GOVERNMENT AND LANGUAGE. 203 who are to furnish the men, the numbers each is to bring are settled, and the time and place of rendezvous agreed upon, and then gradually the army departs for the scene of conflict. In battle each man carries two or three spears ; they advance in open order towards the enemy, dancing about and yelling ; when they get within range they hurl one or two spears, and then close with the remaining one, the conflict then becoming a hand-to-hand engagement, and consequently fearfully fatal. Should the commanding chief be killed, the whole body take to flight.

The Waganda are nearly as successful in naval engagements as they are upon land, and possess a large fleet of war canoes. These are mostly distributed among the numerous islands off the coast of Uganda, the chief of each island having two or more canoes under his charge. Many of these war canoes will hold forty men, and are splendidly made vessels. A finer sight can scarcely be imagined than a fleet of two or three hundred of these graceful vessels threading their way among the wooded islands of the Nyanza, their paddles keeping time to the rhythmical beats of the war-drums. Each canoe carries a certain number of fighting men, the proportion of these to the paddlers being about two to one. The paddlers are protected by shields, and in case the enemy are pursued to shore, they remain in the canoes close at hand, lest the enemy should prove