tried to combine the slave - trade with a little
legitimate dealing; for the former they require a
certain force of men armed with guns, and this force
is supplied by the porters, who thus serve a double
purpose. In the second place, the porter is not quite
such an expensive luxury to the Arab caravan leader
as he is to the European. In the caravan of the
former the men are all slaves, either his own, or those
of friends who supply some of the capital, and " stand
in" with him over the whole enterprise. Thirdly,
the Arab has not much initiative, and, as beasts of
burden are not easily procured at the coast, it does
not enter his head — it would indeed be opposed to



THE CARAVAN QUESTION 169

the Arab nature — to import them in any paying
quantities. Unfortunately, in the damp, hot climate
of Zanzibar and the coastal zone, no such animal
appears to thrive, still less to breed. The few horses
to be seen have all been imported, usually in open
dhows, from Muscat or from India, and their price
places them beyond the reach of the ordinary Arab
trader. Camels are occasionally imported in small
numbers from Somaliland, but they do not thrive
near the coast, and neither the trading Arabs nor the
Swahilis have the smallest idea as to how to treat
these somewhat delicate animals. Donkeys are
fairly cheap and plentiful at Zanzibar, but with them
also the air or the food of the narrow coastal zone
appears to disagree, and, even if they do not die, they
lose flesh and muscle during the delay which always
takes place on the coast before a caravan is ready to
start. These reasons are sufficient to show why
the Arab has always had his goods carried by men,
with perhaps a few half- starved donkeys as a
reserve ; and the European companies, which during
the last few years have begun to dabble in trade
with the interior, have only followed the established
custom.

Before discussing possible remedies and reforms,
let us consider for a moment what is the common
experience of a porter leaving the coast on a journey,
let us say, from Mombasa to Lake Victoria under a
native Arab leader. In the first place, he is utterly
out of condition at the start, his muscles are flabby,
and he has probably been more or less drunk for the



170 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

last week. On the appointed day for the start he
is given a load weighing some 60 or 70 lbs., to this
he has to add his own rations for about ten days, say
15 lbs. more, bringing the load to a weight which few
Englishmen would like to lift on to their shoulders,
much less carry for ten miles a day. During the
first days our porter, willing though he may be, feels
that his burden is greater than he can bear ; he lags
behind, and at last drops his load by the side of the
path while he lies down for a rest. From his pleasant
reflections, however, he is shortly startled by the
"thwack, thwack," of a hippopotamus -hide stick
across the shoulders, which forcibly brings home to
him the fact that the headman in charge of the rear
of the caravan has arrived on the scene, and that it
is time to move on if he values his own skin. In a
day or two the labour and scanty food have very
likely caused some small scratch on his bare foot to
develop into a raging ulcer, but still he must get
forward somehow, and carry a load. If the caravan
be under a European, there may perhaps be a medi-
cine chest, and he may have the chance of getting
his wound dressed and sprinkled with " iodoform,"
but if it be an Arab trading expedition there is no
such hope for him. Slowly and painfully he toils
along, always getting whacked for lagging behind, his
open sore becoming worse and worse until every
step is an agony to him. At last comes the day
when he can literally move no farther, and even the
headman sees that the game is played out. If the poor
fellow be near a native village he may creep there and



EVILS OF THE SYSTEM 171

take his chance, but if, as is more likely, he is in the
midst of an uninhabited district, he need do nothing
more than speculate as to the way in which the end
will come, whether by lion, hysena, or starvation.
The caravan goes on, his load has been added to the
already heavy burdens of his companions, and nobody
will ever ask what has become of him, why he was
left behind, whether he was murdered, or whether,
indeed, he ever existed.

