SLAVES AND IVORY". • 117 



tance, and therefore scarcely any profit can be made on them. 

 With girls the case is different ; the pretty Wahiima, who are 

 generally of rather light colour and are very handy, are most 

 sought after, while the Wanyoro girls, whose lower incisors 

 have been extracted, are less valued, as also the real Waganda 

 girls, owing to a universal artificial deformity. While in the 

 year 1876 a girl of ten to twelve years was exchanged for thirty 

 to forty ells (piles) of madapolam of the ordinary kind, two years 

 later the price had risen to nearly as much again ; but since 

 then it seems to have remained almost stationary. The con- 

 tinual raids made by Mtesa and Kabrega, besides bringing in 

 cattle, ivory, and all sorts of other things, are undertaken for 

 the purpose of procuring female slaves, and all the dealers and 

 caravans passing southwards to Tabora are well provided with 

 this article. The Wahiima girls play exactly the same role in 

 the slave-trade here as the Abyssinian girls, whom they re- 

 semble in more than one respect, do farther north. 



Ivory is still the chief export of the equatorial countries, 

 for hitherto scarcely any attention has been paid to many other 

 products of which I shall speak later on. Uganda, except in 

 south-western Uddu, is not rich in ivory, as the elephants 

 suffer a good deal in consequence of the dense population. 

 They are much more abundant in Unyoro, especially in its 

 more remote parts, and ivory is therefore to be obtained more 

 cheaply in that country. In both countries one tusk of every 

 elephant slain belongs de jure to the ruler, who also possesses 

 the right of buying the other one; he usually, however, does 

 not avail himself of this right, because the second tusk falls to 

 the share of the district chief, who, besides his other payments 

 to the king, is bound to bring him some good pieces of ivory 

 from time to time. The insufficiency of the home production, 

 and the yearly decrease in the spoils of the chase, have long 

 made it necessary to fall back for supplies on the surrounding 

 countries ; accordingly, ivory is imported into Uganda from 

 Usoga and the Wakidi (Lango) district, and Mtesa is shrewd 

 enough to send frequent missions with presents to the chiefs 

 of these turbulent tribes. Wasoga and Wakidi chiefs, bearing 

 rich presents of ivory, are frequently to be seen at Mtesa's 

 court, where, being perfectly nude, they form a striking con- 



