THE WATUSI AND WAGANDA.
LOCALITY OF THE WATUSI TRIBE -- MODE OF DRESS -- A WATUSI WOMAN
-- THEIR VALUE AS HERDSMEN -- SALUTATION -- WATUSI DANCING -- THE
WAGANDA -- ROAD SYSTEM OF UGANDA -- CODE OF ETIQUETTE -- DISREGARD
OF HUMAN LIFE -- CRUELTY -- THE WIFE-WHIP -- AN AFRICAN BLUEBEARD --
LIFE IN THE PALACE -- REVIEWING THE TROOPS -- ORIGIN OF THE WAGANDA
TRIBE -- KIMERA, AND HIS MODE OF GOVERNMENT -- SYSTEM OF ORGANIZATION
-- THE LAW OF SUCCESSION -- M’TESA, THE PRESENT KING, AND HIS COURT
-- THE ROYAL PALACE -- GENERAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE WAGANDA --
RECEPTION OF A GUEST -- THE ROYAL WALK -- A COUNCIL -- SUPERSTITIONS
-- THE WATER-SPIRIT AND HIS HIGH PRIEST -- RELIGION OF THE WAGANDA --
HUMAN SACRIFICES -- THE SLAVE-TRADE -- BURYING GROUNDS OF THE WAGANDA.
There is one tribe which, though small, has sufficient individuality to
deserve a brief notice. The WATUSI are a race of herdsmen, who live on
either side of the equator, and, according to Captain Grant, resemble
the Somalis in general appearance. They generally take service in the
households of wealthy persons, and devote themselves almost entirely to
the care of the cattle. They have plentiful and woolly hair, and the
men shave their beards with the exception of a crescent-shaped patch.
They have an odd fashion of staining their gums black, using for the
purpose a mixture of the tamarind seed calcined and powdered, and then
mixed with a salt of copper. The men carry their weapons when walking,
and seldom appear without a bow and arrows, a five-feet-long stick with
a knob at one end, and a pipe.
When they meet a friend, they hold out the knobbed end of the stick to
him; he touches it, and the demands of etiquette are supposed to be
fulfilled. This knobbed stick is quite an institution among the tribes
that have recently been mentioned, and a man seems to be quite unhappy
unless he has in his hand one of these curious implements. They are
fond of ornament, and wear multitudinous rings upon their wrists and
ankles, the latter being generally of iron and the former of brass.
They are a fine-looking race, and the women are equally remarkable in
this respect with the men,--a phenomenon rarely seen in this part of
the world. They are tall, erect, and well-featured, and, as a rule,
are decently clad in dressed cow-skins. The general appearance of the
Watusi women can be gathered from Captain Grant’s description.
“One morning, to my surprise, in a wild jungle we came upon cattle,
then upon a ‘bomah’ or ring fence, concealed by beautiful umbrageous
large trees, quite the place for a gipsy camp. At the entry two
strapping fellows met me and invited my approach. I mingled with the
people, got water from them, and was asked, ‘Would I prefer some milk?’
This sounded to me more civilized than I expected from Africans, so I
followed the men, who led me up to a beautiful lady-like creature, a
Watusi woman, sitting alone under a tree.
“She received me without any expression of surprise, in the most
dignified manner; and, after talking with the men, rose smiling,
showing great gentleness in her manner, and led me to her hut. I had
time to scrutinize the interesting stranger: she wore the usual Watusi
costume of a cow’s skin reversed, teased into a fringe with a needle,
colored brown, and wrapped round her body from below the chest to the
ankles. Lappets, showing zebra-like stripes of many colors, she wore
as a ‘turn-over’ round the waist, and, except where ornamented on one
arm with a highly polished coil of thick brass wire, two equally bright
and massive rings on the right wrist, and a neck pendant of brass
wire,--except these, and her becoming wrapper, she was _au naturelle_.
“I was struck with her peculiarly-formed head and graceful long neck;
the beauty of her fine eyes, mouth, and nose; the smallness of her
hands and naked feet--all were faultless; the only bad feature, which
is considered one of beauty with them, was her large ears. The arms and
elbows were rounded off like an egg, the shoulders were sloping, and
her small breasts were those of a crouching Venus--a perfect beauty,
though darker than a brunette.
“Her temporary residence was peculiar; it was formed of grass, was
flat-roofed, and so low that I could not stand upright in it. The
fireplace consisted of three stones; milk vessels of wood, shining
white from scouring, were ranged on one side of the abode. A
good-looking woman sat rocking a gourd between her knees in the process
of churning butter. After the fair one had examined my skin and my
clothes, I expressed great regret that I had no beads to present to
her. ‘They are not wanted,’ she said; ‘sit down, drink this buttermilk,
and here is also some butter for you.’ It was placed on a clean leaf. I
shook hands, patted her cheek, and took my leave, but some beads were
sent her, and she paid me a visit, bringing butter and buttermilk,
and asking for more presents, which she of course got, and I had the
gratification to see her eyes sparkle at the sight of them.
“This was one of the few women I met during our whole journey that I
admired. None of the belles in Usui could approach her; but they were
of a different caste, though dressing much in the same style. When
cow’s skins were not worn, these Usui women dressed very tidily in
bark cloths, and had no marks or cuttings observable on their bodies.
