Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



One can imagine Speke's surprise when, after 

 travelling up from the South amidst naked savages, 

 he eventually discovered this remarkable race, both 

 intelligent and civilized, who actually were fully 

 clothed, and it is said even looked upon his donkey 

 as indecent because it did not wear trousers upon 

 its legs ! He was, moreover, well received by 

 Mtesa, who was then ruling over Uganda, but 

 unfortunately with despotic cruelty. He is said to 

 have had seven hundred wives and one hundred and 

 fifty children. His great desire was to aggrandize 

 himself and his country. He therefore encouraged 

 the visits of the white men, in order to gain power 

 by their brains and wealth from their merchandise. 

 Thus it was that when, in 1875, Stanley visited him 

 on his way through to the Congo, he met with a 

 very friendly welcome, and was actually able to 

 induce the King to embrace Christianity. Mtesa 

 even went so far as to send a message through him 

 inviting the Church Missionary Society to come 

 and teach their gospel to the people of his kingdom. 

 This invitation led to the Society sending out the 

 Rev. C. T. Wilson in 1877 as their first representative. 

 The arrival of the Protestant missionaries was soon 

 followed by that of the White Fathers of Algeria, 

 who obtained permission to establish a French 

 Roman Catholic Mission in 1879, thus setting up a 

 deplorable rivalry between the two creeds, who had 

 in their turn to contend with a large following who 

 were earnest worshippers of Islam. 



Mtesa died in 1884, and it is said that five 



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