THE KINGDOM OF UGANDA 



97 



first diverged from wild forms of Mitsa in Eastern Asia, and like all the 

 other food products cultivated l)v the Negro, travelled to troi)ical Africa 

 from India at some pre-liistoric period. I, too, lield this opinion once, 

 but I cannot endorse it so heartily now, on reflection. I believe there 

 is no record of the banana having be(-n known to the ancient Egvptians. 



82. THE BANANA OF UGANDA (ONE OF THE THHU'V ODD VARIETIES) 



Its scientifie name, Masa, is of course only a Latinising of the Egy|»tian- 

 Arabic word mns, and jNluhammadan Egypt only knew the fruit in the 

 JNIiddle Ages.* Therefore it is not very likely that the cultivated banana 

 reached tropical Africa from Asia, by way of Egy})t, since its introduction 



* The word "banana" was, I believe, introduced and s])n.'ad by the rortuguese, 

 and is possibly derived from a West African word. 



VOL. I. 7 



