THE DRESS OF THE WAGANDA. 
233 
his language was uniformly correct. On his com- 
plaining of sickness, medicine was brought him by a 
page, one of our men having first to taste it. In all 
probability the page was made to swallow the pill 
instead of the king ! He and all his people were less 
suspicious of us than of any traders ; our presents 
were received without the usual form of preparation ; 
whereas, when Dr Kiengo, the native of Unyamuezi, 
gave his offering of five giraffe tails, a mould of Kittara 
copper, &c, all were dipped into plantain wine or 
" m'wenge," which had to be drunk by the Doctor to 
show there was no impurity connected with the pre- 
sents. A pill, having great virtues, was licked all 
over for the same reason by Kiengo. 
The ingenuity of the AVaganda in imitating our 
chairs, mode of walking, dress, gun-covers, &c, was 
very striking. Having seen so many of our pictures, 
they at last took to drawing figures of men in black 
upon their bark-cloths. 
At light work they are highly ingenious. Their 
spears, knives, drums, shields, ornaments, houses, &c, 
are made with great taste and exactness. Their bark- 
cloths are cut from several varieties of ficus, beaten 
upon a log with a mill-headed wooden hammer, and 
sewn beautifully together into large shawls, ranging 
in uniform tint from salmon-colour or maize to a brick 
red. These are very becoming on an African skin, 
and when worn by our Seedees as a turban, the har- 
mony of colour was pleasing. Our men in Uganda 
could not be distinguished at a distance from the 
natives; for their Zanzibar clothes being worn out, 
they dressed like them in bark-cloths, or the skins of 
cattle and antelope prepared by leaving on the hair. 
