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TNAT off here In the hnart of thn
ttlnrk continent, within a few
hundred mllrs of the headwaters
of the ronfjo, and riRht at the nourrc
of the Nile, is a nation of spnii-rlvlleeed
AfrlcanB who are clad all In bark. I
have just loft the Kavi rondo, on the
other side of Victoria Nvnnztt. They go
tark miked, nnri are not ashamed. These
pfopIe are f ullv clad and thov eonsliler
all eTtpoire of the person Indecent. A
married woman who would ko about
wearing only tho plrdle of beads and the
short fiber tail which constitutes full
dress shout Fort Florence would be ar
rested In Kampala, and the Urrnnda man
who would strut around, with only a
little apron of skin tied to his waist at
the back, would be drummed out of the
count rv.
Tho Ragnnda. ss thee people are
called, are a nation of prudes. This 1b
so especially as fnr as tho men are con
cerned. Kvery one of them, when not
working. Is clothed in long, flowing gar
ments from hfs head to hta feet, and in
the time of the last king the man who
showed a bit of bare leg ftp his majesty s
presence was Instantly punished. I have
told vou how the old blind musician of
the present king lost his eves bv allow
ing a princess to see him In swimming.
This was at the command of old King
Mutesa, and that notwithstanding he
kept a large corps of nude girls about
bis palace to act as his valets. Nowa
days the Uganda women are almost as
much clad as the men. and it Is only j
when out working in the field that they
mar occasionally be seen bare to the
waist.
A Nation in Bark.
There are about 1,000.000 negroes in
Georgia, and that is just the number of
these seml-clvllezed Haganda. If you
could collect all our Georgia colored pop
ulation together and dress them in bark,
havlnsr an occasional one clad in sheets
of white cotton, you would have some
think like the nation here at the source
of the Nile. The people are Bantu ne
irroes. They are if anything better look
ing than our colored people and are far
more Intelligent than the negroes about
the Chi If of Guinea, from where the
greater portion of eur slaves came. Their
bark clothing is made in the shape of
great sheets of the size of a bed quilt,
and It fs wrapped about the body, ex
tending in the case of the men from the
neck to the feet and with the women
from under the arms well down to the
ankles. The Raganda man begins dress
ing by winding a strip of bark cloth
about his hips and passing it between his
lees and fastening it at the waist. After
t his lie puts on his largo sheet, which
he fastens around his shoulders and of
ten ties in at the waist. Tt is only when
at hard labor that any other part of his
body is bate. When working his lower
Ira often show. The women do not
seem to regard the exposure of their
persons above the waist as indecent, al
though they are usually clad from arm
pits to ankles. I am told that many of
them take off their clothes when dining
inside the house, in order to keep from
oiling them. The women 1 see are on
the whole pretty well clad.
Adam and Kre In I'gantln.
When Adam and Eve had their little
trouble over the apple, and from it, as
n cyeopener. clad themselves in fig
leaves, they set an example for these
people of I'ganda. The Baganda. how
ever, use the Kirk of the tig tree and
not the leaf. This bark clothing is all
made of the inside skin of a species of
tx tree, which they grow in their gar
dens. I have Just returned from a Ions
.rip through the country and have had
an opportunity to see how the bark is
frown and how it is prepared for cloth
ing. The ordinary Vganda family lives in a
thatched hut surrounded by banana plan
tations, and these clothrng trees are
planted in among the bananas. They are
to be seen everywhere Blong the roads.
They grow to a height of from JO to 30
feet, and their branches brain at about
eight or ten feet from the ground. The
...
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ALL
RAISE THEIR CLOTHES IN. THEIR GARDENS
tur . r "f HI
bark is cut in such a way that it comes
off In sheets. If it is property stripped
from the tree another coat will grow,
eo that the same tree will produce a
nef crop of cloth .every year. In cutting
the bark great care is taken to leave a
thin film on the trunk, and as soon as
the outer bark is removed the trunk Is
wrapped In green banana leaves, and
these are tied tightly about it with
banana fiber. I saw the natives doing
such work in many of the gardens on
my way across Uganda.
