EAST AFRICA. 



231 



demoralization the King of Uganda, Mwanga, 

 escaped from the custody of the English at Mengo 

 and raised the standard of rebellion among his 

 Mohammedan subjects in Budu, the southern part 

 of Uganda, and was joined by the Wafranza, or 

 Roman Catholic party. He was declared deposed 

 After fleeing into German East Africa, and his son 

 Chua, only two years old, was baptized as a Prot- 

 estant and proclaimed king. The Soudanese 

 troops had marched back again 300 miles from 

 the eastern side of the lake to Budu, and, when the 

 revolt there had been suppressed and the king 

 driven into German territory, a call came for 300 of 

 them to form the expedition of Major MacDonald, 

 which was getting ready at Mpengs, on Baringo 



means in a high state of discipline. These troops, 

 who formed a fifth part of the entire military force 

 of the Uganda protectorate, had no sooner left the 

 lake district than a fresh revolt broke out in Budu. 

 This was suppressed by the Soudanese garrison 

 that had been left there, but Major Thruston, when 

 he took command at Mengo, found a weakened 

 force of discontented troops, wavering in their 

 fidelity in the face of a country on the verge of re- 

 bellion, for a great part of the native population in 

 the protectorate was known to be secretly hostile to 

 the English and ready to turn against them if any re- 

 verse happened to their arms. Another uprising 

 occurred in Budu during August, which was sup- 

 pressed by the Soudanese garrison. 



A ROYAL RESIDENCE IN UGANDA. 



lake, 350 miles away, beyond the northern border of 

 Uganda. This expedition had been planned long 

 before for some mysterious political object, proba- 

 bly to dispute with the French the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 region and the left bank of the Nile, although the 

 ostensible purpose was to explore the sources of the 

 Juba river and to report on the boundary between- 

 the British sphere and the Italian sphere and Abys- 

 sinia. 



Major Ternan, who was going on leave of absence 

 to England, leaving Major Thruston in command of 

 the forces in Uganda, accompanied the Soudanese 

 troops that were to form the main force of Major 

 MacDonald's expedition, but whom on their arrival 

 at Baringo the latter officer reported to be much 

 fatigued by their recent marches and counter- 

 marches, deficient in native officers, and by no 



Major MacDonald had brought from the coast a 

 column about 1,000 strong, but the only trained 

 fighting men were 30 Sikhs and 100 Swahilis. He 

 had been allowed to organize his important mission 

 in his own way, and had desired a force of these 

 Soudanese warriors, whose commander he had once 

 been. Consequently the Uganda authorities were 

 directed to furnish the desired contingent from 

 their scattered, insufficient, and overworked garri- 

 son, which numbered altogether not over 1,600. 

 Like all English officers who had served in Uganda, 

 Major MacDonald had a high opinion- of the cour- 

 age and efficiency of these Soudanese blacks and of 

 their amenability to discipline. They, however, 

 had no liking for him, for after a former revolt he 

 had exiled their favorite leader, nor for the other 

 officers, youngsters fresh from Europe, who could 



