THE WAGANDA 



95 



tration shows two girls sitting on a finished mat, busily plaiting 

 long rolls of these strips. How fine and close the work is, 

 can be gathered from the number of separate shreds in their 

 hands in process of being plaited together. Each girl has 

 by her side a bundle of the material wrapped up in a banana 

 leaf. 



Neither men nor women in Uganda wear ornaments ; in this 

 respect they present a striking contrast to their savage neigh- 



WAGANDA MAT-MAKERS. 



bours. Their wants are very simple, and the food supply is 

 abundant, consequently they lead a very easy, comfortable, 

 contented life. The food consists almost exclusively of " ma- 

 toke," the name given to the national dish of green bananas, 

 or rather plantains. These are peeled, placed in a pot with a 

 small quantity of water, and covered over with folded green 

 banana leaves, tightly packed over the mouth of the pot. When 

 boiled through, the bananas are mashed up, wrapped in clean 

 green banana leaves and are ready to be served. The women 

 do the cooking ; and as the English missionaries rather pride 

 themselves on living on native food, most of them employ 



