Waganda

“ Crowds of Waganda, all armed as if for war, came to congratulate us in the morning, jumping, jabbering, and shaking their spears at us, denoting a victory gained—for we had shot Wanyoro and no harm had befallen us. "But the road," I cried, "has that been gained? I am not going to show my back. We must go again, for there is some mistake; Grant is with Kamrasi, and N'yamyongo cannot stop us. If you won't go in boats, let us go by land to N'yamyongo's, and the boats will follow after." Not a soul, however, would stir. ”

“ The Waganda, for instance, report that their ancestors came from the northeast, the Watuta and Masiti from near the Zambesi river. Many of them are of a light, bright brown, and are devoid of the peculiar odor of the true negro. All the tribes from Lake Tanganyika to the Atlantic speak dialects manifestly akin.
They are divided into independent nations, some of large extent, and are subject to chiefs, who rule with despotic power. Their religion is fetichistic, and though they generally are agricultural, and possess a certain degree of culture, cannibalism is or was frequent among them. ”

“ Who is this singular Mtesa and how has his more singular fabric of empire been built up in the heart of savage Africa?
All around is the night of Pagan darkness, ignorance, and cruelty. Here, in the land of the Waganda, if there is, as yet, no light to speak of, there is a ruddy tinge in the midst of the blackness that seems to give promise of approaching dawn. If the people are still blood-thirsty, revengeful, and fond of war and pillage, they have learned some lessons in observing law and order; they practice some useful arts ”

“ He assured me that he had thus paid me such a compliment as nobody else had ever obtained, since the Waganda are very jealous of one another—so much so, that any one would be killed if found starring upon a woman even in the highways. I asked him what use he had for so many women? To which he replied, "None whatever; the king gives them to us to keep up our rank, sometimes as many as one hundred together, and we either turn them into wives, or make servants of them, as we please." ”

“ The country is ruled by the king, three hereditary chiefs, and a council of minor chiefs, two hereditary chiefs and a certain proportion of the others being continually in residence at Rubaga, the capital of the country. The laws are strict, and the administration of justice is conducted in an orderly manner. There is no real taxation, but the people are compelled to render feudal service to all their superiors. The Waganda may be divided into four classes, the lowest class being the slave population, consisting of prisoners taken in war and their descendants ”

“ The Waganda have no images or outward symbols of their gods; and they think that the world is ruled by spirits or demons, to whom Katonga, the great creator, has deputed his power. They worship Mukasa, the god of the lake ”

“ 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. ”

“ We halted after five hours in Kimwani or Kizinga—Chief Kajumba’s territory. The chief was another tall person of the Wahuma breed, at the time suffering from ophthalmia. When the Waganda invaded his territory a year ago he fled to Unya-Ruwamba, the Urigi district of Ihangiro, and hid himself on an island in the lake, whence, after paying a tribute of cattle to Uganda, he was permitted to return to his own land as a subject of Mwanga, but to find his banana groves cut down and the land well cleaned of every product. ”

“ A group of Sudanese Negro tribes inhabiting Wadai and East Darfur, including Birkits, Massalits, Korungas, Mabas (mixed with Hamitic blood) , and other tribes. They are mainly of pastoral habit.
Waganda. A Bantu Negro race who founded the kingdom of Uganda and attained a remarkable degree of civilisation before the arrival of white men. They are very intelligent, and their skill in the industrial arts has caused them to be called the Japanese of Africa. They are also warlike, and formerly indulged in frequent plundering and slave hunting raids among the surrounding races. ”

“ The colonel, though a Frenchman, is a Calvinist, and has become as ardent a well-wisher for the Waganda as I am. Then why further spend needlessly vast sums upon black pagans of Africa who have no example of their own people becoming Christians before them? I speak to the Universities Mission at Zanzibar and to the Free Methodists at Mombasa, to the leading philanthropists and the pious people of England. ”

“ There was one thing only left to be done; the sanitary orders of Uganda required every man to build himself a house of parliament, such being the neat and cleanly nature of the Waganda—a pattern to all other negro tribes.
15th.—As nobody could obtain an interview with the king yesterday, I went to the palace to-day, and fired three shots—a signal which was at once answered from within by a double discharge of a gun I had just lent him on his returning my rifle. ”

“ I had too intimate a knowledge of the fraudulent duplicity of Waganda, and their remarkable gifts for dissimulation, to rush at this prospective adventure; and even if I were inclined to accept the mission of reinstating Mwanga, the unfulfilled duties of escorting the Pasha, and his friend Casati, and the Egyptians, and their followers to the sea prohibited all thoughts of it. But to African natives it is not so easy to explain why their impulsive wishes cannot be gratified ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their contri­butions will be found ac­knowl­edged in their proper places. But I owe a special ac­knowl­edg­ment to my friends the Rev. Lorimer Fison and the Rev. John Roscoe, who have sent me valuable notes on the Fijian and Waganda customs respectively. Most of Mr. Fison’s notes, I believe, are incorporated in my book. Of Mr. Roscoe’s only a small selection has been given; the whole series, embracing a general account of the customs and beliefs of the Waganda, will be published, I hope, in the Journal of the Anthro­po­logical Institute. ”

