20 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

credit, as tliey have been the instruments of teaching

many of the chiefs to read and write Arabic, so that

reports are constantly being sent to Mtesa by the

different commanders of his troops. He is con-

tinually at war, and in order to see by a glance the

number of soldiers available, he has a large board,

similar to those used by the Arabs to write their

prayers upon. Eows of ten holes run parallel on

this board, in each of which is a white peg. At the

end of each row is a large hole, in which is placed a

black peg, and for each ten rows there is placed

a still larger hole to the left, in which is a red peg.

Each white peg represents ten, each black one a

hundred, and each red one a thousand warriors. When the king wishes to send out an expedition, he

calls for this board, takes out the requisite number

of pegs, and hands them to a chief, whose duty it is

to supply the soldiers. At the close of a campaign

the dead are reckoned up and deducted from the

sum total before the pegs are replaced. I was never

allowed to examine the board closely, the only times

on which I saw it were when I surprised them at a

council of war. On such occasions it was either

taken away or covered with a cloth. But Mtesa

himself explained its meaning to me.

Mtesa may honestly pride himself on being one of

the Great Powers of Central Africa; but, never having

been brought into contact with civilised nations, he

cannot measure himself by our standards, and so