The Abyssinians and Gallas--Theory of Conquest of Inferior by Superior
Races--The Wahuma and the Kingdom of Kittara--Legendary History of the
Kingdom of Uganda--Its Constitution, and the Ceremonials of the Court.
The reader has now had my experience of several of the minor states, and
has presently to be introduced to Uganda, the most powerful state in the
ancient but now divided great kingdom of Kittara. I shall have to record
a residence of considerable duration at the court there; and, before
entering on it, I propose to state my theory of the ethnology of
that part of Africa inhabited by the people collectively styled
Wahuma--otherwise Gallas or Abyssinians. My theory is founded on the
traditions of the several nations, as checked by my own observations of
what I saw when passing through them. It appears impossible to believe,
judging from the physical appearance of the Wahuma, that they can be of
any other race than the semi-Shem-Hamitic of Ethiopia. The traditions
of the imperial government of Abyssinia go as far back as the scriptural
age of King David, from whom the late reigning king of Abyssinia, Sahela
Selassie, traced his descent.
Most people appear to regard the Abyssinians as a different race
from the Gallas, but, I believe, without foundation. Both alike are
Christians of the greatest antiquity. It is true that, whilst
the aboriginal Abyssinians in Abyssinia proper are more commonly
agriculturists, the Gallas are chiefly a pastoral people; but I conceive
that the two may have had the same relations with each other which I
found the Wahuma kings and Wahuma herdsmen holding with the agricultural
Wazinza in Uzinza, the Wanyambo in Karague, the Waganda in Uganda, and
the Wanyoro in Unyoro.
In these countries the government is in the hands of foreigners, who
had invaded and taken possession of them, leaving the agricultural
aborigines to till the ground, whilst the junior members of the usurping
clans herded cattle--just as in Abyssinia, or wherever the Abyssinians
or Gallas have shown themselves. There a pastoral clan from the Asiatic
side took the government of Abyssinia from its people and have ruled
over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage with the Africans,
the texture of their hair and colour to a certain extent, but still
maintaining a high stamp of Asiatic feature, of which a market
characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose.
It may be presumed that there once existed a foreign but compact
government in Abyssinia, which, becoming great and powerful, sent out
armies on all sides of it, especially to the south, south-east, and
west, slave-hunting and devastating wherever they went, and in process
of time becoming too great for one ruler to control. Junior members of
the royal family then, pushing their fortunes, dismembered themselves
from the parent stock, created separate governments, and, for reasons
which cannot be traced, changed their names. In this manner we may
suppose that the Gallas separated from the Abyssinians, and located
themselves to the south of their native land.
Other Abyssinians, or possibly Gallas--it matters not which they were or
what we call them--likewise detaching themselves, fought in the Somali
country, subjugated that land, were defeated to a certain extent by the
Arabs from the opposite continent, and tried their hands south as far as
the Jub river, where they also left many of their numbers behind. Again
they attacked Omwita (the present Mombas), were repulsed, were lost
sight of in the interior of the continent, and, crossing the Nile close
to its source, discovered the rich pasture-lands of Unyoro, and founded
the great kingdom of Kittara, where they lost their religion, forgot
their language, extracted their lower incisors like the natives, changed
their national name to Wahuma, and no longer remembered the names
of Hubshi or Galla--though even the present reigning kings retain a
singular traditional account of their having once been half white and
half black, with hair on the white side straight, and on the black
side frizzly. It was a curious indication of the prevailing idea still
entertained by them of their foreign extraction, that it was surmised
in Unyoro that the approach of us white men into their country from both
sides at once, augured an intention on our part to take back the country
from them. Believing, as they do, that Africa formerly belonged to
Europeans, from whom it was taken by negroes with whom they had allied
themselves, the Wahuma make themselves a small residue of the original
European stock driven from the land--an idea which seems natural enough
when we consider that the Wahuma are, in numbers, quite insignificant
compared with the natives.
