the Lake, a much larger traffic than now obtains may with confidence be expected.

The estimate of working expenses of one train up and one train down daily after the completion of the railway, allowing for occasional extra trains, amounts to £100,000 per annum.

Uganda Protectorate-Sir H. H. Johnston's Report [Cd. 256].-On April 27th, 1900, Sir H. H. Johnston, Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, sent a short Preliminary Report on the Climate, People, Resources, and Present Condition of Uganda. The passages as to climate are difficult to summarise without the aid of the coloured maps attached to the Report, but the conclusion is that all the enormous area at an elevation of 5,500 feet and over is almost entirely free from malarial fever and is healthy for European settlement, and that those districts which lie between 3,500 and 5,500 feet in altitude are only moderately healthy, while those below 3,500 are very unhealthy. With the exception of the station at Wadelai, the regions lying along the course of the Nile are markedly unhealthy for Europeans:

The coast of Lake Albert, especially on the eastern side, is another black strip in the health map of Uganda. The vicinity of Lake Baringo, again, is a most unhealthy region. The coast-lands of Lake Rudolf are so parched and dry that there is apparently but little malarial fever in that district; but, on the other hand, dysentery is said to be very prevalent owing to the bad drinking water which is derived even from flowing streams.

The shores of the Victoria Nyanza, though they often rise to an elevation of 4,000 feet, or a few hundred feet above the level of the Lake, are also unhealthy, apparently from the proximity of marsh, and blackwater fever is an endemic disease, though it seems to be somewhat of a milder type than the hæmaturic fever of Lake Nyassa and West Africa. Yet the climate of the Victoria Nyanza coast-lands is usually agreeable, their relatively high elevation considerably modifying the heat of the sun and generally giving cool nights.

In the Kingdom of Uganda and in the provinces of Busoga and Kavirondo the climate, as regards temperature, may be said to be delightful; it is one of those numerous instances in tropical Africa where climate has little or nothing to do with the ill-health that prevails. The malarial fever from which Europeans suffer in these lands is entirely due to the germs which are generated in the rank rich soil and in the water of the marshes. The climate of the Nile Valley, on the

other hand, is so hot at certain seasons of the year that it is distinctly prejudicial to health. The climate of the Mau Plateau is often miserably cold and wet, yet given a fairly decent dwelling and a settler will enjoy rude health under these cold winds and Scotch mists.

The unhealthiness of the low-lying regions can be mitigated by the draining of swampy ground and the clearing away of the undergrowth of long grass. The population is estimated by Sir H. H. Johnston at about 3,800,000 for the entire Protectorate-half of whom are in the Kingdom of Uganda and the adjoining districts. Sir H. H. Johnston distinguishes five types of negro :

1. The jet black and coarse-featured negro of West Africa.

2. The better-looking, browner-skinned, finer-featured negro type characteristic of the true Central African (represented by such types as the Nyam-nyam, the Fan, and the Mangbuttu).

Note. This better-looking, tall, brown type of Bantu_negro crops up almost everywhere in Bantu Africa amongst the West Tanganyika people, the Yaos, the Zulus, and many of the South and North Congo races.

3. The Nile negro type-tall, with thin shanks, and very black skin, not badlooking features, though, owing to the universal custom of face mutilations, this fact is not often apparent.

4. The negroid of Galla intermixture, which gives paler skins and great personal beauty to the Bahima herdsmen, who dwell amidst the Bantu population; and which improves the looks to a lesser degree of the Nile negro population of the eastern third of the Protectorate.

5. The Pygmy races (probably connected in origin with the bushmen of South Africa). These are found of more or less pure type just within the western limits of the Protectorate, on the borders of the Congo Free State (Toru district).

They, again, may be divided into two types: the yellow-skinned, very ape-like; and the black-skinned and hairy. There are evident signs of this pygmy popula tion having been the groundwork of the Uganda peoples. The ugly pygmy type is constantly turning up even amongst the Bantu-speaking Baganda, and in the wandering hunter tribes of the Mau forests (Anderobo).

All the population of Nile negro descent inhabiting the eastern and southern parts of the Protectorate goes absolutely naked, with the exception of some tribes such as the Masai, where the women are clothed. On the other hand, almost all the peoples who speak Bantu languages are clothed, and regard absolute nudity with shame. These facts have a considerable influence on their commerce, for it is perfectly use

less for a trader to carry cloth to the Nile region, to Lake Rudolf, or to the splendid black savages of Kavirondo, while, on the other hand, British calicoes are greatly in demand among the more civilised Bantuspeaking populations occupying the old Empire of Uganda.

