UUSb LIBRARY ''KU^
Our Holiday in Africa
BY
W. W. WHE[i:LER
Author of
"Three Months in Foreign Lands"
"A Glimpse of The Pacific Isles"
"Encircling The Globe"
'Discoveries in South America and West Indies.
COPVItlOHTED 1'.I12
By \V. W. WHEELKK
INDEX
Page
Outward Round 5
Port Said n
Red Sea 1 1
Port Sudan 13
Aden 19
Mombasa 21
Uganda Railwa}- 27
Nairobi 37
Victoria Xyanza 41
Uganda 45
Natives S7
Zanzibar ''^J
Mozanil)i(|ue 7 1
Beira 77
Salisl)ur\- 81
Victoria Trails <^5
Bulawayo 95
03
1 1
■23
^7
31
:^7
45
47
Si
S7
^3
Kimberly
Johannes! )urg
Durban
East London
Port FJizal)eth
Cape Town
Cecil John Rliodes
Soutli African I'arhament
Madeira
England
Summary
THE RED LINE SHOWS
THE COURSE OF OUR TRIP.
PREFACE
Would \i)U. like to travel in strani^e lands? If so, come
with us and take a "Holiday in Africa." "The Dark Conti-
nent," or "The Unknown Continent," as it is sometimes calleck
The interior was unknown to civilized man until sixty
years ago, and even todav man}- \-ast sections have ne\'er heen
visited hy white man, and in most of those parts which have
heen opened up hy European colonization there is hut a very
sparse settlement of whites.
Our own people of the United States very seldom visit
Africa. In fact, we met hut one American, who was traveling
in that countr}- for ])leasure. so that up to the present to us it
is really "The Unknown Continent."
The interior is occupied hy a dense population of the de-
scendants of Ham, and many of these trihes ha\'e apparently
flescended in the scale of intelligence since Ham took Africa
for his homestead. Also, all kinds of African game, hig and
little. It is the greatest hunting ground on earth.
We have, for a long time, had a desire to \-isit this great
continent, and having an ()i)i)ortunity to take a holiday, my
wife and I decided to spend it in .Vfrica. Airs. Wdieeler has
greatly assisted me, and to her }-ou may ascrihe all that you
find that is good (if }'ou find anv). in this little hook, and
hlame me for the rest.
The following pages will gi\e }'ou a rvvy brief re])ort of
some things we saw "In Darkest Africa." You will find lOO
photographic illustrations of scenes t\'pical of the country,
which will also hel|) to give you an idea of things as they
actually ap])ear to the tra\-eler.
In reading this hboklet, we hope that you ma}- feel that
you are making the trip with us and enjoy the journe}-.
Sincerel}- yours,
W. W. WHEELER.
OTR HOLIDAY IX Al-KICA
OUTWARD BOUND
January 24th, 1912. we sailed from New York on the
superbly appointed steamship "Olympic," sister ship to the
fated "Titanic." She is the greatest vessel that ever sailed
the seas up to the present time. She cost seven and one-half
million dollars, and has a crew of eight hundred and sixty
men, accommodations for twenty-five hundred passengers,
average speed is over fi\'e hundred miles per day. Length
over all, eight hundred and eighty-two feet. Think of it, over
one-sixth of a mile, nearly as long as three of our city blocks;
breadth, ninety-two feet; height to the top deck, one hundred
and five feet, having eleven Steele decks. Lighted and heated
by electricity, the state rooms are large and elegantly fur-
nished. By divine instructions Noah built the Ark. It was
large enough to meet requirements at that time, being five
hundred and fiftv feet long, ninety feet wide and fifty-four
feet high, divided into three decks. The floor space was
less than one-sixth of the floor space of the "Olympic." Com-
pare the twd and we get an idea of the progress that has
been made in shipping during the last four thousand years.
