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THE
BRITISH MISSION TO UGANDA
IN 1893
MY MISSION TO ABYSSINIA. By the late
Sir Gerald H. Portal, K.C.M.G., C.B., Her Majesty's
Consul-General for British East Africa. With photo-
gravure portrait, map, and numerous illustrations.
Demy 8vo., 15s.
" A very interesting account of the writer's adventures in Abyssinia on
the occasion of his mission in 1SS7-8S to the king of that country, for the
purpose of bringing about a modus Vivendi between Italy and Abyssinia
after the massacre of Dogali. Mr. Portal's narrative is personal and
descriptive rather than political. It abounds in interest and excitement,
and he has much to tell which is well worth hearing." — Times.
" A record of one of the most daring achievements ever accomplished
on behalf of the Foreign Office. Mr. Portal's narrative is at once lucid,
brief, and intensely interesting." — St. James's Ga:i tte.
"The dangers to which the mission was constantly exposed, and the
calmness and courage with which they were faced, are simply and modestly
recorded, whilst we obtain also much light as to the habits and character-
istics of the Abyssinians as a nation." — United Service Institution Journal.
London : EDWARD ARNOLD, 37 Bedford Street, W.C.
THE
BRITISH MISSION TO UGANDA
IN 1893
BY THE LATE
SIR GERALD PORTAL, K.C.M.G., C.B.
THE BRITISH COMMISSIONER
EDITED WITH A MEMOIR
BY
RENNELL RODD, C. M. G.
WITH THE DIARY OF THE LATE CAPTAIN RAYMOND PORTAL
AND AN INTRODUCTION BY LORD CROMER, G.C.M.G.
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY COLONEL RHODES
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD, 37 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.
IJublisfjet to tfje Jfntiia ©fficc
1894
— — z a
EDITOR'S PREFACE
Some six months ago, as the good ship Sincle of the
Messao;eries Maritimes was crossing the line on her
homeward voyage, bringing Sir Gerald Portal, Colonel
Rhodes, and myself back from Zanzibar, the papers
from which the following pages have been compiled
were first placed in my hands for perusal. I could
but little anticipate, as I read them then, that it would
ever fall to my lot to prepare them for the press, or
that the valued friend who seemed so full of life and
vigour, so eagerly looking forward after a protracted
absence to home and all that it means to those whose
lot is cast among alien faces and in distant lands, had
written the last word of the record he had modestly
and unassumingly compiled. The sheets of the first
eight chapters had been roughly drafted in the intervals
of arduous work, of weary marches and watchings by
the bed of sick companions, and more than half the
story was still to be written. It w 7 as his request that
I should read through the chapters which he had
prepared, and make such suggestions as might occur
JAN 2 2 1965
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
to me with regard to their style and matter. I have
little doubt that the verdict which I then expressed
as to their keen and living interest will be fully
endorsed by all who read them, and that the regret
which they will feel at the abrupt conclusion of the
written narrative will approve the advice which I
offered, that he should complete the book and give
it to the public.
The tragic ending of a life so bright in promise, so
rich in actual achievement, has left such intentions
unfulfilled. And now, in addition to the fact that
the information contained in his manuscripts and
notes possesses a vital and most present value, the
deep personal interest aroused by his almost romantic
personality and the pathos of his untimely death, has
impressed on those into whose hands these papers
have passed the sense of a duty to his memory, and a
response to the universal sympathy displayed, which
may best be fulfilled by publishing them even in their
incomplete form.
At the request of friends and relations 1 have
undertaken the task of preparing them for the press,
somewhat reluctantly indeed, not because I could
hesitate to do all in my power to honour the memory
of such a friend, but rather because, in the first place,
I did not feel myself competent to deal with matter
largely outside the range of my own personal ex-
perience; and, secondly, because when the request was
EDITOR'S PREFACE
made, so great a portion of my time was claimed by
the public service that I knew it was scarcely possible
for me to do justice to any additional work. The
companion, however, of his eventful journey home,
Colonel Rhodes, had once more left England on a
long voyage beyond easy reach of communication,
and his return was very uncertain. At the same
time it was felt that the publication should not be de-
layed, and that in this hurrying age of ever-changing
interests and distractions the present moment was the
appropriate one.
