STANLEY'S DISCOVERIES AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICA. 417 



cotton gown wound round her waist, her hair 

 neatly-dressed in 'ehokoli' or 'bejaji,' husy pre- 

 paring the meal for her absent husband, or spin- 

 ning cotton, and at the same time urging the fe- 

 male slaves to pound the corn ; the children naked 

 and merry, playing about in the sand at the ' urgi- 

 n-dawaki,' or the < da-n-ckacha,' or chasing a 

 straggling, stubborn goat; earthenware pots and 

 wooden bowls, all cleanly washed, standing in 

 order. Farther on a dashing Cyprian, homeless, 

 comfortless, and childless, but affecting merriment 

 or forcing a wanton laugh, gaudily ornamented 

 with numerous strings of beads round her neck, 

 her hair fancifully dressed and bound with a dia- 

 dem, her gown of various colors, loosely fastened 

 under her luxuriant breast, and trailing behind in 

 the sand ; near her a diseased wretch covered with 

 ulcers or with elephantiasis." 1 



Speke has described in a graphic manner the 

 life at the court of Uganda, where he resided 

 for many months. Here tbe ruling caste are 

 Gallas, or some cognate tribe, totally different in 

 race from the people whom they govern. The 

 moment when he first came into the presence of 

 persons of this caste, he says that he felt and 

 saw he was in the company of men who were as 

 unlike as they could be to the common order of 

 natives in the surrounding districts. They had 

 fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, and in 

 their deportment and intelligence showed them- 

 selves to be far the superiors of the negro. Un- 

 der the rule of a man, Kimera by name, of this 

 caste, who established himself in the country, the 

 kingdom of Uganda was formed out of an out- 

 lying portion of a much larger negro state, and 

 it was organized in the following fashion. Kime- 

 ra formed a strong clan, apparently of his im- 

 migrant countrymen around him, whom he ap- 

 pointed to be his immediate officers ; he rewarded 

 well, punished severely, and soon became mag- 

 nificent. 



"Nothing short of the grandest palace, a throne 

 to sit upon, the largest harem, the smartest offi- 

 cers, the best-dressed people, even a menagerie 

 for pleasure— in fact only the best of everything — 

 would content him. . . . The system of govern- 

 ment, according to barbarous ideas, was perfect. 

 Highways were cut from one extremity of the 

 country to the other, and all rivers bridged. No 

 house could be built without its necessary append- 

 ages for cleanliness; no person, however poor, 

 could expose his person ; and to disobey these 

 laws was death." - 



It must, however, be understood that the grand 



1 Barth's " Travels in Central Africa," vol. ii., p. 



108. 



2 Speke, " The Source of the Nile," p. 253. 

 63 



palace is only a structure of palisading and 

 thatch, and that the costume of the best-dressed 

 people is only a piece of bark cloth. 



The customs of Uganda as established by 

 their founder continued in full force at the time 

 of the visit of Speke. He describes how persons 

 at court are on the watch for men who may com- 

 mit some indiscretion, to confiscate their lands, 

 wives, children, and property. 



" An officer observed to salute informally is 

 ordered for execution, when everybody near him 

 rises in an instant ; the drums beat, drowning his 

 cries, and the victim of carelessness is dragged 

 off, bound by cords, by a dozen men at once. 

 Another man, perhaps, exposes an inch of naked 

 leg while squatting, or has his mbugu (bark cloth) 

 tied contrary to regulations, and is condemned to 

 the same fate." 



In short, the discipline in Uganda is much 

 sharper and quite as prompt as that in a kennel 

 of fox-hounds ; and such is the character of the 

 negro that he likes the treatment and thrives 

 under it, as is shown by the smartness and strong 

 national feelings of the people, who contrast very 

 favorably with their more barbarous neighbors. 



We will now consider the influence that has 

 been exerted by white men in Africa. Of the 

 Portuguese there is nothing good to say, and the 

 least said the soonest mended. Their rule in 

 Africa is effete, and we shall not further allude 

 to it. But what of the effect of the English and 

 American philanthropists who have formed sta- 

 tions and settlements to reclaim the negro from 

 his barbarism ? 



The republic of Liberia was established on 

 African soil, with more than 500 miles of sea- 

 board, to serve as a home in Africa for such of 

 the freed negroes of the United States as might 

 choose to emigrate there, and to constitute an 

 independent negro community whence civilizing 

 influences might spread to the interior. It has 

 been in existence, either as a colony or as a free 

 state, for fifty-seven years, and has received alto- 

 gether upward of 20,000 negro emigrants, whom 

 the Commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau in 

 the United States describes, in metaphorical 

 terms that are not altogether happv, as " the 

 cream of the colored population of the South." 

 Since the war the emigrants have generally been 

 quite poor, but they are spoken of as an intelli- 

 gent, active, industrious, and enterprising set of 

 men. There appear to be far more applicants 

 than the philanthropists who keep the undertak- 

 ing going are able with their funds to convey 

 across the Atlantic. Thus in 1872 there were 



