16 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

and are perpetually concocting dodges with the object of obtaining more food and drink. If any complication arise with the natives and an attack be feared, they are very brave and boast loudly of what they will do as long as the enemy are at a distance, but should fighting become imminent none are so ready as they to show the enemy a clean pair of heels. In the capacity of personal servants they are, as a rule, by no means satisfactory. The cook has a deeply-rooted conviction, which it is impossible to eradicate, that a little dirt rather improves the flavour of food than otherwise, and he stares with astonishment if you object to his wearing the tablenapkins as a loincloth ; he drinks your tea out of the spout of the teapot, and uses the dinner-knives as razors. The Wang'uana, moreover, have very little regard for truth, and their ideas of the difference between nieum and tuum are often hazy in the extreme.

Still there are some noble exceptions to the picture which I have drawn of the Wang'uana, and I have had splendid servants and brave and faithful followers among them. As a rule also they are warm-hearted, and if properly treated become much attached to their employer, showing their affection often in very unexpected ways. I have known them march many miles after a long day's journey to fetch their master a drink of water, and if he is stricken down with fever they will nurse him as tenderly as a woman,