The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-12

These are the semi-civilized Baganda, in whose country I now am
 Five Great Provinces.
 The British have divided up this terri tory into five provinces. Originally they made six, but, within the last year or so, they have taken off the lands lying east of the lake and given them to British East Africa. That province contains the naked Kavirondo, of whom l have alreay written. It is traversed by the Uganda railway, which terminates on the lake at Port Florence The five provinces Of Uganda consist of the kingdom of Ugan- da the central province to the east of 1t, the western province lying between 1t and Lakes Albert Edward and Albert, and the Rudolf and Nine provinces at the north. The centrad province, which is almost directly north of Victoria Nyanza, Is fertile to an extreme. It borders on the Kayirondo country, and many of its peo- pl. 20 naked It is densely populated, and it's people raise. cattle, sheep and goats. They also do considerable farm ing One of the most characteristic fea- lures of this province is Mount Elgon, which ranks as one of the high noun tains of the continent. It Is an enormous volcano. whose lower slopes are covered with forests and on whose top are re quently snowstorms, although it is almost on the equator.
 Among the curious features of this mountain are it's caves, which have been inhabited by the natives for ages They, use them as homes, and as stables Tor their cattle. sheep and goats. The cat tie caves are never cleaned, and the manure of ages beds their floors. They swarm with feas and the stench is ter rible Roads are now being cut through the central province by the native chiefs and one would have no difficulty in jour- neying through it. As to the Uganda province, 1t Is covered with roads made long ago by the natives, and one can go over a great part of it on a bicycle Many of the English officials here own wheels and they are gradually coming into use among the richest of the natives.
 Western Uganda.
 The poorest part of the Uganda pro- tectorate Is in the north. The country fades out into the desert not far from Lake Rudolf, and the Nile province par takes somewhat of the nature of the Sudan. As to the western province, that is high and healthy. It is a broken table land a great part of it a mile above the sea, rising in some places to high noun tains. The country is well watered, and a large part of 1t is covered with a tropi- cal forest filled with monkeys. The peo- pie are well developed black negroes who devote themselves largely to stock rais-
 
 that they seem to be leading the beasts In this same region there are pygmies just like those which Stanley describes as living in the forests of the Congo
 These western natives are not so ad- vanced as those of Uganda proper. Many of them go naked, and others are clad only in aprons of bark cloth tied by strings around their waists. These na- tives ornament their bodies with scars. I have seen some who have their breasts and stomachs cut in such patterns that they somewhat resemble Persian shawls Many of them file their teeth and alto gether they are low in the scale of Afri- can civilization.
 The Capital of Uganda.
 I wish we could send Uncle Sam to Entebbe and show him how John Bull handles these millions of savages. This country has more than half many peo- pie as the Philippines. and some of them have for ages been noted for their war like characters. John Bull takes care of them all with few score of officials and about 2500 soldiers. His soldiers are all most all native blacks, and most Of them have been recruited from the country it. self. There are a few East Indian skhs but the army is mainly made up of what is known as the Kings African Rifles, who are commanded by British generals, coonels and captains. This force con ssts of 1500 blacks. and, in addition, there are 1000 native constables. It seems a small army to control 100000 people.