The bark comes off in strips from six
to ten feet long and as wide as the cir
cumference of the tree. These strips are
soaked for a time in water, until they
become damp and soft. They are then
spread out on skin maw and hammered
with mallets. This makes them thinner
and -broader. They are also pulled and
stretched, until they finally become much
like pieces of cloth from half a yard to
a yard wide and of the length of the
cutting. Tile bark Is composed of many
fillers which cross each other this way
and that. Just like weaving; and when
It is dried it seems like a great sheet
of woven fibers. It can now be sewn
together into the blankets used as cloth
ing, and Jt can be painted and decorated
In patterns. I have bought a number
of sheets of this stuff. They are of a
reddish brown color, of the same hue
as cinnamon or tan bark. They feel Just
like woven cloth and look as though they
might have been felted or passed through
a loom. The stuff Is somewhat thicker
than cotton sheeting, but it is . firm.
I understand some of this bar cloth has
been sent to America and Europe and
that it is used in Germany for making
ladies' shopping bags and card cases as
well as caps, hats and book covers. 1
was told in Entebbe by an explorer there
that he had applications for a large
amount of it from certain American
weaving mills, whtch wished to experi
ment in making velvet of it. ''The cloth
can be trimmed like silk, muslin or
velvet. It can be dyed any color and It
could be made waterproof. When it is
blockrd to any form It holds its shape;
and, when cemented together irfto two
thicknesses, laid crosswise. It is very
strong. It might be used as a matting,
and would be decorative as a wall paper.
As it is there is practically no market
for it other than that of the natives: and
I have bought several blankets six or
eight feet square for about 33 cents
apiece.
No Pins or Bnttons.
I wish I could show you some of these
Uganda girls, dressed In their terra cotta
sheets, as I see them around me. The
bark cloth is wrapped tightly about their
bodies, leaving their plump arms and
shoulders bare. Tt is often tied in at the
waist with a bark cloth sash and is gath
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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL 5, 1908.
ABOUT THE
ered up at the front so that a great fold 1
hangs over and falls half way to the
knees. It gives forth a swlnhy rustle as
the women move, and I am told that they
delight In this noise as our girls delight
in the swish of their silk petticoats. In
such costumes the bust is entirely cov
ered, and the only weak point -about the'
dress seems to be that it has no pins
nor buttons and that there are not even
shoestrings over the arms to hold .the
dress up. The mere knot at the front
seems by no means safe, and I am in
constant fear that the 'tie will slip and
the bark cloth drop to the ground. The
longer I stay, however, the less this fear
holds. The dresses seem to be as tight
as though glued- and that even on the
girls who work on the road chopping out
the weeds with their little hoes and bend
ing half double as they do so. I have
seen women so working with little black
babies on their backs, held In by the
bark cloth.
A Suit or Clothes for Four Cents.
Speaking of -this dress of the Baganda,
I have said they were all fully clad. This
is so of both men and women and of even
small boys. The only exceptions are girls,
up to the ages of eight or nine years.
They go absolutely naked, save that each
tias a ring of woven fiber or of twisted
banana stems as big around as ray thumb.
This they wear about the waist. During
our trip yesterday, my son Jack met ' a
girl so clad and bargained with her for
her outfit. The little one sold her whole
suit of clothes for four cents, stepping
out of her waist ring and standing there
naked while she handed it to him and
took the money. A moment later, she
scampered off into a banana patch and
made a new ring of banana fibers to take
Its place. I am told that the little ones
consider themselves undressed when they
have not this ring about their waists; and
that if they have left it off they will run
for It and put It on before they come to
meet strangers.
They Shave Their Heads.
This little girl had her head shaved
close to the skin. This is so with both
women and men among the Baganda.