Circles of hair were often shaved off the crowns of their heads, and
their neck ornaments showed considerable taste in the selection of
the beads. The most becoming were a string of the M’zizama spheres of
marble-sized white porcelain, and triangular pieces of shell rounded at
the corners.
“An erect fair girl, daughter of a chief, paid us a visit, accompanied
by six maids, and sat silently for half an hour. She had a spiral
circle of wool shaved off the crown of her head; her only ornament was
a necklace of green beads; she wore the usual wrapper, and across her
shoulders a strip of scarlet cloth was thrown; her other fineries were
probably left at home. The women of the district generally had grace
and gentleness in their manner.”
Some of the women tattoo themselves on the shoulders and breasts in
rather a curious fashion, producing a pattern that looks in front like
point lace, and which then passes over the shoulders and comes on
the back down to the waist, like a pair of braces. A band of similar
markings runs round the waist.
The wages of the Watusi tribe for the management of the cattle are
simple enough. Half the milk is theirs, and as a cow in these regions
is singularly deficient in milk, producing a bare pint per diem, the
herdsmen have but small reward for their labor. They are very clever
at managing the animals placed under their control. If they have to
drive an unruly cow, they simply tie a cord to the hock of one of the
hind legs, and walk behind it holding the end of the cord. This very
simple process has the effect of subduing the cow, who yields as if to
a charm, and walks quietly in whatever direction she is told to go.
Goats are led by taking up one of the fore legs in the hand, when it is
found that the animal walks along quietly on three legs; the temporary
deprivation of the fourth limb being no particular impediment. Perhaps
on account of this mastery over the cattle, even the Wanyamuezi look
upon the Watusi with great respect. Should members of those tribes
meet, the Weezee presses the palms of his hands together, and the
Watusi gently clasps them in his own, muttering at the same time a few
words in a low tone of voice. If a Watusi man meets a woman of the same
tribe, she allows her arms to fall by her side, and he gently presses
her arms below the shoulders. For an illustration of this mode of
salutation, see the engraving No. 2 on page 397.
They are an industrious people, and make baskets with considerable
skill, using a sharp-pointed spear, and doing nearly as much of the
work with their feet as with their hands. They also work in metals,
and have a kind of bellows made of wood, with cane handles,--very
small, but efficient enough for the purpose. The dances with which
the Watusi amuse themselves in the evening are as simple and peaceful
as the dancers, and women take equal part with the men in them. They
array themselves in a circle, singing, and clapping hands in time.
Presently a woman passes into the ring, dances alone, and then, making
a graceful obeisance to some favorite in the ring, she retires backward
to her place. A young man then comes forward, goes through a number
of evolutions, bows to one of the girls, and then makes way for a
successor.
Captain Grant always speaks in the highest terms of the Watusi, whom
he designates as his favorite race. He states that they never will
permit themselves to be sold into slavery, but prefer death to such
dishonor. This people are always distinguishable by their intelligence
and the easy politeness of their manners. They are also remarkable for
their neatness and personal cleanliness, in which they present a strong
contrast to the neighboring tribes.
THE WAGANDA TRIBE.
Passing still northward, and keeping to the westward of the Victoria
N’yanza, we come to the UGANDA district, the inhabitants of which are
named WAGANDA.
This country is situated on the equator, and is a much more pleasant
land than might be supposed from its geographical position, being
fertile, and covered with vegetation. It is a peculiarly pleasant
land for a traveller, as it is covered with roads, which are not only
broad and firm, but are cut almost in a straight line from one point
to another. Uganda seems to be unique in the matter of roads, the
like of which are not to be found in any part of Africa, except those
districts which are held by Europeans. The roads are wide enough for
carriages, but far too steep in places for any wheeled conveyance; but
as the Waganda do not use carriages of any kind, the roads are amply
sufficient for their purposes. The Waganda have even built bridges
across swamps and rivers, but their knowledge of engineering has not
enabled them to build a bridge that would not decay in a few years.
Like many other tribes which bear, but do not deserve, the name of
savages, the Waganda possess a curiously strict code of etiquette,
which is so stringent on some points that an offender against it is
likely to lose his life, and is sure to incur a severe penalty. If, for
example, a man appears before the king with his dress tied carelessly,
or if he makes a mistake in the mode of saluting, or if, in squatting
before his sovereign, he allows the least portion of his limbs to be
visible, he is led off to instant execution. As the fatal sign is
given, the victim is seized by the royal pages, who wear a rope turban
round their heads, and at the same moment all the drums and other
instruments strike up, to drown his cries for mercy. He is rapidly
bound with the ropes snatched hastily from the heads of the pages,
dragged off, and put to death, no one daring to take the least notice
while the tragedy is being enacted.
They have also a code of sumptuary laws which is enforced with the
greatest severity. The skin of the serval, a kind of leopard cat, for
example, may only be worn by those of royal descent. Once Captain Speke
was visited by a very agreeable young man, who evidently intended to
strike awe into the white man, and wore round his neck the serval-skin
emblem of royal birth. The attempted deception, however, recoiled upon
its author, who suffered the fate of the daw with the borrowed plumes.
