594 BANTU NEGBOES 



race) are known as the Basita, and from all accounts were very similar 

 to the average Banyoro, Batoro, and Bairo (and no doubt to the Baganda), 

 who form the main stock of the population of the districts of Unyoro, 

 Toro, and Ankole. To this day the Bairo race of Ankole sometimes styles 

 itself Basita. 



There is a tradition among the old men of Unyoro that at a very 

 ancient period the whole of their country, including the forests, was 

 destroyed by fire after a long period of drought. This caused a total 

 exodus of the Basita aborigines for the time being. But they were ruled 

 over at that time by a queen called Nyamwengi, whose original country 

 seems to have been the sub-division of Mwengi, now included within the 

 limits of the Toro District. But at that time this family ruled over 

 much of modern Unyoro, over the northern part of Uganda, Toro, and 

 even a part of Northern Ankole. After this devastating fire Nyamwengi 

 revisited Unyoro and re-established the Basita in that country. Nyamwengi 

 was succeeded by her son Saza, who died without issue. But Saza had 

 a cook, and in all these countries at all times the king's cook was a noble 

 or prince of high rank, a " mayor of the palace." Saza's cook, therefore, 

 (he was named Mukondo) seized the throne of Unyoro and founded the 

 house of Baranze, being succeeded by Hangi, Ira, and Bukuku. Bukuku 

 was killed by Ndaula, a half-legendary person of Hima blood, or, as he is 

 locally styled, " Muchwezi," " Bachwezi " being, as already stated, a synonymous 

 term for the Hima or Gala invaders of the country and their descendants, 

 and a mysterious race of supernatural beings who are often now confounded 

 with ancestral spirits. The following is the legend current in Unyoro 

 (according to Mr. George Wilson) regarding the advent of Ndaula : — 



The last king of the house of Baranze, Bukuku, who, of course, -was a Musita — 

 an ordinary Negro — had a daughter called Nyinanhru. The sorcerers of the country 

 told the king Bukuku that if this daughter bore a child that child would be the 

 cause of the country's destruction. Thereupon the " mukama," or king, caused his 

 daughter to be isolated in the forests near the north end of Lake Dweru, and 

 here she was attended by a woman servant. One day when this servant was in 

 the forest she was suddenly confronted by a man who informed her that his name 

 was Isimbwa and that he was a hunter from Bugoma.* Isimbwa questioned the 

 woman as to what she was doing in the forest, and she told him that she was 

 entrusted with the task of attending the daughter of Bukuku, the king. Isimbwa 

 followed the woman back to where the king's daughter was hidden. In a sdiort 

 time he had seduced Nyinamiru, who in due time bore him a son that was named 

 Ndaula. Nyinamiru, in dread of her father's anger, made an effort to throw the 

 child into the waters of Lake Dweru. In her fear and haste she did not see what 

 she was doing : the bark-cloth in which the child was wrapped caught in a branch. 

 While the child was thus suspended, the servant drew near to dig clay for making 



Bugoma is a forest district in the western part of Unyoro, near the Albert 

 Nyanza. 



