Uganda by Pen and Camera/Chapter 1
Uganda by Pen and Camera
Chapter I
How to Get There
The journey to Uganda is nowadays not the tedious business it was up to the year 1902. It is no longer necessary to do it on foot. The whole journey can be accomplished in twenty-six days, from London to Mengo. Crossing from Dover to Calais, passing by train through Paris and Lyons to Marseilles, and thence through the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, and the Red Sea, we round Cape Guardafui, and go down the East African Coast as far as Mombasa.
The sea-passage usually occupies twenty- one days. It is possible to go by a P. & O. steamer as far as Aden, and there change into a British India Steam Navigation Co.'s boat ; but most people prefer the French or German liners, which entail no change at Aden. Foreign boats are subsidised by their respective Governments, and give much better terms than the English boats. Although the distance, as the crow flies, is not more than 5,000 miles, the circuitous route makes us travel over 8,000 miles before reaching Uganda. From Mombasa to Mengo by land, as measured by cyclometer, is 711 miles; but the present-day route is 584 miles by rail to the Lake Victoria, and 175 miles across the lake from Ugowe Bay, or Kisumu, to Entebe, and from Entebe to Mengo 18 miles by road. The journey has been so often described that I do not intend to devote much time to that. It must suffice to show a picture of Mombasa, which strikes one on landing as being remarkably pretty. The white houses of the Government officers, and traders, contrasting with the vivid green of the foliage, and the blue sky and sea, all combine to produce a very pleasing effect, as the sun is shining brightly almost every day in the year.
Mombasa has been much improved during the last few years. Much better accommodation has been provided, which is, however, not necessary for missionaries, who do not use the hotels; warm-hearted brethren usually meet the new arrivals, and extend kind hospitality during their limited stay there.
We make our way to the railway station and take our tickets for Uganda, but the train service is somewhat restricted. For half the distance, little over 300 miles, to Nairobi, there are as many as three trains a week, but beyond that point to the lake one or two passenger trains a week are considered ample for the small number of passengers. At the time of writing this, the upper part of the line is not yet permanent, and the heavy rains are constantly washing away parts of embankments, and the line being only single often causes much delay. Our illustration represents one such delay, where it took two hours to go 200 yards, the train coming off the line five times.
Where one is not anxious to catch a steamer (we were, in this particular case), such delays are rather more amusing than distressing, for it is possible and allowable to get out of the train and take a walk or take snapshots ; but it is not advisable to walk too far ahead of the train, as there is positively no guarantee that it will catch you up that day, and you may find yourself stranded in the wilderness. Such a delay is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and, as a rule, the train makes a very good journey. The train ride is full of interest to the traveller. The types of various nations seen at the stations and along the route, and the numerous herds of wild animals, prove a source of wonder and amusement, though there are great tracts of country in which no sign of life at all can be seen. On our arrival at Ugowe Bay, in all probability, a steamer will be found waiting. There are other names applied to this bay. One is Port Florence, another is Kisumu, but they all refer to the same place, which is a large bay forty-five miles long in Kavirondo.
It is here we get our first glimpse of the great Victoria Lake, or Nyanza, as the natives call a lake. It is well known by now that the lake is sufficiently big to put into it the whole of Ireland. Roughly speaking it is 1,000 miles in circumference, with an area of 40,000 square miles. It is fresh water, and subject to very severe storms indeed. There is, of course, no tide, but the lake is subject to rises and falls of as much as ten feet, probably due to rainfall ; but it is difficult to understand some of the high-water marks on the rocks in various parts. Some people have thought that these rises take place in a sort of cycle of years. The middle of the lake has only lately been explored.