Again, the princes of Unyoro are called Wawitu, and point to the north
when asked where their country Uwitu is situated, doubtfully saying,
when questioned about its distance, "How can we tell circumstances which
took place in our forefathers' times? we only think it is somewhere
near your country." Although, however, this very interesting people, the
Wahuma, delight in supposing themselves to be of European origin, they
are forced to confess, on closer examination, that although they came in
the first instance from the doubtful north, they came latterly from
the east, as part of a powerful Wahuma tribe, beyond Kidi, who excel in
arms, and are so fierce no Kidi people, terrible in war as these too are
described to be, can stand against them. This points, if our maps are
true, to the Gallas--for all pastorals in these people's minds are
Wahuma; and if we could only reconcile ourselves to the belief that the
Wawitu derived their name from Omwita, the last place they attacked
on the east coast of Africa, then all would be clear: for it must be
noticed the Wakama, or kings, when asked to what race they owe their
origin, invariably reply, in the first place, from princes--giving, for
instance, the titles Wawitu in Unyoro, and Wahinda in Karague--which
is most likely caused by their never having been asked such a close
question before, whilst the idiom of the language generally induces them
to call themselves after the name applied to their country.
So much for ethnological conjecture. Let us now deal with the Wahuma
since they crossed the Nile and founded the kingdom of Kittara, a large
tract of land bounded by the Victoria N'yanza and Kitangule Kagera or
River on the south, the Nile on the east, the Little Luta-Nzige Lake
[15] on the north, and the kingdoms of Utubi and Nkole on the west.
The general name Kittara is gradually becoming extinct, and is seldom
applied to any but the western portions; whilst the north-eastern, in
which the capital is situated, is called Unyoro, and the other, Uddu
apart from Uganda, as we shall presently see.
Nobody has been able to inform us how many generations old the Wahuma
government of Unyoro is. The last three kings are Chiawambi, N'yawongo,
and the present king Kamrasi. In very early times dissensions amongst
the royal family, probably contending for the crown, such as we presume
must have occurred in Abyssinia, separated the parent stock, and drove
the weaker to find refuge in Nkole, where a second and independent
government of Wahuma was established. Since then, twenty generations
ago, it is said the Wahuma government of Karague was established in the
same manner. The conspirator Rohinda fled from Kittara to Karague with a
large party of Wahuma; sought the protection of Nono, who, a Myambo,
was king over the Wanyambo of that country; ingratiated himself and
his followers with the Wanyambo; and, finally, designing a crown for
himself, gave a feast, treacherously killed King Nono in his cups, and
set himself on the throne, the first mkama or king who ruled in Karague.
Rohinda was succeeded by Ntare, then Rohinda II., then Ntare II., which
order only changed with the eleventh reign, when Rusatira ascended the
throne, and was succeeded by Mehinga, then Kalimera, then Ntare VII.,
then Rohinda VI., then Dagara, and now Rumanika. During this time the
Wahuma were well south of the equator, and still destined to spread.
Brothers again contended for the crown of their father, and the weaker
took refuge in Uzinza, where the fourth Wahuma government was created,
and so remained under one king until the last generation, when King Ruma
died, and his two sons, Rohinda, the eldest, and Suwarora, contended
for the crown, but divided the country between them, Rohinda taking the
eastern half, and Suwarora the western, at the instigation of the late
King Dagara of Karague.
