Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



exceedingly ugly, but have most excellent figures 

 and limbs, as the illustration of a young Nuby girl 

 shows. The lady wearing the native kilt can 

 scarcely be ranked, we think, among the beautifully 

 shaped ! They look very attractive strolling about 

 the huts dressed only in a garment composed 

 of a band round the waist from which hang 

 numerous strings cut out of hide, resembling a short 

 kilt. This gives them a saucy swing to their walk, 

 and at first sight one is inclined to think it 

 indecently insufficient, but after a time one marvels 

 from the opposite point of view, for as a covering it 

 is most complete, and, moreover, becoming in the 

 extreme, as one moment it displays a fleeting 

 outline of their graceful contours, and at the next 

 softly veils them from view. They spend their spare 

 time in weaving mats out of various pliant grasses, 

 and also baskets. These are beautifully made 

 with great artistic skill, and wear for almost any 

 time. The mats are exceedingly pliable, and woven 

 in many colours, such as black, lilac, red, and 

 orange, with dyed grasses, which they blend into 

 pretty patterns. The dyes are extracted from the 

 juices of plants and trees. The work takes a 

 great deal of time, as it has all to be performed 

 by hand, but for rough usage there is nothing to 

 equal them. 



I should say these women would make almost 

 as good fighters as their husbands. At any rate, 

 on more than one occasion I have seen them cause 

 disturbances rivalling the far-famed suffi"agettes. 



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