All round near the shores are islands of various sizes, mostly inhabited and very fertile, the scenery for the most part being tropical. The lake abounds in fish, many very large and very good eating, and the natives, although catching a great deal near the shores, rarely venture on deep-sea fishing. They fish both with line and traps. There are many hippopotami and crocodiles. The hippopotamus is not dangerous to life if left alone, though sometimes attacking canoes with very disastrous results. It appears to be not generally known that crocodiles perpetuate the species by laying eggs, about the size of an ordinary duck's egg, with very tough shells. These are laid in holes scraped in the sand, and hatched by the heat of the sun. A crocodile will lay from eighty to one hundred and twenty in one batch. Fortunately few of these arrive at maturity, as there are numerous birds, fish, and crocodiles awaiting the young when they emerge from the shells, but one can rarely go on the lake for even a very short distance without seeing crocodiles, and it is very inadvisable to bathe in shallow waters.
The natives on these islands are very clever at making canoes. People have an idea that because they are only sewn together these canoes do not last long. It merely means that they require re-sewing, for they are only sewn together with the fibre of a palm-tree. The boards will last as long as twenty years. The boats cannot really sink even if full of water. They would if the crew stayed in, but at the first sign of swamping the crew jump out into the water, and cling to the edge of the canoe until the storm abates. Then, one by one, the men carefully get in, each baling out in turn a little water, and then on they go. The natives would not travel in a canoe which did not leak, as they consider it would not go well without water in the bottom to balance it, and one man's business is always to be baling out.
For European travellers and chiefs a bridge of twigs, covered with grass, is spread over the water in the bottom of the canoe, and travelling can be made fairly comfortable by means of bales of bedding and other packages as back-rests. The paddlers face the way they are going, and keep up a dismal chant most of the time, which encourages them to paddle more or less in time. Crossing the lake from Ugowe Bay to Entebe by steamer occupies the greater part of two days, one night being spent at anchor, as the narrow passages between some of these islands are very dangerous to traverse at night. Two new railway steamers were launched in 1903, and travelling is now fairly comfortable. The line of the equator is crossed en route, so it goes without saying that in Uganda there is always twelve hours’ sunlight and eleven hours’ darkness, with two half hours of what may be called twilight dividing the two. In March and September there is absolutely no shadow at noon, the sun being immediately overhead.
There are no seasons in Uganda, roughly speaking. It is always hot, and it has been said that the heat penetrates into the ground six feet all the year round, as against one foot in England, in July and August. There are what are called rainy seasons, commencing about March and September, but they are very uncertain, and, even in the rainy seasons, rain rarely falls continuously for more than a few hours. Rain is plentiful most of the year, June and December being the only really dry months. Hailstorms are frequent, and sometimes severe. Some thirty years ago, the natives say, there was a terrible storm of hail, and the hailstones remained on the ground for three days. Numbers of people were killed, and numerous others died from cold. Many huts were knocked down by the force of the stones, and most of the plantations very severely damaged. Thunder-storms are frequent, and often terrific, houses being constantly struck by lightning and destroyed.
It does not seem as though Uganda proper is a country for settlers, but probably the heat is not the greatest barrier to this. The elevation is high, over 4,400 feet above sea-level, and probably the rarity of the atmosphere has something to do with the feeling of depression which one constantly experiences after four years’ residence in the country without a furlough. When the atmosphere is so rare, the lungs cannot perform their full amount of work, and the liver is called on to help, with the result that it cannot discharge its own functions properly, and indigestion and dyspepsia are the result.
Malaria is a great enemy and source of danger to life, the natives suffering a great deal from it, much more so in proportion than Europeans. No doubt it is passed on from natives to Europeans by mosquitoes. Professor Ross, of the Liverpool School of Medicine, is of opinion that malaria is conveyed almost entirely by mosquitoes; and that—if it is possible for Europeans to live entirely apart from natives, keeping them at a distance of fifty yards, and avoiding the neighbourhood of stagnant pools and open cisterns of every description—it is quite possible to live in these tropical climates without the least fear of malarial fever. We believe that it will be found that a great source of danger is the planting of bananas and Indian corn near to the dwelling, as mosquitoes undoubtedly breed in such plants, which hold a great deal of moisture. The worst form of malaria, usually called black-water fever, is apparently conveyed only by the mosquitoes called Culexanopheles, and only the female can convey it. She makes a feed of blood during the breeding-season from a native or other person infected with malaria, and then injects the parasites into some other victim from whom she makes a second meal.