This is the most southerly kingdom of the Wahuma, though not the
farthest spread of its people, for we find the Watusi, who are emigrants
from Karague of the same stock, overlooking the Tanganyika Lake from
the hills of Uhha, and tending their cattle all over Unyamuezi under the
protection of the native negro chiefs; and we also hear that the Wapoka
of Fipa, south of the Rukwa Lake are the same. How or when their name
became changed from Wahuma to Watusi no one is able to explain; but,
again deducing the past from the present, we cannot help suspecting
that, in the same way as this change has taken place, the name Galla
may have been changed from Hubshi, and Wahuma from Gallas. But though
in these southern regions the name of the clan has been changed, the
princes still retain the title of Wahinda as in Karague, instead of
Wawitu as in Unyoro, and are considered of such noble breed that many
of the pure negro chiefs delight in saying, I am a Mhinda, or prince, to
the confusion of travellers, which confusion is increased by the Wahuma
habits of conforming to the regulations of the different countries they
adopt. For instance, the Wahuma of Uganda and Karague, though so close
to Unyoro, do not extract their lower incisors; and though the Wanyoro
only use the spear in war, the Wahuma in Karague are the most expert
archers in Africa. We are thus left only the one very distinguishing
mark, the physical appearance of this remarkable race, partaking even
more of the phlegmatic nature of the Shemitic father than the nervous
boisterous temperament of the Hamitic mother, as a certain clue to their
Shem-Hamitic origin.
It remains to speak of the separation of Uddu from Unyoro, the
present kingdom of Uganda--which, to say the least of it, is extremely
interesting, inasmuch as the government there is as different from the
other surrounding countries as those of Europe are compared to Asia.
In the earliest times the Wahuma of Unyoro regarded all their lands
bordering on the Victoria Lake as their garden, owing to its exceeding
fertility, and imposed the epithet of Wiru, or slaves, upon its people,
because they had to supply the imperial government with food and
clothing. Coffee was conveyed to the capital by the Wiru, also mbugu
(bark-cloaks), from an inexhaustible fig-tree; in short, the lands of
the Wiru were famous for their rich productions.
Now Wiru in the northern dialect changes to Waddu in the southern; hence
Uddu, the land of the slaves, which remained in one connected line from
the Nile to the Kitangule Kagera until eight generations back, when,
according to tradition, a sportsman from Unyoro, by name Uganda, came
with a pack of dogs, a woman, a spear, and a shield, hunting on the left
bank of Katonga valley, not far from the lake. He was but a poor man,
though so successful in hunting that vast numbers of the Wiru flocked
to him for flesh, and became so fond of him as to invite him to be their
king, saying, "Of what avail to us is our present king, living so far
away that when we sent him a cow as a tributary offering, that cow on
the journey gave a calf, and the calf became a cow and gave another
calf, and so on, and yet the present has not reached its destination?"
At first Uganda hesitated, on the plea that they had a king already,
but on being farther pressed consented; when the people hearing his name
said, "Well, let it be so; and for the future let this country between
the Nile and Katonga be called Uganda, and let your name be Kimera, the
first king of Uganda."
The same night Kimera stood upon a stone with a spear in his hand, and
a woman and dog sitting by his side; and to this day people assert that
his footprints and the mark left by his spear-end, as well as the seats
of the woman and dog, are visible. The report of these circumstances
soon reached the great king of Unyoro, who, in his magnificence, merely
said, "The poor creature must be starving; allow him to feed there if
he likes." The kings who have succeeded Kimera are: 1. Mahanda; 2.
Katereza; 3. Chabago; 4. Simakokiro; 5. Kamanya; 6. Sunna; 7. Mtesa, not
yet crowned.
These kings have all carried on the same system of government as that
commenced by Kimera, and proved themselves a perfect terror to Unyoro,
as we shall see in the sequel. Kimera, suddenly risen to eminence, grew
proud and headstrong--formed a strong clan around him, whom he appointed
to be his Wakunga, or officers--rewarded well, punished severely, and
soon became magnificent. Nothing short of the grandest palace, a throne
to sit upon, the largest harem, the smartest officers, the best dressed
people, even a menagerie for pleasure--in fact, only the best of
everything--would content him. Fleets of boats, not canoes, were built
for war, and armies formed, that the glory of the king might never
decrease. In short, the system of government, according to barbarous
ideas was perfect. Highways were cut from one extremity of the country
to the other, and all rivers bridged. No house could be built without
its necessary appendages for cleanliness; no person, however poor, could
expose his person; and to disobey these laws was death.