An officer of rank detected the imposture, had the young man seized,
and challenged him to show proofs of his right to wear the emblem of
royalty. As he failed to do so, he was threatened with being brought
before the king, and so compounded with the chief for a fine of a
hundred cows.
Heavy as the penalty was, the young man showed his wisdom by acceding
to it; for if he had been brought before the king, he would assuredly
have lost his life, and probably have been slowly tortured to death.
One punishment to which M’tesa, the king of Uganda, seems to have been
rather partial, was the gradual dismemberment of the criminal for the
sake of feeding his pet vultures; and although on some occasions he
orders them to be killed before they are dismembered, he sometimes
omits that precaution, and the wretched beings are slowly cut to pieces
with grass blades, as it is against etiquette to use knives for this
purpose.
The king alone has the privilege of wearing a cock’s-comb of hair on
the top of his head, the remainder being shaved off. This privilege is
sometimes extended to a favorite queen or two, so that actual royalty
may be at once recognized. Even the mode of sitting is carefully
regulated. Only the king is allowed to sit on a chair, all his subjects
being forced to place themselves on the ground. When Captains Speke
and Grant visited Uganda, there was a constant struggle on this point,
the travellers insisting on sitting in their arm-chairs, and the king
wanting them to sit on the ground. On one occasion, when walking with
M’tesa and his suite, a halt was ordered, and Captain Speke looked
about for something to sit upon. The king, seeing this, and being
determined not to be outdone, called a page, made him kneel on all
fours, and then sat on his back. The controversy at last ended in
a compromise, the travellers abandoning their chairs in the king’s
presence, but sitting on bundles of grass which were quite as high.
When an inferior presents any article to his superior, he always pats
and rubs it with his hands, and then strokes with it each side of
his face. This is done in order to show that no witchcraft has been
practised with it, as in such a case the intended evil would recoil on
the donor. This ceremony is well enough when employed with articles of
use or apparel; but when meat, plantains, or other articles of food are
rubbed with the dirty hands and well-greased face of the donor, the
recipient, if he should happen to be a white man, would be only too
happy to dispense with the ceremony, and run his risk of witchcraft.
[Illustration: ARREST OF THE QUEEN. (See page 413.)]
The officers of the court are required to shave off all their hair
except a single cockade at the back of the head, while the pages are
distinguished by two cockades, one over each temple, so that, even if
they happen to be without their rope turbans, their rank and authority
are at once indicated. When the king sends the pages on a message, a
most picturesque sight is presented. All the commands of the king have
to be done at full speed, and when ten or a dozen pages start off in a
body, their dresses streaming in the air behind them, each striving to
outrun the other, they look at a distance like a flight of birds rather
than human beings.
Here, as in many other countries, human life, that of the king
excepted, is not of the least value. On one occasion Captain Speke
had given M’tesa a new rifle, with which he was much pleased. After
examining it for some time, he loaded it, handed it to one of his
pages, and told him to go and shoot somebody in the outer court. The
page, a mere boy, took the rifle, went into the court, and in a moment
the report of the rifle showed that the king’s orders had been obeyed.
The urchin came back grinning with delight at the feat which he had
achieved, just like a schoolboy who has shot his first sparrow, and
handed back the rifle to his master. As to the unfortunate man who was
fated to be the target, nothing was heard about him, the murder of a
man being far too common an incident to attract notice.
On one occasion, when M’tesa and his wives were on a pleasure
excursion, one of the favorites, a singularly good-looking woman,
plucked a fruit, and offered it to the king, evidently intending to
please him. Instead of taking it as intended, he flew into a violent
passion, declared that it was the first time that a woman had ever
dared to offer him anything, and ordered the pages to lead her
off to execution. “These words were no sooner uttered by the king
than the whole bevy of pages slipped their cord turbans from their
heads, and rushed like a pack of Cupid beagles upon the fairy queen,
who, indignant at the little urchins daring to touch her majesty,
remonstrated with the king, and tried to beat them off like flies, but
was soon captured, overcome, and dragged away, crying in the names of
the Kamraviona and M’zungu (myself [_i. e._ Captain Speke]) for help
and protection, whilst Lubuga, the pet sister, and all the other women
clasped the king by his legs, and, kneeling, implored forgiveness
for their sister. The more they craved for mercy, the more brutal he
became, till at last he took a heavy stick and began to belabor the
poor victim on the head. The artist has represented this scene in the
engraving on previous page.
“Hitherto I had been extremely careful not to interfere with any of
the king’s acts of arbitrary cruelty, knowing that such interference
at an early stage would produce more harm than good. This last act of
barbarism, however, was too much for my English blood to stand; and
as I heard my name, M’zungu, imploringly pronounced, I rushed at the
king, and, staying his uplifted arm, demanded from him the woman’s
life. Of course I ran imminent risk of losing my own in thus thwarting
the capricious tyrant, but his caprice proved the friend of both. The
novelty of interference made him smile, and the woman was instantly
released.”
On another occasion, when M’tesa had been out shooting, Captain
Grant asked what sport he had enjoyed. The unexpected answer was
that game had been very scarce, but that he had shot a good many men
instead. Beside the pages who have been mentioned, there were several
executioners, who were pleasant and agreeable men in private life,
and held in great respect by the people. They were supposed to be in
command of the pages who bound with their rope turbans the unfortunates
who were to suffer, and mostly inflicted the punishment itself.
