Tramps round the mountains of the moon and through the back gate of the Congo State

Front matter

TRAMPS ROUND THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

The Modern Travel Series

CHEAP EDITIONS OP STANDAKD WORKS OP TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE

Preface

ON a first furlough one is asked very many and varied questions as to life out in Central Africa, and one is sometimes rather overwhelmed by the interest of warm-hearted friends.

Amongst my first recollections of such expressions of interest was that of an old lady who, on hearing that I had been living for five years on the African Equator, drew me under the chandelier, and, after a close inspection, exclaimed in an almost disappointed tone of voice, “ Why 1 you are not black yet 1 ” The questions are usually of a very kindly human character : — “ What do you live on out there — roots like the natives ? ” “ What is the climate like, and the

language ? " and “ What kind of a house do you live in?" or, with sometimes a sudden after-thought pull up at the end, “ Do you dress like the natives ? " and the like.

After telling of the dignity and courtliness of the King, one has been asked, “And does he cut off people’s heads as he used to ? ” and “ Do you go down on your hands and knees to him ?”

It is always a keenly interesting occupation to be engaged in answering keen questioners, and it is in the hope that it may prove of interest to many such questioners that this book has been written.

VI

PREFACE

Questions which have thus been asked as to the customs of the people and their religious ideas, the prospects of the country and its future development and so forth, I have endeavoured to answer in the course of the narrative rather than by devoting separate chapters to them.

In describing the “Tramps” I fear that there has been a more frequent use of the first person singular than one would have wished, but in telling much that was personal it has seemed inevitable.

My warm thanks are due to Mr. H. Meadows for generous labour over the maps and sketches ; to Mr. F. A. Knowles, Sub-Commissioner of Toro, and the Rev. A. L. Kitching for photographs ; to Mr. W. G. Rushbrooke for help in correcting the proofs ; to Mr. Edward Unwin, jun., but for whose counsel and help the MS. would hardly have got beyond a circle of private friends ; to the Rev. T. Furness Smith and Mr. Walter Hensman and others for many helpful suggestions; and to Mr. T. F. Victor Buxton for his Introduction.

It is in the hope that it may, in some small measure at least, throw fresh light on the problem of the future of Central Africa, and arouse fresh interest in the task of lifting the African into fuller privileges in the brotherhood of man, that the volume is commended to its readers by

THE AUTHOR.

Introduction

HAVING lately returned, for the second time, from a brief visit to Uganda, I turn with special interest to Mr. Broadwood Johnson’s book. His subject is fitly introduced by the romantic story of Stanley's letter and a survey of the subsequent progress of events. Then follow descriptions of the outward journey which bring back all sorts of delightful memories to one who, like myself, has travelled in Mr. Johnson’s steps to the capital of Uganda. Thus far I can witness to the fidelity of his descriptions ; but when he carries us away from the beaten track to the far westerly parts of the Protectorate, I can only lament that the claims of home prevented me from seeing with my own eyes the people and the landscapes which this book brings so attractively before us.

Few are so well qualified to tell us about the country which is here described. For five years Mr. Johnson has worked in the kingdom of Toro, and his devoted labours have endeared him to its people.

Much has already been written about the Uganda Mission, but the story of Toro — its most important offshoot — well deserves separate treatment. The victories of the Gospel among these remoter people have been hardly less remarkable than among those who

vii

Vlll

INTRODUCTION were once their dreaded foes, and perhaps the greatest triumph is the fact that the Christians of Uganda and of Toro are now united in one Church organisation, with the object of spreading the light into regions beyond.

Mr. Johnson’s travels have not been confined to British territory, and what he writes about the Congo State will be read just now with particular interest. He is careful to explain that his remarks apply only to a small area on its eastern border which he has seen for himself, but his very temperate account is sufficient to show that the system which has produced such terrible atrocities in other parts of Congoland is not without baneful effects where the State marches with our own Protectorate.

The story of these rambles about the great mountain range of Central Africa cannot fail to foster interest in this distant outpost of the Empire, and it may be hoped that the writer’s unaffected sympathy with its simple people and longing to make known to them the love of Christ will serve to kindle in other minds a desire to take some part in the evangelisation of Africa.

