10 TILLEKS OF THE GEOUND CHAP. 



here each one may weigh half-a-hundred weight, 

 and contain many hundreds of bananas. 



There are many kinds of bananas in Uganda, 

 but these fall into two sets those which are sweet 

 and nice when they are ripe, and those which are 

 not nice when ripe ; the latter are often called 

 plantains. 



The sweet bananas are eaten as fruit and are 

 largely used to make beer, but the plantains are 

 used cooked, and are eaten before they are ripe. 

 They are then not sweet at all, but starchy like a 

 potato. The plantains are peeled, and are then 

 wrapped in leaves and steamed over a pot of water 

 much as we steam potatoes. Like potatoes they have 

 not a great deal of taste, and therefore the natives 

 eat various kinds of sauces with them. What they 

 like best is a sauce made of meat or fish, but if 

 they cannot get this they must be content with a 

 spicy vegetable sauce, a little curry, or even nothing 

 but a little salt. 



Sir Harry Johnston gives a very amusing account 

 of the meals. The cooked plantain pulp is mashed 

 up as we mash potatoes, and is spread out on a 

 plantain leaf on the ground. Nobody has knife or 

 fork or spoon, but everybody must wash his or her 

 hands before beginning. As there isn't a tap, one 

 person pours the water out of a pitcher in a thin 

 stream, while the other persons wash their fingers 



