306 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
conclusion of the second reason, until they come to the 
“ thirdly,” when they raise both hands with the palms 
turned from them, as if to say, “ There, I’ve given you 
my reasons, and you must perforce understand it all 
i ” 
now ! 
Nearly all the principal attendants at the court can 
write the Arabic letters. The Emperor and many of 
the chiefs both read and write that character with 
facility, and frequently employ it to send messages to 
one another, or to strangers at a distance. The 
materials which they use for this are very thin smooth 
slabs of cotton-wood. Mtesa possesses several score of 
these, on which are written his “ books of wisdom,” as 
he styles the results of his interviews with European 
travellers. Some day a curious traveller may think it 
worth while to give ns translations of these proceedings 
and interviews. 
The power of sight of these natives is extraordinary. 
Frequently a six-guinea field-glass was excelled by them. 
Their sense of hearing is also very acute. 
It is really wonderful into how many uses the in- 
genious savage of these regions can convert a simple 
plant. Regard the banana-plant, for instance. At first 
view, in the eyes of the untaught civilized man, it seems 
to be of no other use than to bear fruit after its kind, 
for the stalk of it cannot be employed as fuel, and its 
fronds soon fade and wither and rend, and unless the 
savage pointed out its various uses, I fear the civilized 
man would consider it as of slight value. It is, however, 
of exceeding utility to the native of Uganda. 
1. Its fruit, green or ripe, forms his principal food. 
When green, the Waganda peels his bananas, folds 
them carefully up in the form of a parcel, enclosed in 
green banana-leaves, and putting a small quantity of 
water in his pot, cooks them with the steam alone. 
This mode of cooking green bananas renders them 
floury in appearance, and, in taste, most sweet and 
palatable. When ripe, they form an admirable dessert, 
and, taken in the morning before coffee, serve with some 
constitutions as an agreeable laxative. 
