PREFACE. 



Towards the end of the year 1909, the War Office 

 seconded me from my regiment to enable me to 

 join the King's African Rifles, under the Colonial 

 Office, in the colony of Uganda. I was especially 

 fortunate in having ample opportunities of studying 

 our newest colony, since the vicissitudes of my 

 service sent me to stations in diverse parts of the 

 Protectorate. Landing at Entebbe, on the Victoria 

 Nyanza, I passed through Kampala to my first 

 station at Bombo. Thence I was sent for duty to 

 Hoima, in Unyoro, North-West Uganda. During 

 a brief stay there my short hunting leave enabled 

 me to traverse most of the ground from Lake Albert 

 to Masindi, and even as far as Mruli, near Lake 

 Kioga. 



Suddenly ordered to proceed in haste to Mbarara, 

 in Ankole, South-West Uganda, on reporting myself 

 there, I received instructions to reinforce an expedi- 

 tion to the M'fumbiro district, which lies in the 

 direction of Lake Kivu, and was then considered 

 by the Congo administration as part and parcel of 

 their domains. That they have since discovered it 

 to be British territory forms an interesting chapter 

 in Uganda's modern history, as our sovereign rights 

 rested on so slight a fabric as a mere meridian. 

 The meridian 30° E. had been wrongly drawn 



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