Nearly every one has a scalp like polished
ebony, although a few allow the hair to
grow. The Baganda do not wear Jewelry
and the women do not pierce their ears
nor disfigure themselves with scars and
various other mutilations, as is common
among most Africa'n triijea. Those who
wear hair, do not load it with grease:
and. as a rule, the people are noted for
their cleanliness and fondness for bath
ing. Since the. country has been opened to
Europeans many of the richer natives
have begun to wear cotton, and, strange
to say, they prefer American goods to
any other. These goods here go by the
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BAGANDA
name of Americsni. This means cotton
sheeting, and that made in the usual
length for one dress. Both men and
women wear such sheets, so that any
large crowd forms a mixture of whites
and tans. The whites are the American
cottons and the tans are the bark clothes.
How the Baganda Look.
These natives of Uganda are fine look
ing. They are shorter han the average
Caucasian, tho men feeing not more than
five feet four or five inches tall, and the
women still less. Both sexes are well
formed. Every one holds his head up and
throws back his shoulders, and all are
broad-breasted and deep chested. This
may come from the hilly nature of the
country and the fact that the people do
much walking up and down hill.
The younger women have beautiful
necks and arms and very full breasts.
Many of them are like ebony statues,
and almost every girl has a form which
would be coveted by any American belle.
Their erectness of figure comes largely
from the habit of carrying things on
their heads. This is done by both men
and women. During my trip across the
country I passed hundreds carrying loads
hi that way. Men went along on the
trot with firewood, bunches of bananas
and bales ot hides balanced on cushions
of leaves upon their crowns. I saw wo
men carrying gourds of water upon their
heads.' so carefully poised that the water
did not spill, although the gourds were
untouched by the hand. Now and then
we passed a girl going along with a glass
bottle balanced on her pate, and at one
place I saw a gang of porters carrying
elephants' tusks in that way.
Across I'ganda In a Jinrikisha.
But let me tell you about a jin
rikisha ride which I took from En
tebbe to Kampala, the native capital
of Uganda. Entebbe is situated on
Victoria Nyanza, 175 miles across the
lake from Port Florence, and Kampala
is about 25 miles away back in the
hills. The road between the two places
has been laid out and Improved by the
British, and tt Is now one of the fine
drives of the world. The roadway Is
about 30 feet wide. It is as hard as
stone and as smooth as a floor. The
grass and weeds are kept out bf It.
and there are ditches at tone side, with
culverts here and ' there to carry off
the water. The streams are crossed by
bridges, and the whole 26 miles Is as
good as the beach drive ftlong Rock
Creek in Washington,, or any of the
roads at Central Park. Indeed, the
only native highways that will com
pare with It are those of Java, the
labor upon which is done in much the
same way.
Uganda Is a land of good roads. The
country is about as big as Kansas,
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and it hafl thousRnds of miles of native
roads, each ten feet or more in width.
This Is different from the other coun
tries of Africa.
The most of the native territories
are accessible only by footpaths, which
wind in and out about the trees and
around the stone and logs, permitting
passengers to travel only single file
and on foot. This is so in the most
of German East Africa, in British East
Africa and in the Kongo valley. It
was over such roads that Stanley went;
and Livingstone and the other great
African explorers made their way
through such paths.
These roadways are one of the great
est signs of Uganda's civilization. They
go up hill and down vale, crossing the
streams and swamps on bridges and
causeways.
Since the British took possession of
the country they have improved these
native roads. They are building others,
and one can now go in a jinrikisha,
pulled by natives, from here to Lake
Albert, a distance of about 200 miles.
I understand that there is even a road
to Gondokora, which lies in the Sudan
on the other side of t'ganda. That
place Is the terminus of steam naviga
tion on the Nile, so that I could go by
Jinrikisha from here to that point and
thence by steamboat and rail to the
Mediterranean.
Where Women Work the Roads.
All the roads of this country are
kept up by the natives under the di
rection of their chiefs, although bar;k
of the chiefs are the British official's,
who work through them. Every per
son In the country, male and female.
Is subject to one month's work during
the year as a road tax. We think it
a heavy burden if we have to pay for
one day's work on the roads, hut here
every one Is supposed to work a whole
month. Each chief is responsible for
Difference. Between Criminals
Satirical Esay on the Activities of tlie Police and the Haphazard
.BY J. U JONES.
