T he moral character o f the people is far below
that o f the Emperor. Indeed, i f it were not
for him, no stranger would dare to enter Uganda.
T h e y have no respect for human life or human
rights. Among themselves they recognize only
might, and Mtesa might even be pardoned for
exercising greater severity than he does, for this
fierce people requires to be governed with the
almost unexampled severity o f might and power
which Suna so cruelly employed. T h e y are
crafty, fraudful, deceiving^ lying, thievish knaves
taken as a whole, and seem to be born with an
uncontrollable love o f gaining wealth b y robbery,
violence, and murder, in which th e y resemble_
except that th ey have the lawless instinct to a
greater degree than most— nearly all African
tribes. Owing, however, to their terror o f punishment,
the stranger is permitted to wander in
almost certain safety throughout Uganda, and
is hospitably treated as the "Emperor’s gu e s t”
(Mgeni). One has only to hear the word
“ N g an y a ” (spoil) given b y a person in authority
to be surprised at the greed there and then
exhibited.
The adage has lo n g been accepted for true,
L ik e father like son,” and equally true would
be the saying “ L ik e king like p eople.” The
conduct o f the chiefs proves that in Uganda at
least it is true, for, like the Emperor, th ey adopt
a despotic s ty le , and require to be served b y
their inferiors with abject servility and promptitude.
Like him, a lso , the chiefs are fond o f
pomp and display, and, as far as their rank and
means permit, they exhibit this vanity to the
utmost.
Thus, the monarch has always about two score
of drummers, a score o f fifers, half a score of
native guitar-players, several mountebanks, clowns,
dwarfs, and albinoes, a multitude o f errand-boys,
pages, messengers, courtiers, claimants, besides
a large number o f bodyguards and two standard-
bearers, either following or preceding him wherever
he g o e s , to declare his state and quality.
The chiefs, therefore, have also their followers,
standard-bearers, and pages, and so on down
to the peasant or cowherd, who makes an infantile
slave trot after him to carry his shield
and spears.
In person the Waganda are tall and slender.
I have seen hundreds o f them above 6 feet 2
inches in height, while I saw one who measured
6 feet 6 inches. O f course the native Waganda
must be distinguished from strangers and. slaves
and their descendants imported from conquered
lands, and generally they differ from these b y
their more pleasant looks and more agreeable
features. This last, however, may be attributed
to a general love o f cleanliness, neatness, and
modesty, which pervades all, from the highest
to the lowest. A naked or immodest person is