BANTU NEGROES G07 



Some description has already been given of the physical aspect of the 

 Bairo,* who form the bulk of the Negro population of Ankole. For the 

 most part they are regular Bantu Negroes in appearance, though occasionally 

 presenting types which recall the West African Negro or even the Pygmy- 

 Prognathous element that forms the lowest stratum of most of these 

 populations. The word " Bairo " is apparently the Hima designation of those 

 whom the proud Haniitic invaders regard as their slaves. The word is 

 said really to mean " slaves," and its root "-iro " or " -iru " to be the same as 

 the " -ddu " y which is the root of the Luganda word for slave. (" Muddu " 

 is a slave, "Baddu" means slaves, and "Buddu" the country of slaves.) 

 Amongst themselves the Bairo. who are divided into numerous clans, take the 

 names of Basita, Ngando, Basambo, Baitera, Bayondo, Abagaihe, Bawobogo, 

 Bashikoto. Balisi, Bachawa, and Barendi, though all these clans have now 

 become so mixed as to be fused generally under the common race-name 

 of Bairo. 



The Bairo wear dressed shins or bark-cloth. However little they may 

 have in the way of clothing, they generally so arrange it, as do the 

 Baganda, to safeguard decency ; whereas the men of their Bahama aristo- 

 cracy are more like the Masai, inasmuch as they rarely think it necessary 

 to use their body coverings as tegwmenta pudendorum. The Bairo wear 

 ivory, copper, and iron bracelets, and anklets of the same materials. 



The Bairo are agriculturists, as opposed to the Bahima. which last- 

 named caste rarely if ever cultivates the soil under any conditions. The 

 foo I crops of the Bairo are bananas, sorghum, eleusine, maize, beans, 

 sweet potatoes, and pumpkins. Tobacco is grown both to be smoked and 

 taken as snuff. The domestic animals of the Bairo are cattle, sheep, 

 goats, dogs, and fowls. Until the British power grew strong enough in 

 the country to control the Bahima, few if any among the Bairo would 

 have been permitted to keep cattle, these being regarded as the special 

 prerogative of the Hima aristocracy. The Bairo are great hunters. When 

 food is scarce (such as between the seasons of crops), it is a general custom 

 for the Bairo to organise a hunt of big and small game on a large scale. 

 Nets about four feet broad and of indefinite length are made of rope 

 manufactured (apparently) from the bark of a Hibiscus tie?. A large 

 number of men proceed to the vicinity of the ascertained presence of 



* Lieutenant Mundy, who has furnished some of my information about the Bairo, 

 spells the name Ba-hiro. Other travellers spell it Wiro or Whiro. 'When I was 

 amongst these people myself and wrote down their dialects, it seemed to me that 

 the word was pronounced exactly as I now spell it (Ba-iro), though there was a 

 slight hiatus between the " Ba " prefix and the "-iro" root. 



t In all these tongues "r" and "d" and "1" are practically interchangeable in 

 pronunciation. 



