Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/77

Soon another little fellow came running up, and he in his turn uttered the word "Yanguyako," "Be quick." These little pages have all the insolence of office, derived from the brief authority with which they are invested. Their names were probably Mukassa and Musoke, which in Buganda are as common as Duncan and Donald in the Highlands.

A succession of messengers met us until we reached the "Wankaki," or royal gateway. All the gateways which lead to "majesty" have names, and are kept by officers called "Bagazi," i.e. hall porters. If Swift had only been possessed of missionary proclivities, the world might have had a voyage to Buganda instead of a voyage to Lilliput. The heart would grow sick with scorn of all this beggarly pomp and paltry pride, were it not that here, as in Europe, in spite of it all, and across it all, there are found sterling qualities, generous impulses, and noble aspirations.

When the wide "Wankaki" was passed, we found ourselves in a spacious court, in which were one or two houses, the largest being the official residence of the king's head wife, or "Kadu lubarè." The houses of all the chiefs and upper classes in the country are exact models of the king's, only of course upon a much smaller scale.

The palisade which surrounds the "Kibuga," or royal enclosure, is different from the fence of all other persons in the country, with the exception of the priests of Lubarê and the king's eldest son. I have not seen the enclosures of the two queens in Buganda,