This particular king seems to have been rather exceptionally cruel, his
very wives being subject to the same capriciousness of temper as the
rest of his subjects. Of course he beat them occasionally, but as wife
beating is the ordinary custom in Uganda, he was only following the
ordinary habits of the people.
There is a peculiar whip made for the special purpose of beating wives.
It is formed of a long strip of hippopotamus hide, split down the
middle to within three or four inches of the end. The entire end is
beaten and scraped until it is reduced in size to the proper dimensions
of a handle. The two remaining thongs are suffered to remain square,
but are twisted in a screw-like fashion, so as to present sharp edges
throughout their whole length. When dry, this whip is nearly as hard
as iron, and scarcely less heavy, so that at every blow the sharp
edges cut deeply into the flesh. Wife flogging, however, was not all;
he was in the habit of killing his wives and their attendants without
the least remorse. While Captain Speke was residing within the limits
of the palace, there was scarcely a day when some woman was not led to
execution, and some days three or four were murdered. Mostly they were
female attendants of the queens, but frequently the royal pages dragged
out a woman whose single cockade on the top of her head announced her
as one of the king’s wives.
M’tesa, in fact, was a complete African Bluebeard, continually marrying
and killing, the brides, however, exceeding the victims in number.
Royal marriage is a very simple business in Uganda. Parents who have
offended their king and want to pacify him, or who desire to be looked
on favorably by him, bring their daughters and offer them as he sits at
the door of his house. As is the case with all his female attendants,
they are totally unclothed, and stand before the king in ignorance
of their future. If he accept them, he makes them sit down, seats
himself on their knees, and embraces them. This is the whole of the
ceremony, and as each girl is thus accepted, the happy parents perform
the curious salutation called “n’yanzigging,” _i. e._ prostrating
themselves on the ground, floundering about, clapping their hands, and
ejaculating the word “n’yans,” or thanks, as fast as they can say it.
Twenty or thirty brides will sometimes be presented to him in a single
morning, and he will accept more than half of them, some of them being
afterward raised to the rank of wives, while the others are relegated
to the position of attendants. It was rather remarkable, that although
the principal queen was most liberal with these attendants, offering
plenty of them to Captain Speke and his companions, not one of them
would have been permitted to marry a native, as she might have betrayed
the secrets of the palace.
Life in the palace may be honorable enough, but seems to be anything
but agreeable, except to the king. The whole of the court are abject
slaves, and at the mercy of any momentary caprice of the merciless,
thoughtless, irresponsible despot. Whatever wish may happen to enter
the king’s head must be executed at once, or woe to the delinquent
who fails to carry it out. Restless and captious as a spoiled child,
he never seemed to know exactly what he wanted, and would issue
simultaneously the most contradictory orders, and then expect them to
be obeyed.
As for the men who held the honorable post of his guards, they were
treated something worse than dogs--far worse, indeed, than M’tesa
treated his own dog. They might lodge themselves as they could, and
were simply fed by throwing great lumps of beef and plantains among
them. For this they scramble just like so many dogs, scratching and
tearing the morsels from each other, and trying to devour as much as
possible within a given number of seconds.
The soldiers of M’tesa were much better off than his guards, although
their position was not so honorable. They are well dressed, and their
rank is distinguished by a sort of uniform, the officers of royal birth
wearing the leopard-skin tippet, while those of inferior rank are
distinguished by colored cloths, and skin cloaks made of the hide of
oxen or antelopes. Each carries two spears, and an oddly-formed shield,
originally oval, but cut into deep scallops, and having at every point
a pendent tuft of hair. Their heads are decorated in a most curious
manner, some of the men wearing a crescent-like ornament, and some
tying round their heads wreaths made of different materials, to which
a horn, a bunch of beads, a dried lizard, or some such ornament, is
appended.
Not deficient in personal courage, their spirits were cheered in combat
by the certainty of reward or punishment. Should they behave themselves
bravely, treasures would be heaped upon them, and they would receive
from their royal master plenty of cattle and wives. But if they behaved
badly, the punishment was equally certain and most terrible. A recreant
soldier was not only put to death, but holes bored in his body with
red-hot irons until he died from sheer pain and exhaustion.
Now and then the king held a review, in which the valiant and the
cowards obtained their fitting rewards. These reviews offered most
picturesque scenes. “Before us was a large open sward, with the huts
of the queen’s Kamraviona or commander-in-chief beyond. The battalion,
consisting of what might be termed three companies, each containing
two hundred men, being drawn up on the left extremity of the parade
ground, received orders to march past in single file from the right of
companies at a long trot, and re-form again at the end of the square.
“Nothing conceivable could be more wild or fantastic than the sight
which ensued; the men all nearly naked, with goat or cat skins
depending from their girdles, and smeared with war colors, according
to the taste of the individual; one half of the body red or black,
the other blue, not in regular order; as, for instance, one stocking
would be red, and the other black, whilst the breeches above would
be the opposite colors, and so with the sleeves and waistcoat. Every
man carried the same arms, two spears and one shield, held as if
approaching an enemy, and they thus moved in three lines of single rank
and file, at fifteen or twenty paces asunder, with the same high action
and elongated step, the ground leg only being bent, to give their
strides the greater force.
