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She is as small as a mouse, but once a year she stirs. Rev. J. Macdonald, "Manners, Customs, Superstitions, and Religions of South African Tribes," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xx. p. 118. As to the reason for the prohibition, see below, p. 80. Rev. As to the interpretation which the Baganda put on the act of jumping or stepping over a woman, see id., pp. 48, 357 note 1.
At the capital there stands a fine cathedral in which brown Baganda clergy lead the prayers of the Christian people. On the place where the boys were burned to death there stands a Cross, put there by 70,000 Baganda Christians in memory of the young martyrs. Was their martyrdom worth while?
Here there were people gathered together for the king's work, and many others brought food and bark-cloth to market to sell. The houses of the king and the great chiefs were large and beautifully decorated with plaited reeds. The chief food of the Baganda is plantains or bananas, which are peeled when unripe and wrapped in smoke-dried banana leaves.
The Baganda think that if a woman steps over a man's weapons they will not aim straight or kill until they have been purified. Among many South African tribes, if a wife steps over her husband's assegais, they are considered useless from that time and are given to the boys to play with. This superstition rings many changes and is current among the natives of all countries.
Very delicate they often are when moved from their own district and deprived of their accustomed food. Dysentery plays havoc in their ranks. For the banana-eating Baganda find the rough grain flour much too coarse and irritating for their stomachs. So our great endeavour is to get the greatest supply of local labour.
But in a few years there were more Christians than before, and now in Uganda the king and nearly all the chiefs and people are Christians, as well as many of the tribes living near them to whom the Baganda have sent teachers. All through the Christian African kingdom there are schools and hospitals.
Compare Henri A. Junod, "Les conceptions physiologiques des Bantou Sud-Africains et leurs tabous," Revue d'Ethnographie et de Sociologie, i. p. 139. The danger of death to the cattle from the blood of women is mentioned only by Mr. Kidd. Rev. J. Roscoe, "The Bahima, a Cow Tribe of Enkole," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. p. 106. Rev. Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda, p. 96.
Even a woman who did not menstruate was believed by the Baganda to be a source of danger to her husband, indeed capable of killing him. Hence, before he went to war, he used to wound her slightly with his spear so as to draw blood; this was thought to ensure his safe return.
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.
They were among the wisest of the dark-skinned African tribes. In this chapter we shall read about some of the people who live in the Western part of Central Africa. If the Baganda walked day after day towards the sunset, they would reach the land of the great River Congo.
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