After the death of Kimera, the prosperity of Uganda never decreased,
but rather improved. The clan of officers formed by him were as proud of
their emancipation from slavery, as the king they had created was of his
dominion over them. They buried Kimera with state honours, giving charge
of the body to the late king's most favourite consort, whose duty it was
to dry the corpse by placing it on a board resting on the mouth of an
earthen open pot heated by fire from below. When this drying process was
completed, at the expiration of three months, the lower jaw was cut out
and neatly worked over with beads; the umbilical cord, which had been
preserved from birth, was also worked with beads. These were kept apart,
but the body was consigned to a tomb, and guarded ever after by this
officer and a certain number of the king's next most favourite women,
all of whom planted gardens for their maintenance, and were restricted
from seeing the succeeding king.
By his large establishment of wives, Kimera left a number of princes or
Warangira, and as many princesses. From the Warangira the Wakunga
now chose as their king the one whom they thought best suited for the
government of the country--not of too high rank by the mother's side,
lest their selection in his pride should kill them all, but one of low
birth. The rest were placed with wives in a suite of huts, under charge
of a keeper, to prevent any chance of intrigues and dissensions. They
were to enjoy life until the prince-elect should arrive at the age of
discretion and be crowned, when all but two of the princes would be
burnt to death, the two being reserved in case of accident as long
as the king wanted brother companions, when one would be banished to
Unyoro, and the other pensioned with suitable possessions in Uganda. The
mother of the king by this measure became queen-dowager, or N'yamasore.
She halved with her son all the wives of the deceased king not stationed
at his grave, taking second choice; kept up a palace only little
inferior to her son's with large estates, guided the prince-elect in the
government of the country, and remained until the end of his minority
the virtual ruler of the land; at any rate, no radical political changes
could take place without her sanction. The princesses became the wives
of the king; no one else could marry them.
Both mother and son had their Ktikiros or commander-in-chief, also
titled Kamraviona, as well as other officers of high rank. Amongst
them in due order of gradation are the Ilmas, a woman who had the
good fortune to have cut the umbilical cord at the king's birth; the
Sawaganzi, queen's sister and king's barber; Kaggao, Polino, Sakibobo,
Kitunzi, and others, governors of provinces; Jumab, admiral of the
fleet; Kasugu, guardian of the king's sister; Mkuenda, factor; Kunsa
and Usungu, first and second class executioners; Mgemma, commissioner in
charge of tombs; Seruti, brewer; Mfumbiro, cook; numerous pages to run
messages and look after the women, and minor Wakungu in hundreds. One
Mkungu is always over the palace, in command of the Wanagalali, or
guards which are changed monthly; another is ever in attendance as
seizer of refractory persons. There are also in the palace almost
constantly the Wanangalavi, or drummers; Nsase, pea-gourd rattlers;
Milele, flute-players; Mukonderi, clarionet-players; also players
on wooden harmonicons and lap-harps, to which the players sing
accompaniments; and, lastly, men who whistle on their fingers--for music
is half the amusement of these courts. Everybody in Uganda is expected
to keep spears, shields and dogs, the Uganda arms and cognisance; whilst
the Wakungu are entitled to drums. There is also a Neptune Mgussa, or
spirit, who lives in the depths of the N'yanza, communicates through the
medium of his temporal Mkungu, and guides to a certain extent the naval
destiny of the king.
It is the duty of all officers, generally speaking, to attend at court
as constantly as possible; should they fail, they forfeit their lands,
wives, and all belongings. These will be seized and given to others more
worthy of them; as it is presumed that either insolence or disaffection
can be the only motive which would induce any person to absent himself
for any length of time from the pleasure of seeing his sovereign.
