THE KINGDOM OF ANKOLE IN UGANDA 125
dynasty, which rules Ankole to this day. Many Banyankole to-day firmly believe that the Abachwezi did not die, but disappeared and that they will return again to rule over them. In the meantime, the spirits of the Abachwezi still rule over the land and a cult has grown up, the members of which make periodic offerings to the Abachwezi spirits. This Abachwezi spirit worship is to-day known as the Emandwa cult. Furthermore, in Ankole there are many places and relics connected with the Abachwezi. These places have become sacred to the Banyankole and are avoided by them, and the relics have become symbols of kingship. So impressed were the Banyankole with the Abachwezi that when the white men came to Ankole they believed them to be the Abachwezi returned. The Europeans were different, more powerful, able to do unaccountable things. The Europeans, like the Abachwezi, are able to travel in the air, to make a fire without leaving ashes, and to travel over the country with great speed. Another tale has it that the Europeans are not really the Abachwezi, but their servants sent to punish the Banyankole for their ill treatment of their former rulers.
The cycle of Abachwezi legends, then, is the Muhima's version of his cultural history, particularly as it relates to the origin of his political institutions. We cannot, of course, consider this version as exact history. Yet its sociological significance is far-reaching. It describes Ankole as first occupied by the agricultural Baini and a few pastoral Bahima, living in relative isolation and without a developed political organization. It describes subsequent Bahima migrations, a period of struggle, and a final subjugation of the Bairu by the Bahima and the establishment of a kingdom. But even more than this, it provides the political structure with a traditional legendary background which lends to it a traditional sanctity and a foundation of absolutism and permanence.
But we do not need to go to native legends in order to account for the origin of the Banyankole kingdom. Evidence lies before the student on every hand. Even to-day we can observe the environmental and social forces which gave rise to the particular complexion of Banyankole society and its political institutions.
The role of the environmental factors of climate and topography in bringing the pastoral Bahima and the agricultural Bairu into contact cannot be underestimated. Ankole, as we have seen, is a section of a long and narrow belt of savanna country stretching