SLAVES AND IVORY. WL7, tance, and therefore scarcely any profit can be made on them.

With girls the case is different; the pretty Wahtma, who are generally of rather ight colour and are very handy, are most sought after, while the Wanyoro girls, whose lower incisors have been extracted, are less valued, as also the real Waganda girls, owing to a universal artificial deformity. While in the year 1876 a girl of ten to twelve years was exchanged for thirty to forty ells (pzks) of madapolam of the ordinary kind, two years later the price had risen to nearly as much again; but since then it seems to have remained almost stationary. The continual raids made by Mtésa and Kabréga, besides bringing in cattle, ivory, and all sorts of other things, are undertaken for the purpose of procuring female slaves, and all the dealers and . caravans passing southwards to Tabora are well provided with this article. The Wahuma girls play exactly the same réle in the slave-trade here as the Abyssinian girls, whom they resemble in more than one respect, do farther north.

Ivory is still the chief export of the equatorial countries, for hitherto scarcely any attention has been paid to many other products of which I shall speak later on. Uganda, except in south-western Uddu, is not rich in ivory, as the elephants suffer a good deal in consequence of the dense population. They are much more abundant in Unyoro, especially in its more remote parts, and ivory is therefore to be obtained more cheaply in that country. In both countries one tusk of every elephant slain belongs de jure to the ruler, who also possesses the right of buying the other one; he usually, however, does not avail himself of this right, because the second tusk falls to the share of the district chief, who, besides his other payments to the king, is bound to bring him some good pieces of ivory from time to time. ‘The insufficiency of the home production, and the yearly decrease in the spoils of the chase, have long made it necessary to fall back for supplies on the surrounding countries ; accordingly, ivory is imported into Ugdnda from Usdga and the Wakidi (Lingo) district, and Mtésa is shrewd enough to send frequent missions with presents to the chiefs of these turbulent tribes. Wasdga and Wakidi chiefs, bearing rich presents of ivory, are frequently to be seen at Mtésa’s court, where, being perfectly nude, they form a striking con-