Tidiness in dress is imperatively necessary, and for any neglect of
this rule the head may be the forfeit. The punishment for such offences,
however, may be commuted by fines of cattle, goats, fowls, or brass
wire. All acts of the king are counted benefits, for which he must be
thanked; and so every deed done to his subjects is a gift received by
them, though it should assume the shape of flogging or fine; for are
not these, which make better men of them, as necessary as anything? The
thanks are rendered by gravelling on the ground, floundering about
and whining after the manner of happy dogs, after which they rise
up suddenly, take up sticks--spears are not allowed to be carried in
court--make as if charging the king, jabbering as fast as tongues can
rattle, and so they swear fidelity for all their lives.
This is the greater salutation; the lesser one is performed kneeling
in an attitude of prayer, continually throwing open the hands, and
repeating sundry words. Among them the word "n'yanzig" is the most
frequent and conspicuous; and hence these gesticulations receive the
general designation n'yanzig--a term which will be frequently met with,
and which I have found it necessary to use like an English verb. In
consequence of these salutations, there is more ceremony in court
than business, though the king, ever having an eye to his treasury,
continually finds some trifling fault, condemns the head of the culprit,
takes his liquidation-present, if he has anything to pay, and thus keeps
up his revenue.
No one dare stand before the king whilst he is either standing still or
sitting, but must approach him with downcast eyes and bended knees, and
kneel or sit when arrived. To touch the king's throne or clothes, even
by accident, or to look upon his women is certain death. When sitting
in court holding a levee, the king invariably has in attendance several
women, Wabandwa, evil-eye averters or sorcerers. They talk in feigned
voices raised to a shrillness almost amounting to a scream. They wear
dried lizards on their heads, small goat-skin aprons trimmed with little
bells, diminutive shields and spears set off with cock-hackles--their
functions in attendance being to administer cups of marwa (plantain
wine). To complete the picture of the court, one must imagine a crowd of
pages to run royal messages; they dare not walk for such deficiency in
zeal to their master might cost their life. A further feature of the
court consists in the national symbols already referred to--a dog, two
spears, and shield.
With the company squatting in large half-circle or three sides of a
square many deep before him, in the hollow of which are drummers and
other musicians, the king, sitting on his throne in high dignity, issues
his orders for the day much to the following effect:--"Cattle, women,
and children are short in Uganda; an army must be formed of one to two
thousand strong, to plunder Unyoro. The Wasoga have been insulting his
subjects, and must be reduced to subjection: for this emergency another
army must be formed, of equal strength, to act by land in conjunction
with the fleet. The Wahaiya have paid no tribute to his greatness lately
and must be taxed." For all these matters the commander-in-chief tells
off the divisional officers, who are approved by the king, and the
matter is ended in court. The divisional officers then find subordinate
officers, who find men, and the army proceeds with its march. Should
any fail with their mission, reinforcements are sent, and the runaways,
called women, are drilled with a red-hot iron until they are men no
longer, and die for their cowardice., All heroism, however, ensures
promotion. The king receives his army of officers with great ceremony,
listens to their exploits, and gives as rewards, women, cattle, and
command over men--the greatest elements of wealth in Uganda--with a
liberal hand.
As to the minor business transacted in court, culprits are brought in
bound by officers, and reported. At once the sentence is given, perhaps
awarding the most torturous, lingering death--probably without trial or
investigation, and, for all the king knows, at the instigation of some
one influenced by wicked spite. If the accused endeavour to plead his
defence, his voice is at once drowned, and the miserable victim dragged
off in the roughest manner possible by those officers who love their
king, and delight in promptly carrying out his orders. Young virgins,
the daughters of Wakungu, stark naked, and smeared with grease, but
holding, for decency's sake, a small square of mbugu at the upper
corners in both hands before them, are presented by their fathers in
propitiation for some offence, and to fill the harem. Seizing-officers
receive orders to hunt down Wakungu who have committed some
indiscretions, and to confiscate their lands, wives, children, and
property. An officer observed to salute informally is ordered for
execution, when everybody near him rises in an instant, the drums beat,
drowning his cries, and the victim of carelessness is dragged off, bound
by cords, by a dozen men at once. Another man, perhaps, exposes an
inch of naked leg whilst squatting, or has his mbugu tied contrary to
regulations, and is condemned to the same fate.
