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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1908)
8 IT HAvS TEN MILLION KM hr'u - II Ivsk v f I J I I .., , i . , tfv BY FRANK G. CARPENTER. TAISD with me under the cocoa- nut trees on tne shores of this beau tlful harbor and take a look at the chief city of the Kaiser's colonial em pire. Germany has five times as much territory on this continent as In Eu - rope, and German East Africa is the best of the whole. It is twice as large as Germany itself and Dar es Salaam Is Its capital. The town is by far the most beautiful of all those I have yet visited on the shores of the Indian Ocean. It is as bright as a new pin and it has every sign of prosperity and trade. There are great warehouses along the wharves, & German man-of-war liea in the harbor, and a huge drydock, suffi ciently large to hold any ship of this part of the world, is on the edge of the Bhore. There are craft of many kinds In the bay and one of the largest steam ers of the German East Africa line has Just come in on Its way down the coast. Dar Es Salaam. Turning to the city Itself, one walks through wide streets shaded by trees and bordered with flowers. There are great government buildings of old-fashioned German architecture, which have been erected within the past few years, away down here in the tropics. The govern ment house is far superior to anything iii British East Africa, and the great white postoffiee with its tiled floors makes one feel as though he were In Kurope rather than In the wilds of the black continent. There Is a large Ger man club, a half dozen modern churches and a first-class hotel, which is known as the Kaieerhof. There are many stone villas, the residence of the officials, and there are vsome fairly good business blocks. The buildings are all new, clean and artistic. Most of them were built by the German government, after plans by German architects, and the result is one of the prettiest and most artistic little towns of the world. Indeed, I know of no place which compares with this except some of the cities of Java, and they are by no means so fine. The Germans have laid out the town Bo that tt seems to be a part of a botan ical garden. It is situated not far from the equator and its vegetation Is sur passingly beautiful. The buildings rise out of cocoanut palms and the fan-like leaves of other palm trees whisper a welcome as we walk through the streets. There are many acacias and trees load ed with flowers of all kinds. The roads are well kept. Every blade of grass and weed is pulled out, and a chain gang of native women convicts pounds hard the road bed after each rain. These women Jiave Iron collars about their necks and there are chains which run from collar to collar, holding the gang together. TThey are bareheaded, bareshouldered and barefooted, and they move along taking tip the whole width of the road and pounding the ground firm with wooden stamps, which they raise and let fan in unison. Where the Natives Live. The native section of Dar es Salaam is back from the harbor. Neither Hin doos nor Africans are allowed to have houses in the European settlement, and their huts are shoved off In the woods at the rear. The town has altogether about 25,000 people. The most of them are natives of the different tribes which live along the coast, and a large number who have come in as porters . and servants from back In the interior. Many are Swahilis, noted as the bright est of the East African negroes; and there are also a large number of East Indians who have monopolized the re tall trade. These people all dress In cottons, and they are more clad than those I saw In British East Africa, Uganda or around Lake Victoria. Some of the na tive women are fine looking, but they all mutilate their ears, and many scar their bodies so that the flesh stands up In great welts. The women comb their hair in such a way that they seem to wear hoods. They shave part ings at intervals of about one Inch all around the head, plowing furrows, 'as It were, over their scalps. Many wear enormous ear plugs, which distend the lobee of the ear so that a silver dollar can be easily slipped in and out through them, and a few have nose rings. Their clothes are of bright-colored prints made in India and shipped here from Bombay. The Kaiser's Black Soldiers. Among the most striking of the na tives are the soldiers.. The Kaiser has an army of 2500 blacks, to keep his millions of East African subjects In order, and so far they have done very well. These negroes have been select ed for their size, and they remind one of the famed guard of Frederick the Great, none of whom was under six feet. They are big-framed and "broad shouldered, and their faces seem to me the personification of ugliness and brutality. They are dressed In khaki, with khaki caps with aprons at the back to protect the neck, and their uniforms are much like those of the German army, save that they are barefooted. These soldiers are armed with the best of modern guns, and they know how to use them. During my stay here I have seen them at drill. Tbey go through all the evolutions ' L?iV" " , f, Xo-- . j " " " ' "'P"MM'' ' Hill Hill 1 IiiiiiiiiB iMwm w iwwim 1VNM1 W,:' .... 