We regret that we are not able to show here a photograph of
the Ark for com])arison ; we were too late to get it. The di-
mensions of the Ark are given in the Bible; look it up and
verifv the figures. The comfort and C(^nvenience of ocean going
steamers in recent years has almost eliminated time and dis-
tance, and one can travel from any place to any place on the
surface of our globe in a few months without great discom-
fort ; and this is one reason why we are going to South Africa
this winter.
Africa is an immense continent with teeming millions of
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OUTWARD BOUND
black inhabitants, many of whom have never seen the face of
a white man. There are thousands of miles in the heart of
this great countr}- yet unexplored.
We passed by. at this time. Xorthern Africa, that bor-
ders on the Mediterranean Sea, which is more familiar to
readers and many travelers. Also Western Africa and the
interior of the Congo region, that part associated with the
name of the great explorer, Henry M. Stanley. All that we
could do in the short space of a four months' journey was to
sail entirely around the great continent, about eighteen thou-
sand miles, and go into the interior of British East and
South Africa as far as the railroad would take us. Also we
crossed the largest fresh water lake in the world, \"ictoria
Nyanza, to Uganda. We did no caravan or walking trips,
as those who go for shooting.
We planned this trip and took it alone, and did exactly
as we had planned, never missed a connection on rail or steam-
ship; had remarkable health and enjoyed it to the fullest.
On leaving the "Olympic" at Cherbourg, F'rance, in the
evening about eight o'clock, by tender, we looked back at a
most wonderful sight. The big ship, with all her immense
windows ablaze with light, and reflecting the light in the
dark water, looked like enchanted fairy land ; a sight never to
be forgotten.
A\'e had a most amusing experience going through the
little P^rench custom house. It was very dark and the in-
spectors only had a few dim lanterns with which to look into
our bags and trunks. Only a form, of course, but there were
so many people's bags to be marked, that we came very nearly
missing our train for Paris. Idiere were no sleeping cars, so
we liad to sit u]) all night, arriving in Paris on a cold winter's
morning at four o'clock.
The city of Paris is always interesting, but our time was
short. We left that same evening- on the train-de-luxe for
Marseilles. This train is especially crowded at this season of
the year — people going to the Rixierc in the South of France
OUR HOLIDAN' i.\ A 1- RICA
OUTWARD BOUND
for the season. Next morning we arrived at the grey old city
of Marseilles, with its very narrow streets and high grey build-
ings. In the midst of this city is a rocky piomontory, on which
is built a church. From there one gets a magnificent view of
the city and harbor. In this harbor are ships coming and go-
ing to all parts of the world.
We rather dreaded seeing the little British steamer on
which our se\'enteen days to Mombasa must be spent, and it
was Cjuite discouraging when on a rain}- day we had our first
look. It was so pitifully small after the magnificent Olympic
of recent experience, it took us several days to get adjusted
to our tiny quarters, but e\ery cloud is said to have a silver
lining. In this case it pro\-ed almost gold. \\ e have never en-
jcjyed a sea trip more than that spent on the "Dunvegan Castle."
We were the only Americans aboard and waited for our En-
glish cousins to make the advances, which they did most gra-
ciously. They were delightful people — many of them, as we
were, taking the trip for pleasure. Others going out to dif-
ferent parts of British Africa to visit their sons and daughters.
Many young men leaving crowded old England for the wild
veldt lands of Africa to make their fortune. Others who had
been home for a vacation, rejoicing in going back to the wide
free country. There were also a number of men in the mili-
tary service v/ith their ])retty. fresh young brides, who were
looking forward with great enthusiasm to their future home.
The days passed rapidly, even though the Mediterranean
was rough and cold.
Ol'R HOKID.W l.\" A I- RICA
PORT SAID
Sailing past the DeLessnp Statue just as the sun was
setting- glorionsh' over the golden sands of Egypt, we an-
chored at the entrance of tlie Suez Canal. Fehruary 9th. 1912.
We went ashore in a small row hoat and walked ahout the
streets to see the shops, which were filled with goods from the
Orient. This is the meeting place of the Occident and Orient.
