UGANDA JOURNAL.


 VIII. Twenty Years after.

 It is now time to take our leaves of the River Territories, but in so doing we
may perhaps be permitted to speculate on one or two of the developments that
have probably occurred since the days of Sanders, and also to take a glance at our
heroes in retirement.
 Presumably there is now an aerodrome at every important station on the
River. I have also every confidence that the Commissioner of to-day is well
acquainted with the Bushe Report, and that a sound system of primary education
with a strong agricultural bias has been established throughout the Territories;
and, if that be so, what further need to seek for evidence of genuine progress?
No doubt Bosambo, now somewhat elderly, but certainly rich, is still ruling over
the "Old King's" Country, where Sanders in his final tour established him. His
grandsons have perhaps been sent to Achimota-but not at the expense of their
grandfather-and it is to be hoped that the eldest of them will, in due course, rule
his people with as much success as the old man himself, though by methods
somewhat less crude.
 Hamilton is in the City, managing with his shrewd common-sense the con-
siderable interests of the firm of Tibbetts and its subsidiaries, while Bones lives
in the country, nominally engaged in farming, and in all probability losing money in
weird agricultural experiments.
 And what of Sanders himself? At any rate he is not like some retired of-
ficials, a prey to financial anxiety, dependent only on the monthly cheque from
the Crown Agents. Thanks to his own worldly wisdom he resides in comfort in
a villa at Twickenham. He has long outlived the desire to return to Africa, and is
contented with such simple pleasures as a visit to Lord's or the Oval and an
occasional fishing holiday in Scotland. He spends much of his time on the premises
of the Sports Club, and the Royal Empire Society, reading the papers (26) and
swappng yarns with his cronies, and I have no doubt attends the annual dinner
of the Corona Club. And during the last few months he has probably been
rendering useful service to his country in connexion with A.R.P.

 APPENDIX A. Some Proverbs.

 No self-respecting student of the manners and customs of African tribes
under-estimates the significance of Proverbs, as a revelation of native mentality.
Edgar Wallace was no exception and puts a large number into the mouths of
his African characters, and also into those of Sanders and his colleagues, who
were all good linguists.
 Some of these, no doubt, are genuine, and known in other parts of Africa,
but others (we hope, the more cynical ones) are the creations of Wallace's own
fancy.(27)

 (26) Particularly the Spectator and Blackwood's.
 (27) See p. 4 above.