Uganda's Katikiro in England; Being the Official Account of His Visit to The

UGANDA'S KATIKIRO IN ENGLAND Photo by Bagsatio, 25, AVa Bond Slutl, London. HAM MfKASA. APOLO KAc;\V.\, IIIK K.MIKIKO. f'ronlisfiuct.} UGANDA'S KATIKIRO IN ENGLAND BEING THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF HIS VISIT TO THE CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII. BY HIS SECRETARY HAM MUKASA AUTHOR OF "A LUGANDA COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW* Translated and Edited by THE REV. ERNEST MILLAR, M.A., F.Z.S. OFFICIAL INTERPRETER TO THE KATIKIRO DURING HIS VISIT, AND MISSIONARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN UGANDA With an Introduction by SIR H. H. JOHNSTON, K.C.B. WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row jr Jf LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PREFACE THIS book has been translated into English at the request of some of those who, having met the Katikiro of Uganda during his visit to England in 1902, wished to know what impressions he had gained during that visit. It was written in Luganda by Ham Mukasa (the Kati- kiro's secretary during the visit) after his return to Africa, and was based on copious notes taken at the time, the whole book being written in collaboration with the Kati- kiro himself, so that it may be regarded as their joint production. It was written for the natives of Uganda, as a description of the journey and what was seen on it, and everything is described from an entirely native point of view, and not with the idea of any translation into English. The book simply shows what impressions the visitors their visit some of the are gained during ; impressions obviously false ones, and many of the numbers given are vi preface sometimes similar events in quite unreliable ; occurring not different places have been confused but I have I add to attempted to rectify such things, as think they the charm of the book. as In translating it, I have tried to keep as closely if at I adhered possible to the native idiom, and times have There to it too closely, I must ask my reader's pardon. and of is in the original a good deal of repetition, long to an explanations which would have been wearisome been English reader, and these parts have therefore omitted. I have also omitted a few remarks that might have caused pain to some, or that were of too personal a few a nature ; and have added where necessary explana- reader have tory notes, which as a convenience to the in the usually been put in brackets and inserted text, though where a longer note has been necessary it has been put at the foot of the page. I myself had never read the book through until, when once again in England, I began the work of translation, and I therefore wish to disclaim all responsibility for the various statements made in it, even though they have sometimes apparently been made on my authority. The author frequently states how impossible he finds it to explain in his own language many of the things which he saw in England, and I similarly sometimes preface vii found it quite impossible to make the Katikiro and the author fully understand many of our English customs and methods of government. As an explanatory note, I may add that from Uganda to England the party was in the official charge of Mr. H. Prendergast, an officer of the Uganda Administration, and during the stay in England was in the charge of Captain C. V. C. Hobart, of the Grenadier Guards, who obtained his D.S.O. for services in Uganda. In the text of the book I have used the generally accepted method of calling the country itself Uganda, a single native Muganda (plural, Baganda), and the language Luganda. In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to all those who have kindly assisted me in the preparation of this book, to Sir H. H. Johnston for his Introduction, to Mr. Herbert Samuel, M.P., for his kind advice and sug- gestions, and to Mr. C. W. Hattersley for kindly allowing me to reproduce some of his photographs. ERNEST MILLAR. July 22</, 1904. INTRODUCTION To see ourselves as others see us is, or should be, an ever fresh source of interest to the British peoples of these two islands who have taken their turn in the cycle of the world's history as an Imperial race. Motives first of honest commerce, secondly of greed for gain, then of sheer philanthropy, and lastly a lust for power over the destinies of other peoples, have sent the adventurers of Great Britain and Ireland over America, Asia, and Africa during the last five centuries, seeking first to found colonies, then empires, and latterly to educate backward races, the commission or gain on the last-named enterprise being the securing of fair fields for our commerce and the satisfaction of implanting our religious beliefs, laws, language, and customs in many waste places of the earth, and among many people of widely differing racial origins. In order that our Empire may continue and flourish, and include within its limits not only those who are descended from Celts and Anglo-Saxons (and who have made new Englands, Scotlands, Waleses, and x 3ntr<rtwctton Irelands in the western or the southern hemispheres), but also Maltese, Greeks, Indians, Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Egyptians, Malays, American Indians, and Negroes of every shade, from olive-yellow to sooty black, it is becoming absolutely necessary that Force shall not be the only element by which our sway is maintained. We have had in the past to use the force uhuh is derived from individual courage, strongly marked individuality, knowledge applied to such practical purposes as the manufacture of superior arms or superior ship-building in the conquest of the many subject races which now own our sway. All things considered, our crimes and our mistakes have been few, and our honest dealing a thing to be proud of and thankful for. But the very thoroughness with which we have carried out our mission as empire-builders has weakened the force with which at present we impose our rule. We have striven to educate all our subject races to think and act for themselves. We have concealed from them none of the tricks of our trade. Negroes and natives of India have been taught to shoot as well as sometimes better than the soldiers of our own race. Kru-boys from the West African coast are nearly as smart naval seamen as the British bluejacket. We have raised up great lawyers in India, clever casuists in Malta, and Negro Attorneys-General in Sierra Leone who have been justly knighted for their attainments. It is time, there- 3ntrotwction xi fore, that we sought to lay the foundation of our most diversified Empire on lines of affection and mutual trust, as well as on respect for that force emanating from the forty millions of these two little islands, who are enormously out-numbered by our alien fellow- subjects in mere masses, and who are within measur- able distance of being equalled in intelligence, aptitude, and bravery by the black, brown, yellow, and foreign - white associates of the Empire. In plain words, it is our business as an Imperial race to show all those people who are British subjects or British-protected persons, and who dwell outside the limits of the white man's lands, that it is to their interest and advantage to remain of their own free will a part of that British Empire which should develop as time goes on into a vast league of peace and good will, unhampered commerce, tolerant beliefs, and unbounded knowledge. In dealing with the non-British elements in our Empire we have often to mend our manners, enlarge our sym- pathies, and rid ourselves as a nation of a tendency to believe a tendency still subsisting that the only perfect human being absolutely acceptable in God's sight is he or she of pink-and-white complexion, who plays all or a selection of the pastimes in vogue in the United Kingdom, and wears the exact costumes ordained by London or Cheltenham, and can quote faultlessly the Mayfair shibboleths of the moment. Nothing in my conception is so vulgar and saddening xii 3ntrotniotton as the typical up-to-date Indian rajah, who, in the belief that he is thereby getting into closest sympathy with his Anglo-Saxon over-lords, abandons his native costume for ours, and introduces to an Indian climate and tropical surroundings modes of killing time and wasting money which are only tolerable in association with English scenery, Scotch mists, or Irish meadows. We are constantly publishing the impressions made on our own pioneers, or on our people at home, by the exotic subjects of the Empire. Much less numerous are the recorded impressions which we make on the minds of those visitors to our shores. The book, therefore, which follows these remarks should be of interest and advantage. I desire to state that I disclaim all responsibility for the opinions and impressions of the Katikiro Apolo and his interpreter and friend, Ham Mukasa. The same, I believe, might be said by the Rev. Ernest Millar, who has translated the work from Luganda into English. Very few excisions, I understand, have been made in this literal translation. Here and there a somewhat too personal remark has been omitted, lest it should give offence. Mr. Millar has added a few explanatory notes. The points on which I should like to set right the Negro author of this book are as follow.

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