witchcraft, a belief destitute of all that gives joy or happiness, but which rather tends to degrade them and take from them the real pleasure of life.

These charms are sold to the people by the witch doctors, who partly get a living by their sale. These men profess to know all about evil spirits, and to be able to make charms possessing power over them, so that when they are asked for a charm for a certain object, say to cure some sickness, or to assist the people in war, etc., they produce something which they say has the power to do this. The people believe in the power of these men fully, and place

figure of a man rudely carved in wood or modeled in clay; a piece of native string made from wood fiber and worn around the ankle; or the horns of a small deer or antelope, filled with some composition from the hand of the witch doctor-any of these may be used.

The charm is oftentimes placed in a piece of snake's skin and neatly sewn round a copper bracelet or ankle, or a groove is made in the metal and the charm placed in it. They hang these charms, too, on the fronts of their houses, tie them round their fruit trees, and place them in some prominent

place in the town, all to preserve from dangers of divers kinds. Among some tribes the common fetich seen in the town is made in the form of an old-fashioned beehive, while with others it is made of clay and bedaubed with red camwood and other colored earths. While again, another common practice is to tie it to the end of a spear in a piece of cloth, which is then carried in all their wars with an idea to insure success in fighting.

I have in my possession several of these fetiches, which men who came to me for medicine gave me. One is a fowl's claw, neatly wattled in wood; another is a piece of native string, made from a woody fiber, and which was worn round the ankle of my patient as medicine. At first this man was not willing to part with his charm, and, of course, I did not press him to do so. When, however, he found that the medicine I was giving him was doing him good and healing him of his sores, for the benefit of which he was wearing this fetich, he at last offered to allow me to remove it. I afterward kept it as an evidence of the willingness of these poor people to give up their use of these things, and with it their belief, if something better is given them in their place.

Some rather curious instances, illustrative of the power of these charms over the people, came before my notice on several occasions, one or two of which I will mention.

On one occasion a man came to me with a broken arm, the bone was fractured near the shoulder. While setting it for the poor fellow I inquired of him how he had met with the accident. His answer was that it was fetich. Of course, I told him that that was nonsense, but he assured me that this was the case. I then inquired how it had happened. "O," he says, "I climbed into an nsafu tree to get some nsafu [nsafu is a fruit, in appearance like a plum, rather astringent in taste], and the fetich the people had tied to the tree was so strong that it caused me to fall from the tree and break my arm." Of course the man had been stealing nsafu, and seeing he had met with this accident he ascribed it to the powerful effect of the charm the owner of the nsafu had tied to it to preserve the fruit.

Another instance of a very sad nature occurred about the same time. One morning, when seeing my patients in the medicine room, a poor little boy, about five years of age, was brought to me by his mother and brother. The little thing was reduced almost to a skeleton, was gray and emaciated with dirt, and his little features pinched and drawn with the suffering he was undergoing from the dropsy which had attacked him. Having looked at the little fellow, I came to the conclusion that he had been kept in a starving condition, and made inquiries of the mother to that effect, finding that it was as I had suspected. I told the mother, therefore, that before I gave any medicine to the little one, or did anything for him, she must promise to give him some food.

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She hesitated, and said she could not do so, but I said: "You must; you must kill a fowl for the child, or boil some goat's flesh, in fact, give him something to make him strong, or my medicine could do no good." She told me, however, that she could not do this, so, turning to the brother, I inquired the reason, and was told, with some hesitation, that these things were fetich to the child. I then found that the reason for the little one being starved was the fact that all food, with the exception of peanuts and cassava leaves, were proscribed by the witch doctor as fetich, and on that account nothing could be given it to eat. I reasoned with the mother and brother of the evil of their conduct, and begged them to give the child something to eat. At last they consented to try to do so, but I am afraid it was too late, even though they kept their promise. A few days later the little fellow died. The meaning of such cases is this: that the little one becoming ill, a native doctor was called in. At first he would prescribe something for him, but finding this to do no good, he would begin to find fault with the food given to the child, and would commence to proscribe this article and that until, in this case, everything was vetoed except peanuts and cassava leaves, which, of course, led to his being starved, while the poor mother was helpless to hinder, being herself bound by the same belief, and even though willing to give food to her child, could not do so, for fear of being accused of having bewitched him, and for this losing her life.

