54 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

these contain a tolerably large population, which is occupied in tilling the ground and rearing cattle. The principal crops are mtama or millet (Arabic dhurra), mhindi or Indian corn (Arabic esh er rif), inwere, a "small grain growing on a head like a bulrush (Arabic duchan), and pumpkins. The people live in tembes, which are houses made of a framework of poles plastered with clay, the walls being generally only about seven feet high ; the roofs are flat, with a thick layer of clay to keep the water out, but in the wet season they generally leak terribly. These tembes are usually built in the form of a hollow square, enclosing a courtyard where the cattle are housed at night; as a rule there are only one or two openings in the outer wall to give access to the courtyard in the interior, and these are generally closed with strong wooden doors ; the different rooms or houses open only into the court, in order to give greater security against the attacks of enemies and wild beasts, and in many districts the outer walls are pierced with holes for muskets. These tembes are horrible places, especially in wet weather, damp, close and foul ; the goats and sheep too are often kept in the same parts as the family inhabit, and in the rains the floor is often ankle-deep in filth. The roofs of these tembes are frequently used as store places, and in harvest time heaps of ears of corn and rows of yellow pumpkins may be seen