bahr-el-Gebel as high as Rejaf. This journey was full of interest, for the Nile Valley is a convenient highway for European birds seeking com¬ fortable winter quarters in the forest and lake regions of the Rift Valley. In this book I describe my im¬ pressions in a series of essays. Seven of these deal with Mombasa, the Uganda Railway, the Victoria Nyanza, and LTganda ; seven with the natives we met during our visit, such as the Masai, Wa-Kikuyu, Ndorobo, and Kavirondo, including an account of their curious ear ornaments and modes of hair-dressing. A O description of the natural features of the Rift Valley occupies ten essays, under the titles of Crater, Lakes, INTRODUCTION 3 Lions, Crocodiles, Thorns, Horns, Antelopes, etc. Some of the extraordinary birds are described under the titles of Beaks, Crests, Tails, and Wings. British East Africa is a “ land of unsettled problems,” and Uganda abounds in ticks, jiggers, tsetse-flies, and gnats — a dreadful set of pests for man and beast. These scourges are here considered, as well as one of the greatest curses of Africa — ivory. A large tusk is a load for a porter. B 2 I MOMBASA — THE GATE BY WHICH COMMERCE AND CHRISTIANITY ENTERED EAST AFRICA It is undeniable that after spending fifteen days on the high seas the eyes and the mind grow weary of the apparently interminable watery part of the world surrounding the ship. Watch the excitement among the passengers when the news “ land in sight ” travels round the decks, saloons, and smoking-room. I am convinced that the majority of passengers soon grow weary of the sea, even when the weather is uniformly fair and sunny : some of them become quarrelsome ; many pass sleepless nights, especially in tropical and subtropical regions, and few really enjoy themselves. When the weather is bad and the ship ‘"pitches” or “ rolls,” and more especially when the decks are awash, the lot of the passenger is often very uncomfortable, and those who are not sea-sick are honestly “ sick of the sea.” Under such conditions, instead of being elated with the interminable procession of roaring waves, they will, with honest old Gonzalo, freely give “ a thousand furlongs of the sea for an acre of barren ground ; long heath, brown furze, anything.” We had spent seven days in an uncomfortable ship ; its deck was hampered with mules from Somaliland and with pilgrims. It is true we saw on the way the mighty Cape Guardafui, which lacks a lighthouse, much to the advantage of the natives living along the coast, who, like the Cornish wreckers of olden days, thrive on 4 1 MOMBASA 5 stranded ships. But this merely increased our delight when the ship entered the narrow old harbour of Mombasa at daybreak. The white people in Mombasa are mainly English Many of the houses are well constructed and bear unmis¬ takable-evidence of an Arab origin ; there are several interesting old doors and doorways. 6 EASTERN ETHIOPIA I officials, traders, and agents. During the construction of the Uganda Railway, it was necessary to import twenty thousand men from India, chiefly Punjabis. On the completion of the railway the Indians settled in the country and became store-keepers, clerks, cooks, engine drivers, stokers, carpenters, artisans, station-masters, telegraphists, and moneylenders. In consequence Indians abound throughout the inhabited parts of the British East Africa Protectorate. They are shrewd, enterprising, and thrifty. This wholesale introduction of Indians explains the nature of the currency, for rupees, annas, with cents to replace pice, constitute the mechan¬ ism of exchange. The black (native) population consists of Swahilis and Arabs. The native quarter is situated on the part of the town facing the harbour. The houses are built of wattle and dab and thatched with dry grass. This part of the towm is traversed by narrow streets such as pre¬ vail in the native quarters of towns in Eastern countries. Many of the houses, especially those occupied by the Indians, are well constructed and bear unmistakable evidence of an Arab origin ; there are several interesting old doors and doorways. The native town has a commodious fish market and an interesting vegetable market. Each is worth an occasional visit, for curious fishes and fruits may often be seen there. Many towns and islands which present an artistic and alluring prospect from the sea are woefully disappoint¬ ing on landing. This is not the case with Mombasa. We landed on the second day of the New Year and found Vasco da Gama Street adorned with the flamboy¬ ant gold mohur in full flower. The brilliant purple bougainvillea grew around and covered the walls of houses, hid the clumsy wooden pillars of the verandahs, entwined itself along rudely arranged trellis-work, adorned the gardens of the Law Court, and decorated the weird and massive trunks of the mighty leafless baobabs. Few men have their names so exquisitely I MOMBASA 7 preserved as is the case with the great French circum¬ navigator Bougainville, who introduced this beautiful plant into the Eastern hemisphere from South America. The Papaw tree {Carira papaya) with its curious fruit sessile on the upper part of the stem. The tree attains a height of 5 metres (20 feet). All excellent road traverses the island from the old port to Kilindini. It is bordered by huge mango trees 8 EASTERN ETHIOPIA I ricli in foliage and fertile with fruit. Alternating with the mango trees are groups of cocoa-nut palms with their fruit ripening in the sun, and the Papaw tree [Carica 'papaya) with its curious fruit sessile on the upper part of the stem. The male flowers are borne on a separate tree from that which bears the fruit. The papaja fruit when ripe is edible, but does not deserve the epithet “ delicious” so thoroughly merited by the fruit of the mango. The fruit of the papaw is considered to aid digestion, and it has been proved that the milky sap (latex) which exudes from its stem and leaves contains a ferment (papayotin) resembling pepsin : it is also averred that if meat be wrapped in its leaves two hours before being cooked it becomes tender. The baobab, or monkey bread tree, abounds on the island and adjacent coast land. This, the biggest tree in the world, was named Adansonia digitata after Adanson, the celebrated l)otanist. I measured the circumference of the trunk of some of these trees, and found several in which it exceeded sixty feet. Examples have been recorded with a o^irth of one hundred and twelve feet. These trees only bear leaves during the rainy season, and the bare branches with the pendulous fruit look very weird, and as they stretch heavenward recall strongly the human beings transformed into trees as represented in Gustav Dore’s illustration of Dante’s seventh circle of the Inferno. There is good excuse for the opinion held by some of the native tribes that these fantastic trees are inhabited by ghosts. The baobab is useful to the natives, for they eat the fruit, and the outer shell forms an excellent calabash which is in great demand for making water buckets, but its wood is light, soft, and useless. The most northern baobab grows in the Palace garden, Khartoum : it was planted by Schweinfurth. It is worth while when the tide is out to walk down to the shore of the old harbour ; this is (piite a simple matter, for a ])athway leads to the shore by the side of I MOMBASA 9 the old fort built by the Portuguese and now used as a jail. It has been already mentioned that Mombasa is a coral island, and has, like the adjacent coast, a fringing reef. When the tide is out, it is easy to walk across the reef which is then covered by a few inches of water : The Baobab or Monkey Bread Tree. even at high tide the water is only a few feet in depth, but in the comparatively narrow interval between the reef frinffinsf the land and that surrounding the island, the water suddenly attains a depth of sixteen fathoms. This makes it necessary for navigators to exercise 10 EASTERN ETHIOPIA I extreme care in entering the harbour. The dangers encountered by a ship threading its way along this narrow channel were well illustrated at the time of my visit, for a steamship was lying high upon the reef immediately under the lighthouse, and as all efforts to remove the ship into deep water had proved unavailing, the vessel was being dismantled. The Castor-oil Plant {Ricinus communis) is sure to attract attention. It is instructive, also amusing, when the tide is low to walk over the reef among the half-exposed rocks nnd examine the marine life occupying the pools or lurking under the movable pieces of rock. Such pools and recesses are occupied by hundreds of crabs ; as they I MOMBASA 1 1 scuttle away sideways and with astonishing quickness it requires some alertness on the part of the collector to catch them. The parts of the islands immediately bordering the sea are thick with vegetation, and the castor-oil plant {Ricinus communis) is sure to attract attention. Another common plant is the Cape gooseberry. The wealth and beauty of the butterflies flitting among the plants soon impress the visitor with bhe fact that he is in a tropical region. The birds, too, are interesting, especially the weaver finches, some of which build their nests in the branches of the bougainvilleas that grow in the gardens bordering the roadway ; even in those which overhang it. The comparative security of birds is shown by the freedom in which they build in the haunts of men. The verandah of the Court of Justice is adorned by the nests of swallows. Every part of this fertile island teems with life, animal and vegetable. My visits to the club used to interest me, for pretty weaver finches flit through the branches of the trees in the club gardens, lizards ran along the railings, and in the silence of the library it was amusing to watch geckoes dart across the ceiling catch¬ ing flies. In the short evening hour the European population takes the air. The chief mode of locomotion is the jinricksha, but there is a narrow trolley- way running across the island to Kilindini with lateral branches to official residences. The small cars which run on these lines are pushed by native boys. These cars and jinrickshas are very useful, especially as there are no horses. There is a cosmic phenomenon of some interest which can be seen and studied in the Indian Ocean and throughout the East far better than in England, namely the zodiacal light. Shortly before the dawn, a lenticular patch of soft white light, with its base on the eastern horizon and its apex pointing to the zenith. 12 EASTERN ETHIOPIA I is seen exactly over the spot where the sun is about to appear. The extent and intensity of the luminous Ill the silence of the library it was amusing to watch a gecko dart across tlie ceiling catching flies. The inset shows the lamellae which enable it to climb easily and quickly smooth vertical surfaces. area vary greatly, and the variations depend very much on the condition of the atmosphere. In the evening, about an hour after sunset, a similar luminous cone appears in the sky at the place where the sun has just quitted the horizon. 1 MOMBASA 13 The zodiacal light is visible in Northern latitudes in the morning during the months of September and October, and in the evening during February and March. For many years I have watched for this cone of light in England and never felt satisfied that I had seen it. In 1903, when I was watching from the deck of a ship in the Indian Ocean in order to see the planet Mercury rise shortly before the dawn, the eastern sky was illuminated by a large triangular area of soft white light, so bright that I hastily looked at my watch fearing lest I had come on deck too late, and had missed my opportunity of seeing Mercury. To my OTeat astonishment this beautiful luminous area con- O tracted, shortened, and faded away ; the darkness again became profound until the true dawn. Then, realising that I had seen the “false dawn,” the lines of Omar’s quatrain came instinctively to my lips : — Before the phantom of False morning died, Methought a voice within the tavern cried “When all the Temple is prepared within, Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside.” I have often watched on deck in the early morning when crossing the Indian Ocean, but have never seen the light so intense as on this occasion. A captain who had spent many years in traversing this ocean told me that one morning when lying outside an Indian harbour, with a difficult entry, waiting for the dawn, the “ false dawn ” was so bright that he mistook it for the real dawn, and, having weighed anchor, proceeded to steam into the harbour, but the light faded and he had to await the real dawn. The “ false dawn ” or dawn’s “ left hand,” as it is sometimes called in the poetical imagery of the East, is of some concern to the jnuezzin who wakes the “ drowsy worshipper ” by shouting from the minaret. The Mahomedan day begins with the real dawn, an EASTERN ETHIOPIA I important moment in connection with the fasting during Ramadan. The zodiacal light is often brilliant in the evening, especially in the neighbourhood of the equator, and it persists longer than the morning form. AYhen the moon shines in the early morning it is difficult to dis¬ tinguish the false dawn with certainty ; when Venus is a morning or an evening star, her rays are sufficient to obscure the zodiacal light. The brilliancy of those stars which lie in the luminous triangle is in no way diminished. In Mombasa the stars sometimes shine with extra¬ ordinary brilliancy, and it is an impressive sight to see Orion glittering in the zenith, with Sirius, Fomalhaut, and the Southern Cross, in the east, and the Great Bull ‘‘ low on the Western Main.” Among other natural phenomena of the tropics which appeal to those visiting these regions for the first time, mention may be made of the great width and vividness of the rainbow ; the rapidity with which the sun appears to rise above or slip below the rim of the horizon at sunrise and sunset, and the briefness of the twilight. It is true that in order to appreciate the cosmic as well as the biologic aspects of countries on, or near, the equator “ they must be seen with northern eyes.” II THE UGANDA RAILWAY U. R. These are the initials of one of the most romantic railways in the world. It starts from Mombasa and follows in the main the old caravan route to Kavirondo. After many difficulties encountered in its construction and a great expenditure of money, the first locomotive ran into Kisumu (Port Florence), on the Victoria Nyanza, in December, 1901. The distance from the sea-coast to the terminus at the lake is 580 miles. From Port Florence steamers convey passengers and goods across the lake to the towns on the northern shore : the chief of these being Entebbe, Kampala, and Jinja. The distance from Port Florence to Entebbe is 175 miles. The country traversed by the rail¬ way is very interesting. After leaving Mombasa and crossing the bridge over the Makupa creek the line ascends a steep grade which affords an excellent view of the island and glimpses of the sea : it passes through groves of cocoa-nut palms, orange and pome¬ granate trees, and banana plantations. Later the railway traverses the Taru desert, which is covered with scrub and small trees, the timber of which is large enough to be used as fuel for the engines. Wood is used almost exclusively for the engines, and the heaps of coal so common around big stations and junctions in Europe are here replaced by long stacks of logs, each log measuring six feet in length. In some parts of the journey the logs are obtained from the tall juniper trees, and they are as fragrant as cedar-wood. 15 6 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II About 280 miles from Mombasa the railways enters the Athi plain, and around Simba station lions are plentiful. The rhinoceros and giraffe are occasionally seen in this section of the line. The amount of game on the plain varies with the condition of the grass : when favourable hundreds of zebra, herds of hartebeest (kongoni) and wildebeest (gnu) will be seen. Ostriches are often “ on view ” walking one behind the other, apparently as self-conscious as bridesmaids walking up the aisle of a church in the wake of the bride at a fashionable weddine:. These birds minofle with zebras on the grazing grounds. Scattered about in small herds, often in close proximity to the line, this pretty gazelle will be recognised. It was discovered by Joseph Thomson in liis journey through Masailand to the Victoria Nyanza (1883). II THE UGANDA RAILWAY / Scattered about in small herds, often in close proximity to the line, the pretty Thomson’s gazelles will be recognised. These antelopes as well as Grant’s gazelles mix with the herds of hartebeest and zebra. In the distance a number of vultures are sometimes seen flying around and forming a vortex. This indi¬ cates in many instances that a lion is busy feeding, and these birds are waiting to play the part of scavengers when the beast has finished his meal and retired from the carcase. After crossing the Athi river the line runs to Nairobi, 327 miles from Mombasa. Nairobi This town is situated on the river of the same name, and occupies a place where formerly lions roamed and roared. In 1909 a lion walked up the principal street at eight o’clock in the evening, and a man on a bicycle ran into him, fortunately without harm. Nairobi is the capital of the Ukamba Province. The Governor of the British East Africa Protectorate resides here, and the Commissioner of the Province. The chief office of the Uganda Railway is in this town : the locomotive and carriage workshops occupy an extensive area near the station. The railway works are worth a visit : natives may be seen working steam- hammers and riveting boilers who a year previously were running about the country naked. The town consists of Government offices, hotels, shops, banks and houses, many of which are built mainly of corrugated iron; hence it has been facetiously named Tinville. There are some substantial stone and brick buildings, notably the Post Office, Treasury, the Roman Catholic Church and its