“After the men had all started, the captains of companies followed,
even more fantastically dressed; and last of all came the great
Colonel Congow, a perfect Robinson Crusoe, with his long white-haired
goat-skins, a fiddle-shaped leather shield, tufted with hair at all
six extremities, bands of long hair tied below the knees, and a
magnificent helmet covered with rich beads of every color in excellent
taste, surmounted with a plume of crimson feathers, in the centre of
which rose a bent stem tufted with goat’s-hair. Next, they charged in
companies to and fro, and finally the senior officers came charging at
their king, making violent professions of faith and honesty, for which
they were applauded. The parade then broke up, and all went home.”
At these reviews, the king distributes rewards and metes out his
punishments. The scene is equally stirring and terrible. As the various
officers come before the king, they prostrate themselves on the ground,
and, after going through their elaborate salutation, they deliver their
reports as to the conduct of the men under their command. To some
are given various presents, with which they go off rejoicing, after
floundering about on the ground in the extremity of their gratitude;
while others are seized by the ever-officious pages, bound, and dragged
off to execution, the unfortunate men struggling with their captors,
fighting, and denying the accusation, until they are out of hearing.
As soon as the king thinks that he has had enough of the business, he
rises abruptly, picks up his spears, and goes off, leading his dog with
him.
The native account of the origin of the Waganda kingdom is very
curious. According to them, the country which is now called Uganda was
previously united with Unyoro, a more northerly kingdom, of which we
shall presently treat. Eight generations back there came from Unyoro a
hunter named Uganda, bringing with him a spear, a shield, a woman, and
a pack of dogs. He began to hunt on the shores of the lake, and was so
successful that he was joined by vast numbers of the people, to whom he
became a chief.
Under his sway, the hitherto scattered people assumed the character of
a nation, and began to feel their strength. Their leading men then held
a council on their government, and determined on making Uganda their
king. “For,” said they, “of what avail to us is the king of Unyoro? He
is so far distant that, when we sent him a cow as a present, the cow
had a calf, and that calf became a cow and gave birth to another calf,
and yet the present has not reached the king. Let us have a king of
our own.” So they induced Uganda to be their king, changed his name to
Kimera, and assigned his former name to the country.
Kimera, thus made king, took his station on a stone and showed himself
to his new subjects, having in his hand his spears and shield, and
being accompanied by a woman and a dog; and in this way all succeeding
kings have presented themselves to their subjects. All the Waganda
are, in consequence, expected to keep at least two spears, a shield
and a dog, and the officers are also entitled to have drums. The king
of Unyoro heard of the new monarch, but did not trouble himself about
a movement at such a distance, and so the kingdom of Uganda became an
acknowledged reality.
However, Kimera organized his people in so admirable a manner, that he
became a perfect terror to the king of Unyoro, and caused him to regret
that, when Kimera’s power was not yet consolidated, he had not crushed
him. Kimera formed his men into soldiers, drafted them into different
regiments, drilled and organized them thoroughly. He cut roads through
his kingdom, traversing it in all directions. He had whole fleets of
boats built, and threw bridges over rivers wherever they interrupted
his line of road. He descended into the minutest particulars of
domestic polity, and enforced the strictest sanitary system throughout
his country, not even suffering a house to be built unless it possessed
the means of cleanliness.
Organization, indeed, seems now to be implanted in the Waganda mind.
Even the mere business of taking bundles of wood into the palace must
be done in military style. “After the logs are carried a certain
distance, the men charge up hill with walking sticks at the slope,
to the sound of the drum, shouting and chorusing. On reaching their
officer, they drop on their knees to salute, by saying repeatedly in
one voice the word ‘n’yans’ (thanks). Then they go back, charging down
hill, stooping simultaneously to pick up the wood, till step by step,
it taking several hours, the neatly cut logs are regularly stacked in
the palace yards.”
Each officer of a district would seem to have a different mode
of drill. The Wazeewah, with long sticks, were remarkable
well-disciplined, shouting and marching all in regular time, every
club going through the same movement; the most attractive part of the
drill being when all crouched simultaneously, and then advanced in open
ranks, swinging their bodies to the roll of their drums.
By such means Kimera soon contrived to make himself so powerful that
his very name was dreaded throughout Unyoro, into which country he was
continually making raids. If, for example, at one of his councils he
found that one part of his dominions was deficient in cattle or women,
he ordered one or two of his generals to take their troops into Unyoro,
and procure the necessary number. In order that he might always have
the means of carrying his ideas into effect, the officers of the army
are expected to present themselves at the palace as often as they
possibly can, and, if they fail to do so, they are severely punished;
their rank is taken from them; their property confiscated, and their
goods, their wives, and their children are given to others.
In fact, Kimera proceeded on a system of reward and punishment: the
former he meted out with a liberal hand; the latter was certain, swift,
and terrible. In process of time Kimera died, and his body was dried
by being placed over an oven. When it was quite dry, the lower jaw was
removed and covered with beads; and this, together with the body, were
placed in tombs, and guarded by the deceased monarch’s favorite women,
who were prohibited even from seeing his successor.