T. F. VICTOR BUXTON.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

PAGE

The Romance of Stanley's Letter and its Sequel i

Stanley’s visit to Mtesa’s Court — Mtesa's appeal to England : the letter — Destruction of the caravan — Recovery of the letter — Excitement in England — A party starts — Early disasters — Murder of Shergold Smith and O’Neill — Arrival of Mackay — Barbarous massacres — Mtesa’s death — Mwanga’s accession and dark days of persecution — Murder of Bishop Hannington — Coming of the East Africa Company — Captain Lugard’s work — Bishop Tucker’s arrival — The Company’s withdrawal — Hoisting of the Union Jack ; danger averted —

The Soudan problem — Regulation of the Nile — Government administration — Social development — Growth of the Mission.

CHAPTER I The party — Port Said — Floating conjurors, diving urchins

Red Sea discomforts — Aden and the wonderful water tanks — Ancient Mombasa — Xerxes’ sailors — Portuguese adventurers — Releasing slave-boys — Shopping — Diversions of cycling — Mounting a native — Mohammedan scoffers — The Mission Hospital— A leper — Preparations for the railway picnic.

ix

X

Chapter II Page

Into the Heart of the Continent — By Rail,

Tramp, and Canoe . . . .20

Uganda railway, a misnomer— Stranded at the Lake — Meals on the railway — An ostrich-stalking lion — Hunting for lions — Record bags — A stationmaster’s odd predicament — Maneater in a railway carriage — Kilimanjaro— Nairobi, a “tin township ” — Lifting the engine on — An extinct volcano — Kidong escarpment : descending the zigzags — An odd supper — Travelling by “goods” — Stranded at “railhead” — Our first caravan— Strange tribes— Deluged on the road— Church service at Kisumu — How shall we cross the Nyanza ?

Chapter III

The dug-out, a disappointment to hippos — The slender fishing-craft, a study in equilibrium — Uganda canoes — At Kisumu : the Administration, market, Missions— Sese Island paddlers — Racing a storm— Camping under difficulties — Blowing crocodile’s eggs — Our “ boys ” — At Mengo — Native shyness !

CHAPTER IV Uganda — A Social Retrospect and Contrast . 40

Speke’s visit — Mtesa’s ideas of sport — Mtesa’s harem, and execution of his wives — Cutting off a page’s ears — Thanking “My Lord the King” — The King’s fear of witchcraft — Bartering slaves — Contrast in 1901 — Slavery gone — Security of life — Administration of justice — Family prayer — The Quaker victory.

Chapter V

The Last Stage to the Country of the Mountains of the Moon . . . -45

Visiting the first knight of Central Africa— A caravan headman, a masterpiece — Disquieting questions — The mighty xi

PAGK

hum of billions — Defects of University training — The chief’s visit — Aggravations of a native path — The King of Toro’s messenger — Starving villagers — Butiti — A native deacon — Wrestling with Toro salutations — Measuring a rectangle —

First signs of elephants — The tea-basket — Native substitute for a matchbox — An overwhelming welcome — The Queen’s visit — Daudi Kasagama, every each a king — His forceful Katikiro.

Chapter VI

The Lifting of the Veil from Toro — A Retrospect . . . . . .56

The carrying away of the cripple prince — Death of the King of Toro — A heroic mother — Saving the infant heir — Friends in a strange land — Hearing the gospel — Lugard’s Maxim gun — Kasagama restored — Emin’s Nubian troops : a thorn in the side — Establishment of Imperial Government — Christianity : its coming and development — Medical work — The 44 medicine to put you to sleep.”

Chapter VII

Isolation of the country — Herodotus, and the home of the Pygmies — Ptolemy and the mountains — Stanley’s two visits, the snows unveiled — Ruwenzori and the Semliki valley — The two gates of the Congo — Varieties of visitors — British Museum party — Alpinists — Sportsmen — Rubber hunters —

Rock smashers — Government administrators — Missionaries.

CHAPTER VIII House hunting — Bees in competition — Much-needed doors

“ Every morning these three years ! ” — Scarcity of meat —

Xll

PAGE

Native methods of bartering — Sheep “taboo” — Royal renunciation— Unpacking in public — Library in the vernacular — White ant pests — The royal feast — Our Christmas dinner — Preparing for sports — An “ eligible bride.”

