648 BANTU NEGROES 



particular, and at Mutesa's palace young women, stark naked, used to walk 

 about. They acted as the king's valets. Nowadays it is not thought 

 right that a woman should go naked, and she is generally clothed from 

 her hips down to her ankles, but no shame is felt at showing the breasts. 

 On the other hand, it is thought improper (unless he be a porter carrying 

 loads or a man working in a plantation) that any considerable part of a 

 man's body should be exposed to view between the neck and the ankles. 

 In former days the Baganda wore dressed skins. This has long since 

 passed out of fashion anywhere on the shores of the Victoria Xyanza, but 

 an allusion to the practice is made in a common taunt: "Go to the 

 interior and wear skins!" This would mean, "Go and show yourself to 

 be the rustic person that you are." The use of skins for clothing was 

 followed by the wearing of bark-cloth, and the making of this is quite 

 a national institution, as they export what they do not wear to Unyoro, 

 Toro, Ankole, and parts of German East Africa. This cloth is usually 

 obtained from a species of fig-tree, the " mubugo " (the root is " -bugo," 

 and the bark-cloth itself is called " lubugo "). Bishop Streicher, however, 

 informs me that the trees producing bark which can be turned into bark- 

 cloth number 197 species! Any such tree producing bark-cloth is called 

 " omutuba " in the native tongue. Bark or bast (for it is really that) of a 

 red colour is usually preferred. The bast from the inner side of the bark 

 is stripped off the tree to the length of perhaps six to ten feet. The strip 

 is soaked for some time in water, till it is a damp, soft mass. It is then 

 spread out on skin mats, and is beaten thinner and thinner by hammering 

 with a mallet, and also by gentle pulling at the sides, till it has become 

 a strip of fairly even breadth. These strips are sewn together with 

 exceeding neatness, so that they become the size of large shawls. Pieces 

 of this description are large enough to be made into voluminous curtains 

 for cutting off a room or a partition. As already mentioned, the material 

 becomes a reddish brown, but pieces which are intended for use by the 

 royal family are decorated with bold patterns in black dye. Until the 

 trade with Arabs became an established thing in the country about forty 

 years ago, the upper classes wore nothing but bark-cloth, and even at the 

 present day the use of this cloth is de rigueur for certain purposes and on 

 certain occasions. I believe it is considered a matter of etiquette that all 

 princesses and women about the king's court should wear nothing but 

 bark-cloth. A Muganda man begins his clothing by winding a strip of 

 bark-cloth round the hips and passing it between the legs, even though 

 he may wear garments or a pair of trousers over this. 



The foreign cloth goods which are the most affected are ordinary white 

 calico from America, Bombay, or Manchester. This is kept wonderfully 

 white by constant washing with soap. The Baganda may have under- 



