UGANDA AND THE WAGANDA. 185 and when not at work they sit sucking it through straws or the ornamented tubes already mentioned, consequently in the evening a considerable percentage of the men, of what may be called the upper classes, are in a state of semi-intoxication. It is, however, rare to see them helplessly drunk ; nor does the rnwengi seem to produce headache and sickness as most European liquors do, and as is the case with the grain-produced pombe of Usukuma and Unyamwezi, and the merissa of the Soudan. This I attribute to the absence of the higher alcohols, known commonly as fusel-oil, consequent on the alcohol of the mwengi being derived from sugar, and not from starch, as is the case where grain is employed.

Gluttony is also a common vice with the Waganda, and I have had men pointed out to me, who were said to have eaten a whole goat at one sitting. They sometimes gorge themselves to such an extent that they are unable to move, and appear just as if intoxicated.

They are also great smokers, the women being as much addicted to smoking as the men, but they never use tobacco in the shape of snuff, nor do they chew it. The tobacco of Uganda is of very good quality, and is always used pure, without any mixture of foreign substances ; it varies very much in strength, some being comparatively mild, but most of it is very strong ; it is not made up into cakes, but used in the whole leaf. Most of the