GOVERNMENT AND LANGUAGE.

Mohammedan traders have been settled in the countrj_for_,t least sixty years, they have made no converts, for Mtesa's so-called conversion to Mohammedanism was merely nominal, and even the Arabs themselves do not claim him as a convert. He would never submit to circumcision, and one hundred boys and youths who had submitted to that rite believing that Islamism would become the national creed, were all burnt by Mtesa's orders.

This rite, which is a sine qua non with Mohammedans, seems to have been the great stumblingblock in the way of the acceptance of that creed by the Waganda, and that has been the chief objection which has always been alleged by them against Islamism whenever I have mentioned the subject.

With regard to Christianity, I believe that it will be readily accepted by the lower classes, but the majority of the chiefs, than whom would be difficult to find a prouder class of men, will, I fear, strenuously oppose its introduction into their country.

The visits of travellers to Uganda, and the presence of foreigners there, are beginning to produce a decided impression on the country and people, and though at present confined mainly to the court and neighbourhood of the capital, it is extending gradually through the land. All foreigners are supposed to be the king's guests, and during their stay in the country, to be lodged and fed at his VOL. I. P