THE NAKED KAVIRONDO 25 



of the crater of Longonot, threw off the blankets 

 (contributory causes of the dream), opened the 

 windows of the carriage, and thought I was dream- 

 ing again. The yellow plains of grass, the rolling 

 hills, the herds of game, the pale blue sky, and the 

 ' nip,' as of Europe, in the air — all were gone. 

 Instead were a level country brilliantly green, big 

 trees, scattered as in an English park, and a different 

 sun blazing out of a different sky. Above all, the 

 smell of this proclaimed it another land ; there was 

 no longer the clean dry smell of the uplands, but 

 the heavy, sweet, intoxicating smell of luxuriant 

 vegetation. This was the country of the Kavirondo, 

 and the most populous that we had passed through 

 since we left the coast. Native villages, compact 

 little collections of round grass huts, enclosed within 

 a circular hedge of tall aloes, were seen on every 

 hand, and the inhabitants were busily occupied in 

 the fields or in tending their flocks of sheep and 

 goats. 



The most remarkable peculiarity of these people 

 is their total lack of clothing ; the men are gaily 

 attired in ear-rings, and the women in strings of 

 beads and elegant coils of telegraph-wire about 

 their limbs. Fortunately for the Uganda Railway, 

 the latter custom seems to be going out of fashion. 

 Some of the women affect a short tail made of some 

 sort of fibre, but the majority of them, both men 

 and women, are so magnificently proportioned, and 

 their skins are so clear and glossy, that one is quite 