“ In a description of the Waganda it is said: “One of the principal evils resulting from slavery in Uganda is that it causes all manual labour to be looked upon as derogatory to the dignity of a free man”12.
Among the Mandingoes native-born slaves enjoy much liberty; they tend the cattle, and go to war, even without their masters. Freemen work as much as slaves. Every Mandingo, to whatever class he belongs, is occupied in agriculture. The tending of horses is incumbent on slave boys13. ”

“ This large body of Waganda could not be kept waiting. To get on as fast as possible was the only chance of ever bringing the journey to a successful issue; so, unable to help myself, with great remorse at another separation, on the following day I consigned my companion, with several Wanguana, to the care of my friend Rumanika. I then separated ten loads of beads and thirty copper wires for my expenses in Uganda; wrote a letter to Petherick, which I gave to Baraka; and gave him and his companion beads to last as money for six months, and also a present both for Kamrasi and the Gani chief. ”

“ CENTRAL AFRICAN ANTELOPE, KARAGWÉ.
"'All these people,' said he, 'about here are as different from the ordinary Washensi—pagans—as I am different from them. When you go to see Rumanika, you will see some Wanya-Ruanda, and you may then judge for yourself. The people of that country are not cowards. They have taken Kishakka, Muvari, and have lately conquered Mpororo. The Waganda measured their strength with them, and were obliged to retreat. The Wanya-Ruanda are a great people, but they are covetous, malignant, treacherous, and utterly untrustworthy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When, as for instance, tribes such as Waganda, Wasoga, and Wakuri have been left to grow up and increase in power and prosperity, we have but to look at the sea-like expanse of the Victoria Nyanza, and we see the reason of it. No further progress was possible, and the wave of migration passed westward and eastward, and overlapped these tribes, and in their progress southward dropped a few members by the way, to become absorbed by the members of the agricultural class, and to lose their distinctive characteristics. ”

“ The third was viâ Msalala, Karagwé and Ankori, and Unyoro and Lake Albert. Immense loss of men and goods would assuredly follow any attempt from the East Coast. Fifty per cent. loss was unavoidable, and no precautions would avail to prevent desertion. Besides, Karagwé was garrisoned by the Waganda, and no expedition could pass through that country without persistent hostility from the Waganda. ”

“ But though all peoples are teachable there are racial idiosyncrasies which we are only beginning to discover. Why, for instance, should the Hausa and the Sudanese have a natural aptitude for European military discipline while the Waganda find it irksome? ”

“ 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. ”

“ As in Uganda, all the villagers forsook their huts as soon as they heard the Wageni (guests) were coming; and no one paid the least attention to the traveller, save the few head-men attached to the escort, or some professional traders.
25th to 28th.—I had no sooner ordered the march than Vittagura counter-ordered it, and held a levee to ascertain, as he said, if the Waganda were to go back; for though Kamrasi wished to see us, he did not want the Waganda. It was Kamrasi's orders that Budja should tell this to his "child the Mkavia," meaning Mtesa ”

“ 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. ”

“ The domestic animals are cows, goats, and a few sheep and dogs. The Waganda live chiefly upon a vegetable diet, the banana forming the staple food; it grows everywhere, and requires little or no cultivation. ”

“ This was the first place we observed natives seeking work. When coming from the wharf to the town, tidy, well-developed Waganda would timidly approach, holding in their hands a 254 small book or piece of paper. In the book or on the paper was written their records, good or otherwise, the wages they had received, and the length of time worked at various places. The applicant may be a houseboy, cook or land worker. It is customary, in fact a standard rule, when servants leave employment, to give them a note, which is their reference. ”

“ Chiwuka and Nenda, the gods of war; and several of the former monarchs of Uganda, who are believed to be demi-gods. A thunder spirit is also invoked. The gods of war are supposed to inhabit certain trees, and offerings are made to them before entering the war-path; like offerings are also made to the god of the lake before commencing a voyage upon its waters.
The Waganda are courteous, cleanly, given to hospitality, but drunken, and to a certain extent indolent. Their standard of morality, even judged by that of the surrounding tribes, is not high. Human life is little respected ”

“ The Waganda are very warlike; all adult males are compelled to serve in the army when required, and the military organization, having its head quarters at the capital, ramifies throughout the whole land. Game is very plentiful: elephants, buffaloes, zebras, rhinoceroses, wild boars, twelve species of antelopes, lions, leopards, jackals, foxes, hyaenas, hares, chimpanzees, and several species of monkeys inhabit the forest. Snakes are numerous; hippopotami, crocodiles, and otters abound in the lake and in the Nile, as also many water-rats. ”