Stanley's African Convert [pp. 445-451]

STARLE Y'S AFRICAN CONVERST.
of some four thousand feet above the ocean, its cli mate and productions belong rather to the tem perate than to the torrid zone. Its area is small;
for, although the population is dense, Long estimates
the subjects of Mtdsa at about half a million, exclu sive of a number of tributary chiefs. Speke sup poses the Ugandi to be a cross between the aborigi nal negroes and a conquering horde from Abyssinia.
Small as the kingdom is, it is one of the four which
deserve the name in all equatorial Africa, as far as
modern travelers report. The others are: Unyoro,
bordering it upon the north, which was, however, in
the spring of I876, overrun by Gordon Pasha, and
formally annexed to the dominions of the Khedive of
Egypt; Monbuttu, a few hundred miles to the west,
visited by Schweinfurth; and Urua, far to the south west, visited by Cameron.
Civilization, though of a peculiar type, is, perhaps, further advanced in Uganda than in any other
part of equatorial Africa. The soil is cultivated
only by the women; but the men are expert ivoryhunters, clever workers in iron, and especially skillful
in the tanning and dressing of leather. Their grassthatched huts are notable for neatness. In the neighborhood of the capital, at least, the country is traversed by excellent roads, broad enough for an army
to march through with a front of fifty men. Sandwiched between tribes who go almost entirely naked, the Ugandi are clad with scrupulous decorum.
The national dress of the better classes, of both
sexes, is a kind of toga covering the entire person
from the neck to the ankles. Female slaves, however, are sometimes entirely naked, and soldiers often wear only a kind of kilt, reaching from the waist
to the knees. The religion appears to be mainly a
kind of fetichism, involving some sort of, worship of
invisible beings, especially the spirits of deceased
ancestors. They have a vague idea of a Supreme
Being, whom they call "Lubari;" but they also apply the term to anything which seems to them to
possess supernatural power. Thus, Speke's pocketcompass was a "great Lubari," because it enabled
him to find his way all over the world; and Long's
small galvanic battery was a "little Lubari," because,
small as it was, it could knock a man down or strike
him numb, without his being able to perceive whence
came the blow. Polygamy appears to be unrestricted among the nobles. Mtesa, at three-and-twenty,
when we first hear of him, had as many wives as
Solomon in all his glory; and his first, last, and most
persistent request from Speke was for "strengthening medicine," which he was quite sure so wise a
man must be able to supply.
The government of Uganda is certainly a strong
one, so long, at least, as it is in strong hands. The
king is an absolute monarch in the strictest sense
of the term. The property, persons, and lives, of
every one of his subjects are in his hands. The two
chief officers are the Kongowee, or General of the
Army, and the Katonah, or Minister of State, who
in the case of Mtesa was also the chief cook to his
majesty. There are also numerous Mtongoli, or
ministers who are employed about the court or as
governors of districts. The extremest punishment
which they can inflict is cutting off the ears of of fenders, which they may order at will, for any cause
or for none at all. As a military power Uganda for
several generations has been superior to any of its
neighbors, though pretty nearly matched by the more
populous Unyoro. The relative positions of the two
may, perhaps, be compared with those of Prussia
and Austria up to the establishment of the present
empire of Germany. Now that Unyoro is subju gated by Egypt, and the nominal dominions of the
khedive border upon and partially surround those
of Mtesa, it is useless to speculate upon the future
status of Uganda.
Speke, in I862, was the first white man who had
ever heard of Uganda and its mighty potentate.
Four years previously he had accompanied Burton
in the expedition which made known to Europeans
the existence of Lake Tanganyika, the first discovered of the great African lakes. He had set off on
a separate trip to the northeast, and came upon a
body of water which, from all that he could see and
hear, must be of considerable extent. With that
keen "geographical instinct," in which he excelled
every other explorer, he sprang to the conclusion
that here must be the main reservoir from which the
Nile derived that unceasing supply of water which
kept it at a uniform level after the inundations from
the Atbara and Blue Nile from Abyssinia had subsided. Burton sneered at Speke, his discovery, and
his theory. But, early in I86I, Speke was placed at
the head of a large expedition, and started from
Zanzibar bent upon following up his former discovery, and verifying his theory by reaching the assumed
head-waters of the Nile, and following the stream
down to its mouth. Late in November he approached the broad northern end of the lake, of
which he had seen only the narrow southern extremity. Coming to the town of Rumanika, a friendly
chief, he was told of the mighty King Mtesa, who
lived on the borders of the great water, of which
he had not as yet, on this journey, caught a single
glimpse.
Rumanika sent on messengers to Mtesa announcing that two wonderful white men were with him,
who had great stores of remarkable things, and who
traveled to see mighty kings, and wished also to see
Mt6sa, the mightiest of all kings; but, before he
would permit these men to go on, Mtesa must assure
him that they should be favorably received. All this
occupied several weeks; but at length, in January,
Speke set out, and before long entered the territory
of Uganda. He was especially struck by " the roads,
broad as our coach-roads, cut through the long grass,
straight over the hills and down through the woods
in the dells."
At length, on February 19, 1862, he came in
sight of Mtesa's capital, which he calls Bandawaroga, situated in latitude o~ 21' I9" north, longitude
32~ 44' 30" east. It was, as he says, a magnificent
sight; a whole hill, comprising the royal residence,
covered with gigantic huts. They were neatly
thatched, fenced around with tall, yellow reeds or
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