108 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



administer the country, and explaining things as 

 well as I could. 



In the light of recent information, it is obvious 

 that this story of a wish to send ivory through our 

 territory is an effect of the Belgian fighting in the 

 north-west Congo region. Sefu, who was probably 

 killed soon after sending this message, was hemmed 

 in by the Ruanda on the east and Belgians on the 

 west and south, and probably thought he could 

 find an outlet to the north-east. If a European 

 had been there at the time, it might have been 

 possible to open up a new commercial road. 



So far as I can gather, the nobility of Kasagama 

 are the remnants of the great Wahima invasion 

 which apparently travelled up the Nile from 

 Abyssinia via Ankole and Karagwe to the borders 

 of Uhha, Unyamwesi, and Urundi. This raid 

 appears to have been definitely checked at 

 Buhimba and Kakaruka, where small colonies, 

 probably the nearest approximation to the pure 

 descendants of these invaders, may now be found. 

 They left in Toru a very considerable number of 

 headmen, who have been placed as chiefs over 

 the various Wakondja villages along the east and 

 south-east. 



In the Appendix I have given a list of the more 

 important chiefs, which does not, however, pretend 

 to be complete. The more important of these are 

 small kings, with an almost unlimited power in 

 their own district, as can be realised by the follow- 

 ing story : — 