schools. There is also an excellent hospital, and a hospitable club. Efforts are also being made to establish a comprehensive local museum for the purpose of illustrating the Ethnology, C EASTERN ETHIOPIA II Zoology, Botany, Geology, and the native arts of the British East Africa and Uganda Protectorates. Nairobi is a centre for settlers. Jt is situated in the midst of a fertile country from which supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables are readily obtained. There is a local market for meat, fruit, and vegetables. The surrounding country contains wild animals in profusion, and an official who lives on the outskirts of the town informed me that his wife found snakes in the garden, that he had shot a kongoni (hartebeest) in the same garden, and sometimes amused himself by shooting a zebra from the verandah. That portion of the town lying along the river was formerly a papyrus swamp, and this beautiful rush still grows along its margins, but the land adjacent to the river is now a fertile garden where mealies, cabbages, French beans, bananas, and pomegranates flourish. Castor-oil plants, coffee trees, and Cape gooseberries grow wild. Land has risen in value and Nairobi is destined to become a big and prosperous town. The streets are lighted with electricity and electric trams will replace the jinrickshas which are now the common vehicle for the conveyance of passengers to and from the station. VVe spent delightful days in Nairobi, making the acquaintance of many of the officials, all willing to relate their experiences and help us to obtain some knowledge on matters connected with the country, the natives, the animals, the birds, and the pests. In the woods there is a Ficus which, when fully grown, may measure six or even eight feet around the base of the trunk and attain a height of fifty or sixty feet ; it throws out large branches with heavy foliage. When the head of the tree is carefully examined, the trunk of a dead tree will be seen projecting among the branches. The natural history of the tree is this : — The outside tree is parasitic in the beginning and, like an outrunner of ivy, climbs up a well-grown tree ; as the parasite II THE UGANDA RAILWAY 19 grows and climbs its stalks coalesce around the trunk of its host ; in the course of a few years these originally A tall tree in the deadly embrace of a parasitic Ficus. independent stalks of the parasite will so fuse together that the exterior of the trunk appears perfectly uniform. c 2 20 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II T examined several of these trees in various stages of growth and satisfied myself on these points. . In some instances, tiie implicated tree seems as if surrounded by boa constrictors ; before its life is completely destroyed, the branches and leaves of the original tree may be seen mingling with those of the destroying parasite. The most complete specimen I was able to examine stands in the grounds of the French Mission about three miles from Nairobi. The figs on these trees, though tasteless, are eaten by Masai children, pigeons, hornbills and starlings (Hinde). The Masai display reverence for this tree and occasionally propitiate it by killing a goat beneath it. From the Sports Ground the snowy summit of Kili¬ manjaro is usually visible in the afternoon ; and about four o’clock the beautiful snow-clad majestic peak of Kenia (17,000 feet), glorified with the colours of sunset, appears unveiled above the clouds. After leaving Nairobi the railway climbs the slope to Kikuyu station (340 miles from Mombasa), passing through forests which shelter elephants to Escarpment station, and here reaches the edge of the famous Rift Valley at an elevation of 7,830 feet above sea-level. The train descends the ravine to Kitjabe, which marks the limit of the Ukamba Province. Kitjabe means “ windy,” and the place is well described by Sir Charles Eliot as “ a dusty gusty station.” The view of the Rift Valley from the escarpment is inexpressibly grand, with the great mass of Longonot rising from the floor of the valley. The descent to Kitjabe station is fascinating. The line passes across numerous viaducts built at a great height above ravines. The station is half-way down the descent to the valley, and at this point the view is magnificent. Above we see the well-wooded hills ; below, the slope to Lake Naivasha, and beyond is the Mau Escarpment on the opposite side of the valley. In the descent from the Kikuyu escarpment to the floor of the valley the line II THE UGANDA RAILWAY 21 descends 1,400 feet, then passes along the valley to Naivasha station (390 miles) within sight of the lake. Along this beautiful valley game of all kinds is plentiful ; antelope, zebra, ostrich, and birds of large size or beautiful plumage can be seen from the train. This part of the line is wonderful, not only from the variety and abundance of birds and animals which inhabit or visit it, but also from the weird scenery caused by the changing colour along the escarpment and around the two extinct volcanoes Longonot and Suswa. The large herds of cattle, the flocks of sheep, and of goats belonging to the pastoral Masai are additional features of interest in this extraordinary and fertile valley. The Rift Valley in the neighbourhood of Lake Naivasha is 6,300 feet above the level of the sea ; its floor is clothed with grass and clover, with here and there a collection of small trees. The turf is much like what we are accustomed to see in England ; indeed, when covered with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep it resembles an English park, except that the cattle are humped and a few Thomson’s gazelles may be seen running among the cattle. The third section of the railway ends at Nakuru, which is a town lying under the extinct volcano Menengai, and is approximately the centre of the Rift Valley. This town is the starting point of excursions to Lake Baringo. After leaving Nakuru the train climbs the Mau Escarpment (460 miles), where it attains an altitude of 8,300 feet. Here it leaves the Rift Valley and traverses the fertile land and the forests of large trees in the Kisumu Province. The line then descends through the Nyando Valley to Muhoroni, where the country becomes comparatively flat. The most conspicuous features in this part of the route are the enormous number of acacia trees, whose stems and branches resemble inverted umbrellas, the kigelia or sausage-tree, and huge can¬ delabra euphorbias. 22 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II From Mulioroni the railway runs under the Nandi Escarpment and reaches Port Florence, its terminus at Kavirondo Bay, Victoria Nyanza, where a comfortable steamboat conveys passengers to Uganda. Whilst waiting for the steamer to start we spent an interesting hour watching the fishermen on the lake shore, as well as amusing ourselves with the crowned cranes, which could be approached as easily as the fowls in a barn-yard. Throughout the greater part of a railway journey from the coast to the Victoria Nyanza the country presents a panorama of absorbing interest. The variations in the physical conditions of the provinces traversed by the railway are remarkable. After leaving Mombasa with its heat, humidity, and fertility, the line slowly climbs a long extensive slope covered with scrub, and unsuitable for cultivation. Scrub is a term in constant use in relation to land in East Africa ; it may be described as coarse grass, with stunted, thorny bushes growing among it, with trees here and there. An extensive tract covered in this way is known as the Nyika (wilderness or desert). From the moment the train leaves the Salisbury Bridge attention is sure to be arrested by the brick-red earth. This is especially noticeable in the railway cuttings. A large part of the Protectorate is covered with a sheet of lava, which is gradually undergoing disintegration and forms a very fertile soil. It is curious to see the huge ant-hills arising by the side of the railway, many of them, ten feet high and as red as any chimney pot in rural England. Some of them present several openings and look like a cluster of chimney pots. Occasionally a tree will be found 'growing in the midst of an ant-hill, and here and there ant nests will be seen in trees. Around Nairobi, and especially in the Kikuyu country, honey-barrels hang in the trees, and they form curious objects as seen from the train. II THE UGANDA RAILWAY 23 The temperature throughout the journey varies within very wide limits. It is a curious and pleasant experience to pass from the moist and sticky heat of the coast to the dry and agreeable air of the Ukamba Province, but it is a surprise to wake up in the early morning on the Athi Plain, in the Kikuyu forest, or at the Mau Escarpment shivering with cold and to find the temperature at, or very little above, the freezing point. The alterations in the physical and atmospheric conditions in the countries traversed by the railway is attended with corresponding changes in the characters of the trees, shrubs, bushes, and plants. As we leave the coast, the tropical vegetation is gradually replaced by the prickly acacia and the euphorbia. Around Nairobi the landscape is beautified with the calodendron, hibiscus, salvia, ficus, and wild coffee. The Kikuyu forests abound in junipers, wild olives, brambles, violet||i clover, and bracken. Higher still comes the scrub, tile prickly bush, and the acacia. In the rains these trees are covered with leaves, and are further beautified by the convolvulus and other creepers which invade them and burst into flower. The tribes of men living in the districts traversed by the railway are sure to interest travellers. The chief of these are Wa- Kikuyu, Masai, Kavirondo, and Nandi. In a railway journey through 580 miles of country it is probable that examples of all these races will be seen. Many come down to watch the train from sheer curiosity. Others walk along the footway by the side of the line or will be seen engaged in work, or herding cattle. Many are as interested in the white passenger as the latter is curious about them. Some of the natives come to barter or to sell curiosities and especially spears. Among the various contrivances which civilisation has introduced into East Africa, there is probably none which the natives find more useful than the kerosene 24 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II can ; it is greatly appreciated by them and has replaced gourds in their domestic economy. The kerosene can is used as a bucket for drawing water from a well, or as a pail for its conveyance. When such a can is divided and a hole made in the end of either half it becomes a useful funnel. On visiting a village it is common to see these cans used as sauce¬ pans, baking - tins, ovens, and parrot cages ; receptacles for pombe (beer) ; useful boxes for clothes or books, and travelling trunks ; one can well- packed is a sufficient, as well as a con venient load for a porter to carry on his head, and two of them are easily adjusted as panniers for donkeys. The European sett¬ lers use the kerosene can as tubs for shrubs and as flower pots ; the edges of the cans when used for flowers The kerosene can has largely replaced gourds are CUt iutO triangular for the conveyance of water in British , , 1*^,1 East Africa. . patterns, much in the same way as the Masid herdsmen clip the ears of their cattle. When the kerosene can is useless as a vessel for holding liquids, it is hammered out and the square sheets are useful for roofing huts. II THE UGANDA RAILWAY 25 Travelling along the Uganda Railway from Mombasa to its lake terminus at Port Florence, the tourist will see zebras, hartebeests (kongoni), wildebeests (gnus), Thomson’s gazelles, Grant’s gazelles, wart-hogs, and [Photograph by F. L. Henderson. The Simple Life. Nandi woman and baby. buckbuck. With good luck he may see elands, giraffe, and the rhinoceros, and, if he be exceptionally lucky, a lion in the early morning, and a hysena in the late afternoon. 26 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II Of birds the following will interest him : ostriches, bustards, eagles, hawks, and vultures ; shrikes sit on the telegraph wires. Among others he will recognise the glossy starling, drongo, weaver birds, chats, the crowned crane, hornbill, touraco, coly, swallow, bee-eater, stork, oxpecker, and the secretary bird. The Uganda Railway is unique of its kind, for it is probably the only railroad in the worlcTwhere monkeys swing on the telegraph wires ; giraffes break the wire with their long necks in crossing the track, and the rhinoceros tilts at telegraph poles in true quixotic style. As a rule, the laugh is with the animal. On rare occasions a lion promenades the platform and interferes with business. A T-iron (eight feet long, eight inches wide, and a quarter inch thick), used as a pedestal for a telegraph post. It was twisted by an elephant. Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA, THE GREATEST LAKE IN AFRICA An extraordinary fascination surrounds the history of the Victoria Nyanza. It is remarkable that a lake with a shore-line of 3,200 miles and an area of 25,000 square miles lying in the midst of a thickly populated region of East Africa should have remained undis¬ covered to the modern civilised world until Speke discovered it in 1858. INow the lake is daily traversed by steamers with regular ports of call, engaged in conveying passengers, tourists, and cargo as safely as on Lake Michigan. Port Florence (Kisumu) is on the shore of Kavirondo Gulf, a nearly land-locked inlet about thirty miles long, and varying in width from two to three miles. This gulf is on the north-eastern shore of the lake, and the channel by which it communicates with the main water is almost blocked with islands. Anyone visiting the lake will appreciate the difficulties experienced by the early explorers in deciding between islands and prominent headlands, unless the parts were carefully explored : this in many instances was difficult on account of the hostility of the inhabitants. The Nile leaves the lake at Napoleon Gulf on the northern shore. As the steamer enters this gulf and approaches the landing stage at Jinja there is nothing to lead one to suspect that the hills are so near. A prominent bluff pushes into the lake between the landing stage and the falls ; in order to see the latter it is necessary to leave the steamer and walk over a low 27 28 EASTERN ETHIOPIA III grass-covered liill, when suddenly the Ripon Falls, or cascades of Jinja, come into view. The river at its origin divides Uganda on the west from Busoga on its east bank. Speke on his second journey (1863) saw the falls from the Uganda side ; tourists are conducted to them by a well-kept pathway on the east side. As we traversed the footway, humped cattle grazed amidst a dock of buff-backed herons, busy picking ticks from the backs of oxen. On reaching the falls we found the O rushing water carrying over large fish ; the natives were busy securing some of them with spears. The ferry, as in Speke’s time, runs across the gulf above the Bagrm docmac. The rushing deep green waters carry large fish ov^er the falls ; the natives who haunt the coves with their spear¬ like harpoons secure some of them. falls, but the crocodile and hippopotamus have retreated to the deep and silent pools a mile or so below, where the shores, thickly covered with trees, reeds, and rushes, are rendered dangerous by the dreaded tsetse-dy. The rocks and trees in the river immediately below the falls are crowded with herons, cormorants, and egrets. One of the most conspicuous birds around the lake and head- waters of the Nile is the Vociferous Sea- Eagle. This, the handsomest of all the sea-eagles with its white head, neck, breast and tail, but chestnut belly, looks superb perched alone on the top of a high tree and sometimes on a telegraph post for hours, occasionally Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 29 uttering loud, piercing screams. It takes little notice of man. I once shot a hee-eater perched on the lower branches of a tree, when a sea- eagle in the tree- top took no notice of the noise. In the cool of the afternoon we lingered, charmed and fascinated by this delightful spot. When the light began to fade we stepped into a native dug-out ” above The Screaming Sea-Eagle {Haliaetut^f vocifer) lives around the “birthplace of the Nile.” the falls and sitting on its sides allowed ourselves to l)e paddled to the steamer lying in the lake. Frogs are very numerous in the lake, especially near the landing stages, and after nightfall keep up a continuous croaking and din, like the sound of machinery in a large factory. 