CHAPTER XM 



BANTU NEGBOES—Ccont'niurdj 



(2) The BA(iAxi)A and Basoga 



THE Kingdom of Uganda is tlie most impoi'tant province fiJoliticallyj 

 in the Protectorate, and perha})s one of the best organised and 

 most civilised of African kingdonrs at the present day. In liict, })utting 

 aside the empires of Abyssinia and Morocco fas entirely independent states 

 ranking with other world Powers). Uganda wonld take a liigh place among 

 those purely Negro kingdoms which retain any degree of national rale. 

 and would compare favourably in importance with Sokoto, AVadai. Lunda, 

 or Barotse. It is difficult to fix on a physical type of Negro })eculiarly 

 characteristic of Uganda, there being no such thing; but Uganda 

 civilisation, arts, and crafts have a certain distinct cacliet of their own, 

 not to be altocrether explained bv the ancient introduction of an Ilamitic 

 civilisation, though this undoubtedly was the main stimulus which caused 

 a land of Pygmies and West African Negroes to emerge into the semi- 

 civilised, refined, and. in some respects, artistic people who have risen to 

 such prominence in the ])olitics of Central Africa under that long line of 

 astute kings of whom ]\iutesa was a striking example. 



The present population of Uganda is comjjosed of three main elements. 

 The country und<5ubte:lly was first inhabited by people of the Pygmy- 

 Prognathous tvpe similar to those already described in connection with 

 the Congo Forest. To the present day in the great forest of Kiagwe, 

 whicli covers a large pro[)ortion of >South-Eastern Uganda, near the Ripon 

 Falls, there are individuals of stunted growth. 1:)road, flat noses, and long 

 u])per lips, wlio might very well l)e elasstnl as Congo Pygmies. Tlie next 

 element to be described is that of the AVest African Negro tyi)e. which 

 constitutes the bulk of the population at the present time, and which, no 

 doubt, invaded Uganda in succession to tlie original Pygmy-Prognathous 

 settlers when the land was mostly co\(n-ed with great forests. I call this 

 element "West African." because many of the Baganda are strikingly like 

 that rather pronounced form of Negro characteristic of the west coast of 

 Africa. 'J'lif West African Negro ty})e is undoubtedly the foundation of 



