An African description of Turn-of-the-century Europe and the intellectual history of the Buganda kingdom. (Patreon)

Before the first coastal traders reached the great lakes kingdoms of East Africa, the region was one of the few parts of the continent that had no direct contact with the rest of the Old world. Yet almost immediately after welcoming their coastal guests, the societies of the great lakes kingdoms readily adopted external ideas when it suited their interests.

For the kingdom of Buganda in particular, literacy in the Arabic and Latin scripts was quickly adopted within the first years of external contacts, and a highly influencial class of scholars emerged at the royal capital in the last decades of the 19th century. They mediated contacts with the external visitors, transcribed their history into writing, and served as envoys to distant powers in Zanzibar and London.

Beginning in 1879, envoys from Buganda reached the British capital carrying letters from their king who wished to negotiate relations between the two kingdoms. In the suceeding years, more travelers from Buganda would visit London in 1893 and 1902, with the latter visit being documented in meticulous detail by one of the kingdom's most proific scholars; Ham Mukasa.

This article reproduces an abridged version of Ham Mukasa's description of turn-of-the-century Europe, his perspectives on the various peoples he encountered (English, Germans, Italians, Jews, Somalis, Swahili, Arabs), and the various places he visited (from old churches to museums with medieval torture decives). It also includes a brief outline of Buganda's history in the late 19th century contained in his autobiography.

 Potrait of Ham Mukasa and Sir Apolo Kaggwa in London, 1902. and a Sketch map of their journey.

A brief Background on 19th century Buganda, the emergence of its scholary communities and its embassy to England.

In the second half of the 19th century, the kingdom of Buganda was the largest among the polities of the great lakes region of East Africa. Its shrewd king, Mutesa  (r. 1856-1884) consolidated many of the gains of his predecessors, and initiated a period of social transformation intended on making his kingdom a major player in the politics of the modern world. He developed close ties with coastal traders from Zanzibar and encouraged the adoption of literacy in Arabic, and later in the Latin script among his courtiers, many of whom would later became influencial in the various political-religious factions that dominated the kingdom's politics after his reign.

Two of the courtiers of Mutesa who later became the most prominent scholars and political figures after his reign were Apolo Kaggwa (1869-1927) and Ham Mukasa (1870-1956).

Apolo Kaggwa (who is popularly known by his title of 'Sir') entered the king's service early in his life: beginning his royal duties as the caretaker of the King’s Mosque, he rose through the ranks to become the keeper of the royal stores, a chief during the reign of Mutesa's sucessor, King Mwanga (1884-1888, 1890-1897), and eventually Katikiro (prime-minister) of Mwanga, and Senior Regent of Mwanga's sucessor Daudi Chwa (1897-1939). Ham Mukasa was also brought up as a page at  King Mutesa’s court where he learnt Swahili, Arabic and English, and made his reputation as a scribe. He later become the official secretary and confidant to Apolo Kaggwa when the latter became Katikiro.

(Uganda's Katikiro in England pg 16)

While both were still young courtiers at the court of Mutesa, the King sent two envoys to Queen Victoria in 1879, who arrived in London in 1880 where they delivered a letter from the King. The visitors were reportedly so mesmerised by all that they saw there and the treatment they received that Mutesa forbade them from telling anybody else but himself about them.

Ham Mukasa would later visit the place where Mutesa's envoys stayed while in London at the Church Missionary House, writing that "We saw the room in which Namukade and Kataluba (the envoys of Mutesa) had lived, and also saw the man who had looked after them. This room is now a store for Luganda books."

(Fabrication of Empire pg 321)

 "Mtesa, the Emperor of Uganda, Prime Minister, and Chiefs" ca. 1875.

The autobiography of Ham Mukasa

The autobiography of Ham Mukasa, which was written in 1897 (the last year mentioned in the text) is a 35-page document recounting his life and career through the tumultuous period of Buganda on the eve of colonialism. It mentions the different factions; Muslim, Catholic, Anglican, and traditional, which vied to dominate the kingdom's politics  during this period of social upheaval.

About his early life, Ham Mukasa writes that he entered the King Mutesa's service when he was about 12, and while at the palace of the King, the latter  "ordered everybody to learn to say the Muslim prayers. So we learnt the Muslim prayers, not because we wished to learn that religion, but simply because the king ordered it : it was only out of respect to the law of the king that we learnt. There were some of us, it is true, who on account of that law set to work diligently to learn the Muslim religion, and some of those very men are in Uganda now"

(The wonderful story of Uganda pg 176) 

On how he joined the Anglican faction at Mwanga's court, he writes that

"I went back to the king's household, and I found there a great many men that I knew and others that I did not know, all reading. Some were reading the Gospels, others the Prayer-Book, and others were learning their letters. This caused me much surprise.  When I, too, began to learn to read I learnt the alphabet in two days, the syllables in about four days."

Mukasa then proceeds to name the six teachers from whom he received his education, all of whom were baGanda, indicating the growth of a local scholary community at the capital.

(The wonderful story of Uganda pg 182)

Like his predecessor, King Mwanga initially tried to balance all factions at the court and Ham Mukasa mentions that he even had Catholic chiefs in charge of collecting tribute. But Mwanga later changed his attitude towards the different factions, particulary the Catholics something that Ham Mukasa notes was the cause of his overthrow.

According to Ham Mukasa's, "The principal cause that led to the king's being dethroned was that he quarreled with a Roman Catholic chief called Nyonyintono, and also with [sir Apolo] Kagwa who was then a chief called Mwanika. The king also fell out with Waswa, who was the Sabadu (under chief) of Kagwa, the Mwanika. The king hated these men because the readers used to collect at their houses."