5 !' . Ml lr- ':rSL s - " - "r ''flit srssr JFcaisjszR. jzts uWazuw co zfoo blacks common to the German" army. Includ ing the famous "goose step" and other military gymnastics. I am told they are proud of their profession, and that they are loyal to the Germans, even when warring against their own peo ple. During my stay I have visited the barracks. The natives are allowed to have their wives with them. They cook for their husbands, and their presence keeps the soldiers In a good humor. This same custom of allowing the women to go with the army Is common In British East Africa- and Uganda, save that there the native sol diers and police live In cillages of huts which ar,g put up for the purpose. A Talk With the Governor-General. I met the Governor-General shortly af ter I landed here. He is the 6upreme ruler "of the 10.000,000 people who inhabit thia great German colony, and lie has en tire control of German Bast Africa. He has -a great building devoted to his offi ces and a beautiful villa in a great park some distance away. My first talk with him was at the government house, and I met him later In the evening at his home and had a chat with him. . The Governor of Gerioan East Africa Is Baron von Reehenberg. He was edu cated at the University of Berlin and after graduation was made Consul-General at Zanzibar. Later on he held a diplomatic position in Russia and was then sent here to be the ruler of this colony. Baron von Reehenberg excels as a linguist. He speaks seven languages fluently and be has mastered some of the native tongues here. He can talk with his subjects in Swahlli and he under stands the African native about as well as any man in this part of the world. He spends a great deal of his time traveling over the colony. He has just returned from a long safari about the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, he knows the coast lands thoroughly and he has made many trips into the Interior. Our conversation was held In English, and it covered a va riety of subjects. German East Africa. . In talking of his colony, the Governor General said: "Few people appreciate the extent and possibilities of German East Africa. This country is about twice as big as France, and it is far bigger than any country In Europe, except Russia. It is as thickly populated as almost any part of Europe, and the land Is so rich that without much work the people hve enough and . to spare. We ha'e a large territory here which will raise cotton, sugar cane and coffee. During my recent visit to Mount Kilimanjaro, I visited one coffee planta tion which had 100,000 trees. The farm ers tell me that the plants grow rapidly, and that they yield fruit at an earlier age than In most other coffee regions. Two or three pounds to the young tree is al ready common on that plantation and some of the trees are yielding much more. As to sugar we are having successful ex periments on the low lands near the coast, and we are planting ome cotton which produces excellent crops. So far our ex periments have been about the port of Sadanl. We are using Egyptian seed and our yield compares favorably with that of Egypt. We are also setting out rubber trees, as well as plantations of vanilla and hemp. "Do you think you will ever be able to raise enough cotton to affect our crop In the world's markets?" I asked. "I doubt It," replied the Governor-Gen THE SUNDAY OREGOJilAN, PORTLAND, PEOPLE AND IS TWICE AS LARGE AS THE KATHERLAND eral. "You Americans need not worry about that now, nor for a long time in the future." Questions of Labor. I here asked the Governor-General as to the native labor supply, saying I un derstood the blacks made poor workmen. Said he: "Our people are of many different tribes, and they are quite as different In character as the peoples of other conti nents. We have some who are indus trious and some who are lazy. Some tribes are intelligent, and others are far down in the scale of barbarism. Some are good for one thing, and some for an other. We have many Masai about Kili manjaro. They are worth, absolutely noth ing as tillers of the soil, but they make excellent stockmen. For a long time they were cattle thieves and their chief business was robbing their neighbors. We have now put them on a reservation large enough to give them abundant pas ture for their flocks and they are doing quite well. The Masai make fine herds men. They understand stock and we use them to take care of our cavalry horses. "There is another tribe about Kiliman jaro that is almost purely agricultural," the Governor continued. "The people live in villases with little farms nearby, and every one cultivates the soil. Farther in the interior we have other tribes, some devoted to farming, and some to stock rearing. We have others who make a business of transporting goods from place to place on their beads, and others who will do almost any kind of work. The best of these natives live on the plateaus of the Interior, and we are now building a railroad which will reach their country and enable them to be brought down to the coast. That part of the colony is thickly populated; and If we can get la borers from there, It will be of great ad vantage to ouv plantations along the In dian Ocean." The New Railroad. The