30 EASTERN ETHIOPIA III There are certain phenomena connected with the lake which are worth consideration. The water of the main lake is deep blue, sweet, and good to drink, but in the bays it is dark and muddy : it varies greatly in depth, being only a few feet in the shallow bays and 280 feet in the main lake. The depth of the water also varies according to the wetness of the seasons, but independ¬ ently of these changes it is asserted that the surface of the lake has been slowly sinking since 1878, as deter¬ mined by markings on the cliff limiting the south shore. Many bold headlands round the coast were formerly islands, and many islands are separated from the main¬ land by narrow and often shallow channels. In the morning there is usually a land breeze from the south¬ east, and towards evening from the lake to the land. This action of the wind causes the level of the lake at Port Florence to be twelve inches higher in the after¬ noon than in the morning (AVhitchouse). The movements of the curious papyrus islands are associated with these breezes. Many of the bays and creeks are filled with the beautiful papyrus rush, and the Victoria Nyanza, like other large bodies of water, is occasionally subject to violent storms which lead to the formation of huge waves. These disturbances lead to the detachment of large masses of papyrus rush from the banks, and the morning land-breeze drives them into the lake, and the evening breeze brings them back to the shore. Papyrus islands are usually seen in a voyage on the lake ; they form pretty objects floating about in an irresponsible manner. It is common to see a cormorant resting on such a floating island, and occasionally a crocodile. A papyrus island the size of Trafalgar Square is sometimes occupied by a flock of egrets, and has density enough, in virtue of the long submerged roots of the rushes, to support a hippo¬ potamus. Captain Cray informed me that on one occasion, as his steamer entered Kavirondo Gulf, he found the water so crowded with these floating islands Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 31 that he ha(J to steer the vessel with great care, and with some difficulty among them. These rush islands are pretty objects, and serve to variegate the surface of the lake. The shallow parts of the bays are also occupied by that troublesome plant ^ Pistia stratiotes, which is one of the constituents of the sudd. The important elements of the sudd are papyrus rushes, reeds, feathery grass and occasionally ambatch. These are woven together by creeping plants of the convolvulus order. Near the level of the water the stems of the reeds and rushes are cemented together by aquatic plants of which Pistia is the most conspicuous : it is like a lettuce and has thick, pleated, succulent leaves. The plant throws out rhizomes along the surface of the water which in their turn bud, and the buds also throw out rhizomes. On the lake, and the upper reaches of the White Nile, Pistia is a common object quietly floating down-stream. The Victoria Nyanza may be regarded as a huge reservoir with one outlet, the Ripon Falls. Its chief affiuent on the west is the Kagera river, and the Nzoia on the east. This enormous lake is visited by electrical storms of extraordinary violence. I had heard a great deal about these electric displays, and had the good fortune to witness one from the deck of a steamer. The night was very dark, and the sky became illuminated by almost persistent streams of yellow and blue electric light. The eflect could only be described as horrible. When the steamer occupied the vortex of the storm, it seemed as if the lightning hissed as it rushed into the water of the lake. Whilst these streams of electric fluid were coursing downwards from the sky, the clouds were suffused by broad cascades and streams of light¬ ning resembling the aurora borealis. The instantaneous crashes of thunder following on the electric discharges resembled the detonations of huge shells or 100-ton guns. These storms are very common, and destroy the 32 EASTERN ETHIOPIA II lives of men and beasts as well as property. The boat from which we witnessed this terrible display had a piece of the mainmast detached by lightning in a previous voyage. Some of the American passengers appropriated the fragments with the intention of having them made into paper-knives as souvenirs of the storm. A Government official who knows the lake and its vicinity well explains the frequency and the intensity of these electrical storms by the fact that the hills, especially on the north-eastern shores of the lake, contain ironstone in large quantity, and especially on the Nandi escarpment. Standing on the hills above the escarpment the storms seem to be beneath the feet of the observer, and the currents of lightning appear to strike the face of the cliffs. The destructive force of such storms may be appreciated when one learns that thirty-two head of cattle were killed by one of these terrible flaming electric swords. These storms are accompanied by extremely heavy rain — more correctly, falling sheets of water. In the rainy season waterspouts occur, so that a voyage on the Victoria Nyanza may be as much marred by wind, storms, and rain as a voyage on the ocean. There is another curious and also unpleasant occurrence occasionally encountered on this, wonderful lake, namely mosquito clouds. One morning whilst crossing the lake in the neighbourhood of the Buvuma archipelago I noticed in several directions an appearance like clouds of smoke, and at first thought that these smoke clouds came from fires on the islands. On watching them closely and remembering that the surface of the lake is nearly four thousand feet above sea-level I thought they might be clouds. Then the columns assumed fantastic shapes and began to gyrate over the lake, condensing and attenuating. Then one large cloud, in the form of a hollow cylinder, approached, encompassed the steamer, and enveloped it in millions of gnats. Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 33 These winged clouds are known to entomologists as dancing-swarms.” On any warm summer evening in England dancing-swarms of gnats may be seen over pools, ponds, or water-butts containing stagnant water. The eggs of the mosquito are hatched in warm water, and the larval and pupal stages are passed in this medium. When the pupse are ready to hatch they rise to the surface, emerge from the pupa-cases, dry their wings and fly away. In order to produce such enormous clouds of gnats the water of the lake must contain myriads of larvae. The natives around the lake catch these gnats by means of grease and make them up into an oily kind of cake and eat them. Among the natives living around Lake Nyasa this preparation is known as “ Kungu cake.” Kungu means ‘‘ mist,” which the dense flights of these midges resemble. A description of the Kungu fly by the Rev. A. E. Eaton is given in the appendix to Elton’s Journals (1879). It is identified as a gnat. He also states that similar immense swarms of gnats have appeared in England, and have been mistaken at a distance for columns of smoke. In Egypt dense flocks of pigeons in the distance are often mistaken for clouds. This is also true of locusts, dust, sand, and smoke. A description of the Victoria Nyanza would be in¬ complete without some consideration of a remarkable animal, the Marsh-buck ; a bird, the Jacana, or Lily- trotter ; the Mud or Lung fish {Lepido siren), and the most beautiful of all rushes, the Papyrus. The first is the animal known as Speke’s antelope, in honour of the distinguished traveller who discovered it on his second journey to find the source of the Nile (1863). The buck has horns spirally twisted, but they are absent in the female. Its hoofs are greatly elongated and adapted to enable the animal to walk on the sub¬ merged reeds and mud of the swamps in which it lives. The skin which covers the back of the pastern is hairless, D 34 EASTERN ETHIOPIA III thick, and horny : thus further augmenting the support¬ ing area of the foot. The marsh-buck spends most of its time in the water, standing among reeds with all but its head and horns submerged : it can take tremendous leaps and move about at a great pace. Speke’s Antelope {Tragelaphns spekei). The bird in the eorner is a lily-trotter {Jacana) with elongateil claws which enable it to move qniekl}^ over the floating leaves of aquatic plants. Speke’s original specimen was caught near the lake in some high rushes. The only food it w^ould take was the tops of the papyrus rush : although it ate and drank freely and lay down very quietly, it always charged with ferocity any person who went near it. No other Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 35 observer has seen evidence of ferocity in the marsh- buck. I have often watched one of these animals in -the Zoological Gardens and never remember to have seen an animal in confinement which appeared so unhappy. This marsh-buck used to be fairly common in the sw^amps around Uganda and on some of the uninhabited islands of the Sesse Archipelago. Selous^ when hunting these marsh-buck on the Chobe river, a tributary of the Zambesi river, described the search for these retiring animals among such immense beds of reeds and papyrus as tantamount to looking for needles in a haystack. The natives obtain them in the following way. When the animal is approached it immerses the whole body, leaving only the nose and tips of the horns above water, trusting to be unobserved, but the natives paddle quite close and spear it. The unusual development of the hoofs of Speke’s antelope induce me to mention a similar condition of the toes found in a curious bird living on the lake and often called the lily-trotter, from the dainty way in which it walks over the broad leaves of aquatic plants searching for insects. This bird is known to ornithologists as the Jacana, and it belongs to the same order as plovers, curlews, and snipe. The lily-trotter has a body like the moor¬ hen and legs like a coot, but the toes and claws are enormously lengthened, and the bird spreads them out spider-like as it walks over the water-plants. The spread of the Jacana’s toes has a diameter of five inches. All members of the family (Parridae) to which the Jacana belongs frequent lakes and swamps whether inland or near the coast. When danger threatens they crouch or partially submerge themselves. cdUt The Miid-Jish. — ^This inhabitant of the lake is/known to the zoologist as the L-opidcd-ren — fish. The natives of Uganda call it mamba, and appreciate it as an article of diet. This fish has a long cylindrical body like an eel, and D 2 3^ EASTERN ETHIOPIA iir sometimes attains a length of six feet : it is remarkable in many points, and especially from the fact that it has lungs as well as gills. In the dry season. f he, mg-rshes in which this fish lives dry up, and to meet this change ■the lepido^ircn makes its way into the mud to the depth of eighteen inches, and coils up at the bottom of the burrow, where it makes a sort of cocoon, or capsule. of hardened mucus secreted by the glands of its skin. Sequestered in this cocoon the hsh breathes entirely by its lungs for half the year ; in this condition the earth in which the fish is embedded may be dug up, and the ball of earth with the fish in it may be transported V anywhere. When placed in warm water tke4epi4esi^i wakes up from the long sleep and resumes the double method of breathing. In its ordinary surroundings the Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 37 until the rainy season floods voracious fish : it eats frogs, fegpidoBircn is a voracious fish ; it often bites its companions and nips off the ends of their filamentous fins. When the fins grow again they are sometimes bifid. fish remains in the cocoon the marshes. Lopidocirefi is a very worms, insects, and crustaceans, and also exhibits cannibal in¬ stincts by biting and eating its fel¬ lows. Indeed, Newton Parker, who wrote an admirable account of the mud-fish, states that it is difficult to keep these fish alive in an aquarium for any length of time owing to their habit of killing and eating one another even when supplied with an abundance of food. The bite from their scissor-like teeth causes terrible wounds. feepirdfes4¥en has two pairs of filamentous fins, and of these the pectoral is longer than the pelvic pair, and occasionally one of these fins is bifid. Some years ago these animals were exhibited in a tank at the Zoological Gardens, and I noticed that one of the fins was bifid. The keeper told me that the deformity was due to its companion biting off the free end of the fin, and as the part grew again it became double. I am satisfied that this is a good explanation. It certainly accords with what we know of the lizard’s tail, for when a lizard loses its tail and regeneration occurs, the new portion is often bifid and sometimes trifid at the tip. When the ends of tails are bitten off, the parts are regenerated but never attain their normal length. The fishermen of the lake fear the bite of the mud-fish. When this fish burrows into the mud, the mouth of the flask-like cavity which surrounds it is closed by a lid perforated by a small aperture. The margins of this aperture are pushed inwards so as to form a funnel for insertion between the lips of the fish. Boulanger, who has written an interesting account of the mud-fish, 5hJL >nuclrj^£ EASTERN ETHIOPIA III 38 states that it is possible to ascertain its condition, when enveloped in the clod of earth, by passing a straw {hrin-de-paille) down the funnel to the mouth of the fish ; if alive, it immediately utters a cry which is Buirow. Funnel. Mouth. Tail. Cocoon. Pectoral limb. Earth. mud or lung fish, in its cocoon embedded in mud. (After Newton Parker.) produced by the expiration of air from its lungs. When the clods are softened out care must be taken that the water does not enter the funnel or the fish would be suffocated. Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 39 In West Africa the negroes search diligently for the fish in its encysted state, and they are particularly fond of it and can keep it as a provision in the clod which envelops it. The Papyrus is a beautiful rush with a long green stem sometimes twenty feet high, which is not com¬ pletely circular. The stems are crowned with tufts of delicate filaments, which were used by the ancient Egyptians to make garlands for the shrines of the gods. A Raft made of the dried Papyrus Stems. Used by the Kavirondos on the Victoria Nyanza. The leaves are apple-green. The pith used for making writing material by the ancient Egyptians earned for this plant the name of “ paper reed,” it occupies that portion of the stem which lies beneath the surface of the water. The papyrus flourishes in the swamps of Uganda, around the shallow margins of the Victoria Nyanza and in the White Nile, but it is extinct in Lower Egypt. 40 EASTERN ETHIOPIA III The thick stem of the papyrus is useful to the natives for making rafts and canoes. The Kavirondo fisher¬ men on the Victoria Nyanza use the stems for making seines, and the leaves they weave into baskets. The old Egyptians used the papyrus stems for making rafts, and in the wall sculptures men are represented constructing such rafts. It is probable that the little ark of bulrushes daubed with slime and with pitch,” which sheltered the infant Moses in the flags by the river’s brink” (Ex. ii. 3), was made of papyrus stalks. IV THE ARCHIPELAGOES AND ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA The Victoria Nyanza abounds in islands ; some are mere rocks sticking out of the water, and serve as basking places for crocodiles ; others are of large size, thickly wooded, presenting high hills and verdant dales. Many of the islands have played an important part in the political and religious history of Uganda. Headers interested in the religious war which took place in Mwanga’s reign should master the geography of the Lake Islands.^ The most important are Ukerewe in the south ; Buvuma, Bulinguge, and Koine in the north ; and the Sesse Archipelago in the north-west angle of the lake. Ukerewe, twenty-five miles long with a maximum breadth of twelve miles, lies within the German sphere of interest, off the northern corner of Speke Gulf. This island is fertile ; the central parts, rising to a height of 650 feet above the lake, are covered by an impenetrable [)rimeval forest capable of supplying useful timber. The Wa-Kerewe cultivate the soil and grow bananas, maize, sweet potatoes, sorghum, tobacco, gourds, and rice. Their domestic animals are humped oxen, goats, and sheep. They fish with weir baskets, and hook and line ; and catch the hippopotamus with the harpoon. The islanders are very superstitious and believe in evil spirits. “ At the door of the hut they often hang a great iron bell, against which the head strikes in ^ The spelling adopted is the same as that found on the map of the lake constructed by Commander Whitehouse and issued by the War Office, 1910, 4J 42 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV opening, and which indeed is placed there for the pur¬ pose, for exil spirits are said to strike themselves against the bell when entering the hut and are thus scared away.” (Kollmann.) Smith and O’Neill, two of the early Christian missionaries who went to Uganda (1877) in response to IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 43 Stanley’s appeal were shortly afterwards murdered on this island. Sesse was believed to be a single island until it was captured from the Roman Catholics by Major Williams (1892). xAfter subduing Sesse Island this enterprising officer circumnavigated it, and found, instead of a large triangular island, as represented in maps, one large and many small islands, some being merely rocky islets. Their true configuration and dis¬ tribution was ascertained by Macdonald (1893). The natives of the Sesse Islands are known as Basesse. Although these islands lie in the north-west angle of the Victoria Nyanza and belong to Uganda, the people inhabiting them are more allied to the Basoga than to the Baganda. The Basesse are not only excellent boat builders, but they are skilful paddlers and experts in man¬ oeuvring their boats on the lakes, either singly or in fleets. During the contest between Christians and Mahomedans, the Basesse declared for Mwanga against the usurper Karema, and by placing their fleet of boats at his service gave him the mastery of the lake. Mwanga had his headquarters at these islands after his deposition in 1888. From Bulinguge (an island about one mile square in Murchison Bay) he harassed, with the help of the Christians, the Mahomedans during 1889 and could feed his force by means of the Sesse fleet. There was a time when the “ Admiral of the Fleet ” commanded a fleet of four hundred boats. Mwanga and the Roman Catholics retreated to Bulinguge after the battle of Mengo (1892). This island, which the Roman Catholics regarded as impreg¬ nable, was assaulted by the Protestants under Williams, but the King escaped by means of boats to Sesse. When the Protestant attack became successful the fugitives attempted to escape from the southern shores by means of their boats. The panic-stricken crowd 44 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV tried to secure places in boats already overfull, and hundreds of them were drowned. On the island of Bubembe, in the Sesse group, Mukasa, the great god^^^ of the Victoria Nyanza, had temple, and some of the islands in this archipelago had less