He then adds that:

"We joined with the Muslim Baganda and drove Mwanga from the country. The Muslims put Mwanga's brother Kiwewa on the throne, although we wanted Kalema, another brother, to be king. After we had made this man king who called himself a Muslim, though in reality he had no religion at all, he was a poor fool, a Heathen at heart, then we divided out the country amongst ourselves, and we took the chieftainships."

(The wonderful story of Uganda pg 194)

The Muslim faction later expelled the Christian faction of Apolo Kagwa and Mukasa, who writes:

 "So it happened that a month after we drove Mwanga away we fought with these Muslims and were defeated. We all had to retire to Nkole (a kingdom in western Uganda). When we left Mengo we were about 500 in number, but when we arrived in Nkole we were only 104. Very many of our number turned back on the road and for the time became Muslims."

Apolo Kaggwa's faction later joined with the Catholic faction to expel the Muslim faction and restore Mwanga to the throne in late 1889, but Ham Mukasa did not participate in these battles as he was nursing an injury to the leg he got during a fight with some coastal traders who had come to support the Muslim faction. He would later return to Mengo in 1891, where his account continues, mostly documenting his marriage, his teaching career, and his personal understanding of Christianity.

Both Ham Mukasa and Apolo Kagwa would compose other accounts which describe the important events of this period, especially the growing influence of the Christian courtiers of Mwanga's second reign, how the king was deposed a second time, and how the two men came to dominate Buganda's most powerful offices and negotiate the transition to becoming a British protectorate after signing the Buganda agreement of 1900.

 ‘The Battle Against the Mohammedans’, 1891,

The ascendancy of the scholary community at the royal capital, and the role of Apolo Kaggwa and Ham Mukasa.

The scholars at the court of Mwanga's second reign increasingly assumed more authority that the king, who was trying to acquire new sources of legitimacy but had inherited an office whose authority had only recently been centralized at the expense of traditional lineages. It was therefore a critical period of transition that saw the creation of new prerogative powers, and was eventually won by the King's courtiers.

As one account from 1888 reads:

"It must be borne in mind that during all this time the king was merely the tool of his advisers and counselors, namely the chiefs of the Readers both Christian and Muslim who had seated him upon the throne. These chiefs began to regulate and set in order many matters of law and order needing important attention"

(Uganda's Katikiro in England pg 17)

Some of these courtiers leveraged their proximity to the king's court and their newly acquired identities to develop new forms of social and political capital that enabled to travel as far as Zanzibar and England.

For example, during the first half of Mwanga's second reign, a man named Mika Sematimba who was part of Apolo Kagwa's Christian faction served as the King's messenger appointed to take charge of Europeans either leaving or arriving at Buganda in canoes. Mika had been part of a trade carravan traveling to the coastal city of Zanzibar where he encountered an exiled Muganda who convinced him to join the Christian faction back home in Buganda. Through this connection, Mika would later travel to England in 1893 in the company of Rev. H. R Walker.

(Missionary Review of the World, Volume 6; Volume 16 pg 541, Chronicles of Uganda By Robert Pickering Ashe pg 270, The wonderful story of Uganda pg 85-86)

While Mika didn't document his journey to London, there is little doubt regarding that he and his companions were important scholars and early "modernizers" in Buganda. These early agents of social transformation considered literacy as an important tool in balancing their own interests as powerful courtiers and as leaders of new religious factions, against the foreign interests of the encroaching imperial powers. This delicate balancing act can be gleaned in Ham  Mukasa's two texts discussed here, but also in Apolo Kaggwa's monumental chronicle on Buganda's history titled Basekabaka Bebuganda, completed in 1900.

Their education and experiences had convinced them that far from being the mode in which traditional values and cultural forms were negated, or even being the instrument that suppressed precolonial voices, writing was the form in which cultural vectors which had hitherto relied on orality and memory could be preserved and authorised. Ham Mukasa was aware of the limitation of oral communication in relating some of the peculiarities of other cultures in terms that could be understood by his own countrymen. For example, he notes in his travelogue that Mika Sematimba's account of the 'wonders of England' "was not believed since he was all by himself when in England." unlike Apolo Kaggwa, for whom Mukasa was a secretary.

(Uganda's Katikiro in England pg 22, 103)

Apolo used his position to mediate the precarious status of Buganda as a British protectorate, which to the courtiers was preferable to the violent conquest that characterized British expansionism eg in the neighboring kingdom of Bunyoro. As a Protectorate rather than a Crown Colony, Buganda’s relationship with Britain was regulated by a treaty; the [B]Uganda Agreement. The treaty established the boundaries of the kingdom, affirmed the principle of indirect colonial rule through the Kabaka and chiefs, and allowed land to be held in freehold. The educated elites like Apolo Kagwa and Ham Mukasa considered the treaty to be the guarantor of Buganda’s privileges within the colony.

While the colonial relationship may appear to us as having always been a vertical arrangement between the governors and the governed, Mukasa presents the critical transition period to colonialism different, potraying it as an interaction between different societies, some of which were connected by religious and cultural associations, and mediated with treaties. For this reason, he provides a general potrait of the English that, while in hindsight may appear very idealized (perhaps to justify his religious and political alliance with them), but it also likely reflected the initial Buganda perception of their protectorate status at the time; just two years after the treaty.

For example, while he initially expresses concern when he received reports that the nascent colonial government was planning to force some Buganda chiefs and commoners out of their land, he was relived that internal opposition compelled the Commissioner, Colonel Sadler to halt the evictions.

 Rubaga, the new capital of the Emperor Mtesa, ca. 1875. This is today one of the hills of Kampala, Uganda's capital and overlooks the hill of Mengo, where Mwanga had his capital.

Some notes on the Travelogue of Ham Mukasa. ca. 1902.

