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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
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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.