It was generally agreed that it would be beyond
the powers of any editor to fill up the gaps in the
narrative so as to render the book a full and complete
history of Uganda and of the British Mission, such as
Sir Gerald Portal had intended it to be, and that all
that could now be attempted was rather to make the
notes and papers which he left into a personal record
and memorial, from which might be gathered some-
thing of the nature and character of the man whose
loss has been so sincerely deplored.
These papers consist, in the first place, of eight
written chapters, left, as I have already intimated, in
the rough-and-ready manner of their original concep-
tion, which would no doubt before publication have
received a finishing touch from one whose feeling for
literary style was considerable; secondly, of a pencilled
Diary carefully kept in a pocket-book from day to day ;
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
and, finally, of a certain number of letters. In dealing
with these materials I have left the written chapters
almost untouched, correcting only here and there a
hasty phrase, supplying a deficient or eliminating a
superfluous word. It was characteristic of his method
that he wrote both his public and his private corre-
spondence with but little correction, deliberately
and clearly, with considerable force and felicity of
expression. Beyond these few additions or erasures,
therefore, and the need of an occasional footnote,
these chapters have called for little editing.
The Diary, on the other hand, written solely as
personal memoranda, and the letters intended only
for the eyes of near relations and friends, contain
many matters of a purely private character which
claim a reverent reticence. In dealing with the
latter, I have quoted long extracts from them for the
most part, withholding only those portions of an
intimate correspondence which seemed too sacred to
print. From the former I have extracted all the
passages which appear to me essential as illustrating
the incidents of travel, the progress of the Mission,
the aspect of the country, and the character of the
writer himself, beginning from the period where the
written narrative breaks off up to the return to
Kikuyu, the half-way station on the journey home.
A few connecting links have been supplied, a word
for clearness' sake inserted here and there, or a note
EDITOR'S PREFACE
where occasion arose. With regard to the latter
portion of the Diary, which deals with the march
from Kikuyu to the Tana river, and the journey
down the river to the coast, it appeared to me that
as much of the route lay through untried country,
and as the history of that journey would never be
written now, even at the risk of the pages growing
monotonous, the daily entries should be given in
full as material for future reference. The hard
struggle of each day's progress fills its appointed
place in the pages of the pocket-book, to the exclusion
of all outside thoughts or personal reflections. The last
section contains, therefore, a simple transcript from
the note-book, while no better summary could be
made of all these experiences than that which he has
drawn up himself in the comprehensive letter with
which it concludes. Such criticisms as are there
made on the cartography of previous explorers it
seemed to me should not be omitted in the interests
of the advance of geographical knowledge, and I feel
assured that neither Captain Dundas nor Mr. Hobley
w r ill resent the suggestion of rectifications to be made
in their valuable maps and records. On the other
hand, it has been a matter of much regret that
we have been unable to communicate with Colonel
Rhodes in order to obtain possession of a map which
he is known to have made to illustrate this portion
of the journey. If I have not erased the mention of
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
my own name here and there in the Diaiy or letters,
it is because that mention is connected, in my own
mind at any rate, with that kindly solicitude of the
writer for the health and welfare of others which
these private memoranda reveal, for which I often
have had cause to be grateful to him.
It was Sir Gerald's intention to have prefaced his
book with an introductory chapter on Zanzibar, the
famous metropolis of East Africa, now flourishing as
a British Protectorate. For various and sufficient
reasons I have not attempted to supply the missing
chapter, but some account of his work there will be
found in the accompanying Memoir.
This record would not be complete without more
ample allusion to the name and services of Captain
.Raymond Portal, Sir Gerald's elder brother, whose
death from malarial fever in Kampala cast a gloom
on the latter months of the Mission. The Diary,
which he also kept since the first day of departure,
has been placed in my hands, and after reading it I
did not hesitate to include it in the book. It is like
himself, fresh, manly, and full of a simple humour,
and it will at any rate have a very genuine interest
for the friends whom his frank and chivalrous per-
sonality inspired with a genuine devotion ; for seldom
has a man died more beloved or more regretted by
his associates than Raymond Portal.
In conclusion, it is my duty to state that, having
EDITOR'S PREFACE
obtained permission to edit these papers, I am bound
to disclaim as an official all responsibility for opinions
expressed in them. The time at my disposal before
the date announced for their publication has been
very brief, and fully occupied with other important
work. It has, however, been a labour of love, though,
indeed, a very sad one, for recent circumstances had,
after long separations, brought the brothers and
myself very near together once more, and the death
of those two friends, under conditions so intensely
tragic, is touched for me with a pathos which words
of mine could but ill express.
