I02 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



Mohammedans like to superadd an unbuttoned waistcoat with 

 crescent-shaped pockets and richly embroidered with silk silver, 

 or gold. Christians eschew the crescent-emblem of Islam faith, 

 but are keen competitors for any old English waistcoat. Those 

 who can afford it, add to their costume an English jacket, worn 

 unbuttoned ; in preference they select one of a plain dark 

 material or of a light neat summer pattern. The Waganda have 

 remarkably good taste, and wear nothing which the most fasti- 

 dious European could call vulgar, either in colour or design. 

 Another common form of dress is a short-sleeved, open-necked, 

 thin white vest, and a coloured cloth wrapped round the waist 

 and reaching below the knees. 



The Waganda have not yet disfigured themselves by putting 

 on European unmentionables, but I am afraid this is merely a 

 matter of time. I have seen on certain grand occasions the 

 Protestant Prime Minister sport a jacket which no doubt was 

 meant to be very effective, swagger, and military, but goodness 

 knows what " blend" of regiments it was supposed to represent. 

 Mohammedans wear a red fez-cap or a strip of cloth twisted 

 round the head like a turban. The higher classes of every creed 

 have adopted this fashion. Some show themselves already in 

 English travelling-caps. Apollo Katikiro, the Protestant Prime 

 Minister, wanting no doubt to " go one better," has appeared in 

 public in a soft felt hat or an imitation straw hat, the latter of 

 native manufacture. He has not yet made the acquaintance of the 

 refined and aristocratic silk hat. But hatters need not despair ; 

 there is no saying what may happen in Uganda in the future. 



Uganda enjoys the unique blessing of having two Prime 

 Ministers. Formerly there used to be only one ; but as he was 

 converted to Protestantism, the opposite faction clamoured to 

 have also a Prime Minister, and have got him now, and he ranks 

 next to the Protestant one. Mugwanya, the Roman Catholic 

 Prime Minister of Uganda, is a fine-looking man, tall and pro- 

 portionately broad. He usually dresses in white. He and all 

 the great chiefs wear the sandals distinctive of their rank. 

 These sandals are of bullock-hide and somewhat of an oblong 

 saucer-shape. A strip of otter skin passes across the sandal 

 and keeps it to the foot ; a further support is gained by a strip 

 of otter skin which forms a loop through which the great toe 

 is passed. 



When King Mwanga rebelled against the Government, his 



