The market soon went briskly, and whole rows of girls and women arrived,
bringing baskets filled with the desired provisions. The women were
neatly dressed in short petticoats with a double skirt-many exposed the
bosom, while others wore a piece of bark cloth arranged as a plaid
across the chest and shoulders. This cloth is the produce of a species
of fig tree, the bark of which is stripped off in large pieces and then
soaked in water and beaten with a mallet: in appearance it much
resembles corduroy, and is the colour of tanned leather; the finer
qualities are peculiarly soft to the touch, as though of woven cotton.
Every garden is full of this species of tree, as their cultivation is
necessary for the supply of clothing; when a man takes a wife he plants
a certain number of trees, that are to be the tailors of the expected
family.
The market being closed, the canoe was laden with provisions, and sent
across to our hungry people on the other side the river.
The difference between the Unyoro people and the tribes we had hitherto
seen was most striking. On the north side of the river the natives were
either stark naked, or wore a mere apology for clothing in the shape of
a skin slung across their shoulders: the river appeared to be the limit
of utter savagedom, and the people of Unyoro considered the indecency of
nakedness precisely in the same light as among Europeans.
The northern district of Unyoro at Karuma is called Chopi, the language
being the same as the Madi, and different to the southern and central
portions of the kingdom. The people are distinct in their type, but they
have the woolly hair of negroes, like all other tribes of the White
Nile.
By astronomical observation I determined the latitude of Atada at Karuma
Falls, 2 degrees 15 minutes; and by Casella's thermometer, the altitude
of the river level above the sea 3,996 feet.
After the disgusting naked tribes that we had been travelling amongst
for more than twelve months, it was a delightful change to find
ourselves in comparative civilization: this was evinced not only in the
decency of clothing, but also in the manufactures of the country. The
blacksmiths were exceedingly clever, and used iron hammers instead of
stone; they drew fine wire from the thick copper and brass wire that
they received from Zanzibar; their bellows were the same as those used
by the more savage tribes - but the greatest proof of their superior
civilization was exhibited in their pottery.
Nearly all savages have some idea of earthenware; but the scale of
advancement of a country between savagedom and civilization may
generally be determined by the example of its pottery.