Amongst the naked Nilotic negroes of the eastern half of the Protectorate missionary propaganda seems at the present time absolutely impossible. These peoples take absolutely no interest in religion or in any subject which is not of a purely material nature. On the other hand, the Bantu-speaking natives are well inclined to religious inquiry; and the rapid spread of Christianity over the Kingdom of Uganda and the district of Toru is one of the greatest triumphs to which the advocates of Christian propaganda can point.

It must not be imagined, of course, that the Baganda or Batoru have none of the old Adam in their composition since they accepted Christianity; but, undoubtedly, their intelligence is quickened, their ideas are enlarged-to a very notable extent and their harmful old superstitions are swept away by their acceptance of the new faith. The difference between the Uganda of 1900 and the blood-stained, harassed, barbarous days of Mutesa and his son Mwanga, is really extraordinary; and the larger share in this improvement is undoubtedly due to the teaching of Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries.

Although the Nilotic negro populations repudiate cloth, they are very keen about trade in articles such as iron, brass, and copper wire, beads, red fezzes, ready-made Arab garments,* and kauri shells. The Bantu-speaking peoples, especially where Christianity has been introduced, are Catholic in their commercial tastes. They care little for beads and not over much for wire, but they are greedy for cloth and for almost every manufactured article up to a phonograph and a brougham. There is a great desire amongst the leading chiefs at the present time to obtain phonographs or gramophones.

In return for these goods, the only payment which they are able to make at present is in ivory, donkeys, cattle, sheep, and goats, besides local food products of a perishable nature, and perhaps rupees. For some time past a great deal of cash has been flowing into the country, not only by means of Government payments, but because all the leading chiefs have taken to converting their saleable property into rupees.

The resources comprise practically all things that can be grown in the tropics.

* In connection with what I have said about their dislike to clothing, this may seem an incongruous statement; nevertheless, I am informed by the officers in the Nile Province that all chiefs and head men greatly appreciate an Arab robe, which they don on great occasions.

† And camels on the west coast of Lake Rudolf.

Two-thirds of the area of the Protectorate has "a singularly fertile soil." And Uganda is essentially a cattle - keeping country. Horses thrive almost everywhere with moderate care. As regards minerals, iron exists in most parts; copper is vaguely reported from some of the Nile countries, and gold from the north-west of Lake Rudolf. Coal is reported to be on the slopes of Mount Eglon, and Sir H. H. Johnston hopes, before the termination of his Special Commission, to give much more satisfactory information under this head. On the subject of the present condition of the Protectorate, Sir H. H. Johnston says:

The Mau, Baringo, Nandi, Kavirondo, and Busoga districts; the kingdom of Uganda; the districts of Ankole, Toru, and Unyoro; a small portion of Bukedi, and the lands in the vicinity of the right bank of the Upper Nile, are fairly under administrative control on the part of British officials.

These countries are, with the exception of the western portion of the Mau district, quite safe for the European traveller, merchant, or settler. Of all these countries the kingdom of Uganda is the most civilised, and bears the most marked signs of being under the control of a European Power.

But there are distributed areas as will be seen from the following:

North of Unyoro, in the Nile Province (which at present, so far as administration goes, means a strip of about 30 miles broad, running parallel with the east bank of the Upper Nile, between Lake Albert and Lado), the natives are reported to be fairly friendly. The Shuli and Madi, who dwell near the Nile, seem very well disposed: the Bari, farther north, are more restless. There is a friendly disposition also in the beautiful and mountainous country of Latuka, where we are about to establish a station.

North-north east of Foweira, however, about 30 miles distant from that point on the Victoria Nile, there is still a little knot of Soudanese mutineers, about fifty guns in all. These people are endeavouring to attract malcontents and deserters to their ranks, hitherto with little success. As soon as an occasion offers, I hope that it may be possible to deal with them.

