CHAPTER IV. 

 THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE. 



THE Uganda Protectorate does not mean simply 

 Uganda— the kingdom which the famous autocrat King 

 Mtesa ruled over once upon a time — but it in- 

 cludes also the vast realms around it, territories where 

 no white man has ever passed, lakes only recently dis- 

 covered by hardy explorers and travellers, and races of men 

 differing from each other in language, in manners, and 

 in customs. Those who read stirring records of explorations 

 and discoveries associated with names like Livingstone, Speke, 

 Grant, and Mungo Park, are very much mistaken, if they 

 imagine that similar achievements are out of their reach because 

 all that can be discovered has been discovered. Within the last 

 few years Count Teleki has added to the map two new lakes, 

 lying close together, and named by him Lake Rudolph and 

 Lake Stephanie. Rebmann, incited by stories, by many believed 

 to be mythical, that a huge mountain, the summit covered 

 with eternal snow, lay in Africa, endeavoured to find it ; and 

 the famous snow-clad Kilimanjaro was added to general geo- 

 graphical knowledge, though for some time the discovery was 

 disbelieved in Europe. It seemed impossible to give credence 

 to a story of "eternal snow" under the scorching rays of an 

 African sun. 



Kilimanjaro lies comparatively near the coast, and every 

 traveller to Uganda who cares to look out for it can see the 

 white glistening summit ; for the caravan route passes within 

 sight of the majestic snow-king. Sitting by the camp-fire, I 

 have listened to Arab and Swahili stories, asserted of course 

 to be absolutely true, though sounding to my sceptical ear even 

 more mythical than Rebmann's story of the snow mountain can 

 ever have sounded in his day. One of the stories asserts as a 