Meanwhile, there being no percentage or margin
of spare men for such eventualities, the other porters
toil ahead with 60 or 70 lbs. more on their shoulders
than before. At last the caravan arrives at the top
of the Mau Mountains, with the thermometer at night
well below freezing-point. The improvident men
have all left the coast wearing and possessing little
more than a single loin cloth ; the bitter cold pene-
trates to their very bones ; in vain they huddle to-
gether, and almost burn their feet in the fire, the
cold gets the better of them, and after forty-eight
hours in this region the echoes of the night are
roused by a long-continued chorus of painful cough-
ing arising from every side. A few spare blankets,
a little medicine, a couple of days' relief from carrying
the hateful load, would now perhaps save half a
dozen lives ; but such an idea as that of carrying a
load of blankets merely for the use of the men has
never entered the head of the leader, — such an un-
remunerative bundle would appear to be the wildest
extravagance. The result is that perhaps five or six
more men are left to take their chance, — in other



172 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

words, to die of cold, of starvation, or from wild
beasts. I need follow this example no farther.

Let it not be thought that I have been guilty of
exaggeration. There is not the smallest doubt that
these things, and worse, are done every day in Arab
caravans up-country, and it is whispered that they
have not been unknown even under European leaders.
The commander of the party runs no risk. Nobody
asked or cared how many men left the coast with
him, and nobody will ask or care how many come
back. While up-country he exercises an absolute
authority and power of life and death, and no in-
quisitive police or executive officer will ever make
any awkward inquiries. Let it be clearly understood
that all this does not apply to caravans of the British
East Africa Company ; in these the men are all
duly enrolled, registered, and provided with a num-
ber stamped on a brass ticket ; their leader is always
provided with a certain quantity of simple medicines
for the men, and there is often even a small per-
centage of spare men to relieve those who are
sick.

Now we are met with the question, What is the
remedy for the state of things sketched above, for
surely all men will agree that it cannot be allowed to
continue in a part of Africa which is supposed to be
more or less under British influence ? One answer
to this question would of course be, — abolish
altogether, once for all, the whole system of human
transport. This, no doubt, will be the best solution
if it is feasible ; but time will be required before



PROPOSED REMEDIES 173

such a radical change can be thoroughly carried out,
and an efficient substitute for men must first be
found. Failing this, surely the first thing to do is
to bring the whole traffic under as efficient control
as the existing administrative machinery will allow.
This is not the place in which to discuss all the steps
which might or should be taken towards this object,
but a few crude outlines of such regulations as could
be most easily enacted may fairly be enumerated.
In the first place, no caravan, whether under Euro-
pean or native leadership, should be allowed to leave
the coast without being submitted to preliminary
inspection by a competent officer. The names of all
the men should be inscribed in a register, with their
rates of pay, etc. ; the number and weight of the loads
should be examined, and a maximum weight fixed ;
while every caravan should be compelled to provide
itself with at least 10 or 15 per cent of spare men to
relieve those who may fall ill on the journey. No
man should be allowed to go up-country who could
not produce a certificate of having been vaccinated or
of having had the small-pox. If the caravan contem-
plates crossing any of the colder regions, it should be
compelled to take an adequate supply of cloth or
blankets for the men, and should be also furnished
with such simple medicines as might be safely used
even by an ignorant man. The caravan should be
made to report itself at every station of the Adminis-
tration lying on or near its route, at which its papers
would be examined and checked. Finally, if it be
possible, no native-led expedition should be allowed



174 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

to go into any region where slave-trade is suspected,
nor indeed into any part of the country where its
misconduct would have bad effects on the people,
without being accompanied by a European official
detailed off for the purpose.

Many other useful and necessary regulations could
easily be enacted, if ever it be decided seriously to
take up the whole question of the development of
East Africa, and in the meantime important experi-
ments might be made with animal transport. It is
difficult to believe that camels would not thrive in
the dry country between the coast and Machakos :
the mimosa, their favourite food, is plentiful all along
the route, the damp atmosphere, which is so fatal to
them on the coast, is replaced by a dry climate less
than twenty miles inland, and the route itself offers no
natural difficulties or obstacles to their progress. An
experiment with camels is said to have been made
unsuccessfully some three or four years ago, but, from
all accounts, it was so ridiculously mismanaged that
the only wonder would have been to find that any of
the animals survived the trial.