THB FATE of all who aspire to lit
erary fame ha overtaken me. I
have fallen under the condemnation
of the critics. I am Informed that I
made a wild statement, quite Incompati
ble with absolute truth, when I said that
the police hardly ever arrested a criminal.
Is It not a fact that the police are often
kept as busy gathering In criminals as
fishermen in catching fish?
I was much edified by this criticism,
not having the faintest idea that 1 had
so innocently and effectually made my
self misunderstood. 1 had not the re
motest idea of classifying under the
head of criminals the dally catch of
drunks and hobos collected by the police.
Those are not really criminals. They are
only offenders. They are a by-product
of the capitalist s.vstnm, of no particular
use except at election times, when some
great crisis calls for a decisive expres
sion of the popular will. Of course, in
another sense they are always useful, as
the care of them furnishes employment
to an important class of officials.
But there fs aa much difference between
a real, healthy criminal and a mere mis
erable offender, such as worthy church
members every Sunday confess them
selves to be, as there is between a live
Hon and a yellow dog.
It is no trouble to, arrest a drunken
man. ' He has not sense enough to disap
pear. If "he resists it is easy to club him
into insensibility, and it will naturally be
supposed that he wa found In that state.
If he dies, so much the better. He will
probably be unidentified. No questions
will be asked, and no one will care.
Decent people never get disorderly on
the streets. They get drunk privately
and peaceably. Their friend take care
of them. . The police don't meddle. It is
none of their business.
It is no trouble to arrest hobos, either.
The hobo does not try to escape the po
liceman. He wants to find one. There is
a natural attraction between the two, as
there is between a spider and a fly. The
hobo has to And lodging. He is usually
hungry and always thirsty. If he ap
proached a policeman directly and re
quested to be conducted to his lodgings,
the officer would havetno authority to
act. He must commit some offense In
order t be recognized. He must do some
thing to attract unfavorable attention.
Now the hobo has the inestimable ad
vantage of being always an offender.
His mere presence at any time or place is
an offense and a nuisance that call for
speedy abatement. If he stands still or
moves slowly he la obstructing the thor
oughfare. If he moves quickly he invites
pursuit. This is a very suspicious act.
He is doubtless endeavoring to make his
escape. If he does nothing at all he is
doubly delinquent. This is prima facie
evidence that he Is an unprofitable ser
vant. If he hunts for a Job he Is tres
passing on private premises, spying out
something to steal. If he does not hunt,
he Is trespassing, anyhow, and his tres
passes are not forgiven in any case.
Knowing all these things, the experi
enced hobo picks out an unoffending po
liceman and proceeds to get 1n his way.
He can stagger or swagger or atand still
with a hump on his back. Or he can put
his thumb to his nose. '
The policeman is quick to recognize
in any of these acts or atltudes an
offense against the majesty of the law.
He begins hostilities by roughly repri
manding the offender. The offender
"sasses back' or makes a show of re
sistance. Then the cop can legally club
him and' run him In.
This ceremony has to be gone
through with as a regular order of
the roads of his territory: and he calls
upon every householder for the requis
ite amount of labor. The householder
as a rule sees that the most of the
work is done by the women. This I
found to be the case all the way from
Entebbe to Kampala. Everywhere there
were girls down on their knees pulling
out weeds or bending over and smooth
ing the roadbed with ehorthandled na
tive hoes. In one or two places men
were at work, but as a rule the rough
labor was done by bare-shouldered,
bare-armed and bare-footed femalis
clad in bark clothing. Now and then
I stopped on the way to watch them,
and once took a snap shot of a shaven
headed maiden with a native hoe in
her hand.
American Jinrlkishns.
Tt is an odd experience to travel
through the African wilds In a Jinrik
isha, but that Is what I did on my way
here from Entebbe. This vehicle was
originally the Invention of an Ameri
can missionary who lived in Japan.
