200 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

all who is perfectly truthful and honest with him, will obtain a great amount of influence. For my own part, during my two years' stay in Uganda, I never had any serious personal difference with him, and the same can be said by more than one other European who has stayed at his court. Mr. Felkin in particular can bear me out in this remark.

, The laws relating to the succession to the throne (are peculiar. When a king dies, his successor is chosen from among the deceased monarch's children ; by the three hereditary bakungu, with whom alone i the choice rests. A child is always elected, and during his minority the boy's mother, if living, acts ! as queen regent, and with the aid of these three nobles, governs the country, the young king being meanwhile trained up in the traditions of his ancestors. Should, however, the three chiefs not agree in the choice of a successor, they go to war about it, and the victor places his nominee on the throne. The reason of this singular law is, no doubt, to prevent intrigues during the king's lifetime. The brothers of the king elect are kept in confinement during his minority, and when he comes of age all are burnt, with the exception of two or three who are preserved to keep up the succession, in case the young sovereign should die childless. The children of the king have no rank or status on account of their birth, and the princesses are not as a rule allowed to marry, only a few of Mtesa's numerous daughters having