conversation here turned to the railroad possibilities of German East Af rica. This country already has one line which goes Inland from the port of Tanga to the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, where there is a high and healthy country being settled by Germans. There is another road building from Dar es Salaam westward toward Lake Tanganyika, and this will probably also be connected by a road leading southward to Lake Nyassa. These roads will open up rich coffee and cattle lands, and will give an outlet from the Interior to the coast. The road to Tanganyika will prob ably have a branch running northward to Mwanza, on lUake Victoria, and it will form a great trunk line, which will con nect with the Cape to Cairo system at Lake Tanganyika. Said the Governor-General: "The line will first be built from here to Morgoro, a distance of 130 miles. It Is now . open as far as KIngani, about 50 miles, and trains have been running over parts of it for some years. We need the extension of that road badly, and when It is completed It will be of incalculable good to the colony." "But will the road pay, your excel lency?" I asked. "It might not do so at-lrst," was the reply. "I think it would pay in years to come, and that even now it would be profitable for the government to push its construction. In the development ofa great country like this we have to consid er how to increase the wealth of the peo ple and how to develop our resources. This road would bring in outside capital. and it would make the people so much better off that we could levy more taxes. We need means of rapid communication with the most valuable of our provinces, which are lying in the Interior, and we ought not to be compelled to send a large part of our exports and imports over the Uganda railway and the British steamers on Victoria Nyanza. and to pay toll to the English therefor. When we have railroad connection with Victoria Nyanza the trade of the southern half of that lake will come down here to Dar es Salaam, Instead of going to Mombasa, as it does now." Timber and Mines. I here called the Governor-General's at tention to a conversation which I had had with Mr. Weil, a rich South African, who had been prospecting as to the timber resources of the northern part of this colony: Mr. Well told me that he was about to take up a concession of timber lands, here which would keep his men busy cutting for the next 100 years. He said he Intended to order sawmills and other lumber machinery from the United States and that a large part of his mar ket would be the United States, where he expected to send a certain furniture wood which is much like black walnut. The Governor-General replied that Mr. Weil had not received the concession as yet. and that there is no absolute surety that his plans will be carried out. He contin ued: "As to our forests, they are of great extent, but so far they have not been exploited. Some of the wood is fine and they will ultimately have a fixed value In the markets of Europe. We have trees which correspond to teak; some which are like black walnut and others which are as soft as cedar. All of these woods are valuable, and there should be a market for them in Europe and also along this coast." How th Colony Is Governed. . I asked the Governor-General to tell me something as to how the colony is managed. It has a Governor-General, appointed by the Kaiser, and nine Ad ministrators, one for each district. The Administrators are appointed by the Governor, and each is aided by a coun cil of three or five members, of which the Administrator is president. The members of this Council are appointed by the Governor and one of them must represent native interests. Justice Is ad ministered by Supreme Courts and Dis trict and native courts. The army con sists of the military and the police and in It there are about 300 Germans and 2500 natives. The -government is establishing schools here and there over the country, and it has both European and native teachers. Therl are a large number of mission aries at work, both Protestant and Cath olic, and they also have their schools. There are 5000 pupils in the government schools, and these, schools Include man ual training and schools for the govern ment service. Many wagon roads are being laid out through different parts of German East Africa, and there are earavan routes throughout the interior. So far the chief trading station ias been Bagamoya, which lies on the coast just opposite Zanzibar, which Is on an island 34 miles across the channel. From time Immemorial the porters have brought ivory and other goods, on their heads, from Central Africa to that port, and have shipped them to Zanzibar, L where all the steamers call. At the same time all goods sent to the Interior have been first brought to Zanzibar and thence JUNE 14, 1908. shipped inland via Bagamoya. Since the railroad from Dar es Salaam has been built the caravans have been bringing their Ivory, rubber and other products ANCESTRY The Modern W coming of the Franciscan") fathers to the' shores of the Pa cific in their propagation of the Christian faitli accidentally gave rise to a new style In architecture a style Influenced almost entirely by utili tarian demands upon