150 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

curiosities, and are kept in the establishments of the king and great chiefs. Their hair is straw-coloured, their skin, which is rough and coarse, is of a pinkishwhite colour, and their eyes are very sensitive to light. No clue can he got from the natives about the origin of these monstrosities. The assertion which has been made that they are the offspring of the union of brothers and sisters, all, even Mtesa himself, absolutely deny. They say that the parents sometimes have one or two normal children, then an albino, and then another normal child ; and they further assert that albinos have been known to intermarry, and to have perfectly normal children.

There are a few dwarfs to be seen about the court, where they are privileged nuisances, like the jesters of the Middle Ages, and like them, they are petted and indulged, and often become possessed of large herds of cattle, goats and sheep.

The total population of Uganda, after very careful ijcalculations, I estimate at five millions. Of course this estimate can only be an approximation, but I believe it will be found to be in the main correct.

The female population is largely in excess of the male, the proportion being about three and a half to one. This excessive preponderance of the females over the males is due to three causes.

1. Careful observation has established the fact that there are a good many more female births than male, and on taking the groups of children playing by the