The Sunday Oregonian., June 21, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 54

8
WI1 'KUOl Ul -8,1 -ilFlO'Il
v --d KAISER. WILHELM iggr-Ktr -, vFvT'''.:iiiVs-;j r.v'li'7?Tf
If : ..; ; - . -f USES A R.OCK FROM bir
. .1-- ': . THE VERY
' OFFICIAL PAPER -V.
-v-- .w' r . - l 3SSSPw i4v &.yCf1 VlSA " I
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
RAISER WILHELM, the Emperor of
Germany, now owns the scalplock
' of this African continent. It Is a
bit of rock as big as your flat, and it
was cut from the top of Mount Kili
manjaro, where, dominating all Africa,
it kisses the sky at an altitude almost
four miles above the sea. The rock was
cut fft by one of the Germans who
climbed to the top of "that mighty
mountain. It was ground smooth and
made into a paper weight, and It now
lies at the Kaiser's riglit hand on his
library table in his palace In Berlin.
About Mount Kilimanjaro.
I understand that the Kaiser is proud
of owning Mount Kilimanjaro, and
there Is no doubt that "his subjects out
here feel the same way. The moun
tain lies just backof this part of Tan
ga. almost on the border between Bri
tish and German East Africa. Its low
est slopes are now reached by railroad,
and some of the richest regions of
German East Africa lie at its foot.
These are" now being settled by Ger
mans who are planting out coffee and
hemp. There are some plantations
which contain tens of thousands of cof
fee trees, and large tracts are being
set out in rubber or planted to grain.
A colony, of Boers has located there,
and there are also many Jews, who
have been driven out of Russia by the
persecutions of-.the Czar. The land is
high and tlte climate is healthy. The
railroad has now been extended about
72 miles westward, and it is to go up
the slope of Kilimanjaro Itself. The
Governor-General, who' has recently
made a trip through that region, tells
me he is well satisfied as to the prog
ress now making, and he predicts that
we will some day have a little Ger
many away out here in the heart of
Africa, under the shadow of its highest
mountain.
The day will probably come when the'
ascent of Kilimanjaro will be one of the
regular stunts of the world-mountain
climbers, and we may have cog rail
roads running up to health resorts in
and about its mighty peaks."
During my stay in British East Af
rica I saw this mountain several times,
far off In the distance. It looks like a
great cloud of snow floating, as it were,
in the blue sky. It ends in two peaks
like a saddle back, and? it stands upon
a great pedestal, which is more than a
half mile higher than the top of Mount
; 'Washington. ,
The World's Mightiest Mountain.
Kilimanjaro is on the roof of the
African continent, and It is one of the.
half dozen or more spires which rise
high above the roof of the world. With
the exception of Mount McKlnley and
certain of the Himalayas and the
Andes, it is by far the highest moun
tain on the globe. We have nothing to
compare with It in North America, and
If you could put the Alleghentes on top
of Mont Blanc they would not reach
so high. I have gone along the Andes
from Panama to Patagonia and have
seen all their great peaks. Chlmborazo
in Ecuador is just as tall as Kiliman
jaro with th.e height of the Washing
ton monument added to it. Mount So
rato in Bolivia is something like' 1200
feet higher, and Acancagua, on the bor
ders of Chili and Argentina, is 23.000
feet, or 3000 feet above this topmost
point of Africa.
of the greatest sights of the
world is Mount Everest, which rises
out of tho midst of the Himalayas to
-a distance of almost six miles above
the sea. Its actual height is 29,000 feet.
I have seen it from near Darjiling in
the .bright sun of the early morning,
and I can tell you it does not compare
in beauty with this mighty Kiliman
jaro. Everest has so many other moun
tains around it that you cannot realize
Its size. Kilimanjaro stands almost alone,
and its double dome of frosted stiver
fairly floats in the blue sky. Indeed,
the natives living near it believe that
the top of the mountain is made of sil
ver. They are too far down to know
what snow means and in a region so
near the equator that all the lowlands
are steaming. ,
The Natives Abojjt Kilimanjaro.
