A WAGANDA "SPELL." 47 



vant, and who understands English, has for more than two 

 years acted as dragoman and secretary to Mtesa. His name 

 is Mita Dallington. 



So we are to rest ! There hangs in my house, carefully 

 wrapped up in bark cloth, the vertebral column of a python ; 

 a piece of it bound round the bodies of little children is said to 

 be an infallible preventive of colic and convulsions. A deluge 

 of rain occupied the remainder of the day and the night. 



When I asked my leaders to-day why Muambia's land is 

 totally depopulated, they said that there was in Uganda a 

 powerful magic called Jcampodi, and that when it spreads over 

 a land it depopulates it far and near. When I asked if this 

 magic affected the goats, cows, and house utensils, both gentle- . 

 men were silent. From this it appears as if Mtesa always 

 enveloped his plundering expeditions with a veil of mystery : 

 faith or superstition does indeed always go hand in hand with 

 cruelty. 



The signals for marching had been sounding since day- 

 break, but the rain prevented our starting for a long time, 

 and it was late when we were again making our way up and 

 down hill, on a road between blocks of granite. Here and 

 there tall grass, over ten feet high, formed a living wall on 

 both sides of the road ; but narrow paths indicated the presence 

 of gardens and plantations behind this wall. A broad, deep 

 swamp took up a long time, and was passed through with great 

 difficulty, and then began the ascent which leads to the village 

 of Kiti, near which rises the mountain of the same name. The 

 descent led to the little stream Babinge, which was, however, 

 swollen very high by the long-continued rain. Its ever-flow- 

 ing waters empty themselves into the Mian j a, the real source 

 of the great Khor Kafu. A little further on I found all my 

 porters collected in a banana grove, near some houses, each 

 with a huge piece of sugar-cane in the hand, and when I 

 requested them to move on, I was told that it was impossible, 

 because the country in front of us belonged to the king's wives, 

 and that no one was allowed to pass the night there, which, 

 being interpreted, probably means that no one is permitted to 

 plunder there. We were in consequence obliged to remain 

 here, and as our provisions were exhausted, I requested my 



