CHAPTER VI. 



S 



A KAVIRONDO MINSTREL. 



KAVIRONDO. 



CANTY dress may naturally be expected 

 amongst savages of a low type and living 

 in a tropical climate, but to find one- 

 self among a race absolutely naked is a 

 strange experience ; and yet within a few weeks 

 or months the novelty wears off, and one fails 

 to notice anything extraordinary in such a mode 

 of life. The inhabitants of Kavirondo recall the 

 state of mankind in the Garden of Eden before 

 the Fall. Banana-trees and other tropical vege- 

 tation around the huts, at least in some parts 

 of their country, would strengthen this impres- 

 sion of being in a garden, were it not for the 

 treeless grass-plains outside the village. Young 

 and old go about in the same primeval garb. Women often 

 wear a curious ornament, in the shape of a tail, which consists 

 of a number of plaited strings manufactured out of some sort 

 of vegetable fibre. A tiny apron of the same material is worn 

 by a few of the women. As it is never worn by the un- 

 married, I was told that its presence was the equivalent for the 

 European wedding-ring ; but I am sure this is incorrect, as I 

 have come across numbers of young mothers and wives without 

 this apron, and have seen widows with and without it. I believe 

 it is simply a fashion, like the tail, without any other object. 



The race is well formed and healthy. They are agricultur- 

 ists; wherever they settle, the jungle around them is soon con- 

 verted into fruitful fields, yielding sweet-potatoes or various 

 forms of corn. Those who can afford it keep goats and sheep, 

 and the wealthy have herds of cattle. One of the chiefs, I was 

 assured, owned several thousand cows. The native weapon is 



