BANTU NEGROES 593 



establishment of the British Protectorate over the last-named country, in 

 addition to the loss of life there was a further drain on the population of 

 Unyoro by the large emigration which took place into the Acholi country 

 and across to Belgian territory on the west side of the Albert Nyanza. 



As if the misdoings of their fellow Negroes were not sufficient for their 

 misery and destruction, that Providence which so strangely afflicts the 

 African world visited this wretched country with appalling epidemics of 

 disease, with droughts which caused famines and floods which caused 

 fevers, new diseases starting or old ones reviving after the famine and the 

 flood. The bubonic plague which is always simmering in these countries 

 near the Victoria Nyanza has visited Unyoro repeatedly, having largely 

 brought about the depopulation of the Buruli sub-division. In Bugoma 

 and Bagaya dropsy has attacked large numbers of natives, who have also 

 been scourged with dysentery — dysentery of such a virulent type that the 

 natives put it down to witchcraft. Smallpox has swept the country once 

 or twice within recent years, clearing off several thousand of victims. 

 Unyoro is said to have a form of leprosy peculiar to itself (" bibembi "), 

 which is so contagious that it may be caught merely by breathing the 

 air surrounding the leprous person or by passing through dewy grass 

 where the leper has preceded. Syphilis, introduced in all probability i'rom 

 the Nile regions in the north (but a long while ago), is rife throughout 

 Unyoro. In the Bugoma forest the natives state that they suffer from a 

 malady which kills the skin and ultimately withers the nerves and 

 muscles. 



It is probable that all these diseases are simply the result of famine 

 and of such a disorganised state of society as has obliged wretched human 

 beings to live in the greatest discomfort, often herded together in small 

 and filthy caverns. It may be stated briefly that since the capture of 

 Kabarega in 1899 and the estabhshment of a settled Administration the 

 population of Unyoro has been rapidly advancing towards health and 

 prosperity. 



The original inhabitants of the Unyoro country* (putting aside the 

 possibility of the land having once been occupied by a Pygmy-Prognathous 



* It is perhaps advisable to mention that no native of this land calls it anything 

 but " Bunyoro." The term " Unyoro" is due to the fact that Speke, Grant, and Stanley, 

 and all the earlier explorers only spoke the Swahili language, and carried on all 

 their intercourse with the natives by means of Swahili interpreters. In the Swahili 

 language the " Bu-" prefix as also the " I.u-" prefix have both degenerated to "U-." 

 Thus a Swahili of Zanzibar speaks of Uganda instead of Buganda, Unyoro instead 

 of Bunyoro, Uddu instead of Buddu, and so on. British Governments are nearly 

 always on the side of illogical and incorrect spelling, and therefore it is hardly 

 necessary to say that Uganda and Unyoro have been perpetuated by the British 

 Government for all time. 