It has already been sufficiently proved that horses
manage the whole journey to Uganda with ease.
Several have been taken up there during the last two
years : we ourselves started with a couple of ponies
who did their full share of work in carrying tired,
footsore, or invalid Europeans, and arrived in
Uganda in far better condition than when they left
the coast. Horses on the East Coast are too expen-
sive for baggage animals, but henceforth no European



TRANSPORT ANIMALS 175

who has the smallest regard for his own comfort, or
who wishes to be fresh and able to shoot meat for
his men in the afternoon after the day's march, should
dream of leaving the coast to travel alonsr our route
without having provided himself with at least one
pony.

Mules have never been tried, and I cannot recall
ever having seen one in East Africa ; in Abyssinia
and its neighbouring countries the mule is the princi-
pal means of transport, and there is every reason to
suppose that it would thrive equally well in East
Africa.

The patient donkey is the only animal of which
any use has yet been made, and he, poor beast, is
overloaded, underfed, and maltreated to a pitiable
extent. An idea appears to have fixed itself in the
heads of all East African authorities, that the little
native donkey, far smaller than a common English
"moke," can carry a weight of no less than 150 lbs.
for ten or fifteen miles a day, and can then pick up
its own living by the wayside, requiring neither food
nor attention. This crushing load is even tied on
to the wretched beast with no saddle to keep the
weight off his spine, but merely a rough pad of cotton
stuffed with a few handfuls of grass or leaves !
Loaded in this manner the unfortunate animal is
beaten, pushed, and pulled by main force up and
down mountains, and through swamps, from which he
could scarcely extricate his legs even without the
load on his back ! Is it then surprising that on the
long piece of road between Kikuyu and Kavirondo



176 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

the hysenas are growing fat on the flesh of donkeys
varied by that of an occasional porter ?

Before leaving the subject of transport animals,
let me repeat a suggestion which surely must occur
to any traveller in this part of the world. The horse
of East Africa is the zebra ; active as an Arab pony,
sturdy as a mule, hardy and swift, this animal is
found all over the plains in hundreds and thousands.
For some reason the zebra has acquired the reputa-
tion of being wild and untamable ; as regards wild-
ness, he is far more confident and more easy of
approach than any other animal of his size in this
country, and so far as I have been able to ascertain,
no real and intelligent effort has ever been made
during late years to domesticate a young zebra,
except in South Africa, where we hear of a team of
zebras being constantly driven about Johannesburg.
Even if the experiment has been tried without
success on the East African zebra in former times,
would not the immense advantages which wait upon
success justify a second trial on the spot, and with
all the light of modern intelligence ?

Finally, there is one other step which must be
taken before there can be any hope of a really
important English commerce with Uganda and its
neighbouring countries. Readers who have accom-
panied me so far will have grasped the fact, that the
greatest difficulties of the journey are those caused
by the wide uninhabited tract of 280 miles between
Kikuyu and Kavirondo. How to carry sufficient
food for the whole party across this region is the great



PERMANENT STATIONS 177



problem for every caravan. In our case it was solved
by our good fortune in being able to secure nearly a
hundred donkeys ; other parties are not so fortunate,
and have to contend with immense difficulties and
privations. Apart from the purely economical aspect
of the question, what must be the feelings of a man
who falls ill or becomes very lame a day or two after
embarking on this march. There is no hope for him
unless he can struggle along somehow to the very
end : the caravan cannot stop, if it did the food
supply would run short ; there is no possible resting-
place by the way, no hospitable village. In our
caravan we had spare donkeys on which the sick
were carried, but in other expeditions the unfortunate
invalid must either push forward as best he can, must
keep pace with the rest, or die in the bush.

