Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/123

 doning as they did before their death. Amongst the most venerated is the god of thunder, and the place where lightning is seen to strike is held as sacred. Here an archway is built, under which no stranger has the right to pass; or else a hut is raised on the spot as a sort of temple, which, however, must not be repaired when it falls in ruins. Against all the dangers which surround him, proceeding from the evil genii and powers of the air, the Gunda man protects himself by amulets of wood, stone, or horn, and by shreds of cloth made for him by the mandwa, or "medicine-men." These magicians oppear also to have a sort of recognised influence, due to their skilful treatment of diseases with roots and nostrums. According to Speke, an ecclesiastical fief, over which the king of U-Gunda has only an indirect power, occupies a large tract on the left bank of the Nile.

In U-Ganda all the trade of any importance is in the hands of the Arabs and the Zanzibar half-castes. Their trading stations are limited on the north by the Somerset Nile, and the series of cataracts from Earuma to the Murchison Falls, and if they penetrate westwards towards the Albert Nyanza they still keep their depots in U-Ganda. They barter guns, powder and shot, woven goods, glassware, and a few European articles, for ivory and slaves, the latter the great staple of trade in Central Africa. At least one thousand blacks are thus sold annually to the Arabs. As the elephants retire before the hunter deeper and deeper into jungles remote from all human dwellings, the Wa-Ganda have no other means of paying their debts than by annually handing over an ever-increasing number of slaves to the dealers in human flesh. It has already been ascertained that the slave element is actually diminishing in the country. Ivory comes chiefly from U-Soga, and salt is imported from the banks of the Albert Nyanza across U-Nyoro. Till recently a little trade was also carried on with the Eg}'ptian possessions in Sudan, to which U-Gandu supplied coffee, tobacco, and cattle, in exchange for cotton-stuffs, iron, and Turkish slippers. Money is still rarely employed in these transactions, the recognised commercial currency being the doti, or "eight cubits " of calico of the value of one thousand cowries. Thanks to the numerous caravans journeying between the sea and the lake, by the easy routes of the Masai country, the facilities for exchange are increasing. Hence there can be no doubt that a civilised system of trade will soon replace that of barter. The navigation of the Nyanza has become less dangerous since the Arabs' dhows have made their appearance on its waters, and in U-Ganda itself the former miry paths are being replaced by pood routes. The road connecting the capital with its port on the Nyanza would do honour to Europeans. It is carried over a swamp on a solid foundation of wild-palm trunks placed side by side.

The Egyptian conquests at the time of their greatest extension never reached the frontiers of U-Ganda. The officers of the Khedive penetrated into the country only under the title of ambassadors. The old feudal system has undergone no change since the kingdom has entered into commercial relations with Arabs and Europeans. In theory the king is absolute master of land and people, and is free to act as he pleases in matters of small moment, such as the lives of his women or of the icakopi, members of the agricultural class. M'tesa well deserved his name.