important gods. The priests of Mukasa had great power. It was believed that this could prevent storms on the lake ; make rain ; draw a tooth ; or kill kings. Cunningham found, in a French record, that in the year 187.9 Mukasa “ tied up ” the lake for three months and would not allow anyone to touch its waters. At length King Mutesa was obliged to send an offering of a hundred slaves, a hundred women, a hundred cows, and a hundred goats to the temple, and Mukasa untied the lake. Sacrifices of goats and cows were made to the at her temple on Bubembe. This island is about four miles long and two wide ; it is fertile, well-wooded, and picturesque. The temple has practically disappeared. This is not a matter for surprise, for such temples were merely built of mud and wood and thatched with grass. Mukasa may be regarded as the Neptune of the lake, and the priests carried a paddle as an emblem of their office. This paddle they used as a walking-stick. Kome is eleven miles long and eight broad. The chief informed Cunningham of a curious custom which prevails on this island. If within the first year of married life a child is not born, the husband is under¬ stood to be at fault and the wife may make overtures to the husband’s brother. When the intrigue is successful the husband is informed, and life assumes its normal features. The natives of this island cultivate bananas, beans, potatoes, coffee, Indian corn, and tobacco. The Sesse Archipelago forms a county of Uganda, and is represented in the Native Parliament. The Buvuma Group consists of seven islands near the north-east corner of the lake, adjacent to the coast IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 45 of Busoga, near Napoleon Gulf. The three largest islands in this group are Buvuma, Bugaya, and Busiri. Buvunia,.the largest of these islands, is of irregular shape and seems to be made up of peninsulas. It has an area of about 170 square miles and is larger than the Isle of Wight. It contains high hills in its central parts, some of which are 500 or 600 feet above the level of the lake. The hillsides are covered with forests, and there are grassy uplands which afford excellent pasture for cattle. Until devastated by the sleeping-sickness it contained a large population in many villages which were surrounded by excellent gardens and plantations. The natives, known as ^Wuma, are excellent agriculturists, growing millet, maize, sweet potatoes, and bananas : the surplus grain they stored in granaries which resemble miniature huts. They are skilful fishermen and like the Basesse build excellent boats and are extremely expert in their use, take to the water from childhood and swim admirably. They make their own cord and ropes from fibre obtained from the aloe; and manufacture their own pottery. The Wavuma do not differ much in appearance from the Baganda, but for a century or more there existed a feud between them and the natives of Uganda. The Kings of Uganda have tried in vain to subdue the Wavuma : as they refused to accept Christianity and had been a thorn in the side of the Baganda, Mutesa resolved to subjugate the islands in 1875. At this time the relations between Uganda and Buvuma resembled those which prevailed in the time of Queen Elizabeth between the Empire of Spain and England. At this time H. M. Stanley was staying in Uganda and he has described the fighting force with which Mutesa attempted to conquer the Wavuma. It consisted of a fleet of 230 war boats, and an army estimated at 150,000 fighting men. The Wavuma had a fleet equal to the Baganda, but their warriors (slingers and spear¬ men) amounted to a fifth of Mutesa s force. The 46 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV Uganda fleet was hopelessly beaten by the Wavuma, and Mutesa’s warriors had no opportunity of landing on the island. For nearly twenty years after this great fight the Wavuma not only raided the adjacent coast of Usoga and carried off the Baganda women into captivity, but they carried on an intermittent slave trade with the Arabs in German territory, and blocked the short lake route between Kavirondo and Uganda. This brought them into conflict with the agents of the Imperial British East Africa Company. Captain AVilliams, the company’s agent in Uganda, tried by peaceful negotiations to open the lake route, but without success. This led to the expedition of 1893. Assisted by Majors Macdonald and Smith, Williams raised a force consisting of 100 Soudanese, 2,000 Baganda guns, and 3,000 spearmen, supported by two Maxims for the purpose of capturing Buvuma. The fighting men were conveyed in two boats and 250 beats. The paddlers increased his number by 5,000 men and brought the total under his command to 10,000 men. The Baganda fleet set out from Murchison Bay, effected a landing and encamped on the island ofBusiri, and a few days later it practically annihilated the fleet of the Wavuma. The great island of Buvuma was occcupied after a stubborn resistance on the part of the people. Some miles south of Buvuma is the island of Bugaya : its inhabitants were reo^arded as the bravest and most fearless of the Wavuma : after the conquest of Buvuma the Bagaya surrendered. It has been mentioned already that the Wavuma refused to accept Christianity or to have it thrust upon them, but preferred their old fetish (or Lubare) worship, which consisted in attempts to appease imaginary evil spirits by offerings of food and drink placed in little grass huts built outside the village or in the depths of the forest. IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 47 Fetish huts are of two kinds. One consists of a hut constructed of dried grass surmounted by a tall spire ; the offering or charm (daua) is placed within the hut. A Fetish Hut made of Crrass (Island of Buvuma). Offerings of food and drink are placed in such huts. This is the way the spirits are worshipped. These huts are placed outside villages ; often in the forest. The other kind is a hollow cone of grass shaped like an inverted funnel suspended from the bough of a tree, and overshadowing a hollow stone on the ground 48 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV containing food, drink, or charms. The AYavuma are extremely superstitious, and whilst there is good reason to believe that much of their fetish worship is harmless, in some instances it was attended with disgusting acts of cruelty. The charms placed in these little fetish huts are chiefly scraps of bark, bits of iron ore found among the meadow, bundles of banana bast, and different kinds of dried berries. Many curious customs prevail among these people. The national dress for men is a robe made of bark cloth, but a woman’s consists of a banana leaf. Cunningham points out the advantages of this simple attire : it is easily renewed, and always clean. In this respect the naked natives are angelic when compared with tribes which wear bark cloth from month to month and from year to year, without changing it. Un¬ fortunately bark cloth cannot be washed. A woman in Buvuma must not sit on a chair ; even when no men are present : she must sit on the floor. On some of the islands (Buvuma and Busiri) the incisors are removed, and the dentist who removes them receives a fee of two kauri shells. The removal of the teeth interferes with distinct pronunciation. The boats used by the Baganda and by the natives of the Buvuma and Sesse Islands are of great interest, for, though of peculiar construction, they have been brought to a state of perfection. The keel of the boat is formed from a tree trunk shaped externally with a hatchet and hollowed in¬ ternally, in part by burning and in part by hatchets : the keel is prolonged beyond the boat anteriorly in the form of a long sharp peak. The depth of the boat is increased by the addition of lateral planks about an inch thick. These the boat-builders hew from tree trunks : they have no saws : the planks are sewn to the tree forming the keel and to each other by means of wattle fibre, the holes for the threads being made in the planks with red, hot awls. Two tiers of planks are added to each keel- IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 49 and where these planks meet to form the bow and stern of the boat a triangular piece of wood is let in to tighten them. One plank is not long enough to extend the entire length of the boat ; two or more may be needed. Where E 50 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV the edges of two planks overlap a narrow strip of wood is firmly fastened to make them watertight. A strong spar traverses the sides of the boat near the prow and projects on each side beyond the planks; this serves as a handle to enable the boat to be drawn ashore. The narrow seats are fastened into the boat in a peculiar manner. When the side planks are fashioned, semi¬ circular notches are made in corresponding parts of the adjacent planks which receive the ends of the seats. The seat has a rounded knob at each end ; this knob is received in the holes formed by the apposition of the semicircular notches in the planks and projects on the outer surface of the boat. When the seats are in position a line of knobs is seen in the line of junction formed by the union of the first and second row of planking. The seats, therefore, give firmness to the boat. In addition to the sharp beak formed by the keel a movable prow (the prow of peace) is added, and in order to make it firm, a strong cord passes from the prow to the bow of the boat : this line is usually hung with grass or fibre cut to a convenient length. The end of the prow is often surmounted with horns. When completed the boat is usually smeared with red Uganda clay. The boat is impelled by paddles about three feet long; the paddlers sit with their backs to the steersman, who turns the vessel in any desired direction by using his single paddle like a lever on the right or left side. When the lake is calm a boat containing twenty paddlers can be impelled at a quick rate and for a long time. The paddlers sing monotonous songs as they urge their boats through the waters of the lake. It is an interesting sight to watch such a boat in motion ; the rhythmic movements of the paddlers would do credit to any crew ; the handles of the paddles simultaneously strike the sides of the planks and produce a loud knock. The centre of gravity lies far back in the boat, so that the fore part is well out of the water ; each is provided with a baler. IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 51 Some of the boats, especially those built for war purposes, accommodate a hundred paddlers. In war- A Sesse Boat on the Victoria Nyanza. time the false prow is removed and its point serves for a ram. E 2 52 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV No nails, screws, or metal of any kind is used in the construction of these boats ; neither the Baganda nor the Wavuma know anything of the use of sails, or saws. The skill and daring of the Basesse and Wavuma boatmen are proverbial. When Stanley circumnavigated the lake in 1875, he was often in peril from the Wavuma. He describes the voyage around the indented shores of Speke’s Grulf and his visit to Ukerewe, where his guide had many friends. Some of the natives laughed at the novel method employed by his men in rowing, but when the sail was hoisted they fled in terror. The boat was frequently chased by hippopotamuses, and further along the coast it was pursued by war boats, blown about by severe gales, pelted by hailstones as large as filberts, and deluged with torrents of rain. The piratical craft of the Wavuma were so belligerent that one had to be sunk with bullets. When he approached Uganda he was received with a flotilla, greeted with volleys of musketry and the thunder of drums. On shore he was welcomed with flags and received in audience by Mutesa. On leaving Uganda, after a stay of many weeks, Stanley returned to his base at Speke’s Gulf, and ran a narrow risk of being murdered by the inhabitants of a large island ten days’ sail from Uganda. The dwellers by the lake believed wonderful stories of the Wavuma daring in the water, and credited them with the ability of swimming under water to hostile boats, and cutting with short knives the sutures which secured the planking. Great changes have come over these interesting Lake Islands. In 1901 the sleeping-sickness visited them and the adjacent shore districts, especially Uganda and Busoga. In 1908, Bishop Tucker, in describing the havoc wrought by this disease, stated that “ the islands have been depopulated.” Kome, which at one time was said to have a population of 10,000, has hardly 500 souls IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 53 left. The fishermen on the lake shores have become an extinct race. South Busoga has suffered even more than Uganda. Nanyumba's country has been more than decimated, whilst Wakolfs, formerly the very garden of Busoga, is now a “ howling wilderness.” At the time of my visit (1910) the last act, so far as the islands are concerned, had been performed. The few people living on the great island of Buvuma had Harpoons used by Natives for Catching the Hippopotamus. A. This fragment of harpoon was found in the body of a hippopotamus shot in Rhodesia firmly encysted in the animal’s subcutaneous tissue. B. Harpoon and float as used on the Victoria Nyanza, (British Museum.) been removed to the mainland and isolated in a sanita¬ tion camp. Similar measures had been carried out in the islands of the Sesse Archipelago. To-day there is no fishing carried on in the northern waters of the lake, and on these islands crocodiles and tsetse-flies reign supreme. 54 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IV Many of the large rivers and lakes of the Ethiopian Region are inhabited by the hippopotamus. This huge pig is the largest mammal which lives in fresh water, as the sperm whale is the biggest mammal known to live in salt water. It is by no means difficult to shoot, and this form of sport is as devoid of danger as pigeon shooting. The natives endeavour to hunt the hippopotamus with the harpoon. The method appears to be this : — The harpoon is a piece of barbed iron with a cord and wooden float attached. * The line traverses a hollow handle made of bamboo several feet long. When ready for use, the harpoon is drawn up to the end of the hollow handle by means of the line attached to it. The wily native conceals himself along the track used by the hippopotamus, and as the animal passes it receives a forcible thrust which fixes the harpoon in the thick hide. The wounded beast rushes into the water, but the hollow handle is retained in the hands of the hunter, and the line runs along it ; the float attached to it indicates the position of the animal, which immediately seeks refuge in deep water. The second part of the hunt is performed in the water. The hunters go out in boats, and, on finding the float, await the harpooned beast as it rises from the depths. When the hippopotamus comes to the surface and opens his enormous mouth to seize the boat and overturn it, the hunters inflict serious damage, especially on the animal’s nose, with their spears. In this way, as the result of repeated attacks, the animal succumbs, and forms the material for a native debauch. It does not necessarily follow when a hunter implants a harpoon into a hippopotamus that he secures the object of his ambition. The line may break, and the iron which enters the animal’s body may fail to entail its destruction. I have had an opportunity of examining an iron harpoon, removed from the body of a hippopotamus, which had been thrust into its IV ISLANDS OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 55 hide a long period before it was shot by Mr. Long in Rhodesia. It seems as if the iron ring which held the rope had broken off. The harpoon was found deeply embedded in the subcutaneous tissues, whilst the animal was being skinned. This is an interesting specimen, because it shows that the hippopotamus is hunted with the harpoon in Central, as well as in East Africa and Uganda. Old and Young. The hippopotamus is a menace to the natives in their boats and canoes. V UGANDA Uganda is the most northerly as well as the most powerful negro kingdom on the Victoria Nyanza. It is governed by a Kabaka (or King) assisted by a Prime Minister, a Parliament, a Chief Justice, and a Treasurer. Kampala is the headquarters of the administration. In 1894 a British Protectorate was proclaimed over the territory of Uganda, which included only the country subject to King Mwanga : this protectorate has since been extended by the additions of territories bordering Uganda and known as Usoga, Unyoro, Ankole, Buddu, and Koko. The official capital and head¬ quarters is Entebbe, situated on the shores of Victoria Nyanza at Murchison Bay. Entebbe, the principal port of Uganda, is in direct communication with the East Africa Protectorate by steamboats which run across the lake to Port Florence on Kavirondo Gulf. Stanley’s visit to Mutesa (1875) was fraught with important consequences, as it led to the introduction of Christianity into the country. This notorious, cruel, and bloodthirsty king, anxious to find a more satis¬ factory religion than fetishism and ancestor- worship, was initiated into the principles of the Christian Peligion by Stanley. This was followed by the advent of mission¬ aries, an event which led to many complications, for in religious matters Mutesa proved to be as fickle as he 56 V UGANDA 57 was cruel. The Arabs who were settled in the country as ivory merchants had introduced Mahornedanism, and the religious question was complicated by the Roman Catholics who founded the Mission of the White Fathers. Eventually the Protestant and Roman Catholic sections of the Church found themselves, not only in rivalry, but in actual strife. Mutesa (or M’tesa as his name is often written) died in 1884 : he remained a pagan to the end in spite of the proselytising efforts of Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Mahomedans. He was succeeded by his son Mwanga, a violent and vicious man, who soon came