The Discovery of the Source of the Nile

by John Hanning Speke

So much for ethnological conjecture. Let us now deal with the Wahuma since they crossed the Nile and founded the kingdom of Kittara, a large tract of land bounded by the Victoria N'yanza and Kitangule Kagera or River on the south, the Nile on the east, the Little Luta-Nzige Lake [15] on the north, and the kingdoms of Utubi and Nkole on the west.

The general name Kittara is gradually becoming extinct, and is seldom applied to any but the western portions; whilst the north-eastern, in which the capital is situated, is called Unyoro, and the other, Uddu apart from Uganda, as we shall presently see.

Nobody has been able to inform us how many generations old the Wahuma government of Unyoro is. The last three kings are Chiawambi, N'yawongo, and the present king Kamrasi. In very early times dissensions amongst the royal family, probably contending for the crown, such as we presume must have occurred in Abyssinia, separated the parent stock, and drove the weaker to find refuge in Nkole, where a second and independent government of Wahuma was established. Since then, twenty generations ago, it is said the Wahuma government of Karague was established in the same manner. The conspirator Rohinda fled from Kittara to Karague with a large party of Wahuma; sought the protection of Nono, who, a Myambo, was king over the Wanyambo of that country; ingratiated himself and his followers with the Wanyambo; and, finally, designing a crown for himself, gave a feast, treacherously killed King Nono in his cups, and set himself on the throne, the first mkama or king who ruled in Karague. Rohinda was succeeded by Ntare, then Rohinda II., then Ntare II., which order only changed with the eleventh reign, when Rusatira ascended the throne, and was succeeded by Mehinga, then Kalimera, then Ntare VII., then Rohinda VI., then Dagara, and now Rumanika. During this time the Wahuma were well south of the equator, and still destined to spread. Brothers again contended for the crown of their father, and the weaker took refuge in Uzinza, where the fourth Wahuma government was created, and so remained under one king until the last generation, when King Ruma died, and his two sons, Rohinda, the eldest, and Suwarora, contended for the crown, but divided the country between them, Rohinda taking the eastern half, and Suwarora the western, at the instigation of the late King Dagara of Karague.

This is the most southerly kingdom of the Wahuma, though not the farthest spread of its people, for we find the Watusi, who are emigrants from Karague of the same stock, overlooking the Tanganyika Lake from the hills of Uhha, and tending their cattle all over Unyamuezi under the protection of the native negro chiefs; and we also hear that the Wapoka of Fipa, south of the Rukwa Lake are the same. How or when their name became changed from Wahuma to Watusi no one is able to explain; but, again deducing the past from the present, we cannot help suspecting that, in the same way as this change has taken place, the name Galla may have been changed from Hubshi, and Wahuma from Gallas. But though in these southern regions the name of the clan has been changed, the princes still retain the title of Wahinda as in Karague, instead of Wawitu as in Unyoro, and are considered of such noble breed that many of the pure negro chiefs delight in saying, I am a Mhinda, or prince, to the confusion of travellers, which confusion is increased by the Wahuma habits of conforming to the regulations of the different countries they adopt. For instance, the Wahuma of Uganda and Karague, though so close to Unyoro, do not extract their lower incisors; and though the Wanyoro only use the spear in war, the Wahuma in Karague are the most expert archers in Africa. We are thus left only the one very distinguishing mark, the physical appearance of this remarkable race, partaking even more of the phlegmatic nature of the Shemitic father than the nervous boisterous temperament of the Hamitic mother, as a certain clue to their Shem-Hamitic origin.

It remains to speak of the separation of Uddu from Unyoro, the present kingdom of Uganda—which, to say the least of it, is extremely interesting, inasmuch as the government there is as different from the other surrounding countries as those of Europe are compared to Asia.

In the earliest times the Wahuma of Unyoro regarded all their lands bordering on the Victoria Lake as their garden, owing to its exceeding fertility, and imposed the epithet of Wiru, or slaves, upon its people, because they had to supply the imperial government with food and clothing. Coffee was conveyed to the capital by the Wiru, also mbugu (bark-cloaks), from an inexhaustible fig-tree; in short, the lands of the Wiru were famous for their rich productions.

Now Wiru in the northern dialect changes to Waddu in the southern; hence Uddu, the land of the slaves, which remained in one connected line from the Nile to the Kitangule Kagera until eight generations back, when, according to tradition, a sportsman from Unyoro, by name Uganda, came with a pack of dogs, a woman, a spear, and a shield, hunting on the left bank of Katonga valley, not far from the lake. He was but a poor man, though so successful in hunting that vast numbers of the Wiru flocked to him for flesh, and became so fond of him as to invite him to be their king, saying, "Of what avail to us is our present king, living so far away that when we sent him a cow as a tributary offering, that cow on the journey gave a calf, and the calf became a cow and gave another calf, and so on, and yet the present has not reached its destination?"

At first Uganda hesitated, on the plea that they had a king already, but on being farther pressed consented; when the people hearing his name said, "Well, let it be so; and for the future let this country between the Nile and Katonga be called Uganda, and let your name be Kimera, the first king of Uganda."

The same night Kimera stood upon a stone with a spear in his hand, and a woman and dog sitting by his side; and to this day people assert that his footprints and the mark left by his spear-end, as well as the seats of the woman and dog, are visible. The report of these circumstances soon reached the great king of Unyoro, who, in his magnificence, merely said, "The poor creature must be starving; allow him to feed there if he likes." The kings who have succeeded Kimera are: 1. Mahanda; 2. Katereza; 3. Chabago; 4. Simakokiro; 5. Kamanya; 6. Sunna; 7. Mtesa, not yet crowned.

These kings have all carried on the same system of government as that commenced by Kimera, and proved themselves a perfect terror to Unyoro, as we shall see in the sequel. Kimera, suddenly risen to eminence, grew proud and headstrong—formed a strong clan around him, whom he appointed to be his Wakunga, or officers—rewarded well, punished severely, and soon became magnificent. Nothing short of the grandest palace, a throne to sit upon, the largest harem, the smartest officers, the best dressed people, even a menagerie for pleasure—in fact, only the best of everything—would content him. Fleets of boats, not canoes, were built for war, and armies formed, that the glory of the king might never decrease. In short, the system of government, according to barbarous ideas was perfect. Highways were cut from one extremity of the country to the other, and all rivers bridged. No house could be built without its necessary appendages for cleanliness; no person, however poor, could expose his person; and to disobey these laws was death.