Chapter IX

The weekly court of justice— A typical case— The band— Festival of the New Moon — The King’s mother — Her house-warming— The feast : an awkward moment — The great wedding— A touching offering — Consecrating the new church — Erisa — The domestic servant problem — African household boys and their prejudices — “ Food for the eyes ”

— Planting the first cotton — A royal graveyard keeper — A would-be literary deacon — The King’s Queen Victoria Bible — Weekly wrestling bouts — Welcome back of the wedding party.

CHAPTER X Tramping South to the Albert Edward

Islanders ..... 108

Making up the caravan — Native simplicity of wardrobe — The first baptism ; tiny Timoteo — Predatory elephants — “ Earthquake Camp ” and “ Lions’ lair ” — Lions in the moonlight —

“ Another earthquake ! ” — My first at Kabarole — The boiling spring — “Not the General Confession” — “That’s the way you do when you are preaching ” — The art of fording a torrent — Industrious Bakonjo : irrigation — Sunday at Marko’s — Katwe — A birds’ paradise — The salt lake — An astute chief — Later visit ; a precarious crossing — A promising Mukonjo — Visiting an island chief — An evil spirit’s demand — The blind chief’s chance ; another “ medicine-man ” — An ardent blind catechumen.

xiii

Chapter XI Page

Detour Homewards through a Dark District . 132

A wonderful aviary — Two days’ paddling to Kasoke — An inquiring chief — A crazy canoe : “ We can but die ” — Superstitious paddlers— Throwing away his charm — On the house-top to escape from elephants — “Don’t you know good manners ?” — Fever— A vivid flash— Collapse of the church : narrow escape — Destructive night visitors — Heroic mothers.

Chapter XII

The transformation of a dozen years — The mystery’of the unseen power — “Three cheers for King Edward!” — King Edward soup — The torchlight procession — An al-fresco concert— The coming kingdom.

CHAPTER XIII Westward to the Edge of the Congo State . 147

Mboga — Tabaro throws his charms into the river — The Katikiro’s influence — Charge of murder — Tabaro’s repentance— A Belgian raid — Starting in desperation — A couple of hundred antelope — Crossing the Semliki — Hunting hippos — Aggressive crocodiles — A wriggling bed — Village in a crater — No sanatorium — Hippo meat — Cannibal friends — Paulo’s headquarters — Unique variety of tribes — Balega dancing — African Amazons who knife their husbands — Industries, cultivating, blacksmithing, and cattle raiding — A sham fight —Forest trees or telegraph poles? — Giraffes upsetting the telegraph — Elephants {trying their strength — Cannibal Bahuku — Marriage service, an impromptu ring — To visit a solitary teacher — Fear of the porters — A friendly host — Loyalty of porters.

XIV

Chapter XIV Page

Bamba^and Batoro, a contrast — Patriarchal society — Summary vengeance — A drunken village — Intricate paths — Stopping a feud, an anxious moment — Yeremiya’s children ; shooting rats — Manyumba — A right to be independent — Bamba gipsies — Facing the climb — Arrival in the nick of time ; the deluge — Glimpse of the snowfields — Our Mukonjo host ; isolation — Graceful bamboos — The drop to the plateau and triumphal entry.

Chapter XV

The Banyankole herdsmen — The agricultural “Bairu” — Test of social standing — Fastidious cows — Effects of the cattle plague — Barbarous custom of sucking blood — Skill in archery — Veiling of women — Bishop Tucker’s visit : a memorable struggle — An Ephesian bonfire — Perils of elephant hunting; a phenomenal specimen— A forceful chieftainess — Murder of a Sub-Commissioner — A suspicious suicide — Old Hana Kageyi — A reformed character ; princess and teacher — The Baptism service — Timid women ; a social revolution — A King’s desire — Challenging the world of darkness ; heathen apprehension — Keen football and Bible study — A later visit ; churlish peasants ; the search for food — A prince's prejudice against digging ; “ No exceptions here."