the Ingenuity of the inexperienced builders. The tenets of the austere brotherhood founded by St. Francis imposed upon Its members vows of chastity, poverty and obedi ence, which easily explains the bare ness of the original mission buildings. Anything pertaining to ease or luxury was not entertained; comfortable chairs and upholstered seats had no place in the habitations of the good friars, ac customed for years to deprivations and rigid abstemiousness. Practically the only effort they put forth to depart from the severe Dlaln nesss of whitewashed walls was In the Interior decoration of some of the sanc tuaries. There is but little doubt that it would havo been better had even these attempts not been made for the buildings would have been more im pressive one might even say more ar tistic had the interiors been left in their pristine simplicity. Masses gen erally lend themselves to beautiful ar rangements, and the spontaneous ex pression of the builder In the necessity of meeting peculiar conditions may re sult In the production of a style new and dignified. In big things defects are not apparent. The harmonious ar rangement of general lines usually gives an artistic result. It was only in their attempts to em bellish their structures with decora tions and display of craftsmanship that the builders of the missions -failed in producing praiseworthy results. The padres knew little or nothing of draw ing, less of color effects. They orig inated nothing new in these Interior decorations because of their limited knowledge of the arts and lack of skill. Naturally their minds reverted to the visions of the marvelous interiors of the Spanish cathedrals Burgas, the beautiful or the majestic Seville. Hazyl memories of these glories guided by unskilled fingers in attempts to repro duce what had once been fashioned by master hands, so that these decorative effects have all the crudeness of the products of primitive minds, and often occasion a smile of derision. In art, as in everything else, how ever, the underlying motive must be considered, and since the Franctscan monks earnestly endeavored to beau tify the naves of their churches as best they could with the limited ma terial at hand, although they failed artistically, their efforts are worthy of consideration and respect. The some what ornately carved timbers of the Santa Fe mission church illustrate the spirit of reverent sentiment that actu ated the" workmen probably better than any of the California ones. The devo tional love for their holy places prompted the natives to bestow an In finite amount of care upon the carv ing and to paint elaborately each beam. Portable furniture of those early days was simple in the extreme. In deed hardly worth mentioning as such. A slab of a tree trunk, sawed and smoothed, with three rough branches for feet, was the seat of the Franciscan monks tables and settees were of like crudeness. It Is a far cry from that to our modern oak or mahogany easy chair, whicli seems entirely foreign In both form and comfort. As to that which we designate "mis sion rurniture, whose simple, com- to its western terminus, and they are now shipped from Dar es Salaam to Europe. iiuo uiverMun oi iraae will prooHDiy in- t crease, and when the railroad has been OF MISSION FURNITURE Kind Is English and Designed by William Morris. fortable artistic lines make it' peculiarly suited to California use, the popular ac ceptance of it as a descendant of th San Diego or San Fernando craftman ship - is entirely erroneous. Modern mission furniture, notwithstanding our pardonable desire to claim it as our own, is an English product a style due to William Morris, that prophet of solidity of construction and nobility of line. It is to the genius of that master craftsman that we owe much, indeed, of our present beautiful simplicity of decoration, effective employment of color masses, and harmonious unity of assign which is gradually obtaining in all civilized countries and relegating to the background the ornate gilt and pre tentious monstrosities of a generation ago. Morris' artistic soul rebelled against the degenerate style that prevailed in furniture "fashionable" in the 70s those fantastic shapes carved, tor tured and twisted finished in ebony, gilt or enamel and upholstered in red plush, and he set about striving to awaken the world to the beauties of genuine, honest handicraft. The crea tion of furniture along simple lines suggested Itself to the directors ot various "mission schools" throughout England as a channel through which the dexterity they were striving to encourage in their wards might ex press itself. With the first exhibition of this mission school furniture in England Its popularity was assured and it was straightway Imported into the United States, where it met with equal favor because of Its novelty perhaps, too, because it was English. At any rate it was soon In great vogue and Its manufacture was taken up by craftsmen In this country, first at Washington, D. C and afterwards In various other places. Improvements were made as the need arose until the handmade objects now produced under the name of "mission furniture" bear little resemblance to their first English cousins. But with the origination of