During my stay here I have talked with
German travelers who have explored
large parts of this mountain. They tell
me that the land is rich at the foot, and
that it Is inhabited by a number of tribes,
each governed by an independent sultan
or chief. There are Masai among them,
who have large flocks of cattle and
eheep, and many other tribes who en
gage in farming, having little fields of
grain surrounded by hedges. Some of
these people irrigate their fields, carry
ing the water from level to level Toy
means of canals.
A little further up, Kilimanjaro is cov
ered with a dense vegetation. The trees
axe full of orchids and other air plants;
and there are lions, leopards, and all
ports of wild beasts. There are some ele-
gliA .. r ,. ,, 3j
phants, and the hunting is said to be very
good. Higher still the vegetation changes
and becomes more like that of the tem
perate zone. At the altitude of Pike's
Peak it ceases entirely, and from thence
on the perpetual snow begins.
The topmost peak, known as Kibo, is
always snow covered. This was first
ascended by Hans Meyer in 1SS9. He
says that it has a crater more than a
mile in circumference,- and over 600 feet
deep, the walls of which are covered with
ice. The lower peak is known as Kima
wensi. It is just 17,500 feet high, or about
as high as Popocatapetl, in Mexico.
The Port of Tanga.
I wish I could show you this little Afri
can town of Tanga. It lies here on the
seacoast just opposite the clove island of
Pemba, which belongs to Great Britain.
It Is in German East Africa, a few miles
below the Umba River, which is part of
the boundary between this country and
British East Africa. It lies at one of
the mouths of the Panganin River, which
rises on the elopes of Kilimanjaro, and
carries away the greater part of its
snows.
The coast here is low and tropical, and
the vegetation is so dense that the moun
tains cannot be seen. Indeed, there are
no hills anywhere, and the eye wanders
over cocoanut palms loaded with nuts
and grass lands spotted here and there
with fat baobab trees, whose skeleton-like
branches reach out like great white fin
gers clutching the air.
Tanga has a beautiful harbor. The
mouth of the river is such that it forms a
bay of thousands of acres, well protected
from the storms of the Indian Ocean. At
the entrance to the bay Is a point on
which stands a white lighthouse, and far
ther inland is a big white-walled, red
roofed hospital of two stories. At the end
of the bay the buildings of the city be
gin. They are composed of European
structures and thatched roof huts,
which are the homes of the Hindoo mer
chants and of the Swahili natives.
German Settlement.
The town has a boma or fort, and a
large Iron shed, which serves as a
native market. It has a postoffice like
those of Deutschland, and government
buildings of various kinds. There is
a two-story hotel with a roof garden
on it and wide verandas running around
it. There is a public school, where
the pupils are black boys with shaved
heads. They study their lessons under
the pictures of the Kaiser and Kais
erin, which look down from the walls.
As to that matter, however, the Em
peror and Empress are ubiquitous In
this part of East Africa. The officials
hang their pictures in every public
building, and nearly every house, store
and hotel has a cheap print of the
Kaiser. There are statues and busts
of Bismarck at the several German
ports. I have written of the great me
dallion of Bismarck which is on a
pyramid at the southern end of Victoria
Nyanza. There is a bronze bust of
him on a pedestal in the public gar
den at Tanga, and a rather fine statue
of him at Dar es Salaam. The streets
of Tanga have German names, like
the streets of Berlin, and the same is
true of Dar es Salaam. There is no
doubt about this being a German ter
ritory, and no doubt that the Germans
rule It.
Flogging: the Negroes.
