92 .A DESCRIPTION OF THE WANYORO. 



-Unyoro once formed, witli Usoga, Uganda, Uddu, and 

 Karagwa, one great country inhabited by the Wichwezi. Then, 

 people with a white skin came from the far north-east, and 

 crossed the river (Somerset Nile). Their number was very 

 great, and the inhabitants were afraid of them, for the white 

 people were valiabantu (man-eaters). When the strangers 

 had forded the river, they assembled in Matyum, a place still 

 existing to the south-east of Mruli, and determined to send 

 a column to Unyoro, and another to the south (Uganda, &c.) 

 to take possession of these countries. The intruders called 

 themselves " Wawitu," people of Wftu, a name still given to 

 the ruling families ; but the people called them " Wahiima," 

 men of the north ; in Uganda also " Walindi." They were and 

 are herdsmen, whereas the Wichwezi were cultivators of the 

 soil. As the Wawitu continually advanced, the Wichwezi 

 retired before them farther to the west, many of them being 

 drowned in the Mwutan-Nzige (slayer of locusts) or Albert Lake, 

 because they possessed no boats. The remainder were enslaved, 

 and from their intermixture with the new comers sprang the 

 present light-coloured race. Where the immigrants have kept 

 their race pure, they are still quite white, as in Toru and 

 Gambalagala ; where the Wichwezi have remained pure — and 

 many of them still wander over the country as minstrels and 

 magicians — they are quite black. The immigrants adopted the 

 language of the aborigines, but to the present day speak among 

 themselves the language of the Wahiima. In Unyoro the 

 name Wichwezi is now synonymous with bondman, just as in 

 Uganda the word " Muddu " (inhabitants of Udclu), now denotes 

 a slave. I give the foregoing narrative exactly as I have heard 

 it in conversation here, and at the same time I am constrained 

 to do full justice to the account given by my predecessor, Speke, 

 whose work is beyond all praise. 



In primeval times, say the Wanyoro, people were numerous 

 on the earth. They never died, but lived for ever. But as 

 they became presumptuous, and offered no gifts to the " great 

 Magician," who rules the destinies of men, he grew angry, and, 

 throwing the whole vault of heaven down upon the earth, killed 

 them all. But in order not to leave the earth desolate, the 

 " great Magician " sent down a man and a woman " from 



