148 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinhiirgh. [sess. 
and eat it in large quantities; but, unlike their neighbours, they avoid 
pepper, as they believe it produces sterility. Honey is greatly en- 
joyed and is usually taken with porridge, the latter being made of 
dried plantain or ground durrah. Milk is used as an article of diet, 
either fresh or curdled. In this connection I may mention that the 
milking of cows falls entirely to men ; women are strictly forbidden 
to touch a cow’s udder. 
The great chiefs have separate kitchens in which the food is 
cooked respectively for men and women. The food for a great chief 
is cooked by a male cook with whom he has made blood-brother- 
hood. In the lower classes the women invariably prepare the food. 
The people usually partake of three meals during the day — the first 
soon after sunrise, the second at midday, and the third after sunset. 
The fireplaces made for cooking are constructed of stones, of which 
five are used ; a long, flat, oblong stone is fixed in the ground 
lengthways, and on each side of it two smaller stones are fixed, so 
as to make six compartments. The pots used in cooking (see Manu- 
factures) are globular in shape and of various sizes. Vegetables 
are boiled in them, and the people prefer their meat to be boiled too, 
though it is sometimes roasted or smoked. Fish is smoked likewise. 
Porridge and “ Irish stew ” are served in boat-shaped wooden dishes 
standing upon three or four feet, which raise them from the ground. 
Mats are used as table-cloths, and the food is only uncovered when 
the party are ready to dine. As in Uganda, strips of wet banana 
bark are used as napkins. Marrow bones are cooked in the ashes, 
then cracked and the marrow extracted ; the people do not like raw 
marrow; white ants are often cooked in butter. When catching 
the ants for food large fires are lit near the ant-hill and the people 
either beat small drums or rattle sticks together, upon which the 
ants swarm. 
Drin'ks.—TiYc^Q varieties of beer are used in Unyoro. The first 
is Sandi, which is simply the juice of. the ripe bananas expressed 
through porous mats and mixed with a little water. It is kept for a 
day or two before use and is only slightly fermented. It is a pleasant 
beverage and not intoxicating. Mwenge, the second drink, is pre- 
pared of artificially ripened bananas, to which is added water and 
roasted durrah. It is a sour beverage and very intoxicating. The 
Mervua beer is made from eleusine. The Wanyoro are great beer- 