into collision with the religious factions. For this there was some excuse, as the religious bodies were quarrelling with each other, and each trying to impose its religion on the Kabaka. Cunningham neatly ex¬ presses the position in this way : — ‘‘ The Arabs dosed liim with Mahornedanism, the White Fathers dosed him with Catholicity, and the English missionaries dosed him with Protestantism.” Mwanga cruelly persecuted the Christians and Mahomedans. His corrupt and vicious ways led to his deposition in 1888, and he died an exile in the Seychelles, 1893. It is a fact of some importance in connection with the religious struggles which took place in Uganda from 1884 to 1898, that the natives are not circumcised unless they become Mahomedans : they have a great dislike to this rite, and this may have had some influence in preventing the spread of Mahornedanism. When the Mahomedans for a time obtained the upper hand in Uganda, they wished to make Kiwewa, the eldest brother of Mwanga, Kabaka, and attempted to force on him the rite of circumcision, but he refused, and killed some of the high functionaries who had come to his enclosure for the purpose of performing the rite. 58 EASTERN ETHIOPIA V The Baganda are now almost completely converted to Christianity either in its Protestant or Eoman Catholic form. Some are Mahomedans. In the revengeful religious wars which took place in Uganda during the reign of Mwanga the zeal of the converted natives was similar to that of English Protestants in Mary’s reign, and “ it carried many Baganda to martyrdom.” The natives of Uganda are known as Baganda, but one of the race would be called Muganda ; the language is known as Kiganda. It is important to keep these rules in mind. For example the islanders of Bavuma are the Wavuma, those of Sesse islands, Basesse ; and the inhabitants of the great island of Ukerewe, Wakerewe. In the same way, in the East Africa Protectorate, Wakikuyu signifies the natives of Kikuyu, and the Wakamba live in the district of Ukamba. The Baganda differ in many ways from ordinary Africans. Their faces are very black, but they have a mild and inofiensive appearance. They are clothed with garments made of bark cloth, but many native Christians, men and women, wear a long white calico garment, not unlike a nightgown, called a kansu, and wear sandals of stiff ox-hide made to fit the feet. The Baganda live in comfortable houses built of wood and dried grass : the interior of such houses is divided into suitable apartments for the members of the families who use them. They cultivate beans, sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, coffee, and bananas ; the coffee is not drunk as a decoction, but the berries are eaten. Though possessing cattle the Baganda live mainly on bananas, which grow luxuriantly in Uganda and on fish from the lake which are caught in weir baskets. These people make earthenware vessels, pipes, spoons, musical instruments, such as guitars and especially drums, spears, shields, and various things which they V UGANDA 59 use as charms to ward off evil spirits. Necklaces and bracelets are worn in a becoming manner and these people do not circumcise, nor disfigure their bodies by keloid scars. They do not file or knock out the incisor teeth, nor work the hair into grotesque or fantastic shapes. It is an extraordinary change to pass from the Province of Kisumu, where the Kavirondo men and women walk about more naked than our apple-loving parents in the Garden of Eden, and enter Uganda, where the natives exhibit the most scrupulous regard for outward decency. This astonished Speke, for he tells us in his account of Uganda (1863) that Mutesa inflicted a heavy fine on courtiers who exposed their lesjs in his presence, but he was not so particular in regard to women. His valets were young women who used to walk about the palace naked like the Kavirondo girls. When Speke entered Uganda his donkey was regarded as indecent without trousers. It is noteworthy that a negro people so punctilious in outward decency especially in regard to clothes, and strictly covering the body from neck to ankle, should be considered among the most immoral of the African races. The word Baganda is almost synonymous with sensuality, debauchery, and drunkenness. In Uganda, syphilis is almost universal. This terrible opinion is supported by reliable medical men and the testimony of bishops. Sir Harry Johnston states on the authority of Mon- signeur Streicher that in Mutesa’s reign the population of the Kingdom of Uganda approached 4,000,000. In 1901 it was estimated at little more than 1,000,000. This decrease is partly due to the massacres which took place between 1860 and 1898, especially under Mutesa and Mwanga. Human life had little value in Mutesa’s court. Speke gave this Kabaka some firearms and at his request shot 6o EASTERN ETHIOPIA V four cows with a revolving pistol. Mutesa then handed a carbine full-cock to a page and told him to shoot a man in the outer court. On the return of the page he asked, “ Did you do it well ? ” “ Oh yes, capitally/' said the boy. Infant mortality is very great among the natives — it is rare to find a woman with more than one child : they have little love for their children. The Baganda learn arithmetic with great facility ; a lady missionary was very proud that one woman in her class had shown exceptional ability and could work out vulgar fractions. The missionary then stated that this woman had a sick child, and as it showed no signs of improving, and as nursing interfered with her arithmetic, she left the little child in the forest at night for the hyaenas. Uganda is not much troubled with lions, but leopards are often a nuisance. Shortly before our visit, some of the villages had been worried by a man-eating leopard. A native party was organised to kill this animal. Nine of the party were badly mauled by the leopard and four of them subsequently died from their wounds. Leopards are sometimes very bold, and have been known to seize and make off with patients in the sleeping-sickness camps. A Giovernment official was having a shauri with a party of natives in Nandi : they were sitting round an ant-hill when suddenly a hare chased by a leopard appeared and dodged about among the men. A timely and well-placed bullet cut short his career. All who have visited Uganda are unanimous in regard to the fertility of the soil. The valleys are moist with frequent showers which render them extremely favour¬ able for the cultivation of bananas. The mists and rains which are so beneficial are probably due to the regular south wind which blows across the lake and carries the watery vapour with it, to fall on the verdant hills along its northern shores. The amount of watery V UGANDA 6i vapour which arises from the lake by evaporation must be enormous, especially when we remember that the lake has a superficial area of 27,500 square miles lying under the equator. The Banana [Musa). A. The flower cone. A banana plantation is as typical of Uganda as a wheat-fleld is of England and a potato-fleld of Ireland. As Uganda enjoys an abundant rainfall it is easy to understand that the valleys between the hills may be luxuriant forests, marshes, or papyrus swamps with millions of gnats. 62 EASTERN ETHIOPIA V The Banana [Musa), a gigantic herbaceous plant, common in the tropical parts of the East, is cultivated in all tropical and subtropical countries. It grows wild in Uganda, but among the cultivated plants it is estimated that there are more than thirty varieties. A banana plantation is as typical of Uganda as a wheat- lield is of an English county, or a potato-field of Ireland. The banana is a curious plant : it forms a spurious stem by the sheathing bases of the leaves. Such a stem may rise fifteen or twenty feet in height. Some of the leaves are ten feet in leno:th and two feet across the blade. These large fan-like leaves are often of a delicate green and move with every breath of wind ; indeed a banana plantation is a feast of colour. The banana is propagated by young shoots which arise from its roots. The old stem dies down after flowering and fruiting, and a new stem from the old root takes its place. The flower is of interest, for it consists of a conical bulb of purple spathes.' The poorly developed petals and reproductive parts are covered by a huge purple spathe which surmounts the stalk. When the fruit forms, the stalk becomes top- heavy and doubles on itself. Dr. Cook found these spathes very useful. The Baganda love physic, but it was difficult to persuade the patients at the Missionary Hospital to take the stuff in definite quantities at regular hours ; they preferred to drink it wholesale. Graduated medicine glasses could not be supplied, but the deficiency is not felt because the spathe of a banana is shaped like a spoon, and its concavity holds for practical purposes one ounce of fluid, and thus fulfils the function of a medicine glass. When a native goes out in the rain he takes off his clothes, carries them under his arm and uses a banana leaf as an umbrella. Bark cloth, as clothing, is soon ruined by rain. Women sometimes wrap a baby in a V UGANDA 63 banana leaf. Good fibre is obtained from these leaves, for ropemaking. The fruit of the banana after fer- Muganda with two Banana Leaves. 64 EASTERN ETHIOPIA V mentation furnishes a sweet and intoxicating beer. O When, in consequence of drought, the banana crop fails, the Baganda are reduced to a state of famine. Dried banana leaves are emblems of mourning. When King Mutesa died the whole country went into mourn¬ ing, and everyone allowed the hair to grow. (x4she,) Boy Collecting Termites. Ill Uganda, as in other parts of Africa, termites (in their winged stage) are regarded as delicacies. Men were clothed in the national costume of bark cloth, knotted over the right shoulder, but girded as a sign of mourning with withered banana leaves, emblems of decay and death. The sweet potato is cultivated everywhere in East Africa from Zanzibar to Egypt (Grant). The tubers are favourite food with the natives. Guinea fowls and V UGANDA 65 antelopes are destructive to it. The plant once in the ground seems to be allowed to propagate itself without replanting from season to season. Locusts are eaten after the wings have been removed and the bodies roasted. Termites (white ants) are regarded in Uganda as in other parts of Africa as delicacies. In Uganda the people are divided into clans, and each clan is named after an animal, insect, fish, or The Scaly Ant-eater, or Maiiis {Munis tricuspis). plant. Thus, a clan is named after a sheep, grass¬ hopper, crocodile, hippopotamus, serval cat, bean, mushroom, dog, &c. There is some reason for the choice of a particular animal or plant as the badge, totem, or sign of a clan, but its precise significance is ill-understood. No member of a clan may eat the 66 EASTERN ETHIOPIA animal or vegetable which is the totem or sign of that clan. For instance, the mud-fish (mamba) is the sign of the Mamba clan, but no member of that clan . will eat, injure, or willingly destroy this fish. The Baganda make their own pottery. There are several varieties of clay, red, kaolin or white, and black. The blackness of the vessels made from black clay is intensified by a glaze made from graphite which occurs in Uganda. Some of the pottery is artistic, and good examples of vases glazed with plumbago may be i seen in the British Museum. They also weave baskets ' and mats, and are skilful in utilising the various long grasses which grow in the marshes. The thatchers are J a separate guild. They are especially clever in covering the outer walls of porches and the woodwork of veran- . dahs with the long polished stalks of elephant grass . packed closely together in an upright position and bound with string. It is a remarkable fact that the Baganda, the foremost negro race in Africa, have no knowledge of the plough, ( the saw, sails, or of wheeled vehicles ; neither have they 1‘' done anything to tame or domesticate animals, but they ^ are fond of dogs. A curious kind of ant-eater known as the Manis is found in Uganda. From head to tail it is covered with scales, so that this animal has the appearance of a huge fir-cone, and like a hedge-hog it can roll itself up like a ball and expose a hard smooth surface to its enemies. It is said that the Manis can contract its scales on its body, so that if a monkey’s finger or a dog’s nose is placed beneath a scale either would be badly nipped. This animal lives entirely on ants and termites : it has a tubular mouth, a long tongue, and no teeth. The walls of the stomach are much thickened, and like birds it swallows small pebbles to assist in grinding its food. The Manis lives on trees ; sometimes when climbing a ■ tree it may descry an enemy, it will then fling its body backwards and remain immobile, with its tail firmly -V UGANDA 67 pressed against the tree trunk. In this attitude the animal resembles the trunk end of a broken branch. The animal is represented in this position in the excellent stufied group representing scaly ant-eaters or Pangolins in the Natural History Museum, London. A Fetish Hut or Spirit-shelter. At night the piece of pottery serves for a door. VI KAMPALA (mENGO), THE NATIVE CAPITAL OF UGANDA Kampala is a picturesque town about twenty-three miles from Entebbe and seven miles from Port Kam¬ pala (Muuyonyo) on the Victoria Nyanza. The town occupies the summits of seven hills, and has been called in consequence, by the missionaries, Zion. The names of the seven hills are : Mengo, Mutesa, Eubaga, Nasambya, Kasubi, Kakasero, and Namirembe. Each hill is the headquarters of a separate community. Mengo is occupied by the residence of the Kabaka (King), his court and followers. Three of the hills are occupied by religious communities. Eubago has on its summit the Eoman Catholic Mission, known as the White Fathers (French). Nasambaya is occupied by the buildings of the English Eoman Catholic Mission (St. Joseph’s). Namirembe, “ the hill of peace,” the highest of the seven, has the schools and the admirable native hospital belonging to the Church Missionary Society. At the time of our visit it was surmounted by the Uganda Cathedral. This remarkable edifice was struck by lightning and destroyed, September 1910. Nakasero is devoted to military and civil officials. We approached Kampala from Entebbe travelling in a transport motor-car along an excellent road twenty- three miles long. The journey was particularly interest¬ ing ; the earth was of the same brick-red material as has already been described in connection with the railway journey from Mombasa, and tall ant-hills were very frequent in the plantations bordering the roadway. 68 VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 69 In the cultivated patches by the side of the road sweet potatoes were growing, and in several places young rubber trees had been planted and appeared to be An Ant-hill in Uganda. It is surrounded by tobacco plants. flourishing. In many parts of the journey the road was bordered by banana plantations ; the huge green leaves of the bananas were waving like fans in the breeze ; groves filled with palms and bordered with tall 70 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI tufts of elephant grass made us fancy that we were ■ passing through the Palm house at Kew. Suddenly the road traversed a stretch of equatorial forest filled with large trees, in all stages of growth and decay, supporting parasitic trailing plants and lianas. Some of the trees thoroughly invested by thin, pendant, trailing plants resembled a confirmation girl in nun’s veiling. These thick groves and corners of forests contain a great variety of birds, and as they flew from one grove to another I was able to recognise some of them. Not f the least remarkable were the huge black and white > hornbills ; these birds seemed to think it a hardship that they should be expected to fly. The bee-eaters, i sun-birds, parrots, and rollers filled the scene with life, glory, and beauty. In some of the forest patches monkeys are seen in troops, especially the colobus, playing among the trees or sunning themselves in the tops of dead trees, or sliding down the lianas and y landolphias like children in a gymnasium. f As we emerged from the forest, palms, bananas, sweet * potatoes, and rubber trees again came iuto view with native huts built of mud and thatched with grass : ^ l)lack-skinncd children gnawing at bananas or a piece ? of sugar-cane watched the passage of the car. We rode i- up and down the hills of this switchback road until we caught a glimpse of rhe Uganda Cathedral on the top of Namirembe hill, and in a short time we entered ;V, Kampala. It was a beautiful approach to a remarkable ^ ^ town. AVhen we visit Pome with its almost continuous '* lines of houses and well-kept streets we do not notice the inconvenience of ascending and descending the slopes of one or other of its seven hills, when we pass from part of the town to another. In Kampala the k isolation of the various institutions from one another in consequence of being perched on a hill is inconvenient, ' especially as the only means of conveyance is the | VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 71 iinrickslia. The districts around the bases of the hills of Kampala are occupied with plantations, and the residences of the white officials are surrounded with ample gardens, or compounds, filled wirh tropical trees, flowers, and fruits. In walking among these gardens I started a female bushbuck eating cabbages in the kitchen garden ; in another two crowned cranes were performing the dance for which they are so celebrated ; I also started a heron, and in the verandah there was a pretty serval cat chained up by the collar like a dog, quite tame, eager and willing to receive caresses. Our hostess, Mrs. Baker, had a young genet as a pet, and a chameleon. Genet kittens are very pretty and great favourites with men and women. While we amused ourselves in catching flies for the chameleon an inter¬ esting question arose concerning its mode of reproduc¬ tion. I maintained that the chameleon laid eggs, and was immediately faced with the following statement : — A lady friend made her a present of a chameleon, which was at once placed on the wire- work blind in the lower half of the window ; an hour later, three young, clay- coloured chameleons were clinging to the wire blind and there were no signs of eggs or shells. There is no real difficulty, for one species (7. pumilus is viviparous, and this proved to be the species under discussion. It is noteworthy that the young chameleons were active very quickly after birth, and one of them caught a fly within the first three hours. We often amused ourselves with finding chameleons and attempting to photograph the tongue when ejected at a hy. The protrusion of this long elastic organ is a deliberate and, on the whole, a slow action. When the process is watched it is easy to see when a chameleon intends to secure a fly ; whilst it is carefully focussing the insect, its cheeks swell out and the end of the tongue protrudes slightly from the mouth and is then quickly ejected at the fly, and, if the insect be secured, the tongue is quickly and easily drawm back into the mouth. 