After Kimera’s death, the people proceeded to choose a king from among
his many children, called “Warangira,” or princes. The king elect was
very young, and was separated from the others, who were placed in a
suite of huts under charge of a keeper. As soon as the young prince
reached years of discretion, he was publicly made king, and at the
same time all his brothers except two were burned to death. The two
were allowed to live in case the new king should die before he had any
sons, and also as companions for him. As soon as the line of direct
succession was secured, one of the brothers was banished into Unyoro,
and the other allowed to live in Uganda.
When Captains Speke and Grant arrived in Uganda, the reigning sovereign
was M’tesa, the seventh in succession from Kimera. He was about
twenty-five years of age, and, although he had not been formally
received as king, wielded a power as supreme as if he had passed
through this ceremony. He was wise enough to keep up the system which
had been bequeathed to him by his ancestors, and the Uganda kingdom
was even more powerful in his time than it had been in the days of
Kimera. A close acquaintance proved that his personal character was
not a pleasant one, as indeed was likely when it is remembered that he
had possessed illimitable power ever since he was quite a boy, and in
consequence had never known contradiction.
He was a very fine-looking young man, and possessed in perfection
the love of dress, which is so notable a feature in the character of
the Waganda. They are so fastidious in this respect, that for a man
to appear untidily dressed before his superiors would entail severe
punishment, while, if he dared to present himself before the king with
the least disorder of apparel, immediate death would be the result.
Even the royal pages, who rush about at full speed when performing
their commissions, are obliged to hold their skin cloaks tightly round
them, lest any portion of a naked limb should present itself to the
royal glance.
The appearance of M’tesa is well described by Captain Speke:--“A more
theatrical sight I never saw. The king, a good-looking, well-formed
young man of twenty-five, was sitting upon a red blanket, spread
upon a square platform of royal grass, encased in tiger-grass reeds,
scrupulously dressed in a new ’mbugu (or grass-cloth). The hair of his
head was cut short, except upon the top, where it was combed up into
a high ridge, running from stem to stern, like a cock’s comb. On his
neck was a very neat ornament--a large ring of beautifully-worked small
beads, forming elegant patterns by their various colors. On one arm
was another bead ornament, prettily devised, and on the other a wooden
charm, tied by a string covered with a snake skin. On every finger and
toe he had alternate brass and copper rings, and above the ankles,
half-way up the calf, a stocking of very pretty beads.
“Everything was light, neat, and elegant in its way; not a fault could
be found with the taste of his ‘getting-up.’ For a handkerchief, he
had a well-folded piece of bark, and a piece of gold-embroidered silk,
which he constantly employed to hide his large mouth when laughing, or
to wipe it after a drink of plantain wine, of which he took constant
and copious draughts from little gourd cups, administered by his
ladies in waiting, who were at once his sisters and his wives. A white
dog, spear, shield, and woman--the Uganda cognizance--were by his
side, as also a host of staff officers, with whom he kept up a brisk
conversation, on one side; and on the other was a band of ‘Wichwézi,’
or lady sorcerers.”
These women are indispensable appendages to the court, and attend the
king wherever he goes, their office being to avert the evil eye from
their monarch, and to pour the plantain wine into the royal cups. They
are distinguished by wearing dried lizards on their heads, and on
their belts are fastened goat-skin aprons, edged with little bells. As
emblems of their office, they also carry very small shields and spears,
ornamented with cock-hackles.
M’tesa’s palace is of enormous dimensions, and almost deserves the
name of a village or town. It occupies the whole side of a hill, and
consists of streets of huts arranged as methodically as the houses
of an European town, the line being preserved by fences of the tall
yellow tiger-grass of Uganda. There are also squares and open spaces,
and the whole is kept in perfect order and neatness. The inner courts
are entered by means of gates, each gate being kept by an officer, who
permits no one to pass who has not the king’s permission. In case his
vigilance should be evaded, each gate has a bell fastened to it on the
inside, just as they are hung on shop-doors in England.
In the illustration No. 1, opposite, the artist has selected the moment
when the visitor is introduced to the immediate presence of the king.
Under the shade of the hut the monarch is seated on his throne, having
on one side the spears, shield, and dog, and on the other the woman,
these being the accompaniments of royalty. Some of his pages are seated
near him, with their cord turbans bound on their tufted heads, ready
to obey his slightest word. Immediately in front are some soldiers
saluting him, and one of them, to whom he has granted some favor, is
floundering on the ground, thanking, or “n’yanzigging,” according to
the custom of the place. On the other side is the guest, a man of rank,
who is introduced by the officer of the gate. The door itself, with its
bells, is drawn aside, and over the doorway is a rope, on which are
hung a row of charms. The king’s private band is seen in the distance,
performing with its customary vigor.
[Illustration: (1.) RECEPTION OF A VISITOR. (See page 416.)]
[Illustration: (2.) THE MAGICIAN AT WORK. (See page 427.)]
The architecture of the huts within these enclosures is wonderfully
good, the Waganda having great natural advantages, and making full use
of them. The principal material in their edifices is reed, which in
Uganda grows to a very great height, and is thick and strong in the
stem. Grass for thatching is also found in vast quantities, and there
is plenty of straight timber for the rafters. The roof is double, in
order to exclude the sunbeams, and the outer roof comes nearly to the
ground on all sides. The fabric is upheld by a number of poles, from
which are hung corn-sacks, meat, and other necessaries.
