206 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

The religion of the Wagancla is in some respects a more intelligent one than that of many Negro nations. Idolatry, properly so-called, is unknown ; they have no images, nor any outward symbol of their gods. They believe in a Supreme Being who made the world and mankind, and whom they call Katonda, or the Creator, but they offer no worship to him, as they consider him too exalted to pay any regard to mankind. Their principal objects of worship are inferior gods or devils called lubari.

These demons are supposed to inhabit certain places or localities, and to exercise special powers over various objects. The principal of these gods, and the most generally feared and worshipped by the Waganda, is Mukusa; the god or lubari of the Nyanza. This deity is a sort of Neptune, who is supposed to live in the Lake and to control its waters, and also to exercise a considerable influence over the whole country of Uganda. From time to time he enters into some person, either man or woman (at the present time it is a woman), who thenceforth becomes the oracle of the god, and who is supposed to possess, in consequence, supernatural powers, to be able to cure diseases, to withhold the rain, bring wars, famines, pestilences, etc., on the land, and to foretell events. This person who is the representative or personification of the god has an enormous influence over the minds of the people and chiefs, and thus indirectly exercises an important control over the