The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26

I here at Kampala, and the neighboring l countries recognized his power and paid | him tribute. 1 have already written of l the blind musician, who lost his eyes because he could not play to please this king, and of the royal drummer whose ears were cut off because one of
 Mutesa's daughters happened to spy him In swimming. Under King Mutesa it was considered indelicate for man to show any part of his person, ex- cept his face, neck and feet, and if he happened to lift his dress a bit high and display a section of his calf in the
 royal presence he was liable to execu-
 tion. This was so notwithstanding the
 maids of honor inside the palace went
 naked and the king was waited upon by girls in a similar state
 Sad Fate of an Uganda Eve.
 King Mutesa had scores of wives
 during his reign, but the two or three
 dozen that are now watching his tomb are all that remain. During the earlier
 part of his life he had a playful way
 of reducing his family whenever he be-
 came drunk. At such times he would
 take up his spear and stab at his
 wives right and left. I was told here
 of a picnic he once gave, at which all the ladies of the harem were present.
 One of the prettiest of the girls in the party thought to curry favor with her royal husband after the manner of Eve.
 She plucked a piece of fine fruit and
 offered 1t to him. The king thereupon
 denounced her for her familiarity and
 began to beat her to death with his
 club, when Spoke, the explorer who
 happened to be present. ran in saved
 her.
 At that time the king had the right
 tn in
 matter how many deaths. the harem
 was kept full. His majesty was sup
 pose. to marry only the daughters of
 chiefs, but if he fancied other girls he
 had the chiefs adopt them, and in this
 way they were brought into the palace
 according to law. The sending of a pot of native beer to the father of a girl was an indication that the king
 required one of his daughters, and the maiden specified was at once sent to the palace. If she proved true to his majesty and he did not kill her in one of his fits of anger, she was on the whole fairly well treated and she had the chance of the lifelong death
 watch which the widows are now en- toying. On the other hand if the girl was not true to Mutesa and sneaked away to another lover she was terribly
 punished. The old penalty for such a i crime was that both offenders should
 be chopped up alive somewhat after the slicing process which, until recent ly, was common in China. All such penalties have now been done away with, and infidelity is punished by the native courts, which are directed by the British officials.
 As to Mutesa's cruelties, Apollo Kati- kiro, the present prime minister, de- scribes how one of his wives was killed for speaking too loudly in the royal l presence. The king was angry at her for her presumption, and straightway 1 ordered that her nose and ears be cut off, and finally her head This sen i tence was carried out right in the midst of the court crowd. and the soldiers laughed as they did it.
 MWanga the King.
 An even more brutal beast than old Mu- tesa was King Mwanga, who succeeded him. He resigned after the Christian
 missionaries had come in and when the country was to large extent converted
 to Christianity. Mwanga was at times
 much opposed to the missionaries and he
 tortured the Christians among the na-
 tives, cutting off the arms and feet of
 some and roasting others to death over slow fires. He killed several of the white
 missionaries and acted so that he brought
 about a civil war among his people. In this war the native Catholics and the native Protestants fought with each other and for time the country was under the control of the Mohammedans. The king himself was notoriously weak and