64 MRULI TO THE CAPITAL OF UNYORO. 



to them. I had taken with me Speke's book, in order to astonish 

 the king ; and as I showed him his father, Kamrasi, * in it, as 

 well as other pictures, especially the one of the famous dwarf 

 Kimenya, who died several years ago, the pleasure of those 

 present knew no bounds. Two small men, but certainly not 

 dwarfs, were immediately led before me, one of whom, a 

 regular hump-back, formed a subject for the company's hilarity. 

 Hump-backed people, it appears, are not uncommon here; they 

 are called oibango. The conversation turned to the subject 

 of white and coloured people ; and in order to prove that 

 light-coloured persons also exist here, a lanky young man 

 was introduced to me, who was distinguished by the yellow 

 ground-colour of his skin. He was offered to me as a present, 

 but was declined with thanks. The production of white chil- 

 dren (albinos) by black parents is certainly not uncommon, 

 but there is no question of their having anything to do with 

 the marriage between blood relations, notwithstanding Linant 

 de Bellefond's assertion that Mtesa believed this to be the 

 cause. The latter probably heard such an opinion from Euro- 

 peans. In this country brothers marry their sisters without 

 producing albinos. Albinos are supposed to bring with them 

 misfortune, and are therefore not considered to be of equal 

 birth with their brothers and sisters. I had an opportunity 

 subsequently in Uganda of examining carefully an albino girl. 

 I shall therefore refer to this subject again. The presence of 

 white people in Uganda is denied there, but still Albinos are 

 found there ; and I could only hear of one white man who had 

 tried to go to Kukanda, but had not succeeded — probably 

 Stanley. 



As on the 8th of October Kabrega again sent me supplies. 

 I called to thank him, and was taken to his private house, 

 where I, for the first time, found him clothed in Arab dress, 

 and I chatted with him in Arabic. The fat women whom I 

 saw on this occasion came up in all points to the description 

 of Speke and Grant, those reliable and conscientious travellers, 

 who saw similar fat women in Kardgwa. Such a custom as 

 this of fattening up the king's wives says more than all else 

 for the original unity of these countries, or at least goes 

 to prove the same origin of the rulers ; the ruler of Uganda 