I see the same fierce native soldiers
everywhere, as I saw them about in
Victoria Nyanza, and they, as well as
the European officials, go about with
a lordly air. I have already written
of the flogging. The colored man here
has but few rights that the white
man Is bound to respect. This is espe
cially so after one gets out Into the
wilds. Indeed, I am surprised at the
cold-blooded way in which the traders
relate their own treatment of the na
tives. An American, whom I met here,
was talking the other night of a trip
he had made through German Kast
Tin:
Africa, in which he had employed a
large gang of negro porters to carry
I his supplies. Said he:
You can never tell whether these
rascals are shamming or not. I re
member one of my porters who was al
ways playing oft sick, and whom I had
to whip almost from the start. None
of my men like to walk through the
swamps after nightfall. It Is rather
dangerous, you know; but I had to hur
ry, and I pushed right along. One even
ing this porter refused to go farther.
He squatted down on the edge of a
'log and said he would not move, 1
had my men stretch him out and I
flogged him again and again in vain.
At last the fool put one of his arms
behind him 'to have his back from the
blows of the kuboka, and I struck his
wrist and broke it. Of course, I could
do nothing with him after that. He
could not hold the load on his head,
and I had to leave him there is the
swamp."
These were the words, not of a Bel
gian, a German or a Britisher, although
I have . heard equally baft stories from
men of eachof those nationalities, but
they were of an American, ana were
uttered as though breaking the man's
wrist and leaving him to die in the
swamp were of too consequence what
ever. Another man, who pretended to be a
Maltese, but who looked like an Euras
ian, told me that he had lost several
porters by death from exposure during
a recent trading trip, and that he had
flogged one until he dropped. The wages
of such porters is about 4 cents a day
and they feed themselves. They carry
loads of about TO pounds each, and they
trot along all day with, such loads on
their heads. I am told that, they are
cheated by the traders in every possible
way. The wages are paid in cloth, and
short measure is usually given, three
yards being made to go for four.
The cloth mentioned in the contract
is often American! or American sheeting,
but the traders will try to palm off In
dian'cottons, which are little better than
cheesecloth, instead. Indeed, the English
and Indian traders make no bones of
telling how they cheat the natives, and
they laugh over It as they do so.
Forests and Elephant Grass.
Not far back from Tanga is one of the
greatest forest regions of this part of
East Africa. ' The government has re
served several hundred thousand acres,
but the remainder is open to exploitation,
and prospectors are now going over It
with a view to shipping the timber out
to the coast. I understand that there is
a great deal of hard wood, as well as
cedar and other timbers of value.
Much of the country near the coast of
German East Africa ls covered with
mango trees and cocoanut palms. Higher
up there are acacias, sycamores and the
banians. There are vines and trees which
produce rubber and also valuable fiber
plants. Down along the coast the Ger
mans are now setting out cocoanut plan
tations, and are experimenting with
cacao, tobacco, vanilla and the clnchor.a'
tree, from whose bark our quinine comes.
Much of the interior of this region is
not unlike the country about Lake Vic
toria, and many of tTie plains are cov
ered with elephant grass. This grows
twice as high as one's head. I have
seen stalks 15 feet tall, an on my recent
trip through the interior I had myself
photographed to show you their heigTit.
In the rainy season this grass often
grows a foot In a night. It Is much like
a bamboo fishing rod, having joints like
cane. It is usually burnt off at certain
times of the year, and I have traveled
over roads with great flames on one s'de
of me where, if the wind had changed,
J should have been in serious danger.
When the grass is set afire the flames
roll up in great masses. As the canes
burn they burst apart, each making a
noise like the shot of a pistol. The fire
is accompanied by a continual crash, and
.Ou acenes are grand to an extreme. In
VT OREPOXIAX, l-ORTIiATTD, JUNE 21, 1908.
German East Africa many of the trade
routes go through grass of this kind.
They consist of mere paths which wind
this way and that over the country.
When it rains the grass holds the water,
and after a shower It Is often hours
before one can keep dry. , -
Training Zebras.
I have written of the experiments which
the British are making in attempting to
raise the zebra for agricultural use.