Fines of cows, goats, and fowls are brought in and presented; they are
smoothed down by the offender's hands, and then applied to his face,
to show there is no evil spirit lurking in the gift; then thanks are
proferred for the leniency of the king in letting the presenter off so
cheaply, and the pardoned man retires, full of smiles, to the ranks of
the squatters. Thousands of cattle, and strings of women and children,
sometimes the result of a victorious plundering hunt, or else the
accumulated seizures from refractory Wakungu, are brought in; for there
is no more common or acceptable offering to appease the king's wrath
towards any refractory or blundering officer than a present of a few
young beauties, who may perhaps be afterwards given as the reward of
good service to other officers.
Stick-charms, being pieces of wood of all shapes, supposed to have
supernatural virtues, and coloured earths, endowed with similar
qualities, are produced by the royal magicians. The master of the hunt
exposes his spoils--such as antelopes, cats, porcupines, curious rats,
etc., all caught in nets, and placed in baskets--zebra, lion, and
buffalo skins being added. The fishermen bring their spoils; also the
gardeners. The cutlers show knives and forks made of iron inlaid with
brass and copper; the furriers, most beautifully-sewn patchwork of
antelopes' skins; the habit-maker, sheets of mbugu barkcloth; the
blacksmith, spears; the maker of shields, his productions;--and so
forth; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it down, then rubbing
the face, and going through a long form of salutation for the gracious
favour the king has shown in accepting it.
When tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand, and, leading his
dog, walked off without word or comment leaving his company, like dogs,
to take care of themselves.
Strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that of the interior
is not less severe. The pages all wear turbans of cord made from aloe
fibres. Should a wife commit any trifling indiscretion, either by word
or deed, she is condemned to execution on the spot, bound by the pages
and dragged out. Notwithstanding the stringent laws for the preservation
of decorum by all male attendants, stark-naked full-grown women are the
valets.
On the first appearance of the new moon every month, the king shuts
himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic horns--the horns of
wild animals stuffed with charm-powder--for two or three days. These
may be counted his Sundays or church festivals, which he dedicates to
devotion. On other days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe
or sport in ponds; or, when tired of that, takes long walks, his women
running after him, when all the musicians fall in, take precedence
of the party, followed by the Wakungu and pages, with the king in the
centre of the procession, separating the male company from the fair sex.
On these excursions no common man dare look upon the royal procession.
Should anybody by chance happen to be seen, he is at once hunted down by
the pages, robbed of everything he possessed, and may count himself
very lucky if nothing worse happens. Pilgrimages are not uncommon, and
sometimes the king spends a fortnight yachting; but whatever he does, or
wherever he goes, the same ceremonies prevail--his musicians, Wakungu,
pages, and the wives take part in all.
But the greatest of all ceremonies takes place at the time of the
coronation. The prince-elect then first seeks favour from the kings of
all the surrounding countries, demanding in his might and power one of
each of their daughters in marriage, or else recognition in some other
way, when the Ilmas makes a pilgrimage to the deceased king's tomb, to
observe, by the growth an other signs of certain trees, and plants, what
destiny awaits the king. According to the prognostics, they report that
he will either have to live a life of peace, or after coronation take
the field at the head of an army to fight either east, west, or both
ways, when usually the first march is on Kittara, and the second on
Usoga. The Mgussa's voice is also heard, but in what manner I do not
know, as all communication on state matters is forbidden in Uganda.
These preliminaries being arranged, the actual coronation takes place,
when the king ceases to hold any farther communion with his mother. The
brothers are burnt to death, and the king, we shall suppose, takes the
field at the head of his army.
It is as the result of these expeditions that one-half Usogo and the
remaining half of Uddu have been annexed to Uganda.