720 BANTU NEGROES 



landed, they took ofif all clothing, and wrapped round tlieir arms and 

 necks ropes made of green creepers and leaves. Arrived at the base of 

 the tree they commenced to dance with figures not unlike those of a 

 quadrille, the dancing being accompanied liy songs only. No drums or 

 other instruments were played. After dancing for a certain time they 

 stopped, and a little girl was brought forward, about ten years old. Ihis 

 child was laid out at the base of the tree as though she was to be 

 sacrificed, and every detail of tlie sacrifice was gone through in mock 

 fashion. A slight incision was made in the child's neck, but not such as 

 to seriously hurt her. She was then caught up and thrown into the water 

 of the lake close at hand. Here a man was standing ready to save her 

 from being drowned. The girl on whom this ceremony was };erformed 

 was, my informant learnt, dedicated by native custom to a life of 

 perpetual virginity. 



The Basoga regard with a certain degree of superstitious re\-erence 

 white bulls with black spots. These are regarded as sacred cattle, and 

 are allowed to wander at will about the plantations. 



Christianity is now making some progress in the western part of 

 Busoga. Muhamnradanism has but few adherents. Nevertheless, Islam, 

 coming from the Nile and from Zanzibar, has made se\-eral attempts at 

 proselytism in Busoga. The great idea of the Sudanese mutineers was to 

 create a Muhammadan kingdom in Busoga in case Uganda should prove 

 too hard a nut to crack. They would hereafter have established a 

 connection between the IMuhammadans on the Upper Nile and those 

 who (would then have) commanded the northern shores of the ^'ictoria 

 Nyanza. 



The Basoga have suffered terribly of late years from occasional 

 famines and epidemics of disease. The famines have been due to 

 unusual droughts which have afHicted a country ordinarily blessed with 

 fifty to seventy inches of annual rain. The heavy rainfall however, is, 

 much confined to the vicinity of the lake shores, and at distances of forty 

 or fifty miles from the coast of the A'ictoria Nyanza the dense forest 

 yields to a prairie country where, the sun's rays are very scorching. The 

 least decrease in the rainfall below fifty inches is prejudicial to the 

 bearing of the banana, and as the Basoga, like the Baganda, rely too 

 much on this easily jiroduced food, when the banana fails they have not 

 suflScient staple in other produce to fall back on. But the race is being 

 saved, and the ravages of disease and famine made good in some districts, 

 by a few notable chiefs who are marvellous getters of children. The 

 great chief Luba, who resides near Fort Thruston, and who was the 

 unwilling instrument in the murder of Bishop Hannington, is still a 

 vigorous man of perhaps sixty, and has had more than a hundred 



