which the land is known to its own people. It is part of the plateau between the two great rift-valleys of East Africa, is rich in woods and grass, and has many villages surrounded by well cultivated farms and gardens. The western portions, however, are somewhat swampy and unhealthy. The people of Unyamwezi, called Wanyamwezi, are Bantu-negroes of medium size and negroid features, but with long noses and curly rather than woolly hair, suggestive of mixed blood. Dwelling on the main road from Bagamoyo to Tanganyika, the route by which J. H. Speke, Richard Burton, J. A. Grant, H. M. Stanley and others travelled, and having from early times had commercial relations with the Arabs, the Wanyamwezi are more civilized than the neighbouring races. They practise tattooing, file or extract the upper incisor teeth, and load their legs and arms with brass wire rings. The men look after the flocks and poultry, while the women do the field-work. They often keep bees; in some cases the hives are inside the huts, and the bees form an efficient protection against intruders. Inheritance is to the direct issue, not as is often the case among Negro races to the nephew. In some parts, one of twins is always killed. On Stanley’s first visit in 1871, the Zanzibar Arabs were predominant in the country, but later the natives rose and, under Mirambo, who from a common porter rose to be a conquering chief—earning for himself the title of the “Black Bonaparte”—a Negro kingdom was formed. Since 1890 the country has been under German control and the power of the native chiefs greatly curtailed. As a people the Wanyamwezi are extremely vigorous and have shown great capacity for expansion, being energetic and enterprising.
See H. Brode, Tippoo Tib: the Story of his Career in Central Africa (1907); Sir H. H. Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate (1902); Sir Charles Eliot, The East Africa Protectorate (1905).
UNYORO, called by its people Bunyoro, a country of east
central Africa lying N. W. of the kingdom of Buganda (Uganda)
and bounded E. and N. by the Victoria Nile. On the west,
Unyoro includes nearly all the eastern shores of Albert Nyanza
and a strip of territory—incorporated in Belgian Congo in 1910—west
of that lake. In 1896 a British protectorate was established
over Unyoro, which now forms the S.W. part of the northern
province of the Uganda Protectorate. The limits of Unyoro
have varied according to the strength of its rulers; during
the 19th century the states of Bunyoro and Buganda appear to
have been rivals for the overlordship of the region between
the Bahr-el-Jebel and the great lakes. The Banyoro (as its
people call themselves) had a certain degree of civilization
and were skilled in iron-work, pottery and wood-work. The
ruling class is of Hima stock, the Bahima possessing large
herds of cattle. The first Europeans to enter the country
were J. H. Speke and J. A. Grant, who spent part of 1862 there,
the king, Kamurasi, putting many obstacles in the way of the
travellers continuing their journey down the Nile. Its next
white visitors were Sir Samuel and Lady Baker, who in 1864
discovered the Albert Nyanza. At this time ivory and slave
traders, nominally Egyptian subjects, penetrated as far south
as Unyoro, and a few years later (1870–74) Baker, as governor-general
of the Equatorial Provinces, extended Egyptian influence
over the country and placed a garrison at Foweira on the
Victoria Nile. He formally annexed Unyoro to the Egyptian
dominions at Masindi on the 14th of May 1872. General
Gordon, who succeeded Baker, established posts at Masindi and
Mruli. With King Kabarega, a son of Kamurasi, the Egyptians
had many encounters. Egyptian authority ceased altogether
with the withdrawal of Emin Pasha in 1888, but not long afterwards British influence began to be felt in the country. Kabarega in 1891 found himself in conflict with Captain F. D. Lugard,
who entered Unyoro from the south. From this point the history
of Unyoro is traced in the article Uganda. It need only be
stated here that in 1899 Kabarega was captured by the British
and deported to the Seychelles, and that one of his sons (Yosia,
a minor) was subsequently recognized as chief in his place, though
with very restricted powers, the province being virtually administered directly by the British government.
Unyoro has played rather an important rôle in the past (unwritten) history of Equatorial Africa as being the region from which the ancient Gala (Hamitic) aristocracy, coming from Nileland, penetrated the forests of Bantu Africa, bringing with them the Neolithic civilization, the use of metals, and the keeping of cattle. Unyoro, though not a large country, is in many ways remarkable. It is thought to contain gold in the north and north-east. In the west and south-west are the vast primeval forests of Budonga and Bugoma, containing large chimpanzees and a peculiar sub-species of straight-tusked elephants (only found in Unyoro).
See the works of Speke, Grant and Baker; also Colonel Gordon in Central Africa (4th ed., 1885); J. F. Cunningham’s Uganda and its Peoples (1905); and Winston Churchill’s My African Journey (1908). (H. H. J.)
UPAS, a Javanese word meaning poison, and specially
applied to the poison derived from the gum of the anchar tree
(Antiaris toxicaria), a member of the fig-family (Moraceae),
and a native of the Sunda Islands, which was commonly used to
envenom the darts of the natives. The name of the upas tree
has become famous from the mendacious account (professedly
by one Foersch, who was a surgeon at Samarang in 1773)
published in the London Magazine, December 1783, and popularized
by Erasmus Darwin in “Loves of the Plants” (Botanic
Garden, pt. ii). The tree was said to destroy all animal life
within a radius of 15 m. or more. The poison was fetched by
condemned malefactors, of whom scarcely two out of twenty
returned. All this is pure fable, and in good part not even
traditional fable, but mere invention. The milky juice of the
tree contains an active principle named antiarin, which has been
recommended as a cardiac stimulant. It is without any properties,
however, that entitle it to clinical employment.The
tree is described as one of the largest in the forests of Java, the
straight cylindrical stem rising without a branch to the height of
60 to 80 ft. It has a whitish bark and on being wounded yields
plentifully the milky juice from which which the poison is prepared.
For a full account of the tree, see Bennett and Brown, Plantae Javanicae rariores, p. 52 (1838).
UPHOLSTERER, in modern usage, a tradesman who supplies
coverings, cushions, padding and stuffing for chairs, sofas or
beds, or who repairs the same, and more generally one who also
provides carpets, curtains and household furniture. The word
first appeared as “upholder,” then as “upholdster” or “upholster,”
and finally with repetition of -er, as in “poulterer,”
“upholsterer.” The first meaning seems to have been a broker
or dealer in small wares. Probably the name was given to a
broker who sold such goods by auction, holding them up to
public view as is the manner of auction-rooms.
UPPER SIND FRONTIER, a district of British India, in the
Sind province of Bombay, with administrative headquarters at
Jacobabad. Area, 2621 sq. m. In the north-east the country
is hilly; the remainder consists of a narrow strip of level plain,
one half being covered with jungle and subject to inundation,
from which it is protected by artificial embankments. The land
is watered by canals from the Indus, of which the chief are the
Begari and Desert canals. The district contains several thriving
timber plantations. The climate is remarkable for its dryness
and for its extraordinary variations of temperature. The
annual rainfall at Jacobabad averages less than 5 in. In 1901
the population was 232,045, showing an increase of no less than
33% in the decade, chiefly due to immigration from Baluchistan.
The principal crops are millets, oil-seeds, pulses, wheat and rice.
The internal trade is principally in grain, the greater part of
which is sent to the sea-board; the transit trade from Central
Asia into Sind crosses the district, bringing wool and woollen
goods, fruits, carpets and horses. The district is crossed by
the Quetta branch of the North-Western railway. The wild
Baluchi inhabitants were pacified by General John Jacob
between 1847 and his death in 1858.
UPPINGHAM. a market town of Rutland, England, 98 m. N.N.E. of London, on a branch of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 2588. The church of St Peter
