146 Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinhurgh. [sess. 
As a chief has only four or five favourites, always chosen from among 
the youngest, perhaps exchanging them for still younger wives when 
they have lived with him for a few months, a large number of 
women are left fallow who would otherwise be capable of produc- 
tion. Early marriage also limits reproduction. 
Habits and Customs . — The Wanyoro are an indolent, lazy people, 
and by no means possessed of great prowess. They are, however, 
fond enough of raiding and pillaging those who they think will be 
an easy prey. They are naturally intelligent, but do not possess 
nearly so much culture as do their neighbours the Waganda. The 
higher classes lounge about and smoke and drink all day, all work 
being left to their wives and slaves. Indeed it is only among the 
lower classes that the men work at all, and they will avoid manual 
labour as much as possible. The principal wives of the chiefs 
lead a luxurious and indolent life — sleeping, eating, and visiting 
being their occupations. 
The Wanyoro are cleanly in their persons, frequent ablutions 
being practised^ but, this notwithstanding, women frequently anoint 
their heads with a mixture of red ochre and fat. Many of the 
people anoint their bodies with oil, or sometimes with scent. One 
scent is a species of touchwood which smells like musk, the other is 
composed of very compact grey clay, which, according to Emin, is 
brought from the south and sold at a high price. Notwithstanding 
their cleanliness, the Wanyoro are infested by vermin which find 
shelter in their bark clothes. They get rid of them by fumigating 
the cloth ever}' few days with the smoke of the stripped stalks of 
the dried papyrus ; this acts as a parasiticide, and gives a distinctive 
odour to the clothes. The Wanyoro are very neat, and all their 
handiwork is carefully performed. In their houses their stores of 
roots, &c. are neatly packed in either woven baskets or in packets 
made of banana leaves and tied with finely woven string. Their 
huts, however, are not well kept, and they are not very particular as 
to the removal of filth from their courtyards. 
They cut their nails to a triangular point, the point being in the 
centre of the finger ; the nail parings are carefully preserved, and 
from time to time taken and thrown into the jungle — why, I am 
unable to say. 
There are not many ceremonials in Unyoro, but the people are 
