HISTORY OF THE PROTECTORATE TERRITORIES 227 



In the worst days of liis j)erst'Culions of the Christians Mwanga had 

 frequently threatened (atliolic and Protestant missionaries with murder, 

 though he always denied his threats when faced with tliem. The truth 

 is that he was suffering from a state of nervous trepidation owing to the 

 belief that some European State would annex his kingdom. As the result of 

 the interesting reports sent home by such missionaries as Mr. Wakefield, of 

 Jomvu, near Mondmsa, the Ko yal Geogra])hical Society h ad, as T have 

 already stated, sent out an expedi t ion under Jos eph Thomson t o discove r 

 the shortest and most_ dir ect route from Jhje_Tnrlian Oc ean to the Vic toria 

 Nyanza. Dr. Fischer, a well-known German explorer, had already reached 

 theTlift Valley and discovered T^ake Xaivasha. The great obstacle to the 

 using of this route was the supposed ferocity of the Masai. ' The real 

 explanation of this was (apart from the ^Nlasai raids for cattle, which 

 brought them sometimes to the vicinity of ^Mombasa) that the Swahili 

 caravans traversing this part of East Africa never hesitated to plunder the 

 natives when thev thought themselves strong enough. They had received 

 several well-merited and drastic punishments at the hands of the Masai 

 for these attempts to rob and rape, therefore they had circulated reports 

 about ^Nlasai ferocity, which for a long time caused Europeans to regard 

 this lordly tribe with a quite exaggerated dread. 



Joseph Thomson, however, managed to get through the ^Nlasai country 

 with little dithculty. He was obliged to some extent to follow where led 

 by the Swahili traders, and as the latter had a wholesome fear of the 

 Nandi and Lumbwa tribes which intervened between the Rift Valley and 

 the Victoria Nyanza, he made with them a considerable detour, skirting 

 ^Nandi, and reaching the Nzoia River on the north-east of the lake. He 

 followed the Xzoia down to the shores of the Nyanza, and was the first 

 explorer to correct the mistake into which Stanley had fallen of making 

 Ugowe Bay a broad, vast gulf to the north-east of the lake, instead of a 

 small indentation of the coast with a long, narrow, tortuous gulf to the 

 south of it (now called Kavirondo Bay). Joseph Thomson stojjped near 

 the confines of Busoga, having accomplished his main object, and being 

 given to understand that the king of Uganda would deeply resent an 

 explorer entering Uganda through the tributary state of Busoga. 



Thomson returned to the coast after revealing the existence of Mount 

 Elgon,* Lake Baringo, and the Suk countries, after establishing the truth 

 of Krapfs supposed discovery of a snow-mountain to tlie north of 

 Kilimanjaro (Kenya), and after giving such hints and suggestions regaiding 

 the existence of other lakes still farther to the north as to lead Count Teleki 

 a few years afterwards to discover Lakes Rudolf and Stephanie. The rumour 



* Referred to by Sir H. Stanley as '• Marsawa " (" Masawa ' is the Luganda name ), 

 and guessed at 7,000 feet high — in 1875. 



