84 



THE EASTERN PROVINCE 



so still a source of f/or/uenard amusement to the excursionists whom the 

 Uganda Kailwav will bring from the east coast of Africa to the Victoria 

 Nyanza; for they will see before them coal-black, handsomely formed 

 negroes and negresses without a shred of clothing, though with many 

 adornments in tlie w'ay of hippopotamus teeth, bead necklaces, ear-rings, 

 and leglets of brass. As the figures thus exhibited are usually models for 

 a sculptor, this nudity is blameless and not to be discouraged ; moreover, 

 it characterises the most moral people in the Uganda Protectorate. This 



I.I i.\ I MAM, .NAN 1 II rl.A'l i:aL I 



ebon statuary lives in pretty little villages, which are clusters of straw- 

 huts (glistening gold in the sun's rays), encircled with fences of aloes, 

 w^iicli have red, green, and white mottled leaves, and beautiful column* 

 and clusters of coral-red stalks and flowers. There are a few shady trees, 

 that from their appearance might very well be elms (but are not), and 

 some extraordinary euphorbias, which grow upright with tlie trunk of a 

 respectable tree, and burst into uncounted sickly green spidery branches. 

 Herds of parti-coloured goats and sheep, and cattle that are black and 