Notes on Uganda, Africa.

BY REV. R. H. WALKER.

UGANDA is a very green country, full of rounded hills of nearly equal height. The valleys between the hills are filled with papyrus and tall reeds, and the margins are fringed with trees and jungle. The plantain gardens are on the lower slopes of the hills, the potatoes on the more recent clearings. The Katonga is the only river in Uganda that falls into Lake Nyanza; all the others run north into Bonyoro. The ground is, generally speaking, red clay. The rocks are of granite, or, near the lake shore, a sort of lavalike stuff, that seems to be made by the action of water on iron. Down by the lake shores, and in the deeper valleys, there are large trees to be found, but in all the valleys the wild date palmis grow in great quantities. These date palms are never caten by the white ants, and, if used for telegraph poles, would overcome one of the difficulties suggested in constructing a line of telegraph. The rainfall is heaviest in April and December, but, as a rule, there is some rain every month in Uganda. Potatoes (sweet potatoes, called "dumonde ") are raised in three months maize requires six months, and plantains eighteen months. Plantains go on bearing all the year round, and, therefore, it is only for the first eighteen months that there is a delay in getting the crops. In certain

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districts vast herds of cattle were formerly raised, so that Mutesa could have fifty herd of cattle killed every day in the capital. These cattle districts were down by Budu, I understand, where no cultivation was carried on, the whole country being given up to the king's herds. Plague among the cattle often carries off great numbers; and now, owing to the disturbed state of the country, many of the cattle have been killed and eaten. They are the first spoil that is taken. The frequent raiding and wars have prevented the country from becoming rich; the people have had no inducement to work and introduce improvements.

Luganda is spoken throughout the country of Uganda, and it is also well understood on all the Sesse Islands. It is more understood in Busoga than in

a long shaped hill, rising highest at the south end. It was on this highest part that King Mutesa at first built his capital; and it was here that the Roman Catholics built their church and houses, which were destroyed in January, 1892. When the Christians, in 1889, defeated the Arabs and their king, Kalema, they found him living in his capital built on the northern end of this long hill. The third hill, Mengo-the lowest of the three-is where King Mwanga's inclosure is now situated. It contained at one time one hundred round houses in fenced off courts. One of these beehive shaped houses was ninety-five feet in diameter, and about sixty feet high. Other of the king's houses were more of the European shape, like large barns. These houses were all built, as is the universal custom in Uganda, of a framework of bamboo reeds

Bunyoro; but in all the neighboring states-Busoga, Bunyoro, Busagala, Koki, Buziba-there are many people who understand Luganda. The common people of these countries would not understand it at all, but each chief would have men about him who know Luganda well. The people of Buganda have been great traders, and have mixed in this way with the surrounding peoples very much. It is not difficult to find a man in Buganda who knows the languages of the surrounding tribes.

Mengo" is strictly only the name of the king's hill, but it is used by the missionaries generally as the name of the capital of Uganda, in which about five thousand people live. This capital is situated principally on three hills-Mengo, Rubaga, and Namirembe. Of these Namirembe is the highest. On this hill stands the new church, built in 1892. On the lower slopes of this same hill is the old church, built in 1889, on a piece of ground given by the king (Mwanga) to the missionuries. The hill Rubaga is

supported on poles and then thatched to the ground. The fences round each court, and round the whole inclosure, are made of bamboo reeds neatly sewn together. Most of the fences are ten feet high, and are built to insure privacy rather than for defense. Near Kampala, the Imperial British East African Company's fort, there is quite a large village, of perhaps one thousand people who are of all tribes, Nubians, Zanzibaris, Wasukuma, and others dependent on the Imperial British East African Company for their support.