It took so well there that a great part
of the travel of that country is now
done in It, and it has since spread
from Japan throughout the far East.
Wc have it in Manila and It Is also
common in India. Some were Imported
into Soutli Africa a few years ago,
and an enterprising American firm
has taken to manufacturing them for
export. Those used here are of Amer
ican make, Thry look somewhat like
a victoria, having seats wide enough
for one or two people. I took four for
my trip. Two of these were for myself
ajid son and the others for our bag
gage and photographic instruments.
AVe paid $2 for each Jinrikisha. and
this Included four lusty natives who
pushed and pulled us along. One man
pulled in the shafts and the- three
others pushed from behind. The men
were as black as Jet. They were bare
business, Uke the initiative and refer
endum or like a would-be speaker addressing-
a chair. In order to make the
arrest legal. Otherwise It would be a
farce. It Is only a farce anyhow.
When the offender appears before
the court he pleads not guilty, tells a
tale of woe and begs off. If the court
turns him loose, his labor is lost and
he- has to get run In again the next
day. This is an aggravated offense,
that qualifies him for the second de
gree and entitles him to the hospitality
of the city for 30 dffys. Of course he
Is sometimes expected to take a little
exercise on the rockpile for the good
of his health and to show his appre
ciation of municipal freedom.
This Is the routine work of tha po
lice, and It makes quite a show of
praiseworthy activity. All the parties
to the transaction appear to take It
seriously. From a religious point of
view, it is serious, as It betokens a
state of sinful depravity. From the
standpoint of the taxpayer it is also
serious.
When I laid the police hardly ever
arrested a criminal, I meant a real bad
man. a burglar, highwayman or mur
derer. These are not pushing them
selves in the way, trying to get ar
rested. A policeman is generally big and
heavy and slow, like a man-of-war.
He is visible at a great distance when
the coast is clear. The experienced
crtmlnal can see him or scent him
afar off. He figures out his probable
motions as precisely as the astrono
mers calculate those of a heavenly
bod y.
He times his work so as to accom
plish It when the legal luminary Is at
the extreme elongation of his orbit or
in a state of temporary eclipse. He
does not want to recognize or be recog
nized by an officer at the moment he is
pulling off a job. This would be em
barrassing to both, but he likes to be
quite friendly and sociable at any oth
er time.
It Is altogether unreasonable to ex
pect policemen to catch criminals. We
might just as well expect a cow to
catch mice. It is enough for them to
walk along with slow ajid ponderous
dignity and impersonate the majesty
of the law. and crack the heads of
those who offend against that majesty
by overt act or attitude. t
They can earn all the wages they
get without running themselves out
of breath after elusive criminals, when
every policeman knows that his ab
sence would be taken advantage of by
a confederate of the fugitive to rob
a bakry or purloin an old lady's purse.
It Is not the place of the police to
catch criminals; It Is the duty of pri
vate detectives. Of course, the police
may assist when the detectives get the
criminals located or rounded up or
identified. But here we meet the inter
position of a strange kind of provi
dence, nothing less than the foresight
and strategy of the devil to defeat the
ends of justice.
It is a maxim of the law, from time
immemorial, that it takes a1 thief to
catch a thief. Therefore, the force of
private detectives must necessarily be
recruited from the ranks of the crim
inals they are supposed to arrest. This
is a serious complication.
An honest, open-hearted, candid de
tective would be a laughing stock for
gods and men. He could not do any
business. He would be as easily de
tected himself as a policeman; He
would have no more chance of rising
in his profession than an honest law
headed, barclepsred and barefooted an3C
were clad in gowns of bark cloth or
cotton. They went on the trot evert
while climbing the hills, and they sa'na
all the way.
Each Jinrikisha party formed a quar
tet, of which the man in the shaft waal
the leader. The songs seemed to con
tain a thousand verses of one !Jn
each. This was yelled out by the)
leader, and. at the end. the three inert
behind would .grunt out one or twot
words sounding much like the croak
ing of a bullfrog. It was 'K;irung!
