308 THE GREAT JOURNEY FROM SEA TO SEA. 
the deceased monarch’s favorite women, who were prohibited even 
from seeing his successor. 
After Kimera’s death, the people proceeded to choose a king 
from among his many children, called '"Warrangira,” or princess. 
The king-elect was very young, and was separated from the others 
who were placed in a suite of huts under charge of a keeper. As 
soon as the young prince reached years of discretion, he was publicly 
made king, and at the same time all his brothers except two were 
burned to death. The two were allowed to live in case the new 
king should die before he had any sons, and also as companions for 
him. As soon as the line of direct succession was secured, one of 
the brothers was banished into Unyoro, and the other allowed to 
live in Uganda. 
A VERY POWERFUL KINGDOM. 
When Stanley saw Mtesa he was an elderly man, but when 
Captains Speke and Grant arrived in Uganda, he was about twenty- 
five years of age, and, although he had not been formally received 
as king, wielded a power as supreme as if he had passed through 
this ceremony. He was wise enough to keep up the system which 
had been bequeathed to him by his ancestors, and the Uganda king¬ 
dom was even more powerful in his time than it had been in the 
days of Kimera. A close acquaintance proved that his personal 
character was not a pleasant one, as indeed was likely when it is 
remembered that he has possessed illimitable power ever since he 
was quite a boy, and in consequence had never known contradiction. 
He was a very fine-looking young man, and possessed in per¬ 
fection the love of dress, which is so notable a feature in the char¬ 
acter of the Waganda. They are so fastidious in this respect, that 
for a man to appear untidily dressed before his superiors would 
entail severe punishment, while, if he dared to present himself before 
the king with the least disorder of apparel, immediate death would 
be the result. Even the royal pages, who rush about at full speed 
when performing their commissions, are obliged to hold their skin 
cloaks tightly round them lest any portion of a naked limb should 
present itself to the royal glance. 
