UGANDA JOURNAL.


on the slightest provocation, though the wives, if the practice was carried to an
unreasonable excess, not infrequently retaliated by hitting their lords and masters
on the head with cooking-pots, or, in extreme cases, putting poison in their chop.
 From all this we may infer that Sanders' second main duty, that of keeping
the king's peace and making the king's writ run throughout the length and
breadth of the land, was no more of a sinecure than that of tax-collection.
 A third main problem was the improvement of health conditions. The whole
of the Territories was riddled with malaria and with sleeping sickness. There
were occasional outbreaks of beri-beri and of small-pox, and, worst of all, of
the dreaded sickness mongo, 'the sickness itself', a kind of bush plague, which was
always devastating in its toll of human life, and for which apparently there was
no known remedy.
 Yet another major problem was the prevention of the introduction into the
Territories of European brands of alcoholic liquor, which in effect meant the pro-
tection of the native from exploitation by the unscrupulous white man. Readers
of Trader Horn will remember that "in the earlies" gin was the universal stock-in-
trade of those who came to Africa to export ivory and rubber at a profit to them-
selves. In more than one passage Wallace (himself a strong advocate of temper-
ance), draws a lurid picture of the devastating effects of gin upon the African
community. Hence Sanders, though on one occasion early in his career he 'dashed'
two bottles of 'square-face' to a witch-doctor who had done him service, (12) was in
general a rigorous prohibitionist, and took the sternest measures with any trader
who was found offending in this respect.
 We may now consider in more detail how Sanders endeavoured to deal
with the problems of Government, which have been described above.
 The collection of taxes could only be made through the chiefs. The latter
extracted what was due from their people, and the Commissioner made a half-
yearly round to collect the proceeds. Such a system of course was open to the
objection that may be offered to all systems of tax-farming, viz: that the middle-
man (in this case the chief), always takes a handsome commission. In one of the
tales it is stated that Bosambo's commission amounted to at least 360%. But
Sanders apparently had no other alternative than to turn a blind eye to this sort
of thing. He was, of course, willing to listen to reasonable representations of
injustice, and, in time of economic depression, to temper the wind to the
shorn lamb.('3)
 The next problem was the preservation of the British raj in the Territories
and the maintenance of law and order.
 For this purpose Sanders had at his command an armed force, in the shape
of a Company or so of the King's Houssas, who were Kano men, and good
Mohammedans, and could be relied on not to fraternize with the local pagan.

 (12) It is also recorded that on two occasions in his last tour he allowed Bosambo
a glass of beer.
 (13) He also increased tax-paying capacity by the introduction of new crops, e.g. rice.