This cloth is the produce of a species
of fig tree, the bark of which is stripped off in large pieces and then
soaked in water and beaten with a mallet: in appearance it much
resembles corduroy, and is the colour of tanned leather; the finer
qualities are peculiarly soft to the touch, as though of woven cotton.
Every garden is full of this species of tree, as their cultivation is
necessary for the supply of clothing; when a man takes a wife he plants
a certain number of trees, that are to be the tailors of the expected
family.
The market being closed, the canoe was laden with provisions, and sent
across to our hungry people on the other side the river.
The difference between the Unyoro people and the tribes we had hitherto
seen was most striking. On the north side of the river the natives were
either stark naked, or wore a mere apology for clothing in the shape of
a skin slung across their shoulders: the river appeared to be the limit
of utter savagedom, and the people of Unyoro considered the indecency of
nakedness precisely in the same light as among Europeans.
The northern district of Unyoro at Karuma is called Chopi, the language
being the same as the Madi, and different to the southern and central
portions of the kingdom. The people are distinct in their type, but they
have the woolly hair of negroes, like all other tribes of the White
Nile.
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