RELIGION— TEADE— ADMINISTRATION. 87 



doning as they did before their death. Amongst the most venerated is the god of 

 thunder, and the place where lightning is seen to strike is held as sacred. Here 

 an archway is built, under which no stranger has the right to pass ; or else a hut 

 is raised on the spot as a sort of temple, which, however, must not be repaired when 

 it falls in ruins. Against all the dangers which surround him, proceeding from the 

 evil genii and powers of the air, the Ganda man protects himself by amulets of 

 wood, stone, or horn, and by shreds of cloth made for him by the mandica, or 

 " medicine-men." These magicians appear also to have a sort of recognised 

 influence, due to their skilfvd treatment of diseases with roots and nosti'ums. 

 According to Speke, an ecclesiastical fief, over which the king of TJ- Ganda has only 

 an indirect power, occupies a large tract on the left bank of the Nile. 



In U-Ganda all the trade of any importance is in the hands of the Arabs and 

 the Zanzibar half-castes. Their trading stations are limited on the north by the 

 Somerset Nile, and the series of cataracts from Karuma to the Murchison Falls, 

 and if they penetrate westwards towards the Albert Nyanza they still keep their 

 depots in TJ-Ganda. They barter guns, powder and shot, woven goods, glassware, 

 and a few European articles, for ivory and slaves, the latter the great staple of trade 

 in Central Africa. At least one thousand blacks are thus sold annually to the Arabs. 

 As the elephants retire before the hunter deeper and deeper into jungles remote 

 from all human dwellings, the Wa-Ganda have no other means of paying their 

 debts than by annually handing over an ever-increasing number of slaves to the 

 dealers in human flesh. It has already been ascertained that the slave element is 

 actually diminishing in the country. Ivory comes chiefly from U-Soga, and salt is 

 imported from the banks of the Albert Nyanza across U-Nyoro. Till recently a 

 little trade was also carried on with the Egyptian possessions in Sudan, to which 

 U-Ganda supplied coffee, tobacco, and cattle, in exchange for cotton-stuffs, iron, and 

 Turkish slippers. Money is still rarely employed in these transactions, the recog- 

 nised commercial currency being the doti, or " eight cubits " of calico of the value 

 of one thousand cowries. Thanks to the numerous caravans journeying between 

 the sea and the lake, by the easy routes of the Masai country, the facilities for 

 exchange are increasing. Hence there can be no doubt that a civilised system of 

 trade will soon replace that of barter. The navigation of the Nyanza has become 

 less dangerous since the Arabs' dhows have made their appearance on its waters, 

 and in U-Ganda itself the former miry paths are being replaced by good routes. 

 The road connecting the capital with its port on the Nyanza would do honour to 

 Europeans. It is carried over a swamp on a solid foundation of wild-jjalm trunks 

 placed side by side. 



The Egyptian conquests at the time of their greatest extension never reached 

 the frontiers of U-Ganda. The officers of the Khedive penetrated into the country 

 only imder the title of ambassadors. The old feudal system has undergone no 

 change since the kingdom has entered into commercial relations with Arabs and 

 Europeans. In theory the king is absolute master of land and people, and is free 

 to act as he pleases in matters of small moment, such as the lives of his women or 

 of the wakopi, members of the agricultural class. M'tesa well deserved his name, 