72 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI Flies are often secured wlieu held six inches from the chameleon’s mouth ; it seems to aim at the fly with much more certainty at six inches than at four. Any¬ one who has carefully watched chameleons will agree with Gadow that the tongue works best when shot out with full force. When a chameleon ejects its tongue at a fly and misses it, the reptile appears to have more difficulty in withdrawing the organ into the mouth than when the fly is hit and secured. When the object is missed the tongue hangs about like the loose end of a rope. Profusion and retraction of the tongue, even when performed vigorously, are actions sufficiently deliberate to permit a photograph to be obtained of the act. The chameleon even in its own natural surround¬ ings occasionally misses a fly although the tongue may be aimed with apparent care. The variation in the colour of the chameleon’s skin was another source of interest to us. Although the movements of a chameleon seem very slow wdien care¬ fully watched yet left to itself for a few minutes the reptile generally escaped, and its power of altering the colour of its skin to the environment soon taught us the hopelessness of even a rigorous search. It is diffi¬ cult to detect chameleons among the branches of trees unless the reptiles move. The skin of the chameleon is covered with granules. These reptiles can hold very tightly by means of their awkward-looking feet “ with triple claw disjoined.” They are also aided in maintaining a secure position by means of their tails. The following observation related by Selous bears on this fact he saw a small owl sitting on a bare patch of ground under a thorn tree. The bird did not move until he was quite close to it. The owl flew two or three yards and something could be seen attached to its leg. He caught the owl and found that a large chameleon had attached itself to the bird’s leg by twisting its tail round it two or three times. VI CHAMELEONS 73 The eyes of chameleons are curious, for each can act independently of the other ; one can be directed forwards whilst its fellow is looking backwards. The prominent eye is covered with a circular lid pierced by a small hole. Stranger animal, Sure never lived beneath the sun ; A lizard’s body lean and long, A tish’s head, a serpent’s tongue. Its foot with triple claw disjoined ; And what a length of tail behind. — James M&rrich, 1720-69, 74 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI It is worth, remembering that according to Mosaic law chameleons are included among the creeping things j\hitesa’s Tomb. Mutesa’s G-rave “ the fence of spears.” (From Bishop Tucker’s Eighteen Years in Uganda.) VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 75 unclean and therefore uneatable. They are classed with the weasel, ferret, mouse, tortoise, snail, lizard, and mole (Lev. xi. 29, 30). The Tomb of Mutesa. — This conspicuous building surmounts one of the hills of Kampala. It is cone- shaped, built of timber and reeds, and thickly thatched with grass. It has one door and no windows, so that the interior of the tomb is weird and mysterious. Two rows of poles make a sort of aisle which is strewn with grass, and a fence of spears protects the grave, which is covered with bark cloth. There is a Uganda shield at each end of the row of spears. A large sheet of bark cloth consisting of white and dark squares arranged in chequer or draught board pattern forms the background of this sombre chamber of the dead. In connection with the tomb a complete household is maintained as though the Kabaka was alive. These keep a perpetual vigil in the deep shadows of the tomb and are not allowed to come out. In savage Africa monuments to powerful chiefs are rare. Among most trdies death means annihilation and a man is forgotten unless he has children. It is, however, a curious fact that the names of tyrants go down to posterity more surely, and leave a more vivid impression, than rulers famous for good deeds. Herod’s dreadful Massacre of the Innocents is known to a multitude of men and women, whereas few know nmcli of the good qualities of the Emperor Hadrian. All visitors to Paris are reminded, in many districts of that famous and artistic city, of the destructive ability of Napoleon Bonaparte. Tourists in Moscow are not allowed to forget the atrocities of Ivan the Terrible. In Kampala the name of Mutesa survives though in the main it is a byword for cruelties and atrocities of the vilest kind which earned for him the title “ causer of tears.” Most writers on Uganda, in referring to the cruelties of Mutesa and his successor Mwanga, state that the details are too harrowing to publish. Severe 76 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI bodily punishments were inflicted on frivolous pretexts. Cunningham refers to a poor wretch he had seen, whose ears had been cut off because his goat, in passing along a path, nibbled a blade of grass on the King’s : land. The present Katikiro or Prime Minister of Uganda wrote an account of the Kings (Bakabaka) of Uganda ; he states that at frequent intervals Mutesa proclaimed sacrifices, and the royal harem was rifled for victims, who were duly slaughtered, with many others. [ When Mutesa died the whole country mourned for him, J a King whose conduct was so atrocious as to excite ,i,| horror in a country like Africa where “Eye for eye,|B; tooth for . tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”! ^ does not excite astonishment. For instance, whenyi Livingstone visited the native ruler of Lunda in^^^ 1867, he found the court of the palace decorated ^ with men’s skulls, and a great portion of the people ’ had cropped ears and lopped-off arms, which served to I remind the subjects of these mutilations that the ruler ; had been obliged to give expression to his disapproval j of their conduct. (Erode.) j The Uganda Cathedral 1 It has been mentioned that the most conspicuous 1 edifice in Kampala, the Cathedral on the summit of i Namirembe hill, was struck by lightning and reduced j to ashes a few months after our visit. Probably no | other place of Christian worship in the world was like i unto it. This cathedral rested on a foundation of burnt : bricks, but those used in the construction of the walls ■ were sun-dried. The wooden roof was supported by two rows of octagonal columns built of unburnt bricks, and thatched with dried grass. The beams which supported the roof were overlaid with polished stalks of elephant grass which caused the interior of the cathedral to be filled with a pale yellow light, producing an unusual i and pleasant impression. VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 77 The walls were pierced with long narrow windows with wire netting instead of glass to exclude bats. The netting became a necessity because the bats hung from the roof in crowds, and a dead one occasionally The Thatched Cathedral. (From a Photo by C. W. Hattersley. ) EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI The interior of the cathedral consisted of a nave and two side aisles, a chancel, transept and vestibule. There Interior of the Uganda Cathedral. VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 79 were two entrances, one at each end of the transept. This cathedral accommodated four thousand persons. It had neither belfry nor bell-tower, but a drummery St. Paul’s Cathedral, Uganda, had no belfry. The worshippers were reminded of their duty by drums. The drummery is a detached building constructed of wood and dried grass. — a detached building constructed mainly of grass — containing three drums : a major, minor, and minimus ; these were beaten to summon the Baganda to the services instead of bells. 8o EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI The gateway of the cathedral precincts is con- i structed of sun-dried bricks roofed with elephant grass, ; and the columns supporting the corners of the roof are ' the untrimmed stems of palm trees. | This unique cathedral was designed by Mr. Borup j to replace the older building, which was in an unsafe condition. The new cathedral, built by native labour, | was begun in 1901. The Kabaka laid the foundation f i stone (June 18, 1901), and it was consecrated June,^, ■ 21, 1904. The interest evinced by the Baganda in *^ | its construction was great and practical. The members f of the congregation carried the clay up the hill from ^ the swamps to the brickmakers, and women gathered The raven which Bishop Hannington taught to I tell the people of Hurstpierpoint to “go and sign the pledge.” This bird survived ! its preceptor seventeen years in the care ) of Dr. Hawken. the wood and material required for burning the bricks. ■ The beams were conveyed from long distances by men. : Occasionally the Katikiro (Prime Minister) would join ; the procession and carry a load of clay. (Tucker.) | A plot of ground immediately under the shadow ! of the apse of the cathedral is reserved as a burying ; ground. It contains the remains of Bishop Hannington, ^ who was murdered by the natives in 1885 at or near j Lubu in Usogo by the orders of the superstitious I Mwanga. After the murder the bishop’s body was interred near the scene of the massacre at Mumias ; it was recovered } by Bishop Tucker during his second journey to Uganda | VI KAMPALA (MENGO) 8i in 1892, and re-interred with great solemnity at Kampala. Mwanga, who was responsible for the murder, attended bhe second burial, December 31, 1902. Captain Kaymond Portal is also buried here, and the officers Thruston, Wilson, and Scott, who were murdered by the Soudanese mutineers in cold blood, 1897. The view from the summit of the hill on which the cathedral stands is very fine. From the west end may be seen the tomb of Mutesa, and the hill on which Stanley was encamped in 1875. The path¬ way, or track, leading from Stanley’s camping ground to Mutesa’s residence is pointed out to visitors. The road leading from the cathedral passes the large native hospital in which Drs. J. H. Cook and A. K. Cook carry out their admirable medical work among the Baganda. The institution is fitted with most of the requirements of modern surgery. The organisation of the place is excellent, and testifies to the zeal and energy of the capable staff connected with it. A short distance from the hospital is the native market, and we were greatly amused with tLe quaint things offered for sale. Dried fish from the lake resembling sprats ; pieces of the paunch of a sheep carefully folded up with a small piece of soft fat. It was a matter of surprise to see kaurie shells in heaps, but whether as a means of exchange, or on sale for ornamental purposes, I could not ascertain. Metallic ornaments for native use were abundant and betrayed their Western origin, for some were made in Birmingham and others came from Germany. In the middle of the market-place we found a boy busily engaged in removing “jiggers” from the sole of an old man with a safety pin. The native boys are very expert in extracting these pests. Here we had excellent opportunities for studying bark-cloth, for the manufacture of this material is quite an art in L^ganda. The bark is obtained from a species G 82 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VI of fig tree which flourishes in this fertile country. The hast on the inner side of the bark is removed in strips six or ten feet in length. Red bast is preferred. The strip, which varies in width according to the circum¬ ference of the tree, is soaked in water until it is a soft mass ; it is then beaten with a wooden mallet to uniform thickness and dried. The strips are sewn together with extreme neatness to any desired size. The bark- cloth is often variegated by bold stencilled designs. sometimes in grotesque patterns, by means of a black dye. It is the correct thing in Uganda for princesses and ’ | the wives of the chiefs to wear bark-cloth in preference ■ to calico. Bark-cloth makes a useful material for | binding writing books and blotters. 1- Whilst at Kampala we had an opportunity of visiting | H. H. the Kabaka, a youth of fourteen years, the son of | Mwanga by a Protestant wife. He was born August 5 I, 1896, and christened Daudi (David). The Kabaka \ is a well-grown and dignified youth, somewhat shy, but ' has a pleasant face and answers questions without \ reserve ; he is fond of dogs, mechanical toys, bicycles, j and motor cars. Mr. Sturrock, the clever tutor, informed me that the Kabaka is fond of reading, especially historical books and those relating to animals. j Kipling’s Jungle Book has for him a peculiar fascina- ] tion. The signature appended shows that he writes j English characters as neatly as any boy of a \ corresponding age in a public school. | H.H. the Kabaka of Uganda receives from the British Government £800 yearly, and on attaining majority I this will be increased to £1,500, and he will be entitled ! to a salute of guns. He became Kabaka, August 14, | 1897, under a regency. i Facsimile of the autograph of the Kabaka of Uganda. VII DRUxMS No account of a visit to East Africa, and particularly Uganda, would be complete without some reference to drums. In Uganda a musical band sometimes consists entirely of drums. They take the place of church bells in European cities, and, like bells, they are used for ceremonial purposes on such occasions as weddings, funerals, and religious services ; at times of national rejoicing, as well as to sound alarms. In the Sesse Archipelago they are used for signalling purposes between the islands : a special drum is beaten on Kome to announce the birth of twins, and a select drum is used on the appearance of the new moon. Drums were introduced into the British army in the sixteenth century, and used for giving signals in times of peace and war. The principle underlying the construction of a drum is the same in all countries, and in all ages. A drum is composed of a cylinder which may be of wood, bamboo, or metal, covered at each end with vellum, parchment, or prepared skin, the tension of which is regulated by strings. The sound is produced by percussion, usually by beating on the parchment or skin-covered ends with appropriate drum-sticks, or by means of the fingers or the palm. Much ingenuity is shown in making drums, and great skill is often displayed in percussing them. There is great variety in the shape and size of drums. The Uganda drum consists of a hollow truncated cone G 2 83 84 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VII I of wood with a piece of ox-hide stretched over its ends. | These two pieces of hide are connected by cords niade| from banana fibre, which serve to keep them tense, f The disposition of the cords produces a decorative | effect enhanced by staining. Some of the drums are| of enormous size. I have seen one a yard and a half j I The Uganda drum consists of a hollow, truncated cone of wood with a piece of ox-hide stretched ». over each end. The pieces of hide are con- » 1 nected by cords made from banana fibre which W keep them tense. The cords are sometimes ■¥ stained to produce a decorative effect, I high and nearly a yard in width at the broad end. The conical-shaped drum stands on its narrow end and is beaden on the broad end. Large war drums are held 4 extremely sacred, and the loss of one is as much taken ’ to heart by an African Sultan as the loss of a flag by' < ourselves. ■ i VII DRUMS 85 When Speke visited King Rumanika at Karague, he found thirty-five drums ranged on the ground, with as many drummers ranged behind them. The thirty- five drums all struck up together in very good harmony ; and when their deafening noise was over, a smaller band of hand-drums and reed instruments was ordered in to amuse him. Women Drummers at Suna’s Tomb. (After Hattersley. The Bagancla at Home.) In Uganda the State organisation is of a high order ; every principal chief has his ov/n standard and drum call. When the King’s war-drum sounds the call to arms in Mengo, each district passes the signal on. Thus the country is quickly aroused. Special beats of the drum are used for alarms, as when a wild animal, such as a lion, is discovered in a village. 