Ham Mukasa's travelogue was created within the context of the political transition of Buganda from a independent sovereign state to a protectorate. But his journey to England was itself part of an established tradition of cultural exchange and diplomacy between the two kingdoms established decades earlier with Mutesa's envoys of 1879 and Mika Sematimba's visit in 1893. Furthermore, Apolo Kagwa is known to have  expressed interest in visiting England since 1899, (he paid 5,000 Rupees upfront for this trip) but his position as the chief regent of the boy-king Daudi Chwa prevented him from doing so until the political environment was more stable, and that opportunity would come in 1902.

The travelogue was written in the Luganda language shortly after Ham Mukasa and Apolo Kaggwa returned from England. It was then translated to English by Reverend Millar and published in London in 1904 from where copies made their way back to Uganda. Its one of the few African travelogues that proved relatively popular in its home country, as copies of it were available in most villages in Buganda by the 1950s.

(Fabrication of Empire pg 319-331)

Ham Mukasa's travelogue reverses our predominant perspectives of encounters with the "other", by shifting the trajectory and following an African observer as he travels to a 'strange and unknown' Europe. Mukasa assumed that for him and his readers, Buganda could function as the ‘transcendental point of reference’, the axiom that would ‘organize and domesticate a given area by defining all other parts in relation to it’.

For example by refering to the prime-minister Lord Salisbury, as "the Katikiro of England" similar to the way Apolo Kaggwa's title of Katikiro was translated by the English as "prime-minsiter". He also uses distances between Buganda's towns to measure distances in England, as well as the sizes of objects and plants that would have been familiar to his readers in Buganda.

Evidently, Mukasa considered Buganda the true place of enlightement, but considered England to be where Buganda would be when it had fully mastered modern civilisation. Mukasa was therefore in Britain to confirm the ‘the cleverness of the English’ so that Buganda could learn from them and move on alone. He wants his children to master British wisdom, but not to become British; he wants them to value the culture of their Bugandan ancestors, but not to revert to a precolonial identity. Rev. Millar, who acted as the guide for the two travellers and the translator of the travelogue made a similar observation about Apolo Kagwa, about whom he notes "his great ideal is to make his fellow-countrymen the best of black men, and not servile imitations of Europeans"

(Uganda's Katikiro in England pg 25-26, 29, 46)

Readers of Mukasa’s text may marvel at what appears to be his unproblematic synthesis of the self and the other — Buganda and Britain seem to exist in a state of cultural equilibrium. The travelogue emphasizes the dual status of tradition: it valorises the language of customs and manners, both British and Bugandan, as the key to a stable political and civic order; it pays close attention to antiquity as it is manifested in museums and libraries; and it privileges the customary law, be it secular or biblical, as the precondition for a civilised society. It does all these things because its author assumes that tradition is what gives a community a cultural history and also secures its destiny.

(Uganda's Katikiro in England pg 24)

Like all travelogues, Ham Mukasa's account reveals his personal biases both in relation to Europeans and to other Africans. Mukasa's identity as a muGanda from a minor nobility, a recent convert to Christianity and a modernizer looking to adopt new cultural innovations is evident in his perspectives of the different people and societies he describes. This is especially the case for his descriptions of groups he was more familiar with like Africans (the Kavirondo of Kenya, Swahili and Arabs of the coast, and the Somalis of Yemen), but also applied to the peoples he had only recently like when he was describing the "shameful" dances of the Europeans.

Mukasa rarely calls to attention the racial difference of the travelers and their guests but often emphasizes the universality of a common religion to establish affiliations with the English in particular, who were afterall receiving him as an the royal honour (ekitiibwa) something that is also valourised among the baGanda. As Ham Mukasa writes: "My friends, we were given wonderful honour in Sheffield; we were like warriors who had come back from conquering a great nation, because large numbers of people came to look at us and followed us wherever we went."

He neverthless includes brief anecdotes about curious onlookers who wanted to see him, and included a rather lengthy passage expressing a  very negative opinion on the germans because of a bad experience he had later on his return trip when he boarded a German steamer at Naples (I have added it in the abridged text below). This experience coloured his opinions on all Germans, so much that when he met good Germans, he thought they were only exceptions to the rule. For example he writes  that "Mrs. Fitzgerald is a German, but very kind; one would not think she was born in Germany, because the Germans are not at all kind — there are a few kind ones, but they are hard to find, for the many we saw were all ruffianly; but this lady was not like them except in her accent"

Ham Mukasa's perception of the Germans differs sharply with the account of Selim Abakari, another traveler whose exploratory journey across Russia was undertaken with a German guide whom he encountered on the coast of Tanzania, which was gradually becoming a German protectorate. (I will provide a translation of Selim' visit to Germany in a future article). While Mukasa didn't visit Germany itself like Selim, the contrasting descriptions of the Germans by these two African travelers reveals the varied African perspectives of Europeans that were shaped by their first encounters.

Ham Mukasa did not simply copy the cultural affinities of the Chrisians nor of the English despite expressing admiration for both, for example, he did not adopt their prejudice towards jewish people but infact expresses sympathy for the Jewish travelers that were mistreated by fellow passangers aboard the steamer, including children. Although he does include that they were shrewd traders, something that was based on his observation rather than any stereotype.

He also wasn’t afraid of disputing his host's knowledge about his country. For example when he was invited to the house of sir Harry Johnston, who had previously been to Buganda, and was shown a book that he wrote about the Baganda, Ham Mukasa notes that "I have heard however, that he said that all the Baganda were short, and there were no tall men, but that the Katikiro is the only tall man in Buganda. This is not so. All our ancestors were tall men, and at the present time there are many tall men."

Later when they visited the former primeminister Lord Rosebery, who asked them if Apolo Kaggwa was the tallest man in Buganda, the two travellers corrected him,  He asked the Katikiro if he was the tallest man in Uganda, and Ham Mukasa wrote that "He asked this question because he had read in some book written by an Englishman that there were no tall men in Uganda except the Katikiro, though this is not true at all; those who do not travel about the country have many falsehoods told them about the country."