Unfortunately, when an expedition does go out in that direction they disperse far and wide. Time, however, will tell in our favour, because they are wasting their ammunition either in fights with the natives or in firing at elephants, and it will be impossible for them to renew their supply. The natives of the country detest them, and will probably assist us to secure or destroy them. The huge Bukedi peninsula lying to the north of

Lake Kioga was formerly a happy hunting-ground of these Soudanese mutineers. But an enterprising Muganda Chief, who rendered great service during the mutiny, was placed in charge of this peninsula about a year ago, and supplied with a small number of guns. He (Kakunguru) has succeeded in reducing this peninsula to a perfectly orderly and peaceful condition, and has reopened it to trade.

I am striving now to encourage this man by giving him a regular salary as a Native Collector, in return for which he will collect the taxes on his peninsula, and transmit them to the administration.

Due east of Bukedi, to the north of Mount Elgon, there is a disagreeable little nucleus of enmity, chiefly due to a number of Arab slave-traders having settled there and having been joined by a few Soudanese mutineers and one or two rebel Baganda. They are harassing the peaceful natives on the slope of Mount Elgon. I propose to deal with this matter by establishing a fort later on in the middle of this country.

Farther away to the east again, on the Ribo Hills, I have established a police station, under Mr. H. H. Baker.

Farther south, down the Great Rift Valley, we maintain absolutely friendly relations with the Enjámesi people of Lake Baringo, and, above all, with the Masai. The Masai are really becoming our allies, and numbers of them form a sort of irregular police, which have been of great service to us in our dealings with the robber tribes in the Mau forests.

The Nandi district and the western part of the Mau district are inhabited mainly by two tribes (the Lumbwa and the Nandi), who, for the past four years, have given us a great deal of trouble. The majority of the Nandi Chiefs are now friendly with us, and actually turn out on occasions and help us against their bandit brothers; but there still remains a small section of the Nandi who make constant efforts to pilfer goods from weak caravans, to drive off cattle, and to cut the telegraph wire-wire being, unfortunately, almost the only article with which these perfectly naked people adorn themselves.

The Lumbwa, a tribe of kindred language to the Nandi, dwell to the south of the railway route along the Nyando valley. They are a powerful tribe, though, of course, utterly unable to meet a disciplined force in the open. Like the Nandi, they have no guns, but use spears and poisoned arrows. They are only formidable if pursued into their own forests.

It has been their habit for centuries to raid the peaceful dwellers in the plain, especially the Kavirondo people near the mouth of the Nyando River. I am afraid we shall have to send an expedition eventually into their country to reduce them to submission.

The Kavirondo people to whom I have just referred I call "Kavirondo " for want of a better name. This is really a very vague term, and as far as I know has not much local significance. At the north-eastern corner of the Victoria Nyanza, round about Ugowe Bay, there is a most interesting enclave of people who are closely related in blood and language to the Shuli and Nile negroes. Their languages are so closely allied that Soudanese soldiers who belong to the Shuli stock can make themselves understood in Lower Kavirondo.

These people of Lower Kavirondo are friendly, and are industrious agriculturists. Their villages are charming in appearance, each large cluster of houses being surrounded by a tall hedge of aloes with coral red blossoms. In between the aloes are planted euphorbias with filiform light green stalks.

The land question may now be considered as partially solved over the greater part of the Uganda Protectorate. Over all the more thickly-inhabited countries the waste or unoccupied lands belong to Her Majesty the Queen, having been transferred to the Crown, in most cases by Agreement with the Chiefs, after payment of indemnities; in some other cases, as in Unyoro, as the result of conquest, after a war forced on us by the King of Unyoro, and lasting for years until his capture and deposition.

By Proclamation it has been forbidden to any foreigner to acquire land from the natives in any part of the Uganda Protectorate without the prior assent of the Uganda Administration.

All these measures, together with the rights of control conferred on us by the Treaties made by Colonel J. R. L. Macdonald's expedition in the north-eastern part of the Protectorate, give to the Uganda Administration control over all the waste and uncultivated land in the Protectorate; and, in the Kingdom of Uganda proper, over all land not occupied by former allotment from the King or Regents prior to the 1st January last.

A large area of the Kingdom of Uganda is guaranteed to the possession of its native occupants; the rest of the land, including the forests, has now been transferred by Agreement to the Crown on behalf of and in trust for the Administration of the Protectorate of Uganda.

In like manner the Kabaka or King of Uganda has transferred to the British Government his land rights over the adjoining provinces of Busoga, Toru and Ankole.