CHAPTER XVI To the Belgian Fort at Mbeni — The First Stage

in the Tramp Round the Range . . 202

American visitors — Equipment for continent crossing — Choice of a route — Language difficulty — Katwe again and blind Kakuli — Grotesque tattooing — The Congo State ; a weird entry — Muswaga’s — A newly-adopted greeting— Lip-piercing— A rasping growl ; too close to be pleasant — Welcome guinea fowl — The poor lop-sided chief — Trouble with the Belgians — Camp attacked ; barbed arrows ; inevitable sequel — Official prohibition of teachers — A hospitable Belgian officer— The beginning of sickness.

xv

Chapter XVII Page

The White Star of the Congo Free State — A rotten system —

A fruitful garden — Near the watershed ; the backbone of the continent — A quaint Bambuba chief — Women weeding with sleeping children — Anxious nursing — Malaria — Dysentery — Ophthalmia— The problem of a route.

CHAPTER XVIII Through the Pygmy Forest ; Escorted by our

The departure, a transformation scene — The forest : Stanley’s long gloom — Cape to Cairo Railway route — Broken-down bridges ; the culprits — A village clearing in the forest — Spirit houses — An impromptu pipe — Bewildering languages — Adorned rather than dressed— A Pygmy loaded with rubber — Pygmy huntsman with his poisoned arrows — Houses for the boys — Arrival of the Pygmy chief ; a difficult conversation — Religious belief — What they hunt —

A precious present

Chapter XIX

Through the Pygmy Forest ; in the Hands of the Natives ..... 238

In the hands of the natives — Many mouths to feed — Parrots and chattering monkeys — Food for buffaloes — Friendly natives — Daily distribution of potatoes — Short commons for Sunday — Mr. Sarbis with fever — Muddling the distribution of food— A stiff eight-hour day — Elephant tracks — Wealth of thorns — Suggestion for fever patients— A needed rest-day and a welcome letter.

Chapter XX

Through the Pygmy Forest ; in Good Hands Again . . . . . -251

In good hands again for the last stage — Our animated host —A fine dug-out— Easy-going paddling— Sunrise on the

XVI

PAGE

water — A wasted shot — Invasion of ants — Biting a sheep to death — “ Snakes, snakes ! ” — Afternoon tea afloat — Cheery paddlers — The last day’s tramp in the forest — Daylight again — Arrival at the Fort — A picturesque sight — Comfortable quarters.

CHAPTER XXI I uumu — and a Visit to the Gold-seekers and

Cannibals ..... 262

Sunday wood market — Primitive bartering at the store — Expulsion of the trader — Controversy with the caravan —

“ Won’t they eat us ? ” — Off to the gold-seekers — Sad mortality — Stanley, the Christian African smith — A cannibal contrast — Poisoned arrows — Colonel Harrison’s Pygmies — Searching for elephant-meat — Humane beasts.

CHAPTER XXII The Passing of the Arab Slave Dealers and the

Coming of the New Oppressors . . 273

Tippoo Tib, the Arab slave-master — Belgian advance — The new serfdom ; its hopelessness — The problem to be faced — Social reform — Spiritual enlightment — Official prohibition —

The system rotten — Our responsibility — Present opportunity.

CHAPTER XXIII Back from the Congo State — Completing the

Parting with the travellers — My escort — Malabu and his Babira-— Dodoi ; an unexpected Gospel reader — Camping amid the mountains— Negotiating for charms— Bomera and his Baima and Balega, an awkward mixture— A hospitable Muima presents milk I — Marching on tenterhooks— Ingenious archery — The strange boundary— Kwezi’s Balega — An enterprising teacher — Three gallant letter-carriers ; living on credit— An uncomfortable night in warm quarters— Completing the circuit.

xvi 1

Chapter XXIV Page

Disjecta Membra and Transformed Lives. . 294

The fascination of Ruwenzori — Stanley’s discovery — Sir Harry Johnston’s challenge — Later efforts — Our expedition — Bakonjo porters — Hauled up the rock — Escape of the head-man — “King Edward Rock’’ — The Duke of the Abruzzi’s splendid achievement — Sleeping-sickness scourge — Trypanosome and tsetse fly — The great struggle — Rabeka — “What are they born for?” — Coming down on the medicine-men — A praying Parliament — A faithful servant —

“Ye have done it unto Me.’’

