V 
UGANDA 
59 
use as charms to ward off evil spirits. Necklaces and 
bracelets are worn in a becoming manner and these 
people do not circumcise, nor disfigure their bodies by 
keloid scars. They do not file or knock out the incisor 
teeth, nor work the hair into grotesque or fantastic 
shapes. 
It is an extraordinary change to pass from the 
Province of Kisumu, where the Kavirondo men and 
women walk about more naked than our apple-loving 
parents in the Garden of Eden, and enter Uganda, 
where the natives exhibit the most scrupulous regard 
for outward decency. This astonished Speke, for he 
tells us in his account of Uganda (1863) that Mutesa 
inflicted a heavy fine on courtiers who exposed their 
lesjs in his presence, but he was not so particular in 
regard to women. His valets were young women who 
used to walk about the palace naked like the Kavirondo 
girls. When Speke entered Uganda his donkey was 
regarded as indecent without trousers. 
It is noteworthy that a negro people so punctilious 
in outward decency especially in regard to clothes, and 
strictly covering the body from neck to ankle, should 
be considered among the most immoral of the African 
races. The word Baganda is almost synonymous with 
sensuality, debauchery, and drunkenness. In Uganda, 
syphilis is almost universal. This terrible opinion is 
supported by reliable medical men and the testimony of 
bishops. 
Sir Harry Johnston states on the authority of Mon- 
signeur Streicher that in Mutesa’s reign the population 
of the Kingdom of Uganda approached 4,000,000. In 
1901 it was estimated at little more than 1,000,000. 
This decrease is partly due to the massacres which took 
place between 1860 and 1898, especially under Mutesa 
and Mwanga. 
Human life had little value in Mutesa’s court. Speke 
gave this Kabaka some firearms and at his request shot 