EENNELL EODD.
INTRODUCTION
By Lord Cromer, G.C.M.G.
In performing the sorrowful task of writing an intro-
duction to Sir Gerald's Portal's Diary, I am under one
considerable disadvantage, and that is that I have
never seen the Diary itself. As the work is being-
published in London, and as I am writing at Cairo, I
have necessarily been unable to read the manuscript.
But if I know nothing of the Diary, I knew a
great deal of the man who wrote it. He was, in
fact, one of my dearest friends.
Sir Gerald — or, to use the name by which he was
known to those who were intimate with him — Gerry
Portal was one of the best specimens of that class
of Englishmen, pre-eminently healthy in mind and
body, who, to the great benefit of their country,
issue forth year by year from our public schools. He
was a fervent Etonian. He may be said to have
passed through his short but honourable career sing-
ing Floreat Etona.
My first acquaintance with Portal dates from
September 1883, when I was appointed to be English
Consul-General in Egypt. Portal, who had entered
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
into the Diplomatic Service four years previously,
was at that time one of the staff of the British
Agency at Cairo. With two short interruptions —
the first in 1887, when he went on a special mission
to Abyssinia, and the second in 1888, when he took
temporary charge of the Zanzibar Agency — he re-
mained on my staff till the spring of 1891, a period
of nearly eight years.
During all those years — some of them years of
much trouble and anxiety — Gerry Portal was not
only of great assistance to me in my work, which was
at times very heavy, but was also the life and soul
of our " family" party at the Cairo Agency. Hand-
some, plucky, chivalrous, genial, equally at home in
the chancery, the drawing-room, or the polo-field, this
spirited young Englishman possessed every quality
calculated to endear him to those with whom he was
brought in contact.
Before Portal had served under me for long, I
discerned that he was destined for more than a social
success in life. In the autumn of 1887 his oppor-
tunity came. I w T as requested by Lord Salisbury to
recommend some one to go on a special mission to
Abyssinia. It was at the time somewhat difficult to
foretell what would be the precise nature of the
difficulties which the English envoy would have to
encounter. It appeared to me, however, that the
main qualifications likely to be required were iron
nerves, a cool head, and bodily strength capable of
enduring fatigue. If to these I could add sound
common-sense and no inconsiderable degree of diplo-
INTRODUCTION
matic skill, I thought that I should find an ideal
man to answer Lord Salisbury's purposes. All
these qualities I found combined in Gerry Portal.
I had, therefore, no hesitation in recommending
him to Lord Salisbury. My recommendation was
accepted.
The adventures of the whole party have been told
by Portal himself in his book, My Mission to Abys-
sinia, with the becoming modesty which distinguished
him, and which led him to underrate alike the dangers
to which he was exposed and the skill which he
displayed in meeting them. He describes how the
whole party nearly died of thirst, and although their
adventures did not end with this narrow escape, it
will not be necessary for me to follow up in detail
the events which subsequently occurred. But I may
mention that I well remember the anxiety which
began to grow upon me as week after week passed
without any new T s from Portal. Knowing the dis-
turbed and excited state of Abyssinia at the time,
I became alarmed for his safety. I was just begin-
ning to make arrangements with a leading Austrian
merchant at Cairo, who had commercial relations with
the interior of Abyssinia, with a view to obtaining
information as to what had occurred, when, to my
great relief, I received a telegram from Massowah on
the morning of Christmas Day, informing me that
Portal and his party had arrived safely at the Italian
outposts. That telegram turned the Christmas Day
of 1887 at the Cairo Agency from one of sharp
anxiety into one of gladness.
b
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
The courage and judgment displayed by Portal in
his Abyssinian work clearly marked him out for pro-
motion at no distant date. After having on several
occasions been placed in temporary charge of the
Cairo Agency, he was appointed, in 1891, to be
Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar at a time of
much difficulty in connection with Zanzibar affairs.
The manner in which he conducted his work at this
responsible post fully justified the choice which had
been made. Eventually he went on the Uganda
Mission, with results which are now known to
the world. The deadly African climate proved
fatal to his gallant brother, who accompanied him,
and ultimately to himself, for I conceive that his
constitution was undermined by fever and by
the fatigues which he underwent in his Uganda
journey.