DAUDI KASAGAMA OF TORO — u EVERY INCH A

KING ”

Frontispiece

LITTLE KING DAUDI CHWA, SON OF MWANGA,

PAGE

AT HOME .

Facing 5

A BIT OF NATIVE MOMBASA — MOHAMMEDAN MOSQUE AND SACRED WELL

„ 15

SWAHILI BEAUTIES OF MOMBASA — POUNDING AND GRINDING CORN

1. 17

MAP OF BRITISH EASTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA

» 21

RELICS FROM TRIBES MET WITH ON THE RAILWAY .

A “ DUG-OUT ” ON THE ALBERT EDWARD LAKE, WITH ONE OF THE “CRAZY” KIND.

A HUNGRY BRUTE ....

„ 37

EXTERIOR OF TORO HOSPITAL, WITH BOYS OF THE STAFF GARDENING

*

„ 60

zix

XX

PAGE

INTERIOR OF MEN’S WARD . . . Facing 60

OUR DAILY BIBLE-CLASS IN AN ALCOVE OUT- SIDE THE CHURCH AT KABAROLE . . „ 62

RUWENZORI, THE “ MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON ” „ 64

GRENADIER GUARDS’ BAND OF TORO . . „ 87

TORO WRIST BANGLES .... 93

UA LITTLE CAUSEWAY THROUGH A PAPYRUS

UGANDA VEGETABLES : PLANTAINS, COBS OF

INDIAN CORN, SWEET POTATOES, AND VEGETABLE MARROWS . . ■ » 97

HOUSEHOLD BOYS . . . . „ 98

“ . . . AND ONCE A WEEK WASHED YOUR

CLOTHES ” . . . . . „ IOI

DAUDI KASAGAMA, OUTSIDE HIS BRICK PALACE,

THE ONLY TWO-STORIED BUILDING IN

DAUDI KASAGAMA INSIDE, TRYING HIS THIEVING

STOREKEEPER . . . . „ 105

CARAVAN OF PORTERS, CONSISTING OF YOUNG CANDIDATE TEACHERS EAGER TO EARN BOOKS AND CLOTHES . . • >1 112 x\i

PAGE

GRACEFUL SEMLIKI WATERBUCK . . Facing 114

A LION CAUGHT PROWLING TOO NEAR THE

GOVERNMENT FORT ....

» 1 14

“IN THIS WAY I HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED SCORES OF TIMES ACROSS RIVERS AND SWAMPS, AND ONLY ONCE BEEN DE- POSITED UNEXPECTEDLY " .

„ 120

POOR OLD BLIND KAKULI BEING LED TO HIS SEAT OUTSIDE HIS CHURCH

„ 128

MEDICINE-MAN'S STOCK-IN-TRADE

THE EMBODIMENT OF EVIL SPIRITS

“I FINISHED THE ALPHABET ON THE SECOND DAY" — SOME POOR PEOPLE TAKE WEEKS.

„ 148

41 LET US BUILD A NEW CHURCH, A SQUARE BUILDING" .....

HAWSER ACROSS THE SWIFT STREAM OF VICTORIA NILE FOR FERRYING PARTIES ACROSS ; CATTLE SWIM ALONGSIDE

BALEGA WRISTLET AND KNIFE .