They are being carried on at Nairobi
and on the government farm near Lake
Navalsha, In British East Africa. The
Germans are making similar experiments
in their territory, and so far they have
been quite successful. They are trying
to train the zebras as riding animals,
with the Idea that they may eventually
be able to outflt the native cavalry with
them. In the barracks at Dar es Salaam
I was shown a half dozen zebras tied up
in the stalls side by side with horses.
The officers told me that they had been
broken to riding, and that they were
easily tamed. In another stable I was
shown the results of some crosses be
tween the zebra and the horse. One was
a zebra mule a year eld, whose mother
was a big bay mare. This animal was
larger than the ordinary zebra, but it
was shaped in just the same way, and it
had every aspect of the zebra excepting
the white and black stripes. It was
striped In black over a body of light
brown The stripes of the pure zebra
are of the deadest black and the whitest
white. When the Lord painted him he
did It in such colors that he who runs
can read them.
There are many zebras in the interior
of German East Africa, and they are
often shot and eaten by the hunters.
As to hunting, this country promises
to be more popular than British East
Africa, which is generally known as the
land of big game. German East Africa
is a part of the same plateau, and there
are regions in it which swarm with ante-'
lopes, zebras and other game beasts.
There are many lions and leopards, as
well as elephants, hippopotami and rhi
nocerl. At present it costs 1250 for the
right to shoot big game In the British
possessions. The Germans Issue licenses
to shoot for $3 or t4 each, but they re
quire a small royalty to the government
on each head of game killed. The high
rates are driving the sportsmen out of
the lands north of here, and eventually
the Germans will have the greater part
of that travel.
The Pets of the Black Continents
While on the subject of animals I want
to tell you about the queer pets I find in
this part of Africa. Think of holding a
baby leopard In your lap! Or of lifting
up a Hon by the nape of the neck! This
is what I have seen done in the past
week. The baby Hon was at a hotel here.
He was tied by a clothesline, and I was
able to pet him without being hurt. I
took hold of the skin of his neck and
lifted him off the ground, although it
strained my arm to do so. On Lake Vic
toria I saw a pet hyena, and at one of
the native villages found several pet an
telopes. Pet sheep and goats are com
mon among the Africans, and there are
certain tribes in which1 a sheep will fol
low Its master about and come to him
when called. ( In Uganda sheep are often
petted. They are fat-tailed animals, with
hair as coarse as that of a tlu-can-fed
American goat. They are usually white
in color, although some are as red as a
blood-bay horse. In Dares Salaam I
stopped with a man who owned a pet
leopard. It was only" a few weeks old,
and was as tame as a cat. -
The captain on one of the Lake Victo
ria steamers has several pet monkeys, a
dog-faced baboon, and some parrots. The
parrots have silver-gray feathers on their
bodies and their wings and tails are
bright red. They talk in the native lar
guage and whistle in esperanto.
About the queerest pet bird I have jet
seen on this continent U the whale
headed stork of Uganda, one of which
has been sent to Khartoun and is kept
there In the gardens of the Sirdar. The
bird is found all around Lake Victoria,
and especially at the source of the Nile.
It is as big as the largest turkey gobbler,
and its head looks as though it had
been chopped out of a telegraph pole
THE POWER OF WHITE COAL
Water, the Most Ancient Source of Energy, Also the Most Modern.
Kansas City Star.
T is one of the queer paradoxes of
this century of progress that the
most ancient and crudest form of
I
mechanical force is becoming the most
modern and highly perfected. Two or
three thousand years ago, when the
Egyptians and Assyrians were the
doers of the world's greatest work, the
latent energy locked up In every stream
that "runs down hill" was the only
kind of power man had at his disposal.
except human brawn and brute
strength. And now, after many at
tempts at improvements, this ready-at-hand
gifCof nature seems on the
way to be man's best reliance once
more.
In the past decade water power has
been pushing its way to the front with
all the "better things" devised in the
lst 20 centuries. Today engineers pre
dict that the future will find It the
most economical and practical means
of operating machinery and the most
Valuable factor in building up industry.