These are not the only difficulties in the way of colonisation. Insect enemies to plant life and cultivation of cereals are very numerous. Many experiments have ended disastrously, but the British Administration is making every effort to find out what productions can most suitably be grown. It seems at present as though the country called East Africa, that is, east of the lake, is most suitable for colonisation by Europeans, both from a health point of view, and that of remuneration for their labours as planters, though on the highlands of the Mau escarpment, 7,000 feet, we have heard of cases of mountain sickness.
The disease called sleeping sickness, which has of late wrought such havoc amongst the natives, is of a most distressing character. It has been found that a parasite carried by a species of tsetse fly which attacks human beings is responsible for the disease. The parasite was first found in the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, hence the brain is the first vital organ attacked.
Let us now take a look at Entebe. From the steamer the place presents a very charming appearance, with its wealth of foliage extending well to the water-edge, its forest scenery, and the varied collection of dwellings. Entebe is a long isthmus, and is peopled chiefly by Europeans connected with the Government, traders, Indians, and Goanese. European traders have not, so far, been a great success in Uganda, and trade is, at present, mostly in the hands of an enterprising Indian or two. From the shore the view of the lake is equally pretty, and one only regrets that it is not possible to show these in their natural colours.
I need not describe in detail the Government of Uganda. It will suffice to say that at Entebe resides the representative of his Majesty's Government. There are also a number of sub-commissioners in charge of districts, and a small army of clerks, accountants, store-keepers, and mechanics, numbering in all over one hundred, in Uganda proper.
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King’s Road, from Mengo to Namirembe,
(The White Fence on summit of Hill is the King’s Lubiri.)
Uganda is a Protectorate, not a colony, and has its own native parliament, which makes all laws, subject to the approval of the Commissioner.
Let us pass on, now, to Mengo. We can go by cycle or on foot. There is an almost level cycle road of some twenty-two miles going round the hills, the eighteen-mile foot road, as is usual in Uganda, going over the top of them all, and making travelling very laborious.
Arrived at Mengo, the traveller is always much impressed by the great King's Road. From the earliest recorded time the Baganda have always had roads to the main centers of their kingdom, and this road was made entirely by the natives without any instruction from Europeans. The white line across the top is the fence of the King's ‘lubiri’ (enclosure).
It may be asked, Where are the houses of the natives, of whom more than 60,000 live in Mengo now? They can rarely be seen from the road, as the roads are bounded by reed fences, and each house is surrounded by a grove of plantains, banana, and wild fig-trees. The reed fences are not substantial, and, latterly, most natives have taken to making growing fences. It is only necessary to cut off the branch of a tree, or the upper half of the stem, stick it into the ground, and with the first rain it takes root and grows, so that a living fence is the simplest thing to propagate. The poles used to hold the telegraph wires in Usoga and Uganda were saplings, which have taken root and are now good growing trees. Similar poles stuck into the ground as table-legs occasionally take root and produce leaves.
The ordinary food of the natives is plantains. The difference between plantains and bananas is tantamount to that between cooking and eating apples. In appearance they are the same. Indeed, it is almost impossible to tell the difference when seeing a plantain and banana growing side by side. An idea of the taste of plantains may be gathered by mixing together a potato, a turnip, and an artichoke. They are usually steamed in their own leaves, and the natives who can get two meals a day, at noon and at evening, are perfectly happy. Some varieties are sweet, but the natives do not care much for these. There are also sweet bananas, of which the country produces many excellent varieties, but they are chiefly used for making beer, by squeezing out the juice and fermenting it with millet seeds, which the natives call ‘mwembe,’ the beer thus made being called ‘mwenge,’ An unfermented kind is much drunk, and is called ‘mubisi,’ but this turns sour in the stomach if a quantity is drunk. They grow a great quantity of sweet potatoes, which they use chiefly in time of drought, for the plantain and banana will only produce fruit when supplied with plenty of moisture. In addition, they have a variety of vegetables similar to spinach, marrow, beans, and peas of an inferior quality. They eat meat when they can get it, but most of them are too poor to afford this indulgence often.