78 THE EAST SIDE OF RUWENZORI 



tasteless and tough), and for their skins, which are 

 sewn together to be made into a sort of short mantle. 

 Cultivation is almost entirely carried on by the 

 women and children, and they are very skilful in 

 coaxing crops to grow on slopes so steep that the 

 whole field is in danger of sliding down into the 

 valley below. At the upper limit of cultivation — 

 that is, about 7,000 feet — they grow chiefly a dwarf 

 bean, a kind of millet grass, and a large arum ;* 

 this latter has a large white root, which is exceed- 

 ingly poisonous if it is eaten raw, but it is not 

 unpleasant boiled or roasted, and the leaves (see 

 illustration, p. 198) make quite a passable spinach. 

 Sometimes the natives from the lower slopes brought 

 up large bunches of sweet bananas, and if they could 

 not all be eaten before they had passed the stage of 

 ripeness, a way was found after some experiment of 

 putting them to a good use. The recipe may as 

 well be given here, and perhaps some one will make 

 a fortune out of it. Wash your hands. Take 

 bananas, as many as possible, and place them, skin 

 and all, into a large basin or other vessel. Press 

 the bananas very vigorously with the hands, and 

 keep on pressing and kneading until all the juice 

 has been squeezed out of them. Add a few hand- 

 fuls of fine dry grass, and with the help of this 

 wring out all the juice from the pulp, which may be 

 given to the chickens. Make a funnel of a piece of 

 banana-leaf lightly packed with grass, and through 



* Collocasia. 



