82 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WANYORO. 



The hide is tightly stretched on level ground by a large 

 number of small pegs, and then scraped with knives until all 

 bits of flesh are removed ; then it is dried, and rendered pliant 

 by rubbing in butter. Every fall of rain makes the hide stiff 

 again, and then fresh rubbings are necessary ; that this process 

 is not exactly agreeable to the olfactory organs of the bystanders 

 is evident. Every one wears hides and bark cloths ; men 

 prefer cow-hides, women goats'-hides, four of which sewn 

 together make a dress. The manufacture of cloth from the 

 bark of various kinds of fig-trees, which are planted in the 

 banana groves, has been fully described by Baker, and like- 

 wise the mallet (nsdmu), made most commonly from the wood 

 of Dahlbcrgia melanoxylon, which is used for beating it. This 

 cloth is also made here ; but the finer, handsomer pieces, those 

 in particular with black patterns, which only Kabrega wears, 

 come from Uganda, where the people excel in the manufacture 

 of these goods. I saw an elderly woman, wearing a fantastic 

 head-dress of feathers and skins, sitting in an isolated hut ; 

 I was told that she was a very famous witch ; she would not, 

 however, enter into conversation, but went on patching up her 

 torn dress perfectly unconcerned. 



About midnight I was awakened by a great commotion, and 

 saw two houses in the village in flames. Fortunately there 

 was no wind blowing. Everything was damp from the daily 

 rains, and therefore the men soon succeeded in subduing the 

 fire. No excitement of any kind was perceptible, fires being 

 of too frequent occurrence. As before stated, the floors of the 

 houses are padded with a thick layer of hay, and the fireplace 

 stands in the middle of the house. Very often, too, the master 

 of the house lies down to sleep intoxicated, with his pipe alight, 

 and so the mischief is done. 



Until their marriage, the girls in the Unyoro villages go 

 about perfectly nude, even when they go out of the house. 

 The married women are also naked in the house, but never 

 in the presence of servants or of strangers. It constantly 

 happens that young girls spend the night with their lovers, 

 only returning to their father's house in the morning, and this 

 is not considered scandalous. If a man, however, is caught in 

 a girl's hut, he is beaten until he pays a cow as ransom. If 