Karung!"
The singing did well enough at the)
start, but after ten miles It began to
wear upon us, and we wished they
were duftib. '
Country Scenes.
We were about five hours In making
the 25 miles. The way led up and
down over a rolling country, much of
it open pasture land consisting rf hll'.s
covered with grass and spotted here
and there with groves of trees. Every
where there were patches of bananas,
and out of each rose one of the round
grass huts of the natives, with these
bark clothing trees all around It. In
places we went through forests, and
now and then skirted a Jungle which
made us tremble a little as we thoucrht
of the leopards, lions and other wild
boosts which Infest parts of Uganda.
There were natives everywhere on
the way. and at times the roads were
lined with them. Now and th.'n we
passed a great foreign wagon hauled
by 36 or 20 lusty black feliows, uml
again went by gangs of vnrteri. trot
ting along with great loads on their
heads. The trip throughout was wild
In the extreme, and its climax was
capped by this great native town ot
Kampala, where I now am. and of
which I will write In the future.
Kampana', Uganda.
and Offenders
Results of Law In General.
yer of becoming a corporation attorn
ney.
Thus, It comes about by a perfectly
natural process, unavoidable, and fotf
which no one Is to blame, that tha
small thieves find their protectors and
patrons among the detectives, just as
the grand thieves, the plutocrats, eon
duct their operations under the patron
age of their attorneys in Congress and
In the legislatures.
This is the work of Hermes, that
dlety, that presides over the destinies ofl
thieves. He is a beneficent and power
ful being who takes care of his own
and provides for the safety of his most
humble as well as his most exalted
followers.
It would be .impossible to carry on
thieving at all as a profession or busi
ness either on a large or small scaln
without the license and protection of
the law. In fact, that Is what the law
is for. Hermes Is the greatest of lawi
yers. His other name Is Mercury,
which comes from the same root aj
merchant and commerce. All Irtw fsj
commercial because it has to do with;
exchange of goods or evils. And tha
exchanges may be Just or unjust,
fraudulent or fair.
St. Paul uttered a very profound truth
once, which he prohably did not under
stand himself, when he said that sin.
comes by the law. If there was not any
law there would not be any sin.
This is a rather mysterious and pus
zllng matter. Neither the politicians nor
the preachers can explain It. I have not
time nor space to do it now, but I pur
pose later on in the ten comma ndment
series to explain how the law creates the
crime It is supposed to prevent, how tha
doctors originate the diseases that to)
them are a perennial source of revenue,
and how the preachers raise the devil
they so dearly love to fieht.
And when the explanation conies. It
will be authoritative because I have it
from Hermes himself, Hermes Trisme
giptos (thrice the greatest). I am a pu
pil of Hermes, a hermit, a hermetist, a
merchant and a thief. Therefore, I am
qualified to be a detective.
Detective is one who uncovers secrets
and explains mysteries. If the police
would put me in the sweat box. I could
tell them tales that ought to make their
hair stand on end. recitals of their own
crimes. I could tell them where they
could put their hands on millions of
stolen treasures they dare not recover.
I could give them information they dara
not act on. Inieed. my evidence would
not be received at ail. It would ba
thrown out of court. I have told mora,
already than many of my readers cat
stand. It is astonishingly eaFy to satisfy
the hunger of some folks for truth.
By the way. when the polire can't
catch the criminals, and the detectives
stand in with them, and the law pro
tects them, whoever would not be a crim
inal must necessarily be a very virtuous
person, or else a long-suffering taxpayer.
I would like to use the word fool in
stead of taxpayer, hut taxpayer means
about the same thing, and fool is ona
of those words of many meanings. Ilka
criminal, and it Is not safe to use it with
out writing a book of explanations and
apologies.
Corvallls, Or.
The I'm pi re.
With padded breast and nerve that's
' nteeled
He stalks upon the trembling" field.
The puny fnnx before him rrawl
With tbund'rou roar he rrlrs "Plaj- ball!'
Cleveland Plain Uealuw