86 EASTERN ETHIOPIA vii|' ■■ w In Kampala, I was mucli impressed by the way sound travels from one hill-top to another. A native on the |: ‘ summit of one hid can converse without much difficulty y with a native on a neighbouring hill, and in the calm of the evening the sound of the drum travels long - ; ' distances. Tliis makes it easy to believe that drums 4 are used in these countries not only for issuing signals, but for conveying messages in code. In Uganda the drum is an appanage of royalty, alive or dead. Women drummers live in the tombs of the kings. The tomb of Suna, the father of Mutesa, ' | contains some of his memorials, and the old women ■ | (his widows) live in the tomb and believe that so long . as a certain part of him (umbilical cord) exists, the old lord and master is with them in spirit. When this relic is brought out all the old drummers and singers beat their drums and sing old chants, just as they used A to do to welcome the approach of their master during pit his reign. (C. W. Hattersley.) , i Simple forms of drums are made by hollowing out ' i a piece of the stem of a tree, a yard long and eight or ; nine inches in diameter : over the ends of these long I cylinders a piece of skin from a large lizard is stretched : i sometimes a piece of goat or antelope skin is used, but | whatever the material, it is fastened over the end of the drum and fixed to the wooden cylinder with |)egs, i or in some of the more elaborate drums, the skin is kept stretched by means of strips of leather. Long narrow drums of this kind are carried by means i of a leather strap passing over one shoulder of the i drummer. The drums are beaten by means of wooden ; sticks, or the end of the drum-stick is enveloped with bast or rags. The most complicated drum I have seen was shown me by Mr. Hobley, who obtained it from the Wa-Kamba. i, The drum- cylinder was from the stem of a large bamboo ; it measured two yards in length and six I: inches in diameter. At one end of the cylinder a piece J,' VII DRUMS '^7 of wood is left as a handle : the opposite end is covered With, hide which is drawn into a cone by means of a piece of stout brass wire passing upwards through the hollow of the drum : near the handle this piece of wire is strained over a bridge of wood like a violin string and made taut on the outside, near the handle. In order to play the drum, it is held by the handle A Sesse Guitar. It is covered with python’s skin. and the lower end is gently tapped upon the floor : an agreeable soft drumming noise is thus produced. The drum, or ngoma, is an indispensable accompani¬ ment to all native dances ; hence this word has come to signify a dance. In many instances the band consists entirely of drums, and before dancing begins the drummers tune their instruments to the same pitch 88 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VII SO as not to ‘‘ mar the dancers’ skill.” When a drum is not in tune, the drummer collects some grass and makes a small fire, over which he heats the hide until it becomes tense enough to furnish the proper An Ashantee Fetish Drum. (British Museum.) note. When drums are played by hand, variations are produced by striking the stretched skin with the palm, the finger-tips, the knuckles, or the closed fist. The music and dancing usually last many hours, and in VII DRUMS 89 native villages situated near European settlements, it is the practice to permit dancing on Saturday night only. The natives have other kinds of musical instruments, such as flutes and guitars, but the drum furnishes the dance music. Some of the guitars are neatly made and the sound box is covered with thin skin, often that of the python. The men will often play monotonous tunes on such instruments for hours. These guitars are sometimes ornamented with the tail of a goat. I had heard that in some parts of Uganda a drum¬ covering is made from the ear of an elephant. My efforts to obtain or see such a drum were unfruitful. It is conceivable that the ear of the African elephant could be used for such a purpose, for some ears measure four feet across. There is a tract of country extending from the north-west corner of Tanganyika towards the main affluent of the Congo in that region known as the Manyema Country. Pure cannibalism is practised by the Manyema people. They eat their own dead. Thus a father would not eat his own son or daughter, neither would anyone of the same village, so the corpse is given to the natives in a neighbouring village. When anyone is very ill and likely to die, word is sent to the relations in the nearest village, and they await the signal to fetch away the body. The information of the death is generally conveyed by drum-signal. (Cunningham.) Drums also play a part in fetish-worship, and an extraordinary drum of this kind comes from Ashanti ; it is decorated with the thigh bones of human beings and the skull of a baboon. This drum was sounded at human sacrifices. Drums now serve better purposes in Uganda, for they are used to summon the worshippers to church. It is odd that pious people should require to be reminded of their religious duties by means of such discordant sounds as the doleful ringing of bells or the booming of drums. 90 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VII 1 It has been mentioned already that the term drum is usually restricted to sound-producing instruments in which a tense membrane, stretched across a hollow In Uganda drums are used instead of bells to call the congregations to Avorship. cylinder, is set in vibration by hand or stick. The peculiar booming of a drum can be produced without the aid of a stretched membrane. The Gordon College, Khartoum, possesses a specimen of the remarkable VII DRUMS 91 drum used by the Niam-Niam. It is roughly shaped like an ox, with head and horns attached by a narrow neck to a thick body two feet in diameter, furnished with a tail and supported on four short, thick legs. The whole is cut out of one log. The part representing the body of the ox is as big as an ox and narrow towards the spine. The whole is hollowed out like a trough, with a narrow, slit-like mouth replacing the backbone. The sides of this drum are of unequal thickness and enable the drummer to produce two distinct sounds according to the side struck. The wood is extremely hard and resonant. Schweinfurth states that three important signals are rendered on these drums — one for war ; another for hunting, and the third a summons to a festival. The war signal sounded on the drum of a chief and repeated by other drums brings together thousands of armed men when necessary. War drum of the Niam-Niam. Captured 1905. (Gordon College, Khartoum.) VIII THE MASAI. THE SHEPHERH-WAEHIORS OF MASAILAND. The Masai inhabit the inland districts of British and German East Africa from the equator to 6° S.L. In spite of much research nothing is known of the origin of this race of men : they not only differ widely in lano^ua^^e, customs, and organisation from the surround- ing tribes, but they are themselves divided into two sections : of these one is pastoral and nomadic, and the other (L-Oikop) agricultural. Both sections avoid the sea-coast and though lakes, like Naivasha and Nakuru, are found in the districts in which they live, they never use a boat or catch a fish. The males of the tribe are divided into boys, warriors, and elders. The stage of boyhood continues till the age of thirteen or seventeen ; then the boys, with much ceremony and mystery, are submitted in batches to circumcision. This operation among the Masai is a complicated procedure and occurs once in five years. Previous to circumcision a boy helps to herd the cattle but after this event he becomes a warrior or Elmuran (often erroneously spelt El Moran) ; he then plaits his hair, adorns himself with certain ear ornaments, and goes naked with the exception of a small skin which he wears over the shoulders for warmth, not for decency. His outfit as a warrior consists of a spear, shield, bow and arrows, a club and a sword. The shields are made of hide, but they are not all of one pattern : each age and sub-district has its own design. This is also true of the spears and arrows. The Masai rely for their 92 VIII THE MASAI 93 A Masai Warrior. 94 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII weapons and metal ornaments on smiths, usually *■ Nclorobo. Each clan has its own smiths. The decorations of a warrior are very elaborate. He wears ear-rings, ear-studs, and an arm-clamp. When > ■ on the warpath he has a cap of ostrich feathers, or a |^;j head-dress made from the mane of a lion. On his leg |:j] there is an anklet formed from that part of the skin of v -jj the Colobus monkey which has long white hair, or the ; I long hair of the goat. The boys shoot birds with bows T | u An Arm-clamp which a Masai warrior wears, but only as an ornament. (British Museum.) and arrows in order to obtain feathers and plumes for ^ the decoration of the warriors. The manly dress that marks the warrior’s pride — Two foes he slew before the raid was done, And in their blood his maiden spear was dyed. W. J. MonH07i. The arm-clamps worn by the Masai are of two kinds : — The one worn by warriors is only put on as an ornament. It is taken off when starting on a raid. The arm-ring, which is cut out of a buffalo horn or an VIII THE MASAI 95 elephant’s tusk, is only worn by elders who possess large herds of cattle and many children : it denotes the wearer’s wealth. Examples of both kinds of clamp are shown in the British Museum. When a warrior attains the age of thirty years he marries and settles, and if a man of importance he may be elected chief. The life of a warrior is a tame affair now that this tribe is under British control. Balding, cattle stealing, plundering, and murdering are not per¬ mitted. Some notion of the extent and frequency of Masai raids may be gathered from Gregory’s statement based on his own observations in 1893. “ South of Merifano on the Tana, Harris and I found the Galla driving their flocks and herds across the river to escape the marauders, and saw the smoke of the burn¬ ing villages whence the natives had fled. At the Kiboko river I found the dead bodies of some Wa- Kamba who must have been surprised and murdered in their sleep, as their arrows were still in their sheaths, and their simes in their scabbards. Two days’ journey north of this place the road was littered vith the debris of broken boxes captured from a caravan taking stores to Sir Gerald Portal’s party in Uganda. Again, on the Kapte plains near Bondini, during our second march south from Machakos, we encountered a small party of El- Moran, who were on their way to attack some Ki- Kamba villages. On the plains of the Thika-Thika we met some Kikuyu refugees from Igeti ; their country had been ravaged by the Masai army which we had seen enkraaled on the shores of Lake Naivasha, and the district, for two days’ march in length by one in breadth, had been cleared as if by a hurricane. The fugitives described the sudden attack, the massacre, the devasta¬ tion of the plantations, the capture of the cattle and the burning of the villages. And yet as we listened to this sickening story, we realised that this was merely one incident in a continuous series of such horrors.” The warriors in the zenith of their power would 96 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII sometimes take a thousand head of cattle in a single ! raid. After a successful capture of cattle the warriors , returned to their kraals and divided the spoils. The foe is routed : surely not in vain Upon our brows we bound the lion’s mane. ! With bootless zeal the herdsman tracked our line, | Ear, far ahead we drove the captured kine. Their kraals we’ve burnt, their cattle we have ta’^en, I And now we come in triumph home again. TT. J. Monson. Feasting and fighting among themselves were usual sequels to successful raids. Joseph Thomson in his African romance, Ulu, has described a blood-and-meat orgy which followed a cattle raid. i The most remarkable adornments of the men and ■ women are the curious ornaments worn in their ears, ! especially that known as the ’surutya (see the Essay j on Ears). I All tribes which disregard clothes as a rule pay great ■ attention to their hair. This is true of the Masai. After ; the boys have been circumcised, the hair is allowed to ■ grow and, as soon as it is long enough, worked into ; plaits. In wet weather the hair is protected by a cap ; made from the paunch of a goat. ■! The women dress in leather garments ; shave their heads and eyebrows ; wear earrings and encase their i legs and arms with coils of iron, brass, or copper wire. The wire coils are sometimes wound so tightly round the limbs that the wearer moves with difficulty. The i wire coils around the neck resemble the well-known firework arrangement called a Catherine wheel. All j these metal ornaments are kept brightly polished. The young unmarried girls have an agreeable time, for when a boy becomes a warrior he no longer lives among the married members of his tribe, but in separate kraals with the girls. The newly initiated warrior usually selects the girls with whom he wishes to live. Thus whilst the warriors and girls are philandering and VIII THE MASAI 97 wliat is often termed enjoying life by spending their time in dancing, singing, and adorning themselves, the mothers EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII 98 of the men are engaged in what may be called house- ] work and cooking. S The women also milk the cows and goats, and in 1 this they are assisted by the boys. Now that the j Masai no longer raid their neighbours and steal cattle. || the occupation of the warriors is gone, but these men [’ make excellent herdsmen and are often employed in this capacity by European settlers. The Masai are not only polygamous but also polyandrous, for the n wife is lent to a visitor : they are exceedingly immoral. Thomson states that though the Masai and | Wa-Kikuyu were eternally at war wdth each other, j, there is a compact between them not to molest the | womenfolk of either party, and the Masai women | would wend their way to a Kikuyu village whilst their relatives were probably engaged in a deadly struggle ' close at hand. I The Masai are fond of moving, and if the grazing | is poor they move to another place. The donkeys and | women are the pack animals. It is quite common to meet with a party on the move and find the women laden ■ with babies, bags, gourds, and other utensils ; the work i of raising the skin tents or building huts devolves on ~ them also. The men accompanying the party merely I carry their spears and clubs. | With us to spit upon a thing expresses contempt ; | with the Masai it is a sign of friendship and respect. The two lower incisor teeth are knocked out in men I and women, and no reason is assigned for this practice ; , in spitting the fluid is ejected through this gap, some- I times in a forcible stream. I first saw the practice in a village. When my conductor entered the village a i| woman of the tribe advanced and shook hands with him, having previously spat in her palm. My friend spat on his palm, and I noticed that he did not shake hands I wdth what would be called w^armth. I mentioned this I opinion to him subsequently ; he replied that she had ' expressed her high appreciation of his visit by spitting I VIII THE MASAI 99 too freely into her hand ! Among these people spitting is a custom with an infinite variety of meanings. The Masai take very little trouble with their dead. The corpse is carried a short distance from the village and left to be devoured by hyaenas, jackals, and vultures. They believe that when a man dies it is the end as with the cattle. To bury a corpse would, in their idea, poison the soil. Masai drawing blood from an ox by shooting a blocked arrow into the jugular vein, (From the Veterinarian. After R. J. Stordy. ) The principal food of the old men, women, and child¬ ren is milk. The warriors drive bullocks into the forest and slaughter them for meat. All the members of a village would eat an ox if it died a natural death, or if killed by a snake, or a beast of prey. They are very fond of blood, which is obtained from an ox by shooting a blocked arrow into its jugular vein. The blood they catch in gourds and drink it hot from the 100 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII beast. Drinking blood seems a horrible practice, but the poor in England eat a large quantity of blood in the form of a sausage known as “ black pudding ” which consists of bullocks’ blood, spiced, mixed with fat and cooked. Blood is an important ingredient in the haggis so famous in Scotland, and in whose honour Burns wrote a poem describing it as the “Great Chieftain o’ the puddin’ race.” Moreover, some thirty years ago the drinking of warm bullocks’ blood was advocated as a cure for consumption, and patients afflicted with this disease would regularly attend slaughter-houses in London and drink the pre¬ scribed quantity of this supposed specific. As the Masai live on milk, meat, and blood, and hunt no game, they are dej^endent on their flocks and herds. Zebras, gazelles, and kongoni run unmolested with the cattle. Their domestic animals are cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, and dogs. The cattle are humped (zebus) and oxen without humps they treat with disdain. The settlers have crossed some of the native cattle with un¬ humped species and in two generations the hump disappears. Anatomically the hump of the zebu consists of fat interspersed with muscle fibre ; the latter is derived from the broad thin stratum of muscle known as the panniculus carnosus, immediately beneath the skin. This is the muscle which enables oxen and horses to twitch their skin, especially when irritated by Hies. The hump is excellent to eat, especially when salted. The cattle can take care of themselves. It is stated that a herd will charge a leopard, or a hysena, and leave it a shapeless mass. It is common for a boy of five or six years to be left in charge of a herd of cattle and manage them without difficulty. It is strano:e that cattle allow children to manage them so easily. Kipling, in the delightful Jungle Booh, refers to this matter in India : the very cattle, he writes, that I VIII THE MASAI lOI would trample a white man to death allow themselves to be banged and bullied and shouted at by children who hardly come up to their noses. The Masai love their cattle very much. Each cow is known by name. As the cattle feed on grass the Masai love it on this account. In times of drought the women fasten grass to their clothes and pray. In A Masai Bull. The cattle are humped like the Zebu. Oxen without humps the Masai treat with disdain. a fight grass is used as a sign of peace. They castrate their bulls in the following manner : — The operation is performed on bulls from two to four years. The animal is cast by