324 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

can hardly be imagined. There is a large clearing in an immense forest, in the centre of which stands the town; an open space of about 200 yards being left all round to prevent an enemy finding shelter near the stockade. As the garrison is not large enough for the purpose of working as well as mounting guard, and as there are no friendly natives here, it is a matter of some difficulty to obtain the necessary amount of provisions. Kabrega is constantly harassing the station. It is to be regretted that an end had not been put to his tyrannical rule, as would have happened some time ago but for the strong opposition excited in England by some people who look with jealous eyes at the extension southwards of Egyptian territory ; but I can confidently state that in those parts of the country which are under Egyptian rule, and where the government is conducted as it is by the present Governor of the Equatorial Provinces, the natives are in far better circumstances than under their own despotic and brutal kings.

To my thinking, those who know so little of the facts of the case would effect more good by keeping silence, which we have high authority for knowing to be at times " golden," than by dogmatising concerning matters of which they can have but an imperfect and scanty knowledge ; whilst those who are in a position to practically assist the cause, are hampered and often thwarted in their self-sacrificing