I'HE WAGANDA 



97 



BARK-CLOTH MANUFACTURE. 



the outer circumference as seen in coins. This allows the 

 hammered portion of the bark to expand laterally along the 

 interstices between the ribbing. As the fibres of the bark 

 intersect in every imaginable direction, it is comparatively 

 easy for the 

 operator to 

 reduce it to a 

 very soft and 

 delicate tex- 

 ture. Skill is 

 required to 

 prevent holes 

 being punched 

 through. A 

 good bark- 

 cloth in 1894 

 used to cost 

 250 shells, that 

 is, about 2s., 

 but the value 

 now is over 4s. 



A black-patterned one was recently sold at Kampala for £1. 

 The Waganda ladies rather like the noisy rustle which heralds 

 their approach when the bark-cloth is new and stiff ; in this 

 they resemble their European sisters who appreciate the "frou- 

 frou " of silk clothing. 



" Muenge " is the native fermented drink, made from the 

 juice of the banana. It is brought to the market in large gourds, 

 suggestive of the public appreciation of it. The gourds rest on 

 the ground on a pad of dry banana-leaves, and often have a 

 wreath of leaves round the neck to keep the fermenting liquor 

 cool. The sellers squat by the side of their gourds, hold up small 

 drinking bowls, and invite the thirsty passer-by to have a " nip " 

 at a ha'penny or farthing per bowl. 



Some of these small drmking bowls, made out of a tiny 

 species of gourd, look uncommonly like tumblers or cups. As 

 they are not flat-bottomed, they stand insecurely, and con- 

 sequently if used for drinking out of, they have to be emptied. 

 On the eve of my departure from Kampala, the Kangao made 

 me a present of a pair of gourd-bowls of exquisitely delicate 

 manufacture, which would rival the finest china. On arrival in 



G 



