Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



views, so diametrically different, to be able to with- 

 stand each other and not to embrace and mingle 

 together. 



During the month of October we again enjoyed 

 one or two of the old hot days, very happily inter- 

 spersed between weeks of rain. The sky might weU 

 fit into some Dutch painting, with its round masses 

 of snow-white cumulus clouds planted all over it 

 in a most extravagant fashion. I took my now 

 customary walk to a point whence our camp 

 had the most pleasing appearance. I saw many 

 natives at work in the fields, and so destitute of 

 grass are these parts that they are obliged to gather 

 what my Nuby orderly picturesquely calls the feet 

 of the flowers (Metama) — in other words, the corn- 

 stalks, to roof their grass " bandas " to keep out 

 the heavy tropical rains. The women were work- 

 ing also, nearly bare, with their children tied on 

 to their backs. These latter frequently give tongue 

 in no uncertain manner, but they heed them not. I 

 cannot say the women appear in any way attractive, 

 not even when they are quite young, and the hides 

 they wear as their only form of clothing are very 

 repulsive. As regards the native forms of dress, 

 nothing In these parts can equal that worn by the 

 Nuby women. They take a goat's skin, and after 

 rubbing it clean they cut it into thin strips, like 

 bootlaces, and make a girdle of it, the strips falling 

 gracefully and loosely to about twelve inches below 

 their thighs. It lends them quite a fascinating 

 appearance, having all the saucy swing of a kilt as 



I go 



