92 



NOETH-EAST AFRICA. 



however, are more numerously represented, and the delicate foliage of the acacia 

 forests looks in some places like a light haze enveloping the stems and branches of 

 the trees. Antelopes still abound in these regions even on the route hitherto 

 followed by most explorers along the Ivhor-Ergugu between E-ubaga and M'ruli. 



The Wa-Nyoro are a smaller people than their "Wa-Ganda neighbours, to 

 whom they also appear to be inferior in physical strength and intelligence, but not 

 in the art of forging and pottery. They belong to the same race, and speak an 

 allied Bantu dialect, but are of a lighter complexion, usually a dull red, and the 

 hair is crisp rather than woolly. Although of cleanly habits, never failing to wash 

 their hands before and after meals, their huts are badly kept, and constructed 

 mostly of branches planted round a stake, and converging upwards so as to form a 

 regular cone. Their only domestic animals are cows, goats, and a poor breed of 

 poultry. In case of distemper these animals are treated by bleeding, and the blood 



Fig. 31.— U-Nyoro. 

 Scale 1 : 3,000,000. 



foresi ofAmhatch 



L . of Greenwich 



60 Miles. 



saved for human consumption. Like the Wa-Ganda, the "Wa-lSTyoro wear clothes, 

 and consequently hold themselves superior to the naked Negro people dwelling 

 beyond the Nile. The young men, however, do not assume their bark or skin 

 garments before the age of puberty, when they are accepted as members of the 

 tribe, and their new dignity celebrated by the extraction of the four lower incisors. 

 Two lines tattooed on both sides of the forehead further distinguish them from the 

 surrounding populations. 



Polygamj^ is universal, even amongst the poor, who have always two or three 

 wives, although of " inferior quality," for a handsome spouse would cost at least 

 four cows. As in TJ-Ganda, brothers may marry their sisters, fathers their daughters, 

 while the son inherits the whole paternal harem except his own mother. The 

 king has a general monopoly of all the unmarried women, for whom he selects 

 husbands amongst his courtiers. The sons of these imions become royal pages. 



