104 THE KINGDOM OP UGANDA 



atmosphere disguised other fauUs in drawing. In and out of these groves 

 and bosky hollows, and along the banks of the heavenly streams, 

 promenaded an innumerable company of the Blessed, as vague in drawing 

 as the landscape, chiefly characterised by long flowing garments of wdiite, 

 which did away with the necessity for the correct delineation of any limbs. 



If this i)icture has been seen in its original or as an engraving by 

 any one visiting Uganda, that country will seem over and over again like 

 a black travesty of " The Plains of Heaven,'" wlierein the Baganda move 

 about like saints in long trailing garments. The peasants, of course, when 

 they are hard at work in the fields or making long journeys, will reduce 

 their clothing to a tucked-up bunch of bark-cloth, covering the middle 

 of their bodies lietween the knees and the armpits; but even the poor 

 people, whenever they can, delight to cover tliemselves with loose sweeping 

 garments made, if they are old-fashioned, out of the red-brown bark-cloth 

 derived from a species of fig-tree.* Since the country was opened up to 

 the trade of the outer world, first by Arabs, and then by Europeans and 

 Indians, it has been flooded with the white calico of England, India, and 

 America. There is scarcely any Muganda now so poor but that he cannot 

 afiord to wear a long trailing sliirt of white cotton or linen, with long 

 sleeves, and in addition a kind of rope of twisted white caHco (like a halo) 

 fastened round the head. At great assemblies, in market places, before 

 the churches or law" courts, or the residences of chiefs, or when there 

 is any high day or holiday, and the people come from far and wide to 

 attend sports got up by Europeans, then you will be impressed with this 

 resemblance of Uganda to "The Plains of Heaven": tlie fantastic vegeta- 

 tion of ultra-tropical richness with its palms and l)ananas, the gleaming 

 water of lake, inlet, or swamp, the red roads, intensely green grass, 

 brilliantly coloured flowers, and amidst this riot of colour and form the 

 thousands of moving figures, clad mostly in white from head to foot, 

 make up a picture which is scarcely a parody of ^lartin's subject. 



The native capital of Uganda is, perhaps, best styled Mengo, that 

 being the name of the king's quarter. It has been sometimes known in 

 times past as Rubaga, from the name of one suburb, and Kampala, from 

 the name of another, the last-named being tlie quarter in which the 

 European Government offices ai'e established. Mengo is like ancient 

 Rome — only much more so ! — a city of seven hills, as any one living there 

 and obliged to move about knows to his cost. Each suburb or portion 

 of the straggling town of some 77,000 souls is a hill or a hillock in 



* Though it is considered the right thing in royal or aristocratic circles for the 

 princesses or wives of the chiefs to wear bark-cloth rather than calico. The 

 "royal" bark-cloth is often covered Avith striking and tasteful designs, roughly 

 stencilled on it with a black dye. 



