a

continual series of letters (all written in Swahili) continued to reach me. I also had cordial and most courteous letters from Mgr. Hirth, the French bishop, and from the English missionaries. The king's envoy now escorted us, and, as is usual in Uganda, his minstrels played before him on the march, with flutes made of the elephant-reed, and drums, and many strange stringed instruments like harps and banjos, ornamented with beads and skins of snakes, and with tufts and tassels of long white or black goat's hair. At the halts they danced the extraordinary dance of the Waganda; the little bells or hollow balls, filled with iron shot, tied round their calves and ankles, keeping time with their tinkling sound to the motion of their bodies. A dancer in Uganda moves his feet but little, and does not change ground; the dance consisting mainly of throwing the body into the most extraordinary contortions, and stamping the feet in unison.

It rained daily, this being the season of the lesser rains (October to December), and the muddy water in the pools and swamps which formed our supply in camp was of the worst possible description. Now we passed through patches of forest, now through long groves of bananas; beyond perhaps we crested a line of low hills covered with pasture-grass, to descend into a valley, and wade through a black swamp and ascend the slope beyond, and so we neared the capital.

I went on ahead with a few Sudanese in their best turn-out, and when I got close to Mengo great crowds assembled to see me, but there was an almost ominous silence as I passed them. A messenger came from the king to show me a place to camp. It was a wet and dirty hollow, and I declined to accept it, nor yet another place shown me. Eventually I went on the top of a low gravelly knoll of waste land, and said I would camp there. Its name was Kampala. I got message after

WE ARRIVE AT THE CAPITAL.

377

message from the king urging me not to use this spot, but I was obstinate, and declined to move. Not only was it the only clean and healthy spot around, but I intuitively saw that if I was to do any good in this country it was essential that I should assert my independence from the first, and it appeared to me that Mwanga was even now already engaged solely in finding out to what extent he could order me about, and whether I was afraid of him. Later experience showed me I had gauged his motives aright, nor did he cease thus to endeavour to badger me and pit himself against me in matters of trivial importance, as well as in greater, until he learnt to his cost that his policy was a mistake. The way we had crossed the Nile was his first lesson,—that what we judged right and best we should do without cringing to him for permission; our rapid march here, and this matter of the camping-ground, were no less part of the rôle I had now set myself to play.

I sent courteous messages to the king with salaams, saying we were tired and wet, and I would defer my visit to him till next day. In the afternoon the English missionaries, the Rev Messrs Gordon and Walker, came to see us, and stopped and dined. The French bishop and R. Catholic Fathers also called upon us, and welcomed us most courteously. De Winton, who had been ailing some days, broke down on arrival; but there was no doctor in Uganda, and I had to prescribe for him myself. He had, I think, got a chill and a slight sunstroke. I got an expert among my men to bleed him, and Grant and I watched by him during the night. Perhaps it may be of interest to describe the native process of bleeding, so I copy the passage from my diary: He had several small cows' horns about 4 in. long, the points being bored through and covered with bees'-wax. He puts one on the place he means to bleed, and sucks through the small hole, and then her

metically seals it with the wax. The suction produced by the exhausted air causes the blood to run to the place. Then he takes it off, makes a number of little cuts with a knife, and replaces it, repeating the suction process. By-and-bye he takes it off by opening the hole at the top with a porcupine-quill, and removes the clotted blood it contains. Again and again he repeats the process, and, when no more blood will flow, he starts again in a new place. Sometimes he puts on two or three at a time in different places."

And so we had arrived at the capital of Uganda just two months exactly-including all delays-from the day I got my orders. Henceforward began a new chapter in my experience of African work.

CHAPTER XV.

COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES OF EAST AFRICA.

Verdict of Chambers of Commerce-Of Statesmen-Advantage to ourselves— To Africa Climate and location-Rainfall - Fertility Transport Labour-Communications - Extent of waterways - Railway- Future extensions-Nyasaland a parallel-Buchanan's verdict - MineralsCommercial staples-Peculiar advantages-Freedom from insect pestsThe tsetse Summary--European colonisation-Reasons of apparent unhealthiness-Diseases of East Africa-Native tribes-Ports-Population and areas-Comparison with others-Conclusions supported by manyMiscellaneous industries-Environs of the Sudan-Sudan soldiersThreat from Moslems-Imports-Wants of aliens-Contrast with Germans-Basis of development.

BEFORE proceeding further with the story of the Uganda expedition I will beg my readers' indulgence, while I make a few notes and remarks on the possibilities for development of the country included in "British East Africa."

Verdict of

Commerce.

1

The Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom have unanimously urged the retention of East Africa on the grounds of commercial Chambers of advantage. The Presidents of the London and Liverpool chambers attended a deputation to her Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs to urge absolute necessity, for the prosperity of this country, that new avenues for commerce such as that in East Equatorial Africa should be opened up, in view of the hostile tariffs with which British manufactures are being

1 Oct. 20th, 1892.

"the

everywhere confronted." Manchester followed with a similar declaration; Glasgow, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and other commercial centres gave it as their opinion that "there is practically no middle course for this country, between a reversal of the free-trade policy to which it is pledged, on the one hand, and a prudent but continuous territorial extension for the creation of new markets, on the other hand."1 Such is the view of the Chambers of Commerce, and I might quote endless paragraphs from their resolutions and reports in the same

sense.

Verdict of

This view has been strongly endorsed by some of our leading statesmen. Space forbids me to Statesmen. quote extracts from speeches by our greatest politicians, which I might else adduce as proof that they held the opinions of the Chambers of Commerce, which I have quoted, to be sound and weighty. The late Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, spoke strongly in this sense at Liverpool.2 The present Foreign Secretary spoke in no less forcible terms at the Imperial Institute. Mr Chamberlain pointed out at Birmingham how directly to the advantage of the working men this policy of prudent but continuous exten

3

1 London Chamber of Commerce Annual Report (section Uganda), dated April 20th, 1893. The quotation continues as follows: This policy is not so much one of our own selection, although it is practically a continuation of the Elizabethan policy inaugurated by Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, as one forced upon us by the exclusive economic systems of other countries, including our own colonies. In fact, the experience of the Elizabethan era goes far to confirm us, to-day, in persevering in the same direction. New colonial developments cannot be expected to pay at once, but almost invariably they do pay in the long run. The uniform experience of this country from 1568 down to the present reign is, that colonies amply repay the first expenditure in blood and money, and that they pay both by extension of trade and shipping, and in the growth of national power and status. In regard to Uganda it is not easy-nor is it even material-to estimate when the country, if annexed, is likely to pay. It should be sufficent for us to know that investments of this class are invariably good in the long run, and that a few years more or less are immaterial from a national point of view."

2 Feb. 6th, 1892.

3 March 2d, 1893. Vide, chap. xli. vol. ii. p. 585.