All the principal chiefs have houses at the capital. Their houses and their gardens are inclosed in high fences of reeds, so that often you may walk along a road with high reed fences on each side of you which prevent you seeing anything of the owners' gardens or houses. The views to be obtained are not very extensive, as most of the hills are much the same height and exceedingly flat on the top; but from the top of the hill Namirembe a fine view of

the lake, twelve miles off, can be gained, and also of the country some seven miles round in other directions.

In the morning, especially on Monday mornings, when the king holds his assemblies, the roads leading to the king's inclosure are full of people walking about in their white clothes. The chiefs are distinguishable by the crowd of men who follow them and by the better quality of their clothes. Over the long white shirt many of the chiefs wear a cloth coat of European make. About midday very few people are about in the streets, but toward evening one often meets long lines of men coming in from the gardens in the country, bringing loads of sweet potatoes and plantains on their heads. There are two native markets held for six days of the week at the capital. These markets are the resort of numbers of people, and in them can be bought meat, tobacco, plantains, salt, and the usual produce of the land.

The country within a radius of about two miles of Mengo has been under cultivation, and therefore there is no jungle, nor are there more than a very few trees. The gardens are fenced in, and are most carefully cultivated; the neatness of them is extreme. The plantain groves are generally on the lower slopes of the hills, but the sweet potato gardens are either on the borders of the marshes or higher up on the hills. In these gardens, often among the plantains, the women raise peas, beans, pumpkins, maize, millet, semsem, and various other plants whose roots and leaves are used for food. There is nothing within three miles of Mengo that could be described as a swamp, such as where the papyrus grows, but in the hollows between the hills there is marshy ground, which is often boggy in the rainy season, The bamboo reeds grow most luxuriantly, and any piece of ground which passes out of cultivation at once becomes smothered in this long reed grass, which becomes the haunt of leopards and snakes. The bypaths through the gardens are often fenced with growing bushes, such as euphorbia, strychnia, and other quick growing shrubs. The general color of the ground is red, and this causes the roads to stand out conspicuously. The roads are hoed to keep them free from grass, and are about thirty or forty feet wide. Perhaps the most enduring things in Uganda are the hills made by the white ants; these even stand in some of the principal roads at Mengo, and are closely watched about sunset after a shower of rain, for then the winged ants swarm out, and are eagerly devoured by the people and the birds.

Uganda is cut up into ten pieces, or counties, and over each of these there is a chief appointed by the king. Some few chieftainships are hereditary, but the usual plan is for the king to pick out a man whom he likes, and give to him the office. Latterly, owing to the decay of the king's power, the chiefs have nominated a man for the vacant place, and the king has been obliged to appoint him.

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Some of the chiefs have no district under their rule, but have rights and privileges, and numerous gardens in all parts of the land. The Katikiro, the principal chief in the land, is one of these; he takes half with the king of all plunder or tribute brought into the land. At this time the Katikiro is Apollo Kagwa. He is a brave man in war, but of a passionate and, at times, rather childish disposition, very warm hearted and active in his support of the missionary cause. He is a man of very considerable intellectual ability, and when he was about thirty years of age he set to and learned to write very well in a short time.

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Formerly, all the chieftainships and all the lands were in the hands of the king, and he gave them to whomsoever he liked, and turned men out of office or estates at his pleasure. There were three chieftainships, the Kassuju, the Katambala, and the Gabunga, that were hereditary in a sense-that is, that the king chose one out of the same family to succeed. The subchiefs were also all appointed by the king; often a big chief would nominate a man to serve under him, but the king appointed him, and only through the king could he be turned out. No man could cultivate or occupy a piece of land without the leave of the subchief directly over that land. "Squatwere always driven off when their crops were ripe. Now, however, the king has no power apart from his chiefs. The chiefs of the present day are members of cliques, or factions; they have chosen each other, and the king has agreed to their choice. The ten chieftainships that carry with them districts of country, and all the subchiefs under each, are thus divided between the three factions. The Protestants have six of these landed chieftainships in their gift, the Mohammedans have three, and the Roman Catholics have one. The king could not drive out any one of these chiefs or their subchiefs; the party to which they belong alone could do so. Mwanga is about thirty years of age, five feet ten inches high, and rather fat.