The travelogue of Ham Mukasa is a very lengthy account covering over 154 pages, so I have provided an abridged version below highlighting the most interesting passages.

>>>

You can read the complete travelogue here from page 47 to 204 

The autobiography is also lengthy, you can read the full account here from page 173-208

<<<<

Description of the Journey of Apolo Kagwa and Ham Mukasa to England in 1902.

Journey From Kampala to the coast and a description of the Kavirondo in western Kenya.

"On May 6th, 1902, at 10 a.m., we started from Mengo [ie: Kampala, capital of Buganda]. A great many people came to see us off; chiefs of counties and other chiefs, both great and small, boys and peasants, all came and escorted us as far as the River Nalokolongo, and there turned back, and there remained only those who were going - namely, Apolo Kagwa Katikiro, Yakobo Kago, Andereya Kimbugwe, Batolomayo Musoke, and those of our people who were going with us.

We met there [at the port of Kisumu in Kenya] a Swahili named Makangala, whom we knew, as he had been in Uganda in the time of Mutesa (r. 1857-1884); and he asked us, ‘Where is the Katikiro going, and why has he left Uganda?’ I told him, ‘He is going to see what other countries are like’; and he said, ‘It is very wrong of the Katikiro to leave Uganda and go to visit other countries; it is not right — he will find the country upset when he returns; if I had known he was going to leave Uganda, I would not have brought my goods up to sell’; and I asked him

‘Why?’ and he said, ‘The Katikiro and you people are my friends, and if you are not in Uganda, I do not care for the place; when the Katikiro is away the country is no longer nice, and we traders are now afraid of it’; and I said, ‘Don’t be afraid, all the chiefs have not left the country — only a very few have come’; but he refused to listen to me, though I told him this."

May 10th, the Katikiro woke us up, and after we had had prayers together, he went off with the chief of the servants of the Queen-mother, a boy named Enoka, who took him round the place to show him what it was like, and to see the market, etc. He was away a long time, looking at the Bakavirondo and observing their habits, — neither the men  nor the women wear any clothes; they walk about naked, and do not wash themselves at all, — and the Katikiro was looking at them until the time came for us to leave.

A great many Baganda women also came to see the Katikiro, who had left Uganda with Swahilis, and he asked them, ‘Why have you left the country of your birth and come into this country which is not yours, and which is so very unpleasant?’ and they said, ‘We came with our husbands who brought us.’ He asked them if they still had any religion, and some said they had, and others said, ‘We are Muslims.’

 We reached Nairobi [capital of colonial Kenya] at 6.30 p.m. on May 13th, and saw how it was built; the houses are all of corrugated iron, and there are a hundred, or a hundred and twenty of them, on a fine wide plain. We left there at 7.30 p.m., and the train went very fast; I can compare it to nothing but to a swallow, because it went so very fast. When anything travels very fast, we Baganda say it goes like a swallow, because a swallow flies so rapidly, and there is nothing else on earth to which I can compare the rate at which a train travels.

Daybreak found us at Mtoto Andei, and we then saw Mount Kilimanjaro, which is on the Anglo-German boundary, a very large mountain indeed, which has much snow on the top, and is very high; we also saw giraffe and many kinds of animals, zebra and antelope, ostriches, jackals, etc., like herds of goats in numbers.

We then arrived at the sea and crossed the bridge from Changamwe to Kilindini — the height of it is about the height of Silasi Mugwanya’s house (the second regent) from the ridge-pole to the ground - and reached Mombasa station at 5.26 p.m. We waited some time in the train, while they were arranging about where we should stay, and were getting out our luggage. We met there some people we had seen before in Uganda, as well as the official who had come to meet us.

The next morning we went at 9 a.m. to see the chief man of the town [Mombasa], and with him we found the Liwali or chief of the Arabs of Mombasa [appointed by the Omani sultan of Zanzibar], a very old man, perhaps seventy or eighty years old, and they both welcomed us to Mombasa. The Liwali said he would call for us at 4 p.m. to show us the chief sights of the town.

Mombasa, Kenya ca. 1934 -Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

From Lamu to Aden and a description of the Somali boatmen of Yemen.

After leaving Lamu we went right out into the deep sea, which reaches as far as Aden, and is called the ‘Ocean’. The meaning of the word ‘ocean’ is a large sea with no islands at which to stop. On this day I first noticed the officers of the ship; they do not remain in one place, but go from side to side, keeping a look out, and looking also ahead. They observe the stars at night, and the sun and moon; all these they look at that they may see the course on which the ship is travelling. They look at these through a telescope of a different kind from the ordinary ones, and which has many glasses on it; I myself looked through it at the sun, which looked round like an orange, and very red. We noticed that the colour of the sea was like blue (washing blue), and the foam was very white, just like the foam of the soap used in the final washing of clothes.

The next morning, May 24th, at ten o’clock, we first caught sight of Aden, and saw a great hill like an island. A great many Somalis brought out their boats to take men and goods ashore; and when they reached the landing-place they were paid their fare. This custom will not fail to come into Uganda, as many large boats are sure to be built, and so little boats will be needed to take the cargo on and off.

The Somalis are very like our Bahima [pastoralists of western Uganda] in every way, both in customs and in dress, for they have little sense of decency. These Somalis have long been in contact with Europeans, and their country is near Europe, and yet they have never left off their evil habits; what makes them the harder is that they are Muslim, and therefore they harden their hearts and hate the Europeans. They come to serve the Europeans because they are poor and want to make money, not for any love of them.

<<on his return trip, he adds more passages about Aden and the Somalis>>

Aden and the islands in the middle of the Red Sea are like a door of iron,

because the Gulf of Aden is like the main gate of all Europe. I think that if

there is a great war in Europe between the different European powers, when the English who are in the fort of Aden close the door no other European will get through. The commander of Aden is like the king of the earth, for he is the door-keeper of all Europe, and when he closes the door many will cry out, because the road past Aden is blocked, and that is the reason I say he is like a king.