The interior is separated into two compartments by a high screen made
of plantain leaf, and within the inner apartment the cane bedstead of
the owner is placed. Yet, with all this care in building, there is only
one door, and no window or chimney; and although the Waganda keep their
houses tolerably clean, the number of dogs which they keep fill their
huts with fleas, so that when a traveller takes possession of a house,
he generally has the plantain screen removed, and makes on the floor as
large a fire as possible, so as to exterminate the insect inhabitants.
The ceremonies of receiving a royal guest are as elaborate as the
architecture. Officers of rank step forward to greet him, while
musicians are in attendance, playing on the various instruments of
Uganda, most of them being similar to those which have already been
described. Even the height of the seat on which the visitor is to place
himself is rigorously determined, the chief object seeming to be to
force him to take a seat lower than that to which he is entitled. In
presence of the king, who sits on a chair or throne, no subject is
allowed to be seated on anything higher than the ground; and if he can
be induced to sit in the blazing sunbeams, and wait until the king is
pleased to see him, a triumph of diplomacy has been secured.
When the king has satisfied himself with his guest, or thinks that he
is tired, he rises without any warning, and marches off to his room,
using the peculiar gait affected by the kings of Uganda, and supposed
to be imitated from the walk of the lion. To the eyes of the Waganda,
the “lion’s step,” as the peculiar walk is termed, is very majestic,
but to the eyes of an European it is simply ludicrous, the feet being
planted widely apart, and the body swung from side to side at each
step. If any of my readers should have known Christ’s Hospital, they
may remember the peculiar style of walking which was termed “spadging,”
and which used to be, and may be now, an equivalent to the “lion-step”
of the Uganda king.
After M’tesa had received his white visitor, he suddenly rose and
retired after the royal custom, and, as etiquette did not permit him to
eat until he had seen his visitors, he took the opportunity of breaking
his fast.
Round the king, as he sits on his grass-covered throne, are his
councillors and officers, squatted on the ground, with their dresses
drawn tightly around them, and partly seated on the royal leopard skins
which are strewed on the ground. There is also a large drum, decorated
with little bells strung on wire arches, and some smaller drums,
covered with beads and cowrie shells, worked into various patterns.
Outside the inner circle sit the ordinary officers, and while the king
is present not a word is spoken, lest he should take offence at it; and
not an eye is lifted, lest a casual glance might fall on one of the
king’s women, and be the precursor of a cruel death.
The Waganda are much given to superstition, and have a most implicit
faith in charms. The king is very rich in charms, and, whenever he
holds his court, has vast numbers of them suspended behind him, besides
those which he carries on his person. These charms are made of almost
anything that the magician chooses to select. Horns, filled with magic
powder, are perhaps the most common, and these are slung on the neck or
tied on the head if small, and kept in the huts if large.
Their great object of superstitious dread is a sort of water-spirit,
which is supposed to inhabit the lake, and to wreak his vengeance upon
those who disturb him. Like the water-spirits of the Rhine, this goblin
has supreme jurisdiction, not only on the lake itself, but in all
rivers that communicate with it; and the people are so afraid of this
aquatic demon, that they would not allow a sounding-line to be thrown
into the water, lest perchance the weight should happen to hit the
water-spirit and enrage him. The name of this spirit is M’gussa, and he
communicates with the people by means of his own special minister or
priest, who lives on an island, and is held in nearly as much awe as
his master.
M’tesa once took Captain Speke with him to see the magician. He took
also a number of his wives and attendants, and it was very amusing,
when they reached the boats, to see all the occupants jump into the
water, ducking their heads so as to avoid seeing the royal women, a
stray glance being sure to incur immediate death. They proceeded to the
island on which the wizard lived.
“Proceeding now through the trees of this beautiful island, we next
turned into the hut of the M’gussa’s familiar, which at the further
end was decorated with many mystic symbols, among them a paddle, the
badge of high office; and for some time we sat chatting, when pombé was
brought, and the spiritual medium arrived. He was dressed Wichwézi
fashion, with a little white goatskin apron, adorned with various
charms, and used a paddle for a walking-stick. He was not an old man,
though he articled to be so, walking very slowly and deliberately,
coughing asthmatically, glimmering with his eyes, and mumbling like
a witch. With much affected difficulty he sat at the end of the hut,
beside the symbols alluded to, and continued his coughing full half an
hour, when his wife came in in the same manner, without saying a word,
and assumed the same affected style.
“The king jokingly looked at me and laughed, and then at these strange
creatures by turns, as much as to say, ‘What do you think of them?’ but
no voice was heard, save that of the old wife, who croaked like a frog
for water, and, when some was brought, croaked again because it was not
the purest of the lake’s produce--had the first cup changed, wetted her
lips with the second, and hobbled away in the same manner as she had
come.”
On their pathways and roads, which are very numerous and well kept,
they occasionally place a long stick in the ground, with a shell or
other charm on the top, or suspend the shell on the overhanging branch
of a tree. Similar wands, on a smaller scale, are kept in the houses,
and bits of feathers, rushes, and other articles are tied behind the
door. Snake-skin is of course much used in making these charms, and a
square piece of this article is hung round the neck of almost every man
of this country.