At the present time, apart from missionaries, there are only about eleven European settlers, three of whom are Germans, one Italian, and the rest British. There are, however, already a great many natives of British India settled in the Protectorate, engaged in trade. The principal commercial firms two in

number-are German. One of these firms is already beginning to extend its operations to Wadelai and the Upper Nile. An enterprising British Indian trader is also establishing trading stations in the Nile Province.

Justice is administered between Europeans or between Europeans and natives by British Courts established at all the principal stations in the Protectorate. Justice between natives is administered usually by the recognised native chief.

There is a fortnightly mail between Uganda and the coast at Mombasa.

The telegraph now extends to Kampala and is being constructed to Entebbe on the Lake.

The only vessels on the Victoria Nyanza at the present time are: one small Government steam-launch belonging to the German authorities at Mwanza; one small steam-launch (the Victoria) belonging to the Uganda Administration; one steam-launch belonging to a British firm engaged in commerce in Uganda; a sailing-vessel belonging to the Church Missionary Society, and an Arab dau. Nevertheless, small as are these craft, they have done much of late to assist our transport service, and to facilitate commerce with German East Africa. At the present moment, I am sorry to say, we depend almost entirely on German East Africa for our supplies of best and cheapest trade goods. In fact, the European residents in this country would be very badly off for provisions, and many of the necessaries and comforts of life, but for the enterprise of the two German firms established in Uganda. These latter get up all their goods through German East Africa, where porterage is very cheap and well organised. The goods are then brought across the Lake from Mwanza in daus to Uganda. The British Railway as yet has done little to change the route followed by commerce to Uganda. Of course, when the railway reaches the Lake shore it will absolutely kill all opposition by the far greater rapidity of transport.

To the Uganda Administration, however-especially in regard to the transport of passengers and horses-the Uganda Railway has made an enormous difference; it may be said to have entirely changed the aspect of things in this Protectorate. Passengers are now conveyed in a few days and in relative comfort from Mombasa to the frontier of the Uganda Protectorate to a region which (thence to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza) is perfectly healthy for man and

beast.

Coming to the question of Ways and Means of Inter-Communication, the following note is given :-

The Uganda Government Railway, at * Messrs. Boustead, Ridley, and Co.

the date of compiling this Report (April 27th, 1900), ceases for working purposes on the Uganda side of the Kikuyu Escarpment, within a mile or two of the frontier of the Uganda Protectorate. The earthworks of the line, which is run from Naivasha to the eastern base of the Mau Escarpment at Molo, are being rapidly constructed over very easy ground. In a few months the permanent line of the railway will have descended the Kikuyu Escarpment and have joined the line, now under coustruction up the Rift Valley, at Naivasha. When this is done there will be railway communication through from Mombasa to the base of the Mau Escarpment, or to within scarcely more than 100 miles of the Victoria Nyanza. A rough cart-road, made by the late Captain Sclater, R.E., at present connects Kikuyu with the Eldoma Ravine Station and with Mumia's in Kavirondo.

I have recently had a road made to connect the Eldoma Ravine Station across the Mau Plateau with the railway track above Molo at the head of the Nyando Valley, and this new cart-road is being continued down the Nyando Valley to Ugowe Bay. This will be a very much shorter route to the Victoria Nyanza, especially when the railway is completed as far as Molo. A good road for riding purposes, but not for carts, exists between Mumia's and Mengo, and Entebbe in Uganda.

From Mengo, the native capital of Uganda, well-made roads (not suitable for wheeled traffic, on account of the weakness of the bridges) are carried to Toru, Buddu, Ankole and Unyoro.

Lake Victoria Nyanza is, of course, navigable everywhere for steamers of considerable draught, but great care must be exercised in following the passages between the islands and the mainland, as they are apt to contain sunken rocks. With a skilful pilot, however, journeys can be made safely in steam-launches between the islands and the mainland. This route is often followed in preference to a cut across the open lake, as the waters of the Victoria Nyanza are very rough. Smoother water is met with in the island channels, and it is also easy to stop at frequent intervals for supplies of firewood.