CANNIBAL BAHUKU AT HOME, WITH A MUTORO VISITOR TO GIVE CONFIDENCE

„ 161

AN ELEPHANT-TUSK HUNTING HORN

XXII

PAGE

u FROM THE IRON-STONE OF THE DISTRICT

THEY MAKE THEIR OWN HOES . . Facing IJJ

ANKOLE CATTLE, THE PRIDE OF THEIR MASTERS „ 185

FORMIDABLE HERRING-BONE BARBED ARROWS

OF BAMBUBA FOREST TRIBE . . 213

BAMBUBA WOMEN WEEDING, WITH THEIR

CHILDREN ON THEIR BACKS — ASLEEP . „ 221

IRON NECKLET FROM A WOMAN OF BAMBUBA

NECK ORNAMENT AND LIP RINGS FROM A MAN

OFBABIRA TRIBE .... 23I

THE PYGMY AKWEBADU’S BOW AND ARROWS . 236

THE PYGMY HUNTSMAN, AKWEBADU, WITH

HIS BOW AND POISONED ARROWS . . „ 236

PYGMIES OF UGANDA WITH THEIR BISHOP . „ 23S

BUSOGA HARP NOW IN USE THROUGHOUT THE

PROTECTORATE .... 243

“ THE STONE-BORDERED PLATFORM AROUND THE HOUSE, AND DEEP BUT LOFTY BARAZA . . . RISING INTO A CUPOLA GAVE QUITE A VENETIAN TOUCH ” . . . „ 259

NEARLY IOOO LBS. OF IVORY FROM THE CONGO „ 263

POISONED ARROWS OF BANYALI (CANNIBAL) TRIBE .

CONGO BOWS AND ARROWS IN KABAROLE — FOR SALE • • • • •

A UNIQUE SALE — THE FIRST AUCTION IN TORO, TO DISPOSE OF EXHIBITS OF NATIVE WORK •

KING DAUDI KASAGAMA, WITH THE KATIKIRO ON HIS RIGHT, KIMBUGWB ON LEFT, AND xxiii

PAGE

Facing 287

» 303

COUNCIL OF CHIEFS

„ 305

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

THE ROMANCE OF STANLEY’S LETTER AND ITS SEQUEL

Stanley's visit to Mtesa’s Court — Mtesa's appeal to England : the letter — Destruction of the caravan — Recovery of the letter — Excitement in England — A party starts — Early disasters — Murder of Shergold Smith and O’Neill — Arrival of Mackay — Barbarous massacres — Mtesa’s death —

Mwanga’s accession and dark days of persecution — Murder of Bishop Hannington — Coming of the East Africa Company— Captain Lugard’s work — Bishop Tucker’s arrival — The Company’s withdrawal — Hoisting of the Union Jack ; danger averted — The Soudan problem — Regulation of the Nile— Government administration — Social development — Growth of the Mission.

HM. STANLEY, whose reputation had already • been made by his journey through Africa to find Livingstone, was again exploring in the heart of the “ Dark Continent.” It was in the spring of 1875 that he arrived at the Court of Mtesa, the most powerful and civilised king in all that region, whose great kingdom stretched along the north shore of the vast Victoria Nyanza. Mtesa, to whom the reputation of the white men for a more than human skill was somewhat like the “ Romani nominis umbra” to the old German tribes on the borders of the Roman

Empire, was eager for anything that might make him more like the European. When he learned that the White Man knew the “ words of God,” nothing would satisfy him until he too had been taught, and Stanley set about writing for him the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. But the time came for the traveller to be packing up, and Mtesa, in grave concern at the loss of his friend, and feeling that the White Man's wisdom was perhaps due to his religion, desired the traveller to write an urgent letter home asking for permanent teachers to be sent without delay.

The letter was entrusted to a Belgian officer, Colonel Bellefonds, to convey down the Nile to Europe. But in those days, before the influence of Gordon and Emin had thoroughly made itself felt, when the Egyptian posts in the Soudan were in a very unstable position, such a journey was an undertaking full of peril. The caravan was attacked and the whole company destroyed. The officer, to save the letter from being lost, thrust it into his top-boot, and when the body was found later on by a search party, the letter was brought to light. That letter was destined to make history, for on November 15th the newspaper boys were shouting through the streets of London, “ Daily Telegraph — Letter from Mr. Stanley ! ” The urgent request that it contained created considerable sensation ; the appeal could not be disregarded, and was earnestly discussed by the Committee of the Church Missionary Society. Many counselled caution and were in favour of first occupying with stations the intervening hundreds of miles that stretched between the coast and Uganda. But the conviction prevailed of those who believed that this call to advance without delay into the interior was

AND ITS SEQUEL 3

the voice of God, and as such ought not to be unheeded.

