In the old days the Baganda, like other African people, thought there
were spirits in all the rivers and lakes and trees and everywhere,
which could help or hurt men. The chief spirit they feared and to
whom they offered sacrifice was the spirit of their lake, Victoria
Nyanza. Their witch-doctors told the people when they thought this
spirit was pleased or angry. These witch-doctors were often bad and
cruel, and really cared more about getting all the power they could
over the king and people than for anything else. Sometimes they said
that people must be killed as a sacrifice to the Spirit of the Lake.
When Europeans first went to Uganda, a few went to trade, but most
went to teach the Baganda about the Christians' God. Many boys went
to their school near Mengo and were taught. But the witch-doctors
grew frightened and persuaded the king to drive away all the
Europeans, and to kill the Baganda who would not worship the Lake
Spirit because they were Christians. Mutesa the king did this,
killing the Christian Baganda boys very cruelly by burning them to
death, and killing the European, Bishop Hannington, when he came. But
in a few years there were more Christians than before, and now in
Uganda the king and nearly all the chiefs and people are Christians,
as well as many of the tribes living near them to whom the Baganda
have sent teachers. All through the Christian African kingdom there
are schools and hospitals. The Baganda were always strong, and now so
many are Christians they have stopped fighting the other tribes and
killing and making slaves, and instead they spend their time learning
to make useful and beautiful things, which make their homes happier
and more comfortable to live in. They quickly learn all they can from
Europeans and Indians, and to-day, in Mengo and in the other large
towns of Uganda, there are trains and motor-cars and stores, while
steamers on the lake bring European and Indian things quickly from the
coast towns. There are many Europeans and Indians living in Uganda,
and this is a good thing, because when many people of different races
meet, they learn from one another and so grow wiser.