The one thing which is a real necessity, if any
effort at all is to be made to open up the country, is
the establishment of a permanent station under Euro-
pean supervision half-way along this section of the
road. The site, at twelve days' march from Kikuyu
and a similar distance from Kavirondo, would be
most healthy, about 7000 feet in height above the
sea, and in a well-wooded, fertile, well-watered, and
lovely country. The stores of grain and provisions
which would be kept at this station would enable
caravans to walk straight through from the coast to
Uganda without any special preparations as regards
food, never hampered by more than the twelve days'
rations which can be carried by the porters them-
selves without extra assistance. As soon as the

N



178 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

station is established, and is seen to be a permanency,
providing adequate protection against the Masai,
there would be no difficulty in planting a colony of
cultivators around it who would be able to dispose
of their grain to their great advantage as fast as it
could be grown. It is unnecessary to go further into
details on this subject ; suffice it to say that with such
a station, aud with certain improvements to the road
itself, such as have been indicated, the route to
Uganda through the English sphere of influence
would become one of the easiest of all East African
journeys ; without these reforms it is vain to hope
that it will ever be a channel for commerce.

Throughout this chapter I have been careful to
avoid any mention of a railway. It would hardly be
proper for me to discuss here the pros and cons of
this scheme. If a railway is ever built the whole
way to the Lake, that would of course in itself settle
all the questions which have been raised above.
The suggestions which I have just ventured to make
can only have any application in the event of no
such railway being made, or of a line being constructed
over only part of the whole distance.



CHAPTER VIII

The kingdom of Uganda : its climate and population — The King and
Council — Provincial governors — Oppressive taxation — Intelli-
gence and religion of the peasantry.

The kingdom of Uganda, which during recent months
has been the subject of so much "ink-slinging" and
of such frequent oratorical efforts, hardly appears, at
first sight, to deserve the amount of attention which
has been bestowed upon it. The country is shaped
like a somewhat irregular rectangle, or a " carpenter's
square," of which the inner sides rest upon the
Victoria Lake, occupying nearly 120 miles of its
northern shore stretching westward from the exit of
the Nile, and then turning southwards for 90 or 100
miles along the western coast of the Lake. The
frontiers on the outer or land side are ill defined,
but are seldom more than about 60 miles from the
Victoria Nyanza. The whole country may be said to
cover about 15,000 to 16,000 square miles, and is,
therefore, roughly speaking, about the same size as
Switzerland. Outside the limits of Uganda proper,
its kings claim a sort of feudatory lordship over
several small neighbouring states, such as Usoga on
the east, and Toru and Ankori on the western side.



180 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

In some cases, as in Usoga, this claim is grudgingly
recognised, and a small tribute is occasionally sent as
a propitiatory offering to the king, but the more
powerful or more distant chieftains, while careful in
all messages and correspondence to address the king
of Ueranda as their "father" or "master," and sign-
ins; themselves his " humble servants," would lauo;h
to scorn any demand for a practical contribution
towards the expenses of the central government,
unless such a message were accompanied by a larger
army than could be locally summoned into the field
on the spur of the moment. All along the northern
and part of the western frontier lies the powerful and
jealous kingdom of Unyoro, whose kings and people,
though less advanced in civilisation, are closely con-
nected by blood with the inhabitants of Uganda and
Usoga. The form of government of Uganda, which
in the days of Speke (1862) and of Stanley (1875)
was an absolute and bloodthirsty despotism, is now a
monarchy, restrained, or hampered, as the case may
be, by a supreme council of chiefs. At the present
moment the country is nominally governed by a king-
named Mwanga, son of Mtesa, of which individual
we shall have more to say hereafter.

Descriptions of Uganda and of its morals, customs,
and form of government have been given to the
world at different times since 1863 by Captain
Speke, 1 by Mr. Stanley, 2 by Emin Pasha, 3 by several

1 Journal of the Discovery of the Nile. By Capt. J. H. Speke. Blackwood,
1863.

- Through the Dark Continent. By H. M. Stanley. Sampson Low, 1875.
3 Emin Pasha in Central Africa. Edited by Dr. Felkin. G. Philip &. Son.



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF UGANDA 181

missionaries, and by divers other gentlemen who
have taken an interest in African matters. But the
evidence furnished by their respective works appears
so contradictory, the country itself has undergone
such violent political changes, and has suffered such
terrible experiences, that it is a matter of great
importance for a clear idea to be generally held
concerning the actual state of affairs existing at the
present moment. It may, therefore, be useful even at
the risk of repeating what may be already known to
give here a superficial description of the principal
features, both physical and social, as they appeared
to the officers of the English Mission on our arrival
in March 1893.

