114 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



hands, and yet the smarting sensation which accompanied the 

 sting would be followed by a blain or a boil. Another sort of 

 fly used to attack my donkey and made it so restless, that I had 

 to stop and search for the tormentor. 



The large herds of cattle I saw in Singo belonged originally 

 to King I\Uvanga, but were seized by the Government, when the 

 king rebelled. They are now being taken care of by Wahima 

 herdsmen for the Government. 



In certain parts of Uganda a good deal of sugar-cane is 

 grown, but the natives do not seem to know how to utilise it 

 except for chewing. Some of the Arab traders now and then 

 crush a small amount of cane and boil down the juice to a 

 treacle, but nobody has ever attempted the manufacture of 

 sugar in Uganda. I have lived for many years in the sugar- 

 growing colony of Mauritius ; I know, therefore, that mere size 

 does not prove the superiority of one species of cane over 

 another. To judge, however, by the size of the Uganda 

 sugar-cane which was offered for sale to my porters almost in 

 every village in Singo along the caravan route, the production 

 must be very cheap. Canes over ten feet long were sold for a 

 halfpenny, shorter ones for a farthing ; and, as far as I could 

 judge, the juice was extremely rich in sugar. I saw thousands 

 of acres of virgin soil, suitable for sugar plantations and lying 

 unclaimed. 



When Mtesa died, there was a struggle among his sons 

 for the throne of Uganda. They appear to have had about 

 as much affection for each other as the sons of William the 

 Conqueror. Kiwewa was king of Uganda for a few weeks, 

 w^hen his brother Karema managed to seize him and, tying 

 him to one of the pillars inside one of the Waganda huts 

 of reeds and grass, put fire to the structure. There was not 

 much left of Kiwewa at the end of this brotherly bonfire. 

 But Karema thought he might as well clear off all his 

 brothers whilst he was about it. All fell into his hands 

 except Mwanga, his youngest brother, who escaped from 

 Uganda and found a refuge at the south end of Lake Vic- 

 toria Nyanza. Karema dug a deep pit, tied his brothers to 

 stakes in it, starved them to death, and then filled up the 

 pit. He did not however reign very long ; he was carried 

 off by small-pox on his way to wage war against Unyoro. 



King Kiwewa left a son, the young Roman Catholic Prince 



