ON THE SHORES OF LAKE ALBERT 



199 



annually. When the British Government, having expelled King 

 Kabarega, took over Kibero, this tribute or rent was reduced, 

 owing to the great diminution in the population, to three hundred 



% 





IN THE NATIVE VILLAGE AT KIBERO. 



loads of salt annually, each load to weigh 30 lbs., in other words, 

 9000 lbs. of salt per annum. The salt-industry is worked exclu- 

 sively by women and girls. A brisk trade is carried on. At Hoima 

 one Mganda asked me for a "permit" to send sixty of his men 

 to buy salt at Kibero. There is no other industry in this locality. 

 Agriculture proved a failure owing to the excessive amount of 

 salt in the soil. The salt is bartered in exchange for food sup- 

 plies, cloth, and shells. Fishing would be sure to pay. I saw 

 Soudanese boys constantly catching fish, but the natives are 

 either too lazy or find it easier to purchase canoe-loads of fish 

 from the lake-dwellers higher up, who bring their catch to the 

 Kibero market. The Kibero salt is greyish-white, but not at 

 all unpleasant to eat, though prepared in the crudest possible 

 manner. The European naturally prefers the white table-salt 

 from England, if he has any left among his provisions, but 

 should he have run out of it, there would be no hardship in 

 using the native salt. 



The salt is extracted by a very simple process. The soil is 