As has been said before, Uganda is, geologically
speaking, a district of extreme old age, that is to say,
the rocks composing it are of the archaic period ;
and, by that very fact, where they thrust their gray
and weather-beaten heads above the surface, they
reproachfully convey to the traveller an oppressive
sense of the countless ages during which they have
grimly frowned on this expanse of land and water,
silent witnesses of innumerable and untold deeds of
nameless horror ; the runlets on their battered sides
filled too often with streams of human blood ; hope-
lessly, until to-day, shut out from the light of the
outer world in the very darkest centre of the vast
continent of negroes.

Uganda is, however, essentially a country of
contradictory impressions. The first feeling of gloom
caused by the antiquity of the land, by its crime-



182 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

laden history, and by the veil of mystery which is
now being rudely torn aside, is dissipated as the eye
ranges from the sparkling waters of the Lake over an
endless vista of round or flat topped hills rising, close
together in everv direction, to a height of 300 to 600
feet above the level of the water. Nearly the whole
country consists of little more than a close con-
glomeration of these hills, all of them clothed in the
brightest green, a tropical character being given to
the scene by the rich banana plantations which
frequently cover their sides. Here again, however, the
pleasant impression is shaken on closer inspection by
the discovery that, except where its place is taken by
the banana gardens, this wealth of verdure consists, not
of growing crops and luxuriant cultivation, but of an
impervious tangle of tall elephant grass, twelve to
sixteen feet in height, whose close-growing cane-like
stems offer an effective barrier to the comfortable
progress of almost any living creature except an
elephant or a field-mouse. It is, moreover, unpleasant
to realise that between each hill and its neighbour
lies an unwholesome -looking swamp, through the
centre of which a sluggish stream of slimy water
languidly struggles with the obstacles offered to its
progress by dense masses of rushes, papyrus, and
other rank and matted products of the marsh.

With a sigh of perplexity as he passes from the
tangled waste through the carefully -tended and fruit-
laden banana grove, from the bright air of the hillside
to the death-dealing miasma of the foetid swamp, the
traveller as he raises his eyes towards the evening



THE RAINFALL 183



sun tells himself that at all events in the unearthly
beauty of its sky-effects, and in the marvellous and
utterly indescribable wealth of colour of its sunsets,
Uganda surely has no equal throughout the world.
In this he is probably right; for truly the magni-
ficence and brilliancy of the visions I have gazed at,
standing spell-bound on the shores of the Victoria
Nyanza, have an overpowering glory, an almost
defiant loveliness, unrivalled by the transcendental
delicacy of colours where the sun sinks into the
desert sands behind the Great Pyramid at Cairo, or
by the weird beauty of the scene so often gazed at
from the terraces of the Villa Medici at Eome. But
again there is a revulsion of feeling as the cloud,
just now so glorious with gold and purple, hurries
across the sky, growing blacker and more threatening,
till a few heavy splashes, followed by a blinding-
flash and a deafening roar of thunder, remind all men
that hardly a day may be allowed to pass in this
country without at least one thunderstorm.

During the three months that we spent in the
country, although we did not have rain quite every
day, I may safely say that at no time did twenty-four
consecutive hours elapse without our having seen
lightning and heard thunder. It is true that we were
there during the wettest time of the year, but in
Uganda there is rain more or less throughout the twelve
months, though the greater part of the yearly supply
falls during April, May, and June, and again in
November and December. The average annual rain-
fall of the country is estimated at 5 1 inches, or about



1 84 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

30 inches per annum less than on the coast. Even
during the wettest months the rains never appear to
have the heavy persistency of the tropical downfall,
but to come rather, as in Europe, in passing showers
and local storms. In fact, the whole climate, the air,
the general aspect of the country, make it difficult to
realise that the capital of Uganda lies within one
degree of the Equator. The general altitude of the
country being about 4000 feet above the level of
the sea, the air on the hillsides is fresh and light,
and although the difference between the hottest and