4 io THE LAND OF THE LION 



of the Waganda and allied tribes are receiving education 

 at the missionaries' hands. These lads, aged from ten to 

 eighteen, will shortly be men of commanding influence in 

 the country. A fine new building lately opened by Mr. 

 W. Churchill, is the schoolroom; the appearance of the 

 boys is excellent; the atmosphere and discipline of the 

 school evidently sound and good. But the education 

 is the three R's. 



"You tell me," I said, "that these lads will have the 

 control of an immense part of Uganda. Why don't you 

 teach them interesting things about their own lands its 

 crops, its possibilities ? Teach them to be mechanics, 

 carpenters, good agriculturists. Their method of farm- 

 ing is rudimentary." "Oh, Dr. Rainsford, we are fitting 

 them for Government appointments. Their lands and 

 their cattle do not interest them as they used to do." I 

 fully admit the need of finding among the Waganda young 

 men fitted to be clerks and government officials in a small 

 way. As the railroad enters, as English government 

 machinery becomes more complex, such a class of young 

 men will be of great value. He will keep the Goanese and 

 Hindi officials out of the country, a matter of great impor- 

 tance. 



But Uganda is to-day and always will be a food pro- 

 ducing country, capable of feeding untold millions of people. 

 It is only cultivated in spots. Its rich surface has only been 

 scratched. If its owners lose interest in the land, it is in their 

 own fortune, in their own future, they are losing interest. 

 It is a glorious land, not a white man's country, to be sure, but 

 among the very richest of all the lands of the earth; and in 

 the world-scramble that is ours to-day, such a land can only 

 be left to a people that recognizes its value and is prepared 

 to develop it by patient toil and intelligent resourcefulness. 



As I looked round those fine schoolroom walls, I recog- 

 nized many an old acquaintance of days long gone by: 