means of leather thongs ; the feet are tied and the wives hang on to the thongs and hold its head down. The cutting instrument is a knife or arrow-head set in a handle. These things are made by the smiths from 102 EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII native iron, or imported iron wire. An incision is made in the scrotum to expose the gland, which is then pulled out by main force. Both testicles are extracted through a single incision. The animal is then bled from the jugular vein, the opening in the vein being made by shooting a blocked arrow into it. The blood is collected in calabashes to be drunk at the end of the day. As the bull joins the herd, the wife of the operator smears its back with cow-dung for luck. (R. J. Stordy.) The Masai not only act as veterinarians, but they practise surgery. In treating comminuted fractures they cut down upon tlie fragments, remove the splinters, bring the broken edges into contact, and suture the wound with sinews from the back of the ox. This is on a level with the best modern surgery. When it is realised that a man’s bone cannot be mended, the surgeons fasten a ligature round the limb and ampu¬ tate it. (Hollis.) These shepherd warriors are dignified men ; they are born orators and conduct lengthy arguments. They are also wags in their way, and exhibit their wit at the expense of the Swahili, whom they despise. The Masai rarely smoke and do not take intoxicating drink : they reckon time by the sun, and fix dates by the moon and rain. There are two rainy seasons annually. Their kraals consist of low, oblong, round-topped huts, placed end to end, surrounding a circular enclosure with a diameter of thirty or forty feet which is used as the stockyard. The framework of the huts is wood and wickerwork filled in with a mixture of cow-dung and mud. The doorway of the hut is a hole which looks towards the stockyard. In building the huts the rafters are completely hidden with the cow-dung and mud mixture except one which protrudes beyond the door : “ It is said to be watching the cattle ” (Hollis). Outside the continuous line of huts, a strong thorn fence (boma) affords protection against man and wild beasts. vii VIII THE MASAI 103 During the dry season such a place is habitable, but in wet weather detestable. In order to protect the roofs of the huts hides are spread over them and tied down or kept in place by stones. These hides not only stink, but are visited by myriads of insects, such as crawl and fly. The central space of the village is a reeking dunghill haunted by clouds of flies. Bearing in mind the moral and physical conditions under which these people live in their villages, there is ample justification for Koutledge’s strong opinion, that a Masai kraal near civilisation, i.e., near a railway station, town, or Government post, is a sink of iniquity. The cattle are the mainstay of the tribe : it was recently estimated that the section of this tribe living in the Naivasha Province owns 35,000 head of cattle and 250,000 goats and sheep. The white settler finds fault with the Masai on the ground that their great object is to accumulate wealth in the form of herds and flocks. They will not sell any cattle useful for stock purposes : barren and dried up cows they part with to be slaughtered for food. They do not encourage the milk-yielding properties of their cows. The Masai, however, now play a different part in East Africa from that which they performed thirty years ago : from 1850 to 1885 they were numerous and formidable. Their military organisation made them feared by their neighbours, and they have played an important part in East Africa. For many years they levied toll on the Arab slave dealers, the Swahili traders, and all caravans, whether organised by Arabs or Europeans, which passed through Masailand. Joseph Thomson suffered from their arrogance and exactions in 1883 and has written an excellent account of these bloodthirsty, overbearing warriors. The Masai have since fallen from their high estate. Rinderpest attacked and destroyed their cattle whole¬ sale, Many of thern have died from smallpox, and the EASTERN ETHIOPIA VIII 104 tribes who were raided by them in the days of their 'J ' power have not been slow in making reprisals for the i murdering and plundering of days gone by. . * At the present time it is estimated that this tribe in . British East Africa do not exceed 25.000: “The Rift , Valley and the high plateaus where the fierce blood¬ thirsty Masai once reigned supreme are becoming ' colonised by white settlers.” Hollis, in his admirable ;' monograph on this tril)e, asks the pertinent question : 5* 1 Will the Masai alter his habit or cease to exist ? 1 1 Thoughtful and experienced men, who have carefully it j studied this question, are of the opinion that any plan 'pj of leaving the Masai to themselves, with their old V | military and social organisation untouched, is fraught ; with clanger to the tribe as well as to the public I peace. ! Hinde, S. L., I A ii and \The Last of the Masai. London, 1901. ■ | IliNDE, H. (Mrs.)J » Hollis, A. C. The Masai : Language arid Folk-lore. Oxford, , 1905. ' 1 Stordy, R. J . ‘‘ Emasculation of the Bull by the Masai Tribe,” ; Veterinarian, 1900, 525. ' Thomson, J. Through Masailand. London, 1885. ■ ,, Flu. An African Romance. 2 vols. London, ! IX WA-KIKUYU. THE PEOPLE OF THE KIKUYU COUNTRY. The area commonly known as the Kikuyu country, though traversed by the Uganda Eailway, is imper¬ fectly delimited ; southward it abuts on the Athi plains ; northward it is near the equator ; eastward it extends towards Mount Kenia, and westward to the Aberdare mountains and the edge of the Eift Valley. Those parts of this country best known to Europeans, sometimes termed the Kikuyu Highlands, are 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, and were formerly covered with thick forest, but the Wa-Kikuyu have gradually cleared it with the help of fire ; now, with the excep¬ tions of patches here and there of virgin forest, the best part of the country consists of undulating land dotted with villages and patches of cultivation. The extremes of temperature experienced at this altitude are trying ; in the dry season the temperature varies from below freezing point at midnight to above 90° Fahr. at noon. The weather is unpleasant in the wet« season and hailstorms of great violence are fairly common. The Wa-Kikuyu are agriculturists and grow maize, millet, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, bananas, tobacco, castor-oil trees, beans, and the arum lily. The work in the fields is performed by the women. These people also possess flocks and herds, chiefiy goats and sheep, and the care of the animals devolves on the men and boys. The possession of flocks and herds excited the 105 io6 EASTERN ETHIOPIA ix 3upidit7 of neighbouring tribes, especially the Masai. These two tribes were perpetually at war. The Wa- Kikuyu is the only people which offered any real resistance to the swaggering, fighting, raiding Masai. In order to raid Kikuyu cattle the Masai warriors had to travel through the forest along winding tracts beset with pits, with the enemy lining the side bush with bows and arrows, swords and spears. On the plains the Wa-Kikuyu warriors were no match for them, but in the depths of the forest the El-Muran raiding parties had a bad time. The warriors of Kikuyu imitated their warlike neigh¬ bours in many ways, such as copying their customs in regard to hair-dressing, decorating themselves with feathers, the hair of goats, the long tails of the guereza monkeys, and the tusks of the wart-hog. Men mutilate their ears in the Masai style, practise circumcision, file their teeth, and possess the habit of standing on one leg. They attach the same value to spitting as a charm and a sign A Honey Barrel ornamented flieildsllip, and imitate the with poker-work. Masai ill their weapons of war, such as spears, swords (sime), bows, arrows, knobkerries, and sliields. The warriors also ape the El-Muran in the drinking of blood, which they obtain from the cattle, by piercing the jugular vein by means of the blocked arrow, as practised liy their warrior neighbours, Mr, and Mrs, Routledge IX WA-KIKUYU 107 have described the comic side of “ the drinking of warm blood ” in their interesting account of the Kikuyu people. They make an alcoholic drink from the juice of the sugar cane. The juice is obtained by pounding the cane in a trough with wooden pestles. This is the A Man of Kiku}^! with a gallipot in the distended lobe of the ear. work of the women. A fermented drink is also made from honey. The Wa-Kikuyu are fond of honey, and honey barrels are seen fixed in the branches of an isolated tree. A honey box in a tree in the Kikuyu country is a feature in the landscape. It is a wooden cylinder, io8 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IX hollowed out from the trunk of a tree until it consists of a shell about two inches thick ; the exterior is trimmed Honey Barrel in a tree in a Kikuyu maize shamba. sometimes quite smoothly, and the ends are occluded by two rounded pieces of wood let into a groove so bhat they appear like the ends of a barrek The bees IX WA-KIKUYU 09 find their way in through apertures at either end. The boxes are ornamented with poker-work or with a clan design so that the owner is known. The object of the honey barrel is to induce the wild bees to build the comb therein ; it is then safe from birds. The huts are simple one-chambered dwellings. The walls consist of a ring of posts stuck into the ground to support the roof : the interspaces between the posts are filled with wattling and the wall thus formed is bedaubed with clay. The roof-poles extend beyond the wall, so when the hut is thatched with dried reeds or grass the overhanging portion of the roof, which is supported by additional series of poles, forms a verandah. These huts have no windows and the entrance lacks a door, but at night a wickerwork arrangement something like a hurdle, made from a tough creeper, is placed against it and wedged in position by a piece of timber. These huts, though built of such frail material, will, if looked after, last for many years, but a deserted hut soon falls to pieces. A great destroying agent is the termite : and these huts readily catch fire. The Masai formerly stopped caravans which the Arabs, ivory dealers, and slave raiders conducted through their lands, and demanded toll ; the Wa-Kikuyu, on the other hand, pilfered where they could, but they preferred to barter with the Arabs and supply them with grain and food. The bartering with caravans, as all readers of Thomson’s journey through Masailand know, is done by the women. The Wa-Kikuyu have regular market days : on such occasions ornaments and weapons are bartered : iron ore and charcoal are offered for exchange : firewood and grain may be obtained : men can buy beer, and gossip is universal. Such things as salt, string, bananas, birds’ skins, earthenware pots, fat, knives, gourds, sugar cane, honey barrels, feathers, tobacco, hides, and skins are there for those who need them. 1 10 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IX Formerly barter was the chief means of exchange ; beads were accepted as payment, but Government | has introduced the cent and this simplifies matters. ||| The women of Kikuyu are interesting folk : whilst';! i the boys and men are looking after goats and sheep ’ Whilst the men and boys are looking after the goats or sleeping in the sun, the women are cultivating the shambas, keeping the ground clear of weeds, or fetching big loads of firewood from the forests. (in former times fighting), or sleeping in the sun, the women are cultivating the land, keeping the plots clear of weeds. They bring in big loads of firewood from the forest. It is also their duty to fetch water either in IX WA-KIKUYU 1 1 1 huge earthenware jars or gourds. These heavy things they carry on their backs suspended by a broad leather strap passing round the forehead. The younger women pound the grain as well as cook it ; and in the daytime, The young Kikuyu women pound the grain as well as cook it. when there is nothing more important to do, they may be seen sewing skins and fashioning the peculiar clothes with which they cover themselves. In these communities there is no washing day : no beds to make : the children require neither washing nor taking to school. No stockings to darn or boots to mend, for they wear nothing on their feet. II2 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IX The sewing is done by means of an awl and pointed thread : the latter is a fibre obtained from the bark of trees. The string used by them is sometimes made The Kikuyu women strive to get many rings through the arti¬ ficial openings in their ears. On one occasion I counted forty-four rings in the pinna ; the majority were in the lobe- loop, but a dozen occupied a slit in the concha. from the tendons of animals. The Wa- Kikuyu require string for many purposes, such as setting snares, tying cane and reeds into bundles, repairing calabashes, string¬ ing beads, and weaving bags. IX WA-KIKUYU Boys run about without any clothes, but even the smallest girls wear leather aprons. Older girls and women wear a leather petticoat of curious shape fastened round the waist ; it has two curious pointed lappels hanging in front. The upper part of the body is protected by a leather cloak, which is worn for warmth, but with no idea of concealing the figure. When the girl is old enough for marriage she wears a band of beads across her forehead, which is also ornamented with shells. The women also wear ear¬ rings, armlets, and anklets. The iron they require is obtained from ore found in the country and smelted by their own smiths, who are able to make all the iron articles required, such as iron wire, chains, rings, ornaments, spears, swords, hoes, hammers, collars, &c. They are specially good at making iron wire which is used for the purpose of ornament. At times copper wire is obtainable for chain-making. The Wa-Kikuyu also make useful pottery. The women are the potters and they mould the soft material by hand. Their methods of hair-dressing are described on p. 156. G^oats play such an important part in the domestic economy of the Masai and the Wa-Kikuyu that they demand some consideration. It is an easy thing to distinguish a horse from an ass when they are seen in real life, but if one is asked to describe or even enumerate the distinguishing points of these two familiar animals the matter is not quite simple. The points which distinguish goats from sheep are less marked and fewer. The Wa-Kikuyu make no distinc^ tion between sheep and goats : even zoologists find it difficult to draw a satisfactory line of distinction between them. A typical he-goat has a beard, long angulated, transversely wrinkled horns, and a strong odour. Sheep and goats are prized for their milk, flesh, and skins. A man's wealth is estimated by the size of his flocks and 14 EASTERN ETHIOPIA IX herds. As goats are unit of value heinsf An ear ornament which the Wa-Kikuyu around Mount Kenia wear in the helix. (British Museum. ) The beads of the top row are white ; the second row, grey. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth rows consist of bright blue beads ; those of the seventh row are grey, and the basal row is formed of pieces of reeds or straw. The chain is of iron and of native make. The beads attached to the lower end of the chain are white. Routledges sur- used for the purchase of wives (the a goat), these animals are therefore carefully watched by day, and at night they are guarded in strong enclosures. The sheep and goats are ear-marked, and, as is the custom with shepherds in Europe, the flocks are counted night and morning. In every village there is a long wooden trough containing salt for the animals to lick. According to the there are some deft-handed geons among the natives of Kikuyu. Sword slashes and stab wounds are sewn up. The method of suture is simple : one or more strong tliorns are passed deeply through the tissues at the edo;es of the wound, a hole being made by an awl to enable the thorn to be inserted ; a string of vegetable fibre is wound round the thorn in the form of a “ figure of eight,” which ensures good apposition. Intermediate sutures are used if required. This form of suture was largely used by the best surgeons in the civilised world thirty years ago. Every man carries a formidable knobkerry or club ; at times it is used very freely and many depressed fractures are produced by these weapons. An account of the Masai and Wa-Kikuyu would be incomplete without an account of their living tx WA-KIKUYU 115 sepulchres — the hyoenas. These animals belong to the same group of Carnivora as the cats and civets, but differ from these by their ungainly shape and ugliness. The spotted hysena [Hymia crocuta) is the species seen in East Africa. This beast, when full-grown, is nearly three feet in height and nearly six feet from the nose to the tip of The spotted hy£eiia, the living sepulchre of the dead Masai and Wa-Eiknyn. the tail. The hyaena has four toes on each foot, and as the claws are non-retractile its footprints are easily recognised by the marks of the nails, and by being larger than those of the hunting-dog. Its front legs are longer than the hind pair. It is difficult to tell the sex of a hyaena on superficial examination. The voice of the hyaena is extraordinary, on account of the variety EASTERN ETHIOPIA IX 1 16 of its sounds ; the snarling, hideous, laughing noise it i utters round a carcase is only made when they are annoyed or excited. The natives believe that animals and birds talk to one another like human beino;s. The noise the hyoena makes when he finds a corpse is supposed to be “I have found.” Hollis in his account of the Nandi gives numerous examples. The senses of i sight and smell are very acute in hyaenas. These i animals are gregarious and troops of eight or more are i common ; although they rarely seize wild game they ; kill donkeys, goats, and even cattle, and they will Skull of a H3’i3ena {Hy