The religion of the people is very much affected by the example of the chief. All the men under a chief -those who are on his gardens or are appointed by him-nominally profess the same faith. As the chiefs are chosen by the parties to which they belong on account of their religion, they are necessarily men who really believe in their "faith," and are active in teaching others. The Protestant chiefs have received office on the understanding that they will be active in teaching the people under them to read the word of God. If a man failed in this it might prevent his promotion, other considerations being equal.

The bulk of the Protestant Christians are men and women who long for intellectual advancement. They begin with a desire to learn to read and to raise them. selves from the low level on which they find themselves. Learning is much admired in Buganda, and a man who cannot read is looked down upon. As

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they gradually learn to read, and read the word of God, a new life is opened to them, and some have been made partakers of the spiritual life in Christ. The old religion, with its cruelties, is cast on one side; the general tendency is to be much kinder and more gentle than formerly. This shows itself in the desire to have the blessings of the Christian family life and a relaxation of the cruel punishments that used to be inflicted. A public opinion is being created that is founded on righteousness, and is causing right to triumph over might. Bribery and corruption are now looked down upon, as well as adultery, stealing. murder, selling of slaves, drunkenness, etc. A chief who was found guilty of these sins might even lose his chieftainship, owing to public opinion being strongly against him.-Church Missionury In elligencer.

people are full of joy; they are nearly beside themselves with delight. I expect many thousands more books in a few weeks by the other road. The stream must be kept up. The country, I feel sure, is safe. It cannot be abandoned. Uganda seems to me to be the hope of Africa. To abandon it to anarchy and bloodshed would be more than a blunder-it would be a crime."

Last Moments of Arab Women. TRANSLATED FROM "LA VIE ARABE," BY E. DAUMAS.

WHEN an Arab woman is taken seriously ill her husband spares no pains to ward off the danger, and uses all the means considered by them to be orthodox to save her life.

He first calls in a tabib (doctor), who very often is

THE latest tidings from Uganda are found in a letter received in England from Bishop Tucker, of the Church Missionary Society. It was written from Mengo, Buganda, December 28, 1892, and says: "I write to tell you of our safe arrival here on the 23d, after a wonderful journey. No accident; no sickness. God's blessing has rested upon us from beginning to end. Christmas Day was an ever memorable day. I preached in the new church to a congregation numbering 5,000 souls. The king was there, and all the great chiefs of the country. God be thanked for the wonders of his grace. The remains of Bishop Hannington will be buried in the chancel of the new church on Saturday. The king will be present and the native Christians. Once more I say, thank God for his wonderful working. The fourteen loads of books that I brought up country with me will be sold to-morrow. They will go like a puff of wind. There are 8,000 copies of the Scriptures in Buganda. The

nothing more than a quack with more renown than skill. Then he passes to supernatural receipts, of which only very old women (called adjaize) have the secret. After that he has recourse to the learned ones (tolbas), the privileged ones of God. If death has not been decreed, they may perhaps obtain her recovery by means of religious talismans, which they cause to be worn on different parts of the body, or else to be burnt, that the sick one may drink the ashes mixed with certain drinks. None of these learned ones give any definite information as to the value of their charms, and their replies may be summed up as follows: "If she lives, she lives; if she dies, she dies; and in any case it is, or will be, as God please." As a last resource the husband seeks her recovery by almsgiving, because the prophet Mohammed has said that almsgiving will sometimes prolong a life. But if sickness increases the fanily lose all hope.