The streets are weh policed, which relie\"ed us from heing an-
noyed hy the insistance of the shop keepers.
It took our steamer twenty-two hours to get through the
Canal, as we were side-tracked iov all the steamers we met.
It was a pleasant experience, as we dreamily slipped along.
At some places the Canal is \evy narrow, and again widens
into two big lakes. .\ unique condition exists here. The ir-
rigated land of the Nile comes down to the Canal on the west
side, and everything is l)eautiful and green. The other side
has no irrigation, and no water, and the whole country is a
sandy desert.
After coaling last night at Port Said, our captain found
he could not start the steamer, ^^d^ile she only draws twenty-
five feet of water, yet she was stuck fast on a sand bar. After
two hours of effort the captain called a tug, and with this
assistance we were floated without damage to the vessel.
RED SEA
After getting out of the Canal, going South, with a short
stop at Suez, we sailed through an arm of the Red Sea, at
least one hundred miles long and one to ten miles wide. This
is. without douht, that part of the Red Sea where the Lord
took the children of Israel across on dry land, and when the
Egyptian armv es.sayed to follow, were engulfed in the re-
II
OL'R H()IJI).\\- IX Al'RlCA
PORT SUDAN
turning waters. We were in sight of Alt. Sinai for nearly half
a day. A German Baroness, a fellow traveler, tells us that
she had heen to the top of Mt. Sinai three years ago. She
says there are steps cut in the rocks in places, making it less
difficult to ascend, although the height is about seven thousand
and five hundred feet. These steps were cut by order of the
Czar, two centuries ago.
The Arabian coast is bleak and l)arren for a long distance
south of Alt. Sinai. We are not surprised that the children of
Israel murmured at Moses and wanted to turn back to Egypt.
Arabia is still a barren wilderness and an army of six hun-
dred thousand could not be marched through that country now
for forty years, without being fed l^y the Lord.
As soon as we get through the Suez Canal, it may be said
that we are in the far East. The people are Arabians, Egyp-
tians, East Indians, or almost any other nationality except the
Chinese or Japanese. While the ])orts where we land are En-
glish possessions, there arc onl\- a few Englishmen, and the
spoken language may be Arabic or an}' other foreign tongue,
so far as we know, as we do not understand a word of it.
After two days sail on the calm Red Sea, which is always
warm enough and usually much too h()t for comfort, we ar-
ri\-ed at Port Sudan.
PORT SCDAX
Se\eral of our most ])lcasant and agreeable passengers
are lea\-ing us at this place, on their way to Khartum, by rail.
1diis is the onl\- ])ort on the western side of the Red Sea of any
importance, and maw at some time, be a i)lace of much ship-
])ing. Since the English ha\e made their army headquarters
at Khartum the\" ha\'e for their convenience built a railway
from I'ort .Sudan to IJerber on the Xile. This will enable
13
Ol-R HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
OLR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
PORT SUDAN
them to transport their supplies with a railway haul of about
two or three hundred miles from the Sea. Otherwise they
would have to transport by rail from Alexandria, Egypt, for
about a thousand miles.
The English have spent a large amount of money at Port
Sudan, building a break-water, dredging out the harbor and
building substantial stone docks and warehouses. There is
a coaling station here with great quantities of coal stored. The
finest and best o\'er-head tramwa}- that we have e\'er seen for
handling coal from ships to the various parts of the yard.
There are railway tracks all along the extensive clocks with
heavy power cranes for loading and unloading all kinds of
merchandise. Idie town is only six years old and has made a
start toward making a city, having large stone buildings used
for court houses, churches, hotels and railway offices. The
residences are of wood, raised several feet above the ground,
with wide porches screened to protect from flies (which are
very bad here) and the roofs built with an open air space for
circulation, which makes them ideal for a tropical climate.
