Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/121

 said to have had no less than seven thousand, obtained in exchange for trifles such as some domestic animal, a few needles, or a box of pills. The chiefs follow their sovereign's example in surrounding themselves with u host of wives, and the smallest vassal has his harem. The grandees thus absorb such a large portion of the female population that, in spite of the preponderance of girls, there are not enough left for all the Wa-Ganda. Peasants arc often seen whose scanty crops have never sufficed to purchase a single wife. No law forbids the marrying of near relations. On the death of a father the eldest son even inherits all his wives, with the exception of his own mother, occasionally sharing them with the other members of the family. During the period of lactation, lasting two years, the women live apart from their husbands, the king and the chiefs having for these nurses separate houses scattered throughout the kingdom.

Nearly all domestic work falls on the women and slaves, the free man being above any toil except that of building his own house. He is born a soldier, and must keep his strength for the wielding of arms. The Wa-Ganda naturally have all the vices produced by such a state of things. They are liars, idlers, and thieves, those who have wives and slaves to do their work passing their time in gambling and drinking. The traveller is most struck by the disregard the Wa-Ganda have for human life. Killing a man is a mere trifle that no one troubles himself about. A court-page wanting to try a rifle shoots the first passer-by, and returns delighted with his weapon and his skill. Another complains to the king of always serving, saying that he should like to be a chief. "Well then, kill your father;" and the son hastens to put this idea into execution, so as to inherit the women and slaves, which will enable him to fold his arms and do nothing in his turn. And yet the Wa-Ganda cannot be called a cruel people. They are rather inclined to benevolence, generally treating their slaves with great gentleness, and welcoming the traveller with kindness. U-Ganda is said to be the only African country where the life of the guest has always been scrupulously respected. When a war breaks out all the strangers are enclosed in a village and placed under the charge of a chief responsible for their safety and bound to furnish them with food and shelter. But if they withdraw from the place assigned to them, the chief is no longer answerable for the consequences.

Endowed with great intelligence, and speaking an extremely sonorous, pliant, and logical language, the "Wa-Ganda are probably the only African people who have made any real progress since 1862 when Speke, the first European visitor, penetrated into their countrj'. Wa-Ganda envoys were already despatched to England in 1880. New plants have been introduced, together with new methods of culture, and ngricultural labour is increasing. Very skilful in forging iron, the Wa-Ganda imitate perfectly European objects, and can even change flint-lock guns into modem rifles. They readily acquire foreign languages, and Swaheli, the idiom of the coast, and the most useful in Eastern Africa, is already spoken fluently in the capital and the market-towns. A certain number of chiefs also speak and write Arabic. In a few days school-children master the difficulties of the Latin alphabet, made much easier by the English missionaries than that of the