122 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



Swahili settlement was laid out, with roads intersecting each 

 other at right angles, it was a horribly filthy place, rendered 

 dangerously insanitary by Swahili caravans camping there 

 temporarily with their Manyema and Wanyamwezi porters who 

 defiled every foot of ground around the camp. The place was a 

 standing menace to the community, and it was with a medical 

 officer's eye that I saw the urgent need of reform. 



Her Majesty's Acting Commissioner for Uganda at the time 

 was Colonel Colville, now Sir Henry Colville, K.C.M.G., C.B. 

 Holding the supreme authority in the land, upon his yes or no 

 depended the carrying into effect of every measure. He approved 

 of my plans, allowed me full scope to work them out, and 

 strengthened my hands by the weight of his supreme authority. 



With his consent I laid out the village, cutting straight wide 

 roads, pulling down trumpery grass-huts and tumble-down 

 shanties wherever their presence interfered with the road- 

 making, subdividing the land into small holdings, and allotting 

 these to respectable applicants at a nominal rent on condition 

 of observing certain sanitary rules, viz., erecting suitable con- 

 structions for the sanitary requirements of their household, and 

 keeping the public road, as far as their particular holding was 

 concerned, clean and free of weeds. 



The village community, consisting principally of Arab and 

 Swahili ivory traders, thoroughly approved of these various mea- 

 sures. The last time 1 arrived at Kampala from the coast, quite a 

 number of these traders came to greet me and to shake hands. 

 It was pleasant to find I was still kindly remembered by them, 

 though some years had elapsed since the Colonel's temporary 

 successor relegated me to my original medical appointment. 



The ivory exported from Uganda is either elephant ivory or 

 hippo ivory, but the latter is considerablv cheaper because all 

 the tusks are comparatively small, and the finest and heaviest 

 tusks of the hippopotamus lose in value because they are curved 

 into a semicircle. Even elephant ivory to be valuable must be 

 of a size sufficiently large to allow^ of the manufacture of biUiard 

 balls. As might be imagined, America is the best market for 

 ivory. The traders have several names to designate the different 

 qualities ; the very best is known as " baboo-uleia," and the 

 next quality is " baboo-ketsh " ; anything inferior is scarcely 

 worth exporting, as the expense of transport over 800 to 1000 

 miles instead of leaving a profit would probably entail a loss. 



