UNYOHO COOKERY. 77 



gourd-bottles through small tubes very elegantly worked. 

 The lower extremity of the tube (dusaka) forms also a kind of 

 filter for the turbid fluid. Each family manufactures drinks 

 for its own consumption. Spirits, in spite of Baker's instruc- 

 tions, are not made, but are readily taken when they are to be 

 had. In Uganda the Arabs distil spirits from bananas. 



Coffee -drinking is unknown, though the tree grows in the 

 south, and berries are exported in large quantities from 

 Uganda to the north. The sugar-cane, which is cultivated 

 everywhere, is eaten, but not made into sugar. It has been 

 remarked before that many kinds of food are avoided as 

 causing disease. Thus, the flesh of the hippopotamus and 

 of the larger fishes is said to produce skin diseases. No 

 reptiles are eaten, not even the python, nor is the raven (Corvus 

 scapulatus Daicd.), whereas all the larger rodents are consumed. 

 For cannibals, who bear the general name of " Valiabantu " 

 (man-eaters), there exist, singularly enough, different names 

 in Unyoro and in Uganda — mseri in the former country, and 

 mluggu in the latter. Does this fact indicate that the custom 

 is really practised ? 



It is remarkable how proud the wives of the chiefs in this 

 country are. To begin with, they do no cooking ; field work 

 and water-carrying are left to the servants, and the mistresses 

 sit on their mats and do nothing but smoke and talk. For 

 clothing, they affect fine leather imported from Uganda, covered 

 with material made from bark, and adorn themselves with rings 

 of brass and copper, strings of pearls round the neck and waist, 

 sometimes also with anklets. The rings often cover two-thirds 

 of the forearm. I have seen cuts or scars as ornaments, but 

 only on women from the south-western districts. 



The food of the people varies extremely according to their 

 rank. Whereas milk is much liked by all classes, and the fat 

 wives of Kabrega and the greater chiefs are only permitted to 

 live on milk, except twice a week salt porridge mixed with 

 broth, and sometimes a handful of raw salt, the lower classes, 

 unless they are prevented by personal dislike or fear, eat what- 

 ever their limited agriculture and the animal world afford them. 

 Kabrega himself eats bananas and beef only, and drinks milk 

 and mwfriige. His cook, as also all his body-servants, are 