I have no hesitation in saying that Gerry Portal's
premature death was a heavy loss to the Sovereign
and to the nation whom he had served so well. The
Ministers under whom he had held appointment — Lord
Salisbury and Lord Posebery — have borne emphatic
testimony to the esteem in which they regarded him
and to his value as a public servant. England, albeit
prolific in men of courage and ability, can ill afford to
lose before their time those of her sons who resemble
Gerry Portal. I cannot doubt that a useful and
even brilliant career lay before him. More especially
was he born to be an Oriental diplomatist and
administrator. Besides those high and attractive
qualities to which I have already alluded, he possessed
INTRODUCTION
others of great value — excellent manners, tact, moral
courage, a firm will, great capacity for promptitude
and decision in action, and that keen and ready
perception of the realities of Eastern life and politics
which appears to come to some almost instinctively,
whilst it is not acquired by others after years of
residence in the East. Thus mentally and morally
endowed, my strong conviction is that, had he lived,
he would have left no inconsiderable mark on the
history of his country. He died at the moment when
his high qualities, which were well known to his inti-
mate friends, were just beginning to be appreciated
by a wider circle of his countrymen.
I do not dare to constitute myself the interpreter
of the feelings entertained by those who were nearest
and dearest to Gerry Portal. To these I can but
tender an expression of respectful and heartfelt
sympathy with their sorrow. And as concerns the
many others who, like myself, regarded Gerry Portal
with feelings which may more correctly be described
as those of affection rather than of friendship, I can
but use the commonplace, but in this instance, very
true phrase, that he will ever live in our memory.
Within my own recollection few more sad events
have happened than the untimely death of this fine
young Englishman at a moment when to all appear-
ances the prospect of a long, happy, and useful life
lay before him. Speaking for myself alone, I may
add that I took a special pride in helping to train
Gerry Portal, that I regarded him as one who might
not improbably be my successor in Egypt, and that
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
both Lady Cromer and myself entertained towards
him feelings of almost parental affection. His un-
expected death in the prime of life dashed suddenly
to the ground all the hopes which I had founded on
his future.
CEOMEE.
Cairo, 4th May 1894.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction by Lord Cromer, G.C.M.G. .... xiii
Memoir of the late Sir Gerald Portal .... xxv
PART I
CHAPTER I
My appointment as H.M. Commissioner to Uganda — The staff of the
Mission — Equipment of the caravan— The main body despatched
to Kikuyu — A farewell state-visit to the Sultan of Zanzibar — We
start upon our journey on the 1st of January 1893 . . 5
CHAPTER II
We arrive at Port Reitz — By the "Central African Railway" to our
encampment at Mazeras — An awkward squad — The first day's
march ........ 24
CHAPTER III
The day's programme — Crossing the great Taro Plain — The first station
of the East Africa Company — A splendid view of Mount Kili-
manjaro — Bad news from Kikuyu — A flourishing Industrial
Mission ........ 39
CHAPTER IV
The scene of a Masai raid — Our first rhinoceros — Arrival at Machakos
— Victualling the caravan — On the war-path — I bag a lion — The
Wa-kamba tribe and warriors — The Wa-Kikuyu . . .63
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
CHAPTER V
PAGE
A state of siege at Kikityu — An ivory caravan — "We push on for Uganda
— The game-abounding prairies of Lake Kaivasha — First intro-
duction to Masai warriors — The Masai tribe — The Salt Lake of
Elmenteita — Hartebeest and antelope — An African forest . 86
CHAPTER VI
West of the watershed — Extinction of the buffalo and eland — The
AVanderobbo tribe — The fertile Kavirondo district — Mtanda —
We cross the Nile and camp in Uganda — The Ripon Falls — Amidst
civilisation and rifles — "We enter the Fort of Kampala on the 17th
of March ........ 117
CHAPTER VII
A short survey of the conditions of the country- — The districts suitable