It is only within a few years, compara
tively speaking, that it has been pos
sible to use water power as it now is
used; only with' the perfecting of long
distance electrical transmission has it
had any value beyond turning machin
ery connected directly with mill wheels.
Yet the most recent and complete esti
mates set the amount Qf energy Ameri
cans, are obtaining from the streams
and cataracts of the United States 'in
excess of 2,000,000 horse-power. Rough
ly speaking, this represents the output
of 100 of the largest steam-power en
gines built, and fs an amount of energy
which during a year would require not
less' than 10,000,000 tons of coal,, cost
ing approximately $30,000,000.
The latest authentic statistics in re
gard to the use of different kinds of
power in the United States, contained
in a report of the United States census
bureau, show that the use of electricity
Increased 3068 per cent in the 10 years
from 1890 to 1900, and about 222 per
cent beyond that tin the Ave years from
1900 to 1906. And 'Of 1,692,483 horse
power electrically generated in 1905,
considerable more than a third was pro
duced by water-power.
It is a long step from the old coun
try grist-mill to the turbine power
plant; from the cumbersome, moss
grown water-wheel, which with slow
revolutions ground a few bushels of
corn in a day Or turned a hundred or
two spindles, to the miles and miles of
shining copper wire that in many
places already run every sort 6t ma
chine from a dentist's drill to a freight
elevator, from a church organ to a
printing- press, from a sewing machine
or an Ice cream freezer to a black
Lowell, Mass.. where the first great
cotton mills were established. The sys
tem of canals at Lowell, planned by
Major George W. Whistler, father of
the famous and erratic English-American
artiet, still stands as an achieve
ment In engineering. It demonstrated
what a river could be made to do if
and then hung to "Its neck. This stork
has long legs, anfl it walks about with
great dignity. It looks sleepy, and it
does-not seem at all afraid. I took a
snapshot at the bird with my camera.
the user could get near enough to H;
It showed the way to building up In
dustries that must have cheap power
to be profitable. But until a way was
found of converting water power into
a transmissible form, its usefulness
was restricted to Industrie that could
be located on the watercourse and could
smith's forge. But that step has been
taken and how many more will follow
depends only on the limit of ingenuity
of this ingenious age.
The first application of water-power
on any scale in this country was in
be conducted on a big enough scale to
Justify the building of a large, expen
sive plant. Such, for example, are the
great cotton-mills, the sawmills, and
the huge flour mills of New England,
the South and tho Northwest.
The modern hydro-electric power
plant is a marvel of ingenuity so differ
ent from its crude predecessors that it
can hardly be thought of as a develop
ment from them. The water-power de
velopment on the St. Croix illver, for
example, which furnishes electricity
for lighting and manufacturing in Min
neapolis, now produces 12,500 horse
power and will. It is planned, ultimate
ly be increased to twice that volume.
That on the Chattahoochee, from which
power Is provided for the region about
Columbus, 6a., now aggregates 9000
horsepower. When adjoining rights are
utilized an ultimate development of
75.000 horsepower Is anticipated. More
spectacular even than the Niagara Falls
plant Is the Puget Sound power devel'
opment, which, harnessing the streams
that have their sources In the glaciers
of Mount Rainier, provides electricity
for railway, lighting, and manufactur
ing purposes to Tacoma, Seattle and
the country In between.
Those plants which serve Minneapo
lis and Columbus and the Puget Sound
cities, the great undertaking at Niag
ara Falls, the big plant near the City
of Mexico, and two or three large
Canadian Installations, are indicative
of what the future may expect. In
1905, when the last authentic figures
were made, there were more than 50
cities of North America supplied elec
trically from transmitted waterpower.
To reach them waterpower is electri
cally transmitted dozens of miles in
many cases, scores of miles in a num
ber of cases, and more than 200 miles
in one case.
