UGANDA AND WEST SIDE OF VICTORIA NYANZA. 257 
herds of cattle, and many minute specks, white and 
black, which can be nothing but flocks of sheep and 
goats. I can also see pale blue columns of ascending 
smoke from the fires, and upright thin figures moving 
about. Secure on my lofty throne, I can view their 
movements, and laugh at the ferocity of the savage 
hearts which beat in those thin dark figures ; for I am a 
part of Nature now, and for the present as invulnerable 
as itself. As little do they know that human eyes 
survey their forms from the summit of this lake-girt 
isle as that the eyes of the Supreme in heaven are upon 
them. How long, I wonder, shall the people of these 
lands remain thus ignorant of Him who created the 
gorgeous sunlit world they look upon each day from 
their lofty upland ? How long shall their untamed 
ferocity be a barrier to the Gospel, and how long shall 
they remain unvisited by the Teacher ? 
What a land they possess ! and what an inland sea ! 
How steamers afloat on the lake might cause Ururi to 
shake hands with Uzongora, and Uganda with Usuku- 
ma, make the wild Wavuma friends with the Wazinza, 
and unite the Wakerewe with the Wagana ? A great 
trading port might then spring up on the Shimeeyu, 
whence the coffee of Uzongora, the ivory, sheep, and 
goats of Ugeyeya, Usoga, Uvuma, and Uganda, the 
cattle of Uwya, Karagwe, Usagara, Ihangiro, and Usu- 
kuma, the myrrh, cassia, and furs and hides of Uganda 
and Uddu, the rice of Ukerewe, and the grain of Uzinza, 
might be exchanged for the fabrics brought from the 
coast ; all the land be redeemed from wildness, the 
industry and energy of the natives stimulated, the 
havoc of the slave-trade stopped, and all the countries 
round about permeated with the nobler ethics of a 
higher humanity. But at present the hands of the 
people are lifted— murder in their hearts — one against 
the other ; ferocity is kindled at sight of the wayfarer ; 
piracy is the acknowledged profession of the Wavuma ; 
the people of Ugeyeya and Wasoga go stark naked ; 
Mtesa impales, burns, and maims his victims ; the 
Wirigedi lie in wait along their shores for the stranger* 
VOL. it. S 