for European settlement — Facilities for traffic — Suggestions for
improving the road — Proposed regulations for caravans and forma-
tion of stations ....... 151
CHAPTER VIII
The kingdom of Uganda : its climate and population — The King and
Council — Provincial governors — Oppressive taxation — Intelligence
and religion of the peasantry . . . . .179
PAET II
CHAPTER I
At Kampala— Visit to King Mwanga— Arrangements for a division of
territories between the Protestant and Catholic Missions— The
slave question— The queen-mother— From Kampala to the Ntebe
Hills — Kaima's case — Illness of Captain Portal . . 205
CHAPTER II
Captain Portal's illness— He returns to Kampala ; is joined by his
brother— His death and funeral— Sir Gerald Portal's expedition
starts from Kampala for Kikuyu . . . . .236
CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
PAGE
The return journey — Difficulties of the march during the rainy season
— Trouble in Uganda — Illness of Colonel Rhodes — Selim Bey is
handed over to the Commissioner — Arrival at Kikuyu — Death of
Selim Bey . . . . . . . .246
CHAPTER IV
The Tana route to Uganda— Crossing the Malanga river— Difficulties
on the route— The Grand Falls— Along the Tana river to Ndura—
From Ndura to Witu — Zanzibar ..... 267
PAET III
Diary of Captain* Raymond Portal, with an Introduction . 319
Epilogue ...■•••• 349
LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS
Portrait of Sir Gerald Portal, from a drawing by the Marchioness of
Gran by ....... Frontispiece
Tippoo Tib ........ xxxiv
Ripon Falls. From a sketch by C. Whymper .... 4
Siuli Bin Suleiman, Native Headman of the Mission Caravan . . 40
My Tent ........ 44
Group from a Caravan preparing to start with Ivory . . .87
Group at Kikuyu . . . . . . .91
Masai Warriors in their War-Paint . . . . .99
Masai Women at Lake Naivasha ..... 102
A 90-lb. Tusk bought in Kabras . . . . .125
Crossing the Nzoia River . . . . . .129
The Nile below the Ripon Falls . . . . .135
Embarking to cross the Nile ...... 137
The Nile after leaving Lake Victoria ..... 140
Bridging a Swamp in Uganda . . . . . .143
A Group of Uganda Natives ...... 198
Port Alice ........ 204
Mwanga, King of Uganda ...... 210
Bishop Tucker outside his Church at Namirembe . . .211
Group at Kampala ; 20th March . . . . .212
The King's Drums ....... 213
Apollo, Katikiro of Uganda ...... 216
Lowering the Company's Flag and preparing to hoist the Union Jack
at the Fort at Kampala . . . . . .218
Soudanese Troops at Kampala — Bayonet Drill .... 221
Baby Elephant, brought into the Fort at Kampala, being fed on milk 223
A War Canoe ........ 224
Tomb of Mtesa, late King of Uganda ..... 228
The Queen-Mother (Namasole) ...... 229
THE MISSION TO UGANDA
Dr. Moffat and Dead Hippopotamus, near Port
Port Alice ....
Captain Raymond Portal's Grave
Natives with Hippopotamus (Victoria Nyanza
A Creeper Bridge near Mumia's
Bridge over the Malanga River .
Swahili Bridge over the Malanga River
The Seven Forks, Tana River .
Canoes on the Beledzoni Canal
The Tana River : the Grand Falls
Portrait of Captain Raymond Portal
Map .....
Alice
PAGE
231
233
240
251
261
272
276
2S0
300
303
To face page 319
At end
* # * All the Illustrations, with the exception of the Portraits of Sir
Gerald Portal and Captain Raymond Portal, are from photographs taken
during the expedition by Colonel F. Rhodes, who kindly placed them at the
disposal of Sir Gerald Portal for the purposes of this work.
MEMOIR
Sir Gerald Herbert Portal was the second son
of Mr. Melville Portal of Laverstoke, and of Lady
Charlotte Elliot, daughter of the second Earl of
Minto. He was born on the 13th of March 1858,
and had therefore not completed his 36th year when
a life so remarkable not only for its promise, but also
for its actual achievement, came to its untimely close.
The handsome face and knightly bearing of the two
brothers, Raymond and Gerald Portal, were typical
of their family's origin in that southern school of
chivalry, where French and English vied in feats of
arms under the banners of King John and the Black
Prince, in the days when lances w T ere broken in the
tilt-yards of Aquitaine. Either of the two brothers,
indeed, might well have seemed to recall in form and
features the goodly presence of that Raymond de
Portal who rode with Bertrand du Guesclin to
avenge the death of the Queen of Castile in 1336,