However, Avith all this building there is not much business, the
only thing we saw on the dock for export was peanuts. At
some time in the future another dam may be built on the Xile
below Khartum, making the water available for irrigation on
the land along this new railway. In that case Port Sudan will
be an important city. This would be a very important coaling"
station for England, if in time of war, the Suez Canal should
be blockaded. Such a condition is remote, but the English-
man is always getting ready for war, and tliat no doul:)t pre-
vents it.
The Red Sea is a great highway for steamers l)et\veen the
far East and Europe. We have passed fifteen today. For
two h(>urs we were in water that was a bright red brick col(n\
Probal)l}' this is the reason for the name of Red Sea. We
passefl quite close to an Italian man-of-war, e\'idently looking
for Turkish \-cssels. The Italians have blockaded several
ports on the Arabian side.
17
ULR llUiJDA\' l.\ Al'KKA
MAIN STREET— ADEN.
ADEN
On dropping the anchor at Aden at eight o'clock in the
evening we were surrounded by a swarm of native boats, each
liaving a lantern, making rather a weird scene, as the night
was very dark. The nati\e traders came aboard to sell their
oriental stuff. It is very amusing to see people bargaining.
Aden is an English port, so situated as to command the
channel and stop any vessel the}' choose. Almost no rain falls,
and the drinking \\ater is brought here and peddled through
the city by Arabs driving camels hitched to small wagons.
There are some large concrete tanks near the city, which if
filled, would enal)le the i)lace to stand a long siege. It is such
a God-forsaken place tliat the English soldiers are glad to be
transferred to some other port as soon as possible. The next
morning, after lea\ing Aden, we noticed an Italian l)attleship
about two miles off our port side, and with glasses could see
that she had boarded a small Arabian vessel. Evidently was
suspicious of the cargo and halted her for examination.
Our steamer did not stop to make incjuiries. as it was
none of our business what was being done. If the Italian bat-
tle shi])s seirch e\'er_\' suspicious looking craft passing through
these waters, with a \iew of preventing Turkev from getting
arms and ammunition for their army at Tripoli, we shall not
interfere.
On February 16. 1912, early in the morning, we rounded
Cape Guardafui, the m )st eastern point of Africa, and will now
sail along the eastern coast about fifteen hundred miles to
IMombasa. The Indian Ocean has the calm, unruffled look of
the tropical seas, with not enough wind to cause the slightest
motion of our vessel. The weather is certainly hot, but mak-
ing headway stirs u]) a little breeze that makes it comfortable
when on deck.
19
OLK liULiDAV iX Al-RICA
MOMBASA
The East African Coast has been known to ancient geog-
raphers for centuries before the Christian Era. Marco Polo,
the famous Venetian traveler, visited Mombasa, but it was
Vasco Da Gama that took Mombasa in 1498 for the Portu-
guese. At one time a l\n'kish corsair built a fort at the end
of Mombasa Island, which faces the sea.
Today the old fort is covered with xines and \'ery pict-
urescjue. At the summit of the fort one sees the double en-
trance to the ^himliasa harbor.
\ ery beautifull}' situated is this ancient African city. It
is on a small island, at present connected with the main land by
a steel railroad bridge se\'enteen hundred feet long.
Mombasa, in her early career, was the scene of many
bloody battles and long sieges. It was captured by the Portu-
guese four hundred years ago, and their old fortress built of
stone, is still solid and strong and is now used as a jail for
native prisoners by the English. The town lies on the east
side of the island and along its front is the old ^Mombasa har-
bor, filled with native Dhows, or small .sailing vessels, with
high stern and prow, reminding us of the st}]e of ships used
by Columbus wlien he disco\-ered America. These small sail-
ing craft still do most of the business along this coast. Some
of them ex'en sailing as far as India, carrying produce. This
old harbor is also u.sed bv small steamers, as the custom house
is located here, but the larger vessels, which draw more than
twentv feet of water, anchor in the new harbor called Klinin-
dini. On the west side of the island, at this latter harbor,
most of the material for the army and the L'ganda Railway is
unloaded. There are good docks ;ind hea\'}- steam cranes for
conx'enience in loading and unloading vessels.