When we reached our anchorage the band played three tunes, and then the anchor was let down, and a great many Somali boats came all round the ship on both sides, to sell food and other things, and to take off any passengers who wanted to go ashore. These Somalis were not at all afraid of Europeans, but came on board the ship, and even though the Germans struck them and kicked them, they paid no attention to them, and I was amazed to see that the Somalis were regardless of all authority, and had hearts as obstinate as mules.

When we left the hospital the Somalis brought us carriages to ride in, and begged us to get in, but we preferred to walk, because we had been a long time on the boat, where we could not walk about; but the Somalis followed us, begging us to get into their carriages.  At night I noticed the poverty of the Somalis; they all slept in their clothes just as they were, both old and young, and had nothing to cover themselves with.

>>>>>>>

Arrival at the Red sea and mistreatment of Jewish passangers aboard the steamer.

If any one came to Aden who was not used to great heat, he would perhaps die in about ten days. Many of the inhabitants leave their houses, and all sleep outside on account of the heat; we ourselves spent the day in our loin-cloths only, in the house, and when we were called to have a meal we dressed properly. In all the houses they have large fans [Punkahs from ancient India] to make the place cool, and these fans are fastened together with ropes, and then a man stands a long way off and pulls the rope, and all the fans sway to and fro and you get a little cooler; there is no day or night to this heat — it is always hot.

May 27th, we packed up our things as we heard that our steamer was going to arrive, and at half-past seven it reached the harbour. It was about twice as large as the one which had brought us from Mombasa, and was about 125yds. long and 45 ft. wide. We went on board after breakfast, and the ship stayed a long while taking in cargo — skins, flax, ivory, etc.; they took on board about 5,400 bales of goods of different kinds.

There were a great many Jews on board, going from Aden to Egypt with their wives and children, and they were very much bullied by the sailors, so that I felt quite sorry for them; they abused them and struck them and tormented them in every way; they never walked about on the boat like other deck passengers, and even the small children bullied them. They were all very timid, and ran away from any one who threatened them; they were like defeated soldiers, afraid of everything. These Jews, however, are great cheats when they trade; a thing worth two rupees they sell for ten, though if you know their customs you can get it for five or six; they chiefly sell silks.

May 28th, we reached the Red Sea, though it is not really red; the water is quite black, and we were surprised that a black sea should be called ‘The Red Sea’. We asked the captain why it was called the Red Sea, and he said that perhaps it was because the inhabitants of the coast were red in colour, and so it was called the sea of the red people, and thus the name got changed to the Red Sea.

Across the meditterean to London and a "shameful" dance near Italy .

June 6th, we caught sight of the coast of the mainland of Rome, and first saw a large hill near the town of Reggio; we soon passed through the sea which divides Italy from Sicily, which was as wide as from Munyonyo to Kisinsi. On this day I saw how the Europeans dance to the piano, a thing which they like doing very much. When they dance they jump up and down and twist round, men and women holding on to each other in pairs; for my own part I preferred the music to the dancing, which I thought was a shameful thing, for men and women to dance thus together.

The next day, June 7th, we arrived at Naples at five o’clock, and saw all the large houses. Mr. Millar told us to get ready to go on shore, and we went off before breakfast and got into a little steamer, which took us ashore, and then a guide came to take us round Naples, and also to show us the town of Pompeii, which was destroyed in the times of the Apostles.

They showed us many little hills, which they told us were all houses. The mountain from which the fire came to destroy this town is about three miles off. We first went into a house in which were bodies that had been dug up; men, horses, bears, cows, cats, dogs, etc., and everything was just as it was in the old times. We saw all the evil practices of the people in those days. We went into the town and saw what the roads were like, and entered a great many houses.

The next morning, June 9th, found us nearing Marseilles, the port of France where travellers land from Africa. There were a great many ships in the harbour, large ships, and men-of-war, and small steamers. When we got into the harbour a man came alongside, who did a great many acrobatic tricks with his daughter and a dog, and we were surprised at all the different things the Europeans learn to do — one is always finding something new.

At 8 a.m. we reached Paris, the capital of France, and wondered at the large houses and wide roads and many horses, and the men like ants in numbers; the houses resembled hills in their height and size. We saw also a tall pillar they had put up, with the figure of a man on the top standing on one leg, with wings and with a sword in his hand; when you look at the top of it you hold on to your hat so that it shall not fall off, it is so high. If you go to the top of it you can see all over the city, but we did not do so, but only saw it from below. This pillar was put there as a memorial to remind people of the prison into which their king used to put them (Bastille); when they removed the prison they put this pillar up, and wrote on it all about what happened at that time, as a memorial.

When we got to Calais they brought a steamer with two paddles, one on each side; it went on the water like a horse gallops on land; the distance across was as far as that from Entebbe to Lulamba, and took us an hour and a half, and then we reached Dover, which is the English landing-place from France, and saw the long pier which they are making out from the land, and alongside of which the ships land their passengers. It goes out into the sea a distance equal to that from Munyonyo to the island of Bulinguge, and is all of stone, and we were amazed to see it. We got quickly into the train, and it took us to London. As it went we looked at the country and the houses, and reached London at 7 p.m. But if it were possible for the eyes to be sore from seeing so much, when we came back to Uganda you would have seen how sore our eyes were, and would have understood and said, ‘Yes, we see you; you have indeed seen many marvellous sights.’

july column, Paris.

Sightseeing in London: from Buganda items at the British Museum to medieval torture devices.

