The Discovery of The Source of the Nile [120]
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,
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,