G58 



BANTU NEGEOES 



valleys wliicli are 

 marshes choked with 

 vegetation and often 

 filled with magnificent 

 forest. Across these 

 marshes the Baganda 

 build causeways, 

 which, though perhaps 

 not sufficiently strong 

 for heavy wheeled 

 traffic, are generally 

 quite solid enough for 

 foot passengers and 

 people on horseback. 

 The causeway is 

 usually made by 

 driving poles into the 

 marsh and building 

 along these two rows 

 of piles a coarse 

 basketwork of withes 

 and canes. Between 

 these walls of basket- 

 work are thrown down 

 a quantity of papyrus 

 stalks and branches of 

 trees. Poles are 

 fastened at short 

 intervals above this groundwork of indiscriminate vegetation, and 

 keep the opposite walls of basketwork from falling in. An immense 

 quantity of mud and sand is then thrown down along the cause- 

 way, and gradually built up to a high, hard road some six feet above 

 the surface of the marsh. At intervals tunnels are make in the basket- 

 work as nmgh drains through which the slowly percolating water of these 

 choked rivers may find its way. The weakness of this plan seems to lie 

 in the perishable nature of the foundations. The immense quantity of 

 papyrus leaves and branches which are thrown down at the bottom of the 

 causeway rot by degrees and shrink in volume. This causes holes to form 

 in between the 2'oles. At the same time, one has only to travel in 

 countries like Uganda outside the limits of Uganda civilisation to realise 

 what a boon these dry roads are across the interminable marshes. V/hen 

 travelling in the northern piart of Ankole I was frequently stopped for 



368. INTERIOK OF A KATIVE OHUHCH, UGANDA 



