50 TRAVELLING IN UGANDA 



attended by his brothers and cousins and children 

 and a troop of menials, and for the time being he 

 takes possession of the camp. He plants himself 

 in a chair — luckily they always bring their own — 

 at the entrance to your tent, while the attendants 

 squat at his feet and proceed to take stock of your 

 possessions. You offer him tea and cigarettes ; he 

 consumes half of your precious store of sugar, and 

 tries to take the whole box of cigarettes. Then he 

 asks every conceivable impertinent question that 

 he can think of, and after telling you what a big 

 man he is, and how many hundreds of pounds he 

 receives from the Government, he condescends to 

 accept a rupee or two in exchange for his presents 

 and retires. There are authors who have written 

 nothing but praise of the manners of these worthies, 

 but, in my experience, to mention them in the same 

 day with the meanest Oriental would be an insult 

 to the latter, while they are boors compared with 

 Soudanese or Arabs of the same social standing. 

 Whatever they may have been a few years ago, it 

 is to be feared that contact with Europeans has had 

 a bad effect on their manners. 



When the chief and his following have departed, 

 there are probably sounds of strife and wrangling 

 among the porters, who declare that the quantity 

 of food is insufficient, or that some one has been 

 given too big a share ; but their differences are 

 settled somehow, and you have time for a stroll, and 

 perhaps a chance of shooting a partridge or a 



