The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-17
RAILRoADING IN UGANDA.
Lions, Elephants, Natives and In
sects Provide Excitment for All

Probably there is no other stretch of
country on earth that could produce
so many oddities in the way of queer
men and strange beasts as the 500 miles
of jungle. wilderness, swamp, and
mountain which the new Uganda Rail
way, now nearing completion, will
cross on its way from Mombasa to the
shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza-
This line would have been finished
long ago if it had not been necessary,
every once in a while. for the entire
engineering force to drop work and go
of on a lion hunt, repel an attack on
the part of some savage native tribe
head off an invasion by elephants, OF
fight the deadly tsetse fly and the no
less Unsuitable "jigger.'
The activity of the tsetse fly made
il necessary to transport all the mate
rails used in building the rirst 2J0
miles OF the line on the backs OF ma
tive carriers" as horses or oxen
would have been killed; but the at
tacks Of the "jigger'' upon the men
were so fierce, especially on the solss
OF their feet, that hundreds of the car
r!ers were incapacitated, and many of
them were forced to have one or more
of their toes amputated.
Then. again, malaria has claimed
scores Of victims; but almost every
member Of the expedition would nave
agreed to bear these hardships IL they
might have been spared the visitations
OF lions Since the work was COM
menced over thirty men have been kill
ed by these animals, to say nothing of
those injured.
Two lions in particular "bagged" so
many victims that at one time the
whole construction force struck
work until the man-eaters were killed.
On another occasion am official OF the
East African Protectorate and SOL
der were walking along the line
when suddenly a lion bounced upon
them from the brush beside the track.
The officer hastily ducked and escaped
with an ugly scratch, but the beast
killed the soldier outright before any
attempt could be made to rescue him.
1t was not long after this that Ry-
all, an official of the railroad, was at
tackled by a lion which entered the
compartment in a railway carriage
where he was sleeping, and in spite OF
his cries and struggles carried him Off
bodily into the jungle and there de-
voured him. While the excitement at
the sta ton where this happened was
at it's hight, the cause OF 1t returned,
Jumped upon the roof Of the station
where the railway hands were sleeping,
and tried to get in by tearing off the
corruga ted iron sheets. During the
night his roars of baffled rage could be
heard only too plainly by the scared
inmates, and in the morning the lion
covering of the roof was wet with the
blood from the animals paws. Find
ing his efforts there fruitless Leo had
cnouched for the rest of the night close
outside the station door, where he oc-
cupied himself by gnawing into small
pieces the stations whole stock nf red
and green signal flags. Only a short
time ago another majestic looking
beast jumped on the train and was
shot in the act.
Perhaps the most awful adventure
with lion that ever happened in At
RIGA took place on the Uganda line.
Five native laborers had deserted, and,
taking their guns with them, started
back toward the coast. One night,
while sleeping under a tree, they were
set upon by several lions and promptly
made the best of their way up into the
low hanging branches. Accordingly
the lions sat themselves down under
the tree and waited patiently until one
by one the miserable men were ex-
hausted or discouraged by weakness
and hunger, let go their hold and fell
70 the ground, there to be torn to
pieces and eaten. One man only was
able to hold out until the lions grew
tired of waiting.
OF all the tribes with whom the
builders OF the railway have come in
to contact none are queerer than the
Nasal. They disdain fruit and live en-
tirely on meat, while their only drinks
are milk and blood. Their King is a
crafty old character. Every once in
a while he publicly takes a copious
dose of a certain drug which the ma
tives coll royal medicine and believe
would kill any one else. The only
effect which it has on the King, how
ever, is to throw him into a trance,
in which he makes startling cornmuni-
cations regarding what is happening
in distant parts of the country. This
he is enabled to do by maintaining. un-
known to his people,a surprisingly per-
feet secret service of runners who
scout the domain from end to end, and
thus, when the King announces while
in his trance that an enemy is ap-
preaching from the west AMI the war
riors go forth to meet him. the fact
that the foe is discovered just where
the King foretoid naturally impresses
them not little
In dealing with the natives the In
native interpretations of some of its
phrases are occasionally startling. Four
men had killed another, and when
made prisoners readily admitted guilt.
Through a technicality, however, they
could not be punished. From this un-
expected acquittal they made their own
deductions. The white mans law re-
ouires one life for one life. We -four
killed one. Therefore we cannot be
punished Whereupon still another
observed: "There must always be one
life taken for one life. If one man
kills four other men he cannot be pun
ished"
The camera, it may be mentioned
appears to be a great favorite with the
natives.
It was because the natives refused &c
help in building the Uganda road thai
the British government brought prac'
tically all the working force from In
dia. These men, who number about
q. 900, are capable of standing the suns
rays, and work cheerfully and hare
sixteen hours a day for little more
than a handful of rice.
Elephants are a great source Of
trouble to the engineers of the line
More than once they have invaded the
ticket office and stripped it bare of boil
furniture and tickets, or have over
thrown entertainments erected at grea
trouble and expense. The line vii
probably be finished some time in 1870;
lat present about 800 miles are opei
for business out of about 500, the pas.
sengers being principally merchants
and coolies, caravan porters, and Brit
ish soldiers and officials. The cost o.
the line has been estimated at f5,OOO,'