The religion of the Waganda is of course one inspired by terror, and
not by love, the object of all their religious rites being to avert
the anger of malignant spirits. Every new moon has its own peculiar
worship, which is conducted by banging drums, replenishing the magic
horns, and other ceremonies too long to describe. The most terrible of
their rites is that of human sacrifice, which is usually employed when
the king desires to look into the future.
The victim is always a child, and the sacrifice is conducted in a most
cruel manner. Having discovered by his incantations that a neighbor is
projecting war, the magician flays a young child, and lays the bleeding
body in the path on which the soldiers pass to battle. Each warrior
steps over the bleeding body, and thereby is supposed to procure
immunity for himself in the approaching battle. When the king makes
war, his chief magician uses a still more cruel mode of divination. He
takes a large earthen pot, half fills it with water, and then places it
over the fireplace. On the mouth of the pot he lays a small platform
of crossed sticks, and having bound a young child and a fowl, he lays
them on the platform, covering them with another pot, which he inverts
over them. The fire is then lighted, and suffered to burn for a given
time, when the upper pot is removed, and the victims inspected. If
they should both be dead, it is taken as a sign that the war must be
deferred for the present; but if either should be alive, war may be
made at once.
Speaking of these and other black tribes, Captain Speke very rightly
observes: “How the negro has lived so many ages without advancing seems
marvellous, when all the countries surrounding Africa are so forward
in comparison. And, judging from the progressive state of the world,
one is led to suppose that the African must soon either step out from
his darkness, or be superseded by a being superior to himself. Could a
government be formed for them like ours in India, they would be saved,
but without it I fear there is very little chance. For at present the
African neither can help himself nor be helped by others, because his
country is in such a constant state of turmoil that he has too much
anxiety on hand looking out for his food to think of anything else.
“As his fathers did, so does he. He works his wife, sells his children,
enslaves all he can lay hands on, and, unless when fighting for the
property of others, contents himself with drinking, singing, and
dancing like a baboon, to drive dull care away. A few only make cotton
cloth, or work in wool, iron, copper, or salt, their rule being to do
as little as possible, and to store up nothing beyond the necessities
of the next season, lest their chiefs or neighbors should covet and
take it from them.”
The same experienced traveller then proceeds to enumerate the many
kinds of food which the climate affords to any one of ordinary
industry, such as horned cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, fowls, ducks, and
pigeons, not to mention the plantain and other vegetable products,
and expresses a feeling of surprise that, with such stores of food
at his command, the black man should be so often driven to feed on
wild herbs and roots, dogs, cats, rats, snakes, lizards, insects, and
other similar animals, and should be frequently found on the point of
starvation, and be compelled to sell his own children to procure food.
Moreover, there are elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamus, buffaloes,
giraffes, antelopes, guinea-fowls, and a host of other animals, which
can be easily captured in traps or pitfalls, so that the native African
lives in the midst of a country which produces food in boundless
variety. The reasons for such a phenomenon are simple enough, and may
be reduced to two,--namely, utter want of foresight and constitutional
indolence.
As to the question of slavery, it may perhaps be as well to remark that
slaves are not exclusively sold to white men. On the contrary, there is
no slave-holder so tenacious of his acquired rights as the black man,
and, for every slave sold to a white man, ten are bought by the dark
races, whether on the east or west of Africa. And, when a slave begins
to raise himself above a mere menial rank, his first idea is to buy
slaves for himself, because they are the articles of merchandise which
is most easily to be procured, and so, as Captain Speke well observes,
slavery begets slavery _ad infinitum_. The summary of Captain Speke’s
experience is valuable. “Possessed of a wonderful amount of loquacity,
great risibility, but no stability--a creature of impulse--a grown
child in short--at first sight it seems wonderful how he can be trained
to work, for there is no law, no home to bind him. He would run away at
any moment, and, presuming on this, he sins, expecting to be forgiven.
Great forbearance, occasionally tinctured with a little fatherly
severity, is, I believe, the best dose for him. For he says to his
master, after sinning, ‘You ought to forgive and to forget, for are you
not a big man who would be above harboring spite, though for a moment
you may be angry? Flog me if you like, but do not keep count against
me, or else I shall run away, and what will you do then?’”
The burying-places of the Waganda are rather elaborate. Captain Grant
had the curiosity to enter one of them, and describes it as follows:
“Two huts on a height appeared devoted to the remains of the dead. On
getting over the fence surrounding them, a lawn having straight walks
led up to the doors, where a screen of bark cloth shut out the view of
the interior. Conquering a feeling of delicacy, I entered one of the
huts. I found a fixed bedstead of cane, curtained as if to shade its
bed of grass from the mosquito, spears, charms, sticks with strange
crooks, tree-creepers, miniature idol-huts of grass, &c. These were
laid in order in the interior, but no one was there, and we were told
that it was a mausoleum.”
Many of such houses were seen on the hill-sides, but few so elaborately
built. Usually they were little more than square patches of ground
enclosed with a reed fence. These were called by the name of “Looaleh,”
or sacred ground.