Many of the women and children had been carried off
by a neighbouring tribe, called the Berri, on the east of the Nile. The
sheik therefore proposed that I should join him with my troops and
capture all the women and children that belonged to his enemies. This
was natural enough, and was a simple example of the revenge that is
common to uneducated human nature. The sheik and I got on famously, and
I found a good listener, to whom I preached a touching sermon upon the
horrors of the slave trade, which I was resolved to suppress.
The good man was evidently moved at the allusion to the forcible
separation of children from their parents.
"Have you a son?" he asked.
"My sons are, unfortunately, dead," I replied.
"Indeed!" he exclaimed. "I have a son - an only son. He is a nice boy - a
very good boy; about so high (showing his length upon the handle of his
spear). I should like you to see my boy - he is very thin now; but if he
should remain with you he would soon get fat. He's a really nice boy,
and always hungry. You'll be so fond of him; he'll eat from morning till
night; and still he'll be hungry. You'll like him amazingly; he'll give
you no trouble if you only give him plenty to eat. He'll lie down and go
to sleep, and he'll wake up hungry again. He's a good boy, indeed; and
he's my only son. I'll sell him to you for a molote! (native iron
spade)."
The result of my sermon on the slave trade, addressed to this
affectionate father, was quite appalling. I was offered his only son in
exchange for a spade! and this young nigger knave of spades was
warranted to remain always hungry.
I simply give this anecdote as it occurred without asserting that such
conduct is the rule. At the same time, there can be no doubt that among
the White Nile tribes any number of male children might be purchased
from their parents - especially in seasons of scarcity.
Girls are always purchased, if required, as wives. It would be quite
impossible to obtain a wife for love from any tribe that I have visited.
"Blessed is he that hath his quiver full of them" (daughters). A large
family of girls is a source of wealth to the father, as he sells each
daughter for twelve or fifteen cows to her suitor. Every girl is certain
to marry; thus a dozen daughters will bring a fortune of at least 150
cows to their parents in all pastoral countries.
In Unyoro, cattle are scarce, and they belong to the king; therefore the
girls are purchased for various commodities - such as brass-coil
bracelets, bark-cloths, cotton shirts, ivory, &c.
I was anxious to establish a new and legitimate system of trade in this
country, which would be the first step towards a higher civilization. I
accordingly devoted every energy to the completion of the station, in
which we were assisted by the natives, under the direction of their
various headmen.
The order and organization of Unyoro were a great contrast to the want
of cohesion of the northern tribes. Every district throughout the
country was governed by a chief, who was responsible to the king for the
state of his province. This system was extended to sub-governors and a
series of lower officials in every district, who were bound to obey the
orders of the lord-lieutenant. Thus every province bad a responsible
head, that could be at once cut off should disloyalty or other signs of
bad government appear in a certain district.
In the event of war, every governor could appear, together with his
contingent of armed men, at a short notice.
These were the rules of government that had been established for many
generations throughout Unyoro.
The civil war had ceased, and Kabba Rega having ascended the throne, the
country had again fallen into the order that a previous good
organization rendered easy.
The various headmen of the district now appeared daily, with their men
laden with thatch grass and canes for the construction of the station.
I commenced a government house, and a private dwelling adjoining for
myself.
On my first arrival at Masindi I had begged Kabba Rega to instruct his
people to clear away about fifty acres of grass around our station, and
to break up the ground for cultivation, as I wished my troops to sow and
reap their own corn, instead of living at the expense of the natives.
The system, both in Uganda and Unyoro, is bad and unjust.
Should visitors arrive, they are not allowed to purchase food from the
people, but they must be fed by the king's order at the cost of the
inhabitants. This generally results in their not being fed at all, as
the natives quit the neighbourhood.
I had suffered much from hunger in Unyoro, during my former visit, in
the reign of Kamrasi; therefore I wished to protect myself against
famine by a timely cultivation of the surrounding fertile land, which
was now covered with rank grass about nine feet high.
In a military point of view it was impolitic to sit down within a
station incircled by a dense grass covert, and although I had not the
most remote suspicion of hostility in this country, I preferred a
situation whence we could enjoy an extensive landscape.
The Albert N'yanza lay distant about twenty miles on the west, in the
deep basin which characterizes this extraordinary sheet of water.
Immense volumes of cloud rose in the early morning from the valley which
marked the course of the lake, as the evaporation from the great surface
of water condensed into mist, when it rose to the cooler atmosphere of
the plateau 1,500 feet above the level.
