738 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Women do not accompany the men to war, but the head chiefs take 
one or two wives and a few female slaves with them to within a 
safe distance. When camping, the huts for these women and for 
the chiefs must be first erected. Commanders who are unsuccessful 
may be reduced in rank or fined. In attacking an enemy’s village, 
they sometimes use red-hot arrow heads wrapped in mbugu cloth to 
set fire to the dwellings. 
Weapons . — The spear is the Waganda’s weapon, and it is made 
remarkably well. The shaft is about 7 feet long, smooth, and very 
neatly finished. It is made of very hard but comparatively light 
wood ; the head is 15 inches long, the blade 10 inches and 3J to 4 
inches broad. They are very sharp, and are protected by neatly 
made leathern cases ornamented at the tip by plumes. The cases 
are joined together by a thong of leather, so that they can be 
suspended round the shoulders or arm when the spears are in use. 
The Waganda shields are made of wood, covered with wickerwork 
of an open zig-zag pattern. They are large enough to cover 
the whole body when in a stooping position. They are pro- 
vided with a wooden boss in the centre, which is conical in form 
and hollowed out inside to reduce the weight and to permit the 
soldier’s hand free play. Across the inside of this boss there is a 
wicker handle, or sometimes a wooden one, carved in the shape of a 
lizard or some other animal. The Wahuma possess bows and 
arrows in addition to spears. The bows are about 6 feet long, and 
unusually stiff. The arrows, which are feathered, have notched 
heads and extremely barbed points; they are sometimes poisoned 
by being dipped in the juice of a species of euphorbia. I doubt, 
however, whether this is a very strong poison, but the wounds 
caused by the poisoned arrows have a great tendency to slough. 
The Wahuma shoot well up to 40 yards. There are probably not 
more than 2000 guns in Uganda; they are not much used, on 
account of the difficulty which the people have in procuring powder. 
Some of the Waganda are fairly good shots with the rifle, but most 
of them fire from the hip. 
Fleet — The Waganda possess a large fleet of war canoes. 
Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of seeing it ; therefore all 
I can say about the canoes is that they are said to contain 40 or 60 
men, the fighting men being in proportion to the paddlers of two to 