In its analysis of the showing made
by some of the largest hydro-electric
plants, as they are called, the Census
Bulletin already referred to brings out
specifically the economic value of this
oldest and newest power.
"The anxiety to seize upon the re
sources at Niagara, estimated at their
total power of 4,000,000 horsepower,
may therefore be understood," says the
Government expert. "The utilization
of one-half of this power, namely, 2,
000,000 horsepower, would effect an an
nual saving of 12-000,000 tons of coal.
Upon the basis of 3000 horsepower per
annum, taking the value of this fuel at
$2.60 per ton, the saving effected would
amount to $30,000,000. Considering this
to represent 40 per cent of the cost of
development annually of 2,000,000
horsepower, by steam, the total expense
is found to be $75,000,000. Such figures
as these, applied in a general way to
the entire hydro-electrical development
now so actively in progress throughout
the country, give a rough idea of the
rewards to capital and the economies
.
standing within a few feet of it at the
time. It did not budge, but gazed at me
out of its bleary eyes as though it
thought me a fool.
Tanga. German East Africa.
to manufacturers involved in this in
dustrial and engineering change of
methods."
Wish the Sc hool
'd Hum
Down.
John L.
Shrny.
Wished it many an' many a time,
When I heard tliat ol' bell's chime.
Mad at teacher for scolds I got.
Didn't cross t's or made a litg blot
Speliin' as 'poor a ever could be,
G'ogerfy bad as my his-tor-ep.
Home work skipped an' eums not done;
'Composition not even begun.
An' then It was I'd mope -aroun'
An' wlih an' wish, that the school 'd bura
down.
Perhaps things went alt right in school,
There were some days I'd obey each rule.
Then the lazy air of the early Spring
Would draw my soul where the redwings
sing.
In the ifcradow green, with the spearmint
smell.
Away far off from the sound of the hell;
Or down by the crick where the suckers run.
An' warm their sides up against, the sun,
I could hook a chap that 'd weigh a poun'.
If that ol' school ,'d ketch fire an' burn
down.
Btit onct on a time in the middle of the
night,
I heard that bell an' it woke me with a
fright:
An I heard them a-runnin' an" a yelUn'
loud
"The schoorhouse 's afire!" Then I joined
that crowd.
I thought over ail the times I'd had.
Of the happy days when 1 wasn't bad.
Of my or "seat home." where my books
were piled.
Of the pleasant day when the teacher
smiled. '
Then all of a suddent the place grew dear.
An' when the men gave a big long cheer,,
I Just up an hollered with a mighty shout.
For I knowed by that the lire was out.
An' since that time I've kept sort o' mum.
When days are warm an bum' bees hum.
My head siyn low so's my heart won't hear
the soun',
"I wiRh, I wish, that the school 'd burn
down."
Lo.
the Poor Indian.
Cy Warman.
in the New Tork Sua
There's only one
Good Indian.
It has been said.
And he Is dead.
As for me,
I beg to disagree
There's Lo,
Who for a century or so
Has stood in sun and rain alooa.
Making no moan.
Let those who frame freak laws
Give 1 pause.
This iatient Indian who guards the store
Knows more
Of the maudlin, midnight secrets of the
souls of men.
Who mouthed them over and over, yet
again.
Than any other Indian, red or white.
How oft at night.
When the last riotous reveler had fled
Or lay dead
Soused In the sawdust, have you gone
Forth to find some one to lean upon.
Then Lo,
Tho poor Indian, Is made to bear the white
man's burden for an hour or so.
And when you have wept upon his neck
you sink to rest
Upon his breast.
Presently you awake in dire distress
And evening dress.
The rosy, westering sunlight showing your
shame,
And blame
The poor son of a gun
Of an Indian
For keeping you ou all night.
It la a fright
Tho way we've uaed this Indian for years.
And now in tears
I tear oft tls tribute and sob out tola
broken sentiment to Lo,
The poor Indian, he's got to go, , ,