shores of the largest of all the lakes--the one called Victoria
Nyanza. These people are called the Baganda, and their country is
Uganda.

2. The Baganda

The Baganda are dark-skinned Africans. They all belong to one tribe
and speak one language, but all around them are other Africans
belonging to different tribes and speaking different languages. About
sixty years ago, when the grandfathers of the men who are alive now
were still young, the first Europeans went to Uganda. Until that time
the tribes in Central Africa had spent most of their time fighting one
another, killing many and making others slaves. Some of these slaves
were sold to the Arabs to take away to Zanzibar and across the sea, or
to take across the desert to Egypt. Some tribes were much stronger
than others, and some of these drove everyone else out of the country
they had chosen for themselves and made a kingdom of it. One of these
strong tribes was the Baganda. Others liked to wander from place to
place, but the Baganda chose to settle down on the shores of the great
Lake Victoria Nyanza, and to stay there always.

When Europeans went to Uganda they found the Baganda had a king to
whom they paid great honour. The king had many officers under him.
Some of these were the chiefs of different parts of the kingdom.
Others had special work to do--one to hear all the lawsuits and to
settle disputes, another to command the army. Others had to work in
the king's household, to wait on his wives and children, or to beat
the big drum to call the people when the king wanted them, or to take
care that no one entered the palace unless the king wished them to do
so. But whatever their work was, all the chiefs and officers and