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BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 
blood into that of the native tribes, and built up a political system far 
in advance of that native to the land. From this infusion the people 
on the west and northwest of the lake gained a refinement of manners 
and a culture far in advance of those on the opposite side of the lake. 
Yet the mingling of races has been so complete, and the negro element 
in it so much in excess, that the modern people of Uganda differ from 
ordinary negroes in appearance only by having larger and clearer 
eyes and slightly paler skins. 
To show that the conditions now existing in Uganda are not due 
to civilized ideas received from the English, it will be of interest to 
quote from the first visit of a white man to the court of Uganda, that 
of Captain Speke, in 1862. 
Setting out on January 11, in three days the caravan reached and 
crossed the Kitangule River, which flows into the Victoria Nyanza 
from the west. They were now in Uganda territory, and were treated 
everywhere as the king’s guests, though the indolence of the conductor 
delayed them greatly in the earlier marches. On the 28th, cresting 
a small hill, Speke caught sight of the lake for the first time. “Next 
day, after crossing more of those abominable rush-drains, while in 
sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills 
covered with verdure of all descriptions. At Meruka, where I put up, 
there resided some grandees, the chief of whom was the king’s aunt. 
She sent me a goat, a hen, a basket of eggs and some plantains, in 
return for which I sent her a wire and some beads. I felt inclined 
to stop here a month, everything was so very pleasant. The tempera¬ 
ture was perfect. The roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were 
as broad as our coach-roads, cut through the long grasses, straight 
over the hills and down through the woods in the dells—a strange 
contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries. The 
huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found with 
them—the gardens the same. Wherever I strolled I saw nothing but 
richness, and what ought to be wealth. The whole land was a picture 
of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background. Looking 
over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period the whole 
land must have been at a uniform level with their present tops, but 
that, by the constant denudation it was subjected to by frequent rains, 
