Nyasa. By the same boat I sent a letter to the noncommissioned
officer in charge of the Bukoba station, and
asked him to send me boats. Two days later four
arrived, from Uganda, but they could not take me as
they had come to fetch an English missionary. However,
the boatmen offered to take me to Bukumbi, whither I
had promised to return, and at five in the evening I
embarked. There was a good deal of sea running, and
it was six hours before we got into the bay of Bukumbi,
S P E K E G U L F , LA K E VICTORIA NYANZA.
and in the dark it took us more than half an hour before
we could find a place where we could land. The whole
shore of the Victoria Nyanza is covered with tall reeds,
which grow several hundred yards into the lake, so that
it is very difficult to land anywhere. After three days I
returned to Muanza, and busied myself with correcting my
maps, taking photographs—Dr. Langheldt, of the Anti-
Slavery Society, having very kindly lent me an apparatus,
as I had left mine at Bukumbi—and writing a great
number of letters, as one of the French fathers was about
to start for the coast.
I spent my time between the Mission Station of
Bukumbi and the German Station at Muanza. I am
afraid I cannot altogether admire the purpose and method
of the missionaries. If they only spent the whole day
teaching natives their catechism, I would call it useless
but harmless enough '; but my objection to them is a
more serious one. I refer to their meddling in politics.
I have not forgiven their Bishop, Monseigneur Hirth,
having requested me to write officially to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs to inform him that eighteen French
missionaries and 100,000 Roman Catholics were in danger
of being put to death any day in Uganda; this information
he gave me in writing, adding, “ Notwithstanding the
danger, the French missionaries cannot think of abandoning
their converts.” It will be seen further on how far this was
true. As I suspected, nay, knew for a fact, that it was
an absolute fabrication, I declined to communicate this
information to the French Government, and resolved to
study most carefully the true situation of Uganda. Having
found nothing but praise to bestow on the British Administration,
I gave it in all impartiality. I suppose that if I
had done the reverse, and, like Prince Henri of Orleans,
courted popularity by abusing everything English, I should
have been received on my return with open arms instead
of becoming the best abused man in France.
The German station is built in the worst situation that
could possibly be found. They had the vandalism to cut
down all the trees round it to save themselves the trouble
of going a quarter of a mile to get firewood. Faithful
to their system, the Germans have also burnt all the
villages within a radius of five miles or so from their
station, and I am bound to say, from what I saw of them,
that they well deserve the name of “ men of wrath.
None of those I met there ever spoke to a black except
with foam on the lips and insults on the tongue. The
smallest fault was punished by twenty-five strokes of
kiboko—i.e., hippopotamus-hide whip—a regular institution
379