The next morning, after breakfast, our friend, Sir H. Stanley, came to see us; he had come to Uganda long ago, while we were still children. Sir Clement Hill next came to see us, and talked to us a long time about Uganda affairs, and we told him all the things that seemed most important to us, and about which we had wished to tell him; he also asked us about the country of Kavirondo, and about a great many other matters. He asked us what we thought of what we had seen in England, and what most astonished us, and we told him. He asked us if we wrote down what we saw, and Mr. Millar said to him, ‘Ham Mukasa writes it all down every day’; and he said that we ought to get our book translated into English and printed, because a great many people would like to read it and would buy it; and I said that it would be difficult to get the money to print it. He said that it would cost us nothing, and Mr. Millar undertook to translate it into English.

When we got into the shop (Army and Navy Stores) my eyes itched with wonder at the beautiful things. I saw a great many people, both men, women, and children, staring at me, for in that house there were perhaps ten  thousand or more people, and I was the only black man. There was one old man who came quite close behind me to see what I was like, and when he saw that I had turned round to look at him he turned his eyes away quickly; but when I saw he was ashamed to go on looking at me, I turned away my eyes so that he could have a good look at what I was like, and he stayed a long time looking at me; and this led me to understand that since he had become an old man he had never seen a black man, or perhaps he might have seen one at a distance, but never so close as I was.

We also visited other places, and the Katikiro went to the house where they talk over matters (Parliament), and saw a great many chiefs debating in the place where they debate about their government, which brings peace in their country and in the countries of others. When he came back he told me how he had seen those houses, and where the members of Parliament sat, and I very much wanted to write down all he had seen, but he could not tell me properly, and said he had forgotten some of the things, and we agreed to ask leave to go together in future, so that if one forgot the other might remember.

The following day, June 14th, we went to the house of images of all kinds (the British Museum), which contained many wonderful things oflong ago, statues of the old kings of all countries and of Egypt. We saw also the body of a man said to be eight thousand years old. We could not understand  whether this was true or not, because we see in the Bible that those who calculate the time from the Creation make it out to be nearly six thousand years; and after this one is told that this body is eight thousand years old! Is not this a thing to be wondered at? We saw also other remains, 5,000, 4,500, 3,700, 2,000, 2,500 years old. On every statue they write its name, its age, and the country from which it comes, so that people can understand. We saw there different articles from our country; some had been brought by Sir H. H. Johnston, who had given a great many things, and others by other Englishmen: the Rev. J. Roscoe had given a great many, the Rev. R. P. Ashe had given a great many, and others too had given things from our country of Uganda.

harp from Busoga (neighbour of Buganda) at the British Museum, No.1612937990 acquired in 1885.

Meeting fellow travelers from across the world: A Chinese prince, an Ethiopian embassy, the Lozi king, and the future Sultan of Zanzibar.

On this day also we went to visit Said Ali, the prince of Zanzibar, who is now king, having succeeded his father, who died during his son’s stay in England. Four relatives of Archdeacon Walker also came to see us, and in the evening we went to see the wonderful conjurer about whom I told you before; Apolo did not go the first time, so we went again, that he too might see with his own eyes. If one sees the wonders of England by oneself, and then tells others, one is disbelieved for lack of a second witness, like Mika Sematimba, who was not believed since he was all by himself when in England.

After lunch Captain Hobart came and took us off to the fort of the kings of England from old days, which is called the ‘Tower’, and when we arrived there we saw many relics of all kinds from the time of their ancestors … We also saw the axe and sword that cut off the head of their king, and the different kinds of fetters in which criminals were fastened; these fetters fastened the hands and feet and head together. We were also shown how they fastened their women to strong trees and stretched them like a cowskin is stretched, and the trees tore them in half. We saw also the bell that used to be tolled in old days when they were going to kill a man. But in all lands the ancient people were very evil indeed in their customs, to torture people thus cruelly.

The next day, June 27th, we went to see a fire brigade display, and saw there a Chinese prince [Zaifeng, Prince Chun], the heir to the throne, who also had come to see how they put out fires… In the afternoon we went to see the soldiers who had come from all lands; all kinds of Africans to the number of four hundred - Soudanese, Swahilis, Baganda, Kavirondo people, Abyssinians, Masai — and other nations from Asia; Chinese, Indians, and a great many other tribes we saw there.

After this we went to see the building in which they keep every book of every kind, one copy of each (University Library). Of every book that is printed they take one copy, and put it in this building as a remembrance. We saw there a great many books some fourteen to seventeen hundred years of age, and they told us there were about half a million books in the library. Is this not amazing? If you count the number of books in the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, how many would you find? then, again, how many are there from Matthew to Revelation? Well, this is the way they count their books; one book of every kind is stored up, just as Apolo Katikiro wrote Basekabaka Bebuganda (‘Kings of Uganda’), and they took one copy and kept it; in this way the number of five hundred thousand books is made up.

There were a great many people there — among them two very clever ladies, sisters, who are well known, and who have travelled in many parts of Asia, and on Mount Sinai found a portion of the Gospel of St. John, which they were at work upon at that time, and they gave us a

photograph of it. They have learned Arabic, and can speak it, and write it in its own characters. They wanted very much to come to Uganda, but they made us laugh by saying, ‘We very much want to come to your country, but we are afraid of the man-eating lions’; and we said, ‘There is now a railway, so that the lions do not eat people’; and they said, ‘We heard that the lions had taken a man out of a railway carriage and eaten him’, and we laughed  very much at their wanting to come to our country and being afraid of lions, because there are a great many ladies now in Uganda, and they have not yet been eaten by lions; and this made me understand that one cannot have everything.

After he and Mr. Millar had left us they went to buy some things and then went home, and after a short time went to visit the Prime Minister of England. They found there a great many kinds of people, Chinese, Indians, Moors, South Africans, and a king who was black like we are, and who had come from near Lake Nyasa; his name was Lewanika, but he was not a Christian, and did as he liked.

On this day we heard of the death of Saidi, the Sultan of Zanzibar. His son, who was called Said Ali, had been in England for the coronation to represent his father, and knew English very well, since he had been taught at Harrow School. He heard of his father’s death on his way home, and was then chosen to succeed him as he was the only son, and he is the sultan at the present time.