By the middle of the next year a party of eight missionaries were at Zanzibar making preparations for the long journey of seven hundred miles up-country to the south end of the Victoria Lake. But only four of the party were destined to make the start, for of the eight one died at the coast, two were invalided home, and one, who was afterwards to become famous, namely, Alexander Mackay, was too ill to proceed further as yet. Fresh disaster was awaiting the remaining four, who started under the leadership of Lieutenant Shergold Smith, for after arrival at the Lake Dr. John Smith died. Lieutenant Smith with the Kev. G. T. Wilson, leaving Mr. O'Neill at the southern end of the Lake in charge of the loads, sailed across to Uganda in the little boat they had brought with them in sections up-country, and were received with a right royal welcome by Mtesa. But having seen these first arrivals, the eager King, who was now at last, after more than two years, experiencing the fulfilment of his long hope, could not rest until the party was complete and he had seen the large caravan of loads they had brought with them. Lieutenant Smith was therefore despatched to fetch Mr. O’Neill with the rest of the loads.

But further disaster was in store. An Arab trader had taken refuge with Mr. O’Neill, and when the native chief, who accused him of fraud, demanded that he should be given up, the Europeans, finding it impossible to ascertain the true justice of the case, refused to surrender him. The Station was attacked, the missionaries murdered, and their loads scattered and partially destroyed. This was towards the close of 1877.

It was not till November of the next year that Mr. Mackay arrived from the coast and proceeded across the Lake to join Mr. Wilson, who had been left quite alone. He had been the only European in the country for more than a year, and had been dependent on Mtesa for everything, even for a supply, which was not always regular, of daily food. Early in 1879 another party arrived in the country, having journeyed up the Nile under General Gordon's care.

To hasten on in the narrative, the Mission party were soon at work translating and setting up in type passages from the Gospel, and numbers of the natives, eager to acquire the new teaching, were to be seen busy learning to read. Then followed times of difficulty from the opposition of the French Roman Catholic missioners, who had arrived in the country shortly after and had caused Mtesa much bewilderment by openly denouncing the Scriptures as a lying book. In spite of the difficulty thus presented many still persevered with their reading and were beginning to get a grasp of the meaning of what was taught them.

But though Christianity was gaining a hold on some of the people, their old barbarous practices still continued. On one occasion, for instance, the King collected together about two thousand stray wayfarers gathered up from the roads, and had them all butchered on a great festival in honour of the spirit of his dead father, and nowadays, in digging round some of the old sacred trees, immense collections of bones are found, which are believed to be the remains from some of these massacres.

In 1884 King Mtesa died, and was succeeded by his weak and worthless son Mwanga. To him, wishing for the unbridled licence of the old days, the presence

LITTLE KING DAUDI CHWA, SON OF MWANGA, AT HOME.

AND ITS SEQUEL of Christians around was a continual and intolerable protest ; and yielding to suggestions from the old heathen priests, who found that their reputation and influence were in danger of passing away, he started a brutal persecution of the Christians. The well-known details may be read in the “ Life of Mackay " — the hacking to pieces of his page-boys and casting them into the fire, because they were known to be people of “The Book" and refused to give it up; and any one who realises the extreme arbitrariness of a savage African monarch with unbridled power can understand how great was the peril of those standing around him when his anger was aroused. Those were dreadful days of apprehension and sorrow for the missionaries as the news would be brought to them of this native friend or that being done to death, and they were very anxious that no unnecessary risks should be run through the readers showing themselves at the Mission Station. And yet, in spite of the danger, fresh candidates offered themselves for baptism.

In the midst of this time of anxiety news was brought to Mackay that Bishop Hannington was on his way to Uganda, coming through Usoga, but before a messenger could be got to him warning him of his danger, on account of the growing distrust of the King, emissaries from Mwanga had executed orders given to them and murdered the Bishop.

Varying fortunes followed during the next four years. Mwanga was driven out by subjects who would no longer endure his cruelty. Then for a while the Mohammedans gained the upper hand. But the Roman Catholics and Protestants, uniting for the purpose, brought back the unworthy King, who was ready to make any promises in order to recover his lost position.

In 1890 came the great epoch in the country’s history. At Christmastime of that year Captain (now Sir Frederick) Lugard, acting for the old British East Africa Company, arrived in the country.