When the English took charge of this country they forced
the Sultan to abolish sla\ery. We are told by the residents
21
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
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OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
X^-7
MOMBASA
that in slavery times agriculture was carried un much mure ex-
tensively than at present. In those days when the nati\es were
compelled to work, mealies, or corn, was actually exported
from Mombasa to Xew York, but now the natives will not
w^ork and the fields are overgrown by weeds. At present the
exports from this point are ivory and hides. However, if
cotton and coffee growing is greatly increased, as the En-
glish anticipate, Mombasa may at some future time, become an
important exporting place.
The modern town of Mombasa is a \'ery prettv place.
The old Arab and nati\'e quarter extends inland. The center
portion of the town are shops and government offices, and on
the high ground facing the Indian Ocean are built the bunga-
lows of the government officials and Europeans. These resi-
dences are surrounded by gardens wdth beautiful blooming
oleanders and other shrubs. Being only four degrees south
of the equator, it has the re])utation of being one of the hottest
places on earth, and we think that it has justly earned that
reputation. There is an ice manufacturing plant here, and
they sell it at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars a ton.
How some of our American artesian ice companies would like
to get at this ice market for al)out one season. The main trr)u-
ble is, that there are so few whites in Mombasa, that the de-
mand is small, and a ten-pound chunk would be a large quan-
tity for a hotel to buy. Once the proprietor of the Metropole
Hotel of Mombasa ga^'e me a piece of ice about the size of a
silver dollar, in a glass of water.
The cit}' has a uni(|ue trolle}' car s}'stem, \-er\' light rails
with two feet gauge; the cars ha\-e a small platform with a
seat for four i)e(4:)le and a canopy o\'erhead, and pushed by
two nati\es. This will serve to illustrate how cheap laljor is
in this ])art of the world. It is more profita1)le to run small
cars by man power than any other way. Nearly e\'er}- house-
holder here owns their little trolley car and have a i:>rivate
switch track running into their own grounds. This makes a
25
Ol'R HOLIDAY 1 X AFRICA
UGANDA RAILWAY
very convenient way of getting about, as the tracks are laid
in nearly all these streets.
The Calibash, or Baobab tree is also one of the things
peculiar to Ahimbasa. It has an immense trunk, frequently
ten or twelve feet in <liameter. This huge Ijulk of trunk grows
not more than twent}--five feet high with man}- thick, heavy
branches, and scarcely any leaves, and has a scarlet blossom.
One afternoon about five o'clock, when the intense heat
had subsided, we took a trolley car to the custom's wharf.
After some dickering, the native boatsman agreed on the
price, two rupees, to take us two miles across the bay to Frere-
town, where the Reverand Doctor Binns. has. for nearly forty
years, conducted a church mission and school.
They have a church building of stone, and other buildings
for different scho()l grades, also where carpentry and differ-
ent trades are taught, all together making quite a town in a
pleasant, shady, cocoanut grove.
Dr. Binns' life has been spent here. He is an old man
but still hale and hearty, and good for years of service in this
great cause.
UGANDA RAILWAY
The Uganda Railway starts from Mombasa and runs five
hundred and eighty-four miles to Victoria Nyanza. This line
was built by the English (iovernment at the cost of twenty-two
million dollars, and com])leted ten years ago. The gauge is
four feet with good heavy rails and iron ties, the track well
graded and ballasted. The rolling" stock is small light cars,
but those used for freight are built of iron throughout.
The passenger coaches are small compartment cars, the
compartments seating four persons each, and having a shelf
that lets down to form a sleeping berth. The passengers must
27
OUR HOLTD.\^' TX A1<RTCA
UGANDA RAILWAY
furnish their own bed clothing and towels, and there are no
porters to make up the beds or roll up the bed clothing in the
morning. Many passengers take a native servant along to do
this work.
