VI 



7 6 EASTERN ETHIOPIA 



bodily punishments were inflicted on frivolous pretexts. 

 Cunningham refers to a poor wretch he had seen, 

 whose ears had been cut off because his goat, in passing 

 along a path, nibbled a blade of grass on the King's 

 land. The present Katikiro or Prime Minister of 

 Uganda wrote an account of the Kings (Bakabaka) of 

 Uganda; he states that at frequent intervals Mutesa 

 proclaimed sacrifices, and the royal harem was rifled for 

 victims, who were duly slaughtered, with many others. 

 When Mutesa died the whole country mourned for him, 

 a Kingr whose conduct was so atrocious as to excite 



O 



horror in a country like Africa where " Eye for eye, 

 tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" 

 does not excite astonishment. For instance, when 

 Livingstone visited the native ruler of Lunda in 

 1867, he found the court of the palace decorated 

 with men's skulls, and a great portion of the people 

 had cropped ears and lopped-oft* arms, which served to 

 remind the subjects of these mutilations that the ruler 

 had been obliged to give expression to his disapproval 

 of their conduct. (Erode.) 



THE UGANDA CATHEDRAL 



It has been mentioned that the most conspicuous 

 edifice in Kampala, the Cathedral on the summit of 

 Namirembe hill, was struck by lightning and reduced 

 to ashes a few months after our visit. Probably no 

 other place of Christian worship in the world was like 

 unto it. This cathedral rested on a foundation of burnt 

 bricks, but those used in the construction of the walls 

 were sun-dried. The wooden roof was supported by two 

 rows of octagonal columns built of unburnt bricks, and 

 thatched with dried grass. The beams which supported 

 the roof were overlaid with polished stalks of elephant 

 grass which caused the interior of the cathedral to be 

 filled with a pale yellow light, producing an unusual 

 and pleasant impression. 



