172 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

where they are tolerably thickly planted the shade they cast is too deep to allow other plants to thrive under it. These groves are well kept, the dead leaves and rubbish being periodically removed, and sometimes, together with the weeds from the other parts of the garden, piled round the roots of the bananas, this being the only attempt made by the Waganda to manure the ground. Immediately round their houses the Waganda have small gardens, divided from one another by high grass fences, and in which a few large banana-plants and a variety of vegetables are grown.

In house-building the natives of Uganda are superior to any of the negro tribes of Africa that I have seen, the houses of the upper classes being neat, clean, and roomy. The establishments of the principal chiefs are very large, sometimes covering several acres, and comprising a large number of huts. The whole area is surrounded by a high fence of grass, the supporting poles being generally trees, a species of Ficus, which furnishes the rnbugu or bark cloth, being the most common ; these trees throw out a large crown of branches, which afford a pleasant shade. There is usually only one gateway, which gives access from the highroad into a small courtyard enclosed by high fences, and in this yard is a small hut or porter's lodge. The whole area is subdivided by fences into a number of courts or gardens, shady with bananas and fig-trees. In each