The River Nile from the place where it issues from the Victoria Nyanza is interrupted by constant series of rapids and falls until it reaches Kakoge. From this point it is navigable into Lake Kioga and thence as far north as Foweira. Most of the principal branches of Lake Kioga are navigable for a small steam-launch. After Foweira the Victoria Nile ceases to be navigable until Fajao is reached. From this point it can be navigated by small steamers as far north as Dufile. Then begins a stretch of about 70 miles of rapids, and the Nile is scarcely

navigable again until it reaches Beden or Fort Berkeley. From this point, but for the occasional obstruction of the sudd, the Nile is navigable to Khartoum.

Lake Albert is, of course, navigable for steamers. Lake Rudolf is also said to have a sufficient depth of water for a steamer or steam-launch; Lake Baringo also. Lakes Naivasha and Nakuro can be navigated by small boats.

Off these waterways and away from the cart-road, which runs no further than Kavirondo, all transport must be done either with human porters or with pack animals. Owing to the apparent absence from the entire Protectorate of the tsetse fly no obstacle exists in the way of developing transport very considerably by means of beasts of burden.

Wild Animals (Preservation Convention) [Cd. 101].-As the result of a Conference held at the English Foreign Office, at which representatives were present of the Queen, the German Emperor, the King of Spain, the King of the Belgians (as Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo), the President of the French Republic, the King of Italy, and the King of Portugal, a Convention was signed at London on May 19th, 1900. The preamble sets forth that the Powers are desirous of saving from indiscriminate slaughter and of insuring the preservation throughout their possessions in Africa of the various forms of animal life existing in a wild state which are either useful to man or are harmless. The Articles of the Convention are follows:

:

as

Article I.-The zone within which the provisions of the present Convention shall apply is bounded as follows: On the north by the 20th parallel of north latitude, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the Red Sea and by the Indian Ocean, on the south by a line following the northern boundary of the German possessions in South-Western Africa, from its western extremity to its junction with the River Zambesi, and thence running along the right bank of that river as far as the Indian Ocean.

Article II. - The High Contracting Powers declare that the most effective means of preserving the various forms of animal life existing in a wild state within the zone defined in Article I. are the following:

1. Prohibition of the hunting and destruction of the animals mentioned in Schedule I. attached to the present Convention, and also of any other animals whose protection, whether owing to their usefulness or to their rarity and threatened extermination, may be considered necessary by each Local Government.

2. Prohibition of the hunting and de

struction of young animals of the species mentioned in Schedule II. attached to the present Convention.

3. Prohibition of the hunting and destruction of females of the species mentioned in Schedule III. attached to the present Convention when accompanied by their young.

The prohibition, to a certain extent, of the destruction of any females, when they can be recognised as such, with the exception of those of the species mentioned in Schedule V. attached to the present Convention.

4. Prohibition of the hunting and destruction, except in limited numbers, of animals of the species mentioned in Schedule IV. attached to the present Convention.

5. Establishment, as far as it is possible, of reserves within which it shall be unlawful to hunt, capture, or kill any bird or other wild animal except those which shall be specially exempted from protection by the local authorities.

By the term "reserves" are to be understood sufficiently large tracts of land which have all the qualifications necessary as regards food, water, and, if possible, salt, for preserving birds or other wild animals, and for affording them the necessary quiet during the breeding time. 6. Establishment of close seasons with a view to facilitate the rearing of young.

7. Prohibition of the hunting of wild animals by any persons except holders of licences issued by the Local Government, such licences to be revocable in case of any breach of the provisions of the present Convention.

8. Restriction of the use of nets and pitfalls for taking animals.

9. Prohibition of the use of dynamite or other explosives, and of poison, for the purpose of taking fish in rivers, streams, brooks, lakes, ponds, or lagoons.

10. Imposition of export duties on the hides and skins of giraffes, antelopes, zebras, rhinoceroses, and hippopotami, on rhinoceros and antelope horns, and on hippopotamus tusks.

11. Prohibition of hunting or killing young elephants, and, in order to insure the efficacy of this measure, establishment of severe penalties against the hunters, and the confiscation in every case, by the Local Governments, of all elephant tusks weighing less than 5 kilogrammes.

The confiscation shall not be enforced when it shall be duly proved that the possession of the tusks weighing less than 5 kilogrammes was anterior to the date of the coming into force of the present Convention. No such proof shall be accepted a year after that date.

12. Application of measures, such as the supervision of sick cattle, etc., for preventing the transmission of contagious diseases from domestic animals to wild animals.

H