71i BANTU NEGROES 



than Lowland Scots is to English, hut. like the Scots dialect of English, 

 it is rather more ]>riniitive and contains words of an older type. 



In many respi^cts the Basoga resemble the Baganda so closely in 

 phvsiqne. manners, and customs that in describing the latter I shall 

 consider that I have at the same time described the Basoga, with the 

 <'xcei»tion of such differences or special characteristics as are now pointed 

 out. The Bantu-speaking inhabitants of the Busoga District represent a 

 population of, perhaps, 500,000. Tlieir country is in many places densely 

 forested, in marked contrast to the lands of Kavirondo, which bound it on 

 the east. The natives count in their forests no less tlian fifty-two good 

 timber trees ; at least seven trees which produce bark-cloth, and three 

 trees and two lianas, or creepers, yielding rubber. In the north-eastern 

 part of the administrative District of Busoga the Bantu-speaking people 

 are more akin to the Banyoro than to the Baganda. This Unyoro infusion 

 resulted in much of Busoga coming under the influence of the Hima 

 sovereigns of Unyoro ; and for many years Busoga v.as alternately harried 

 by Unvoro and Uganda, each country seeking to assert its riglit to the 

 overlordship. Gradually Uganda became the paramount jxjwer, but the 

 Uganda chiefs so misused their privileges that when the political 

 organisation of the whole of the Protectorate was under re\iew it was 

 decided to exclude the District of Busoga from tlie territories allotted to 

 the Kingdom of Uganda, especially as com^jensation was given to Uganda 

 in other directions. The prestige of the Gala aristocracy of Unyoro. 

 however, lingered down almost to the present time, and whenever old 

 chiefs died, and new chiefs succeeded, efforts were always made to obtain 

 the investiture of the latter from the King of Unyoro. There has never 

 been any supreme ruler over Busoga, the country ha\ing been divided in 

 times past among a number of more or less powerful chiefs, some of whom 

 were Lusoga-speaking, others in the north belonging to Unyoro and 

 Lango stock. 



The Busoga Juits are far inferior to the houses of Uganda, and offer 

 much less resemblance to them in architecture tlian do those of Unyoro 

 and Toro. The hut of the Basoga is usually a beehive dwelling, where the 

 thatched roof comes right down to the ground, leaving an opening about 

 three feet high as a doorway. Not even the chiefs' houses are much 

 better. The men are the hut-liuilders, the women being given up to 

 agricultural pursuits. The huts contain no liedstead or raised platform as 

 a sleeping place. The Basoga simply pile up bark-cloths until a rough 

 couch is made. The ])easants in the country either sleep on the bare 

 floor or else arrange their bodies for sleep on the transverse poles of a 

 short, broad ladder. They sleep on these poles with apparent ease, though 

 in a cramped position, the heels and haunches resting on the lowest rung 