After we had rested a little we were taken to see a building in which all kinds of work done by ladies were shown, work which they had done with their own hands. We found a great many ladies there who had come to see what other ladies had done, and to praise them, and to thank them for what  they had done, and to say how it pleased them. You know the English praise very much any new inventions, and that is the reason they get wiser every year. Were it possible, it would be a good thing for us to do the same, and praise the work done by clever men in our country, so that they should be pleased and go on and invent something else another year; but it is difficult to learn to do this all at once. However, a city is not built in a day, and takes a long time, and so also one cannot learn all the wisdom of the English in a short time, but must do it slowly. ‘He who goes slowly goes far'

We saw also a very old book which had come from Abyssinia, the country which in old days was called Ethiopia, from whence came the eunuch whom Philip baptised, as we read in the Acts… Ras Makonnen, the Abyssinian chief, who is prime minister of his country, met us at Windsor, as he too was going round the castle. ’ He had with him about ten companions, and an English guide who was taking him round, and we greeted one another as we met.

Africans at King Edward's 1902 coronation; Ethiopia's Ras Mokannen, Buganda's Ham Mukasa, King Lewanika of the Lozi kingdom

A meeting with King Edward, and the smog of London.

There was a very large door, which was covered with gold; - the whole palace was very magnificent, all the walls being covered with gold and mirrors, the space not filled by a mirror being covered with gold, except in the rooms which we had first entered - the inner rooms were wonderfully fine. On one side of this great door was a looking-glass about 10 ft. high and 5 ft. wide, and we passed through it, Lord Lansdowne going first, and then the Katikiro and myself, and then Captain Hobart. When we passed through the door we saw the ‘Father of the Nation’ sitting upon his throne, dressed in magnificent kingly raiment; he bowed his head three times, and we did the same and bowed three times, and he then told the Katikiro to sit down, and he sat down on a golden chair, while I and Captain Hobart stood.

The King then said, ‘Come with me, and I will show you the presents which all the different nationalities have given me, and the things from Uganda which you yourself have given me.’ He then went out of the room, and the Katikiro followed him, and I and Captain Hobart followed, and we went into a small room where we found the things that had come from Ras Makonnen, the Prime Minister of Abyssinia, a sword and a helmet, and bracelets and a mat, and a belt and a golden cross, and many other things which he had given him

If it were not for the smoke in England, one would be able to see the country very well, both the houses and all the land, but the smoke hinders one from getting a good view. The Katikiro tried to get on to the roof (the ball), but the wind and giddiness drove him down again, and Mr. Millar tried, but did not stay long; and then I tried and got to the top, and sat on the end of the ladder, but the wind deafened me and made my eyes smart, and so I came down to my friends, and we all went to the bottom, and got into our carriage and went off

Return trip through Italy, and racism on a German steamer.

The next morning, August 15th, we left Naples, and on that day we understood the difference between the customs of different races of Europeans. In all European countries there is no race nearly so kind as the English, because of all the English from Uganda onwards I only saw one who was not kind to us, and where he was there was another man who acted up to their good repute, although his companion did not try to help us, and was perhaps an Englishman in body but not in heart. Well, from Uganda to Mombasa we met with kindness only, and from Mombasa on the sea in the ship Nevasa, Glasgow, we met with only kindness as far as Aden; then from Aden onwards in the ship Manora, Glasgow, the captain took us safely to Marseilles, and we met with kindness only, and in England all the gentlemen and common people, and men, women, and children, right up to the King himself, were always kind to us.

But on the day we entered the German steamer we saw the enormous difference there was. Well, let me tell you about it; when we entered the German ship they showed their disgust in every way, and treated us like dogs, and tormented us; they refused to allow us to eat at the same table, because we were black men; they refused to clean my boots, and to give me water to wash my face; they refused to give me tea in the morning; they refused to show me where the bathroom was; they made me sleep in the hospital - but there was a good reason for this, as my cabin was occupied by a married couple. If we asked them to do anything for us they did not reply; in all these things we found the English kind, and saw they made no difference on account of our despised race, and we praised the kindness of the English to every man.

One day they only gave the Katikiro a very little food, although he was very hungry, and on this day we saw the chief man of the boat, Captain Zemlin, and talked a little to him because he knew English well, but he did not stop long with us. The Germans paid no attention at all to Mr. Millar, their fellow white man. I myself tried very hard to be friendly with the stewards, that they might wait on me kindly, but they would not be friendly, and looked downwards when they saw me. Seeing this I gave up the attempt.

The next day the sea was quite calm, and we entered the Mediterranean Sea, which St. Paul was taken through on his way to Rome. The Katikiro was not ill, as there was no wind and so we had calm weather, and I managed to persuade two German boys, who knew English, to make friends with me, and we talked a long time to them every day. The way the Germans get drunk is terrible; they were always quarrelling with one another. I saw also there a Swede, who talked to us of most disgusting an unspeakable things, and I begged him to leave off talking in such a disgusting way; I never saw any European who could talk in such a way, and even a black man would have been ashamed of himself. On this ship there were men of many nations - English, French, Portuguese, Greeks, Italians, Boers, Baganda and Nyasaland people, nine languages in all, and the whole number of passengers was about eighty.

On the Drunkenness of the Germans and Portuguese. 

I saw here how the Germans and the Portuguese get drunk. They have a band, with four bugles and five flutes and two drums and five violins, and all these together play one tune; and the dancers dance, and the singers sing, and the man who sells drink collects tumblers of drink and takes them round on a large plate, and goes in and out among the people.

They sell the drink and do not give it away, and those who want to buy it go on doing so all night and do not go to sleep; if a fool who drinks goes on board a German boat he comes off it without a single farthing, because they go on buying drink and drinking it all night.