The engines used on this road were built by the Baldwin
Locomotive Works of New Jersey, and the iron bridges, which
are very few, were built by an American company. The ob-
stacles in Ijuilding this line were great, not the least of which
were the "white ants," wdiich eat almost everything, including
railway ties. At the time the railroad was building the lions,
leopards and buffalos were very troublesome. At Tsavo Sta-
tion, there were twenty-eight natives carried away and eaten by
the lions, all of which demoralized the working force to such
an extent that they deserted the work at this pciint. At last
the manager. Colonel Patterson, Imilt a cage for himself and
watched for the lions at night until he killed the two ferocious
animals, and then the natives resumed their work. .Mso the
annoyance was great from the natives who insisted on stealing"
the telegraph wire. They wished to use it as bracelets for
their arms and legs. The railroad officers warned the Chief
of the tribes that thev must let the wires alone, but the tempta-
tion was so great that the stealing continued until war was de-
clared an<l some lives lost.
There is no coal in this part of Africa and the locomotive
burns wood. The engineers on these trains are East Indians,
who have proved themselves to be very good men in the rail-
way service. The officers of the road, of course, are mostly
Englishmen. The station masters, or clerks, are usually East
Indians and are quite accommodating. To illustrate, an En-
glish passenger on our train had a small dog which he was
taking along, and just as the train started from one of the
country stations the dog saw a flock of goats a quarter of a
mile distant, and instead of jumping on the train with his ma.s-
ter, he took a run for the goats. The Englishman shouted to
the engineer to "wait a minute," and off he went with his na-
29
OLR HOLIDAY L\ AFRICA
UGANDA RAILWAY
tive servant after the "blooming little clog." who chased the
goats and was brought back and put on the train, and then the
train started.
In connection \\ith the Uganda Railway the government
runs a line of steamers on Victoria Xyanza. There are five
of these steamers at present on this lake, and each of them were
built and set up complete in England, then were taken to pieces
and each piece numbered and shipped by water to Mombasa,
then by rail over the Uganda Railway to the lake, wdiere they
were put together again, all of which was quite an undertaking.
The first steamer, however, was br(jught out before the rail-
way was built, and all of the pieces were carried on the heads
of natives from ?\lombasa to the lake. Many of the pieces
were thrown away by the natives and had to be replaced. It
took eight years getting this first steamer in running order.
This railwa}' and tliese steamboats were put in service l)y the
English grnernment. not as a paying investment, but because
it was necessary to hold this country for England. They have
so developed the country that the traffic now pays the running
expenses, and a fair profit on the investment.
The transportation to Victoria Nyanza from the coast was
almost impossible before the railway was built. Everything
was carried six hundred miles by the natives and the actual
cost was one thousand dollars per ton.
On leaving Mombasa for the interior by rail, the first few
miles of the country have been improved by the planters and
looked very well, but after that the soil is poor and rough with
only the thorny acacia shrul) and sharp spiked aloes. Then
we come to the plains with the long grass where white jjcople
can live and farm. 1'his section, on both sides of the track,
is set apart by the goxernment as a game reser\-ation. and here
is to l)e seen more game than in an_\- other part of the world.
These animals \ery soon learn that tlie\' are not molested and
l)ecome quite tanx'. Many of them grazing near the track do
not run away when the train a])proaches. while others run a
few wards and sto]) with he;ids u]). In a half a d;i\" we saw
OUR HOLIDAY IX Al-RICA
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UGANDA RAILWAY
at least a thousand head of game, most of which were of the
antelope family. There were beautiful little Thomson ga-
zells, and still more beautiful Grant's gazells, with a broad
black strip along each side. The big wielde beast, called "gnu"
in the old geographies, looks much like the wild buffalo, and
some of them weigh seven hundred pounds or more. We also
saw many zebra, eland and great numbers of ostriches, im-
mense birds, almost as large as horses, all grazing peacefully
together. We were disappointed that we did not see giraffe;
they had not come down from the high pastures. We did not
see any lions or leopards, as they usually skulk along in ra-
vines and high grass. There are many lions through this
game reservation, and recently a passenger saw nine in one
bunch from a car