the style the Franciscan monks of the eighteenth century had nothing what ever to do. Aside from those purely primitive art icles of use fashioned by the Mission fathers, objects quite similar to those made in every mining camp today, one finds that the neophytes built many quaint and curious pieces of furniture which. If they sometimes failed in being delicate or perfect in workmanship, nev ertheless bad a certain character and charm. In the baptistry of the Plaza Church In Los Angeles is a bench that represents probably one of the earliest efforts In cabinet work among the na tives. It is crudely Joined, clumsily put together, yet it has good lines, and was built substantially enough to last for ages. The scalloped board across the back is an odd example of the primitive desire to ornament an otherwise plain piece of fur niture, and. while it is both unnecessary and undesirable, the humble artisan's mistaken' idea of beautifying his handi work is pathetic. In many of the missions are to be found similar articles. The lecterns, con fessionals, altars, doors and pulpits were often the work of the natives, produced for the most part In imitation of those brought from Spain or Mexico, or from prints and drawings In the possession of the Franciscans. They rarely attempted anything new or independent in style. Besides this class of furniture there were the imported pieces, sent to the mis sions of Alta, Cal., from Spanish ports, and which are still treasured as fine, in teresting mementoes of the early days. The shapes of these are distinctly Moor ish in character for the most part, al- completed to Tabora almost all of the central trans-African exports and im ports will come this way. Dar cs Salaam, German EaHt Africa. though others are Oriental or Dutch. In the Mission Museum at Santa Barbara is a chair, a relic of the early settlement, that has well-rounded arms, a gracefully shaped back, and although of somewhat plain appearance it has all the charm of an eighteenth century piece ef Nether lands craftsmanship. How It found its way to Santa Barbara is a question. The relations between Spain and the lower countries were for. a time so close as to have a marked effect upon the art of both, an association of two of the most uncongenial and unsympathetic nations that were ever linked together. The chair may have come around the Horn, or it may have been left on the shores of Cali fornia by some unknown navigator circl ing the globe. In the pulpit of San Luis Rey and the confessional of San Buenaventura we have the highest attainment of early handicraft. Whether these were the work of the friars themselves or of the converts under their direction It is impossible-to determine. The pulpit, and especially the closet in which were kept the sacred vessels, at San Juan Bautista.. betray the influence of a trained artificer, a man more than ordinarily skilled In the use of tools. The music desk, how ever, that held the ponderous psalter. Is an example of simple line construction worthy of William Morris himself so. too, are the wooden candelabra and paschal candlestick at Santa Barbate. But with few exceptions there is little about these relics of the Missions to connect them with the designs now com mon to mission furniture. With the beginning of the nineteenth century Intercourse between Spain and the new colony had become more fre quent and there were doubtless adventur 'ous cabinet makers, skilled In all the arts of the trade, who were attracted to the shores of the new world. Soon the work of these men began to replace the crude efforts of the native artisans. The few settlers, secure In their posses sions and blessed with abundance, sought to surround themselves with the comforts and luxuries of life and Imported frijm the mother country furniture that -was the European fashion af the day. One by one the primitive products of the Mission workshops disappeared: they were left neglected in outbuildings or often ruthlessly destroyed to make way for more elaborate objects. Like the old "carreta" of the drsert, of which there are now only a few curious examples still extant, where a hundred years ago scores of them noisily creaked their lumbering way over the camino real, the first furniture of the Mission padres Is to be found in only a few of the old accustomed places, and In the relic rooms of museums scattered throughout California. Hector Alliott In the Northwest Furniture Review. Farewell to a Wicer. Richmond Times-Despatch. Farewell, old derby, friend o' mine. You thine of faded dents and dlntil Which I bought cheap In '99 And have worn steady ever since. The Summer season conies apace And so. by fashion's Iron law, I now must get. to crown my facs, A straw. But, derby, thoujrh we part today. I'll not forget the faith we've kept. For warminar me In work and play. In hanKlnfc "round me while I slept. Full many a R-ut has tossed you. hat. On travels through the windy blue. Full many a portly dame has sat On you. I've found you loyal, kind end true. 1 owe you many a playful rhyme, I've pasted greatly into you, I've talked through you a many a time. Good-by! I start to weep . . . But, then, 'Tts not xod-by this trip at all! Hat. au revolr! We'll meet tiaia Next Fall.