The stewards fought among themselves when they were very drunk indeed, because the Germans are not quiet people — they are most lawless, and I never saw on an English vessel the disgraceful and

outrageous behaviour which goes on on German vessels. If ever any of you want to go to Europe, you had better go on an English vessel, but one cannot always get one. When you are fording a bad stream you may have to catch hold of thorns for want of anything else; the Germans are the thorns, and the bad stream is the time of your journey corresponding with the time of departure of a German steamer

Conversation with an African traveller from Mozambique.

The following morning, August 18th, found us in the Sea of Cyprus, where the wind was fairly strong, but soon quieted down, and I came across a black boy from Mozambique, on the River Zambezi, who was on his way back from England, with an Englishman called Mr. D. Macdonald, who had taken him there. Mr. Macdonald was a very nice man, and we thought him very kind to have taken this boy to England and paid his passage for him. I made great friends with the boy, and asked him a great many questions about his country, and he told me a great many things about it and the way they dressed, and built their houses, and cultivated their land, and the kind of food they ate in their country. He also told me that they had had a king who used to smoke bhang (Indian hemp) and get drunk, and made friends with other bhang smokers, and wanted to fight against the Europeans, though he could not really do so.

However, he was afterwards turned out, and a wise man was chosen instead. He told me also how his people were governed, and said that the English were very kind and ruled very well, but other Europeans called Portuguese ruled very badly and put to death people who were not deserving of death, and beat and imprisoned others without any trial, and sold people, just as if they were not a European nation [the ban on slavery was weakly enforced in Portuguese colonies].

Sea sickness: the bad food, dances, character, and sports of the German stewards.

The next morning, August 28th, at nine o’clock, they brought me a little food, and some meat that smelt very strong, and two soft-boiled eggs, and I forced myself to eat a little, but soon afterwards the sea conquered me and I was sea-sick; and this was the only time I was sea-sick during the whole journey. When I told the Katikiro that I had been ill, he said that he was glad that I had been sick, because now he had a companion in misery. He himself was ill three times and could not keep anything down, and many of the passengers could not eat anything;

The following day, August 29th, the sea was rougher than ever, and we were continually eating a little food; but the food of the Germans is very bad indeed — some of it smells very nasty; all their meat smells, and is not at all nice to eat. One should never go by a German boat if he can get an English one; they are to be avoided.

At five o’clock they had some sports… They next tied some people up so that their hands and feet came together; they tied them to sticks and then they fought with their feet while their hands were tied (cock-fighting), and the one who turned the other  over was the winner. Mr. Millar entered for this, but was beaten, and we were very sorry.

In these sports we saw the ruffianism of the Germans; they played just like children, and quarrelled with one another all the time. Some of them abused the English in the games, and I was amazed to see the abusiveness of the Germans; the men were abusive, and the women were abusive, and no one rebuked another. We were very much surprised to see that no one tried to stop this abuse, but that they were all like children; we were afraid of them, because they were quarrelling every day among themselves. We ourselves were just like prisoners in our fear of being struck by them: we saw one German who three times wanted to strike the Katikiro for no reason whatever; he found me standing to one side, and pushed me out of the way, though I was a long way away from him, and altogether showed himself to be like a ruffian.

After dinner the band began to call together those who wanted to amuse themselves, and a great many people collected - about three hundred in all and they began their amusement, the men and women taking hold of one another in pairs, a man and a woman, and going round together, jumping up and down, a most strange thing. I thought it was very wrong for a man and woman to hold on to one another and dance together; these dances are like the bait which is on a fish-hook. However, each nation has its own customs, but I do not think every one approves of this custom.

Arrival and Epilogue.

We arrived at Port Florence at two o’clock, and on arrival found there was no house in which we could sleep; so the Katikiro and I slept in the railway carriage, and had our meals in a small hotel. A great many Baganda collected together to hear about England, and we told them a great deal about it.

When I got home I found my wife Hana Mukasa and a great many other people waiting for me, and after I had greeted her we went into the house, but found that all the people could not get in, as there were so many, so I went out into the courtyard and sat on a chair, and they all sat looking at me, and I told them about all the wonders of England and what the country was like, and what a fine land it was.

I also told them how great was the population of England, and how they tamed elephants and all kinds of animals. Some of my hearers thought I was merely telling stories when I told them how an elephant fired a gun, and beat a drum, and lit a candle, and how a hippopotamus was called, and came just like a dog in other lands that they knew of. They were very much astonished to hear of a hippopotamus leaving the water when it was called, and going back again when it was told. Some did not understand that I was speaking the truth, while others, who knew that we would not tell them what was false, did not hesitate to believe it.

Ail the time from September 17th to October 31st we had no rest by day or night; some people went to the Katikiro, others came to me, all wanting very much to hear all about England; and I showed them the things we had got from the various factories of all kinds, and showed them too the photographs which had been taken of us while we were in England, and the pictures of the King’s coronation - a great many of these had been printed and sent all over the world, that all might understand how it went off.

‘He who goes slowly goes far’; ‘a crackling sound is not a fire’, and a great city is not built in one year. Let us then go ahead slowly and surely; perhaps our grandchildren will be much wiser than we are, but we should encourage our children daily to learn all they can, that they may teach their children after we have gone, and so they may go on increasing in wisdom both in the mind and in handicrafts.

Well, this is the story of the journey of Apolo Katikiro, Ham Mukasa,

and the Rev. Ernest Millar."

 House of Apollo Kaggwa, constructed in 1903 at Mengo, Kampala.

References:

Missionary Review of the World, 1893, Volume 6; Volume 16

Chronicles of Uganda By Robert Pickering Ashe

The wonderful story of Uganda By Joseph Dennis Mullins, Ham Mukasa

Uganda's Katikiro in England: Being the Offical Account of His Visit to the Coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII by Ham Mukasa

Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902 By D. A. Low.