152 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

are very strict, and it is death for a man or woman to be found in the public roads without proper clothing. When in their houses they are not so particular, and the younger women often dispense with it altogether. When going into battle, too, the men divest themselves of all their garments, with the exception of a loin-cloth, in order to give greater freedom to their limbs. The national costume is the mbugu, or bark cloth, which is worn by the men as a loose flowing robe tied in a knot over the shoulder, leaving both arms bare, and coming down to the feet ; while the women fasten it tightly round the body, just under the armpits. Sandals made out of buffalo hide are often worn, and fantastic head-dresses or turbans of calico or coloured pocket-handkerchiefs. Over the mbugu a robe of beautifully dressed skin is sometimes worn by the chiefs. These robes are made either of a whole bullock-skin with the hair on, or of two or three goat-skins sewn together ; but the one which is most highly prized consists of from twenty to forty skins of the " ntalaganya," a diminutive antelope, about the size of a hare, which has a beautifully glossy coat of a rich dark brown colour.

Foreign dress, however, is gradually making its way among the people, and Mtesa himself has quite discarded the native mbugu in favour of Arab and Turkish costume. The commonest article of foreign dress is the kanzu, or shirt of calico, which reaches