as the Waganda at this trade, their guns making them
daring; but it never came to my knowledge till it
was too late. For instance, seeing one of Mariboo’s
boys lead two timid villagers to the grass hut occupied
by my Seedees, I watched the result. A conversation
ensued, the men afterwards passed me with two naked
little girls with strings and tassels to their waists,
looking dreadfully frightened. They had been stolen
by my men, were the daughters of one of the two
villagers, and had no doubt been recovered by paying
bribes to Mariboo, his boy, and their captors.
The streams and bogs crossed may be alluded to.
All those going towards the Lake Victoria Nyanza
were fordable, of white muddy water, rarely brown or
mossy, having their bottoms and edges of black mud,
the accumulations of decayed vegetable matter. Those
which ran north and away from the lake, within two
marches of the Uganda capital, had a hard firm footing
of sand, with dry edges, and little or no mud. The
difference was very marked, and pleasant to observe.
The passage of these Uganda bogs is most trying.
Imagine a flat valley, a mile across, looking like an
osier-bed, but covered with the gigantic papyrus and
reeds, &c.; cut a narrow winding passage through it,
leaving the roots in the water, and walk through this
barefooted. The tears almost came into my eyes, the
suffering from the sharp roots was so severe. Being
carried was almost impossible, for even the natives,
with the soles of their feet hard as leather, bearing
their loads, dogs, spears, and shields on their heads,
had enough to do to keep their footing. In my lame
state, my feet, after having been covered with mud,
came out of these bogs red and inflamed, too large to
wear shoes with comfort; or where the valleys were
free from the tall rushes, the chill of walking in such
mire with a burning sun overhead was quite stupify-
in g ; but, strange to say, none of us suffered in health.
The Mwerango, twenty miles west of the Uganda
capital, was the first large body of water we found
flowing towards Egypt. The centre part of the bridge
over it had long since fallen into disrepair, and as the
river was too deep for wading, we had to swim across
about twenty yards of its width, which was from 300
to 400 yards. You could not look up or down the
stream, as the reeds hid everything ; neither could it
be crossed anywhere but at this spot, or at other openings
made in the bed of papyrus. In one hour our
baggage was all across, and every one was freshened
by a bathe. This stream and a sister river, the Moogga
Myanza, join and form the Kuffoo, which flows to
Unyoro, joining the Nile to the north of Kamarasis
residence. Kegarding the rise of these two rivers there
were various opinions among the Waganda. The
Mwerango, they said, had its rise from rocks one day’s
journey to the S.S.W. of Namagoma. The other was
honoured with a poetical tradition. It was named
“ Moogga," after one of the wives of the late king
Soona. She, on becoming pregnant, was sent, for
medical advice, to the S.E. of Namagoma. Accompanying
the birth of the child there was a flow of
water, which has run ever since, and was christened
“ Moogga,” after the queen! This river, or rather bed
of rushes, was 500 yards across, and breast-deep. As
we waded across it, on either side, within reach, the
papyrus grew arching beautifully overhead. Its waters
were clear, and sounded sweetly as they trickled