Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



As time went on we were obliged to take 

 precautions against future starvation in case the 

 situation was prolonged indefinitely, and we did 

 all we could to encourage the natives to help in 

 this work. We built a hut for them and tried to 

 induce them to bring in their produce in exchange 

 for coloured beads and American cloth. We were 

 moderately successful, and the soldiers bought their 

 food at this local market on their own initiative. 

 They have numerous cattle, and brought in milk 

 and rancid butter. Honey was also procurable. A 

 string of beads (valued at i|^d.) would purchase a 

 fowl. They also caught wild partridges by means 

 of ingenious native traps, composed of a noose 

 affixed to a bent stick, only held back by another 

 cross stick, which the bird, poking about for stray 

 grains of corn scattered just around the entrance, 

 involuntarily releases. Their avidity for American 

 cloth is extraordinary, and a considerable amount 

 of work could be procured from them in exchange. 

 Wives are fairly cheap; in fact, one goat would be 

 sufficient to buy a girl. If a man and his wife 

 quarrel the woman runs away, and whoever lives 

 with her pays back the former husband the goat. 

 There is considerable trouble if a man sleeps with 

 a young girl under the marriageable age ; he may, 

 however, buy her when young, but she stops with 

 her father until she reaches the ripe age for marriage. 

 This age they determine by the size of the woman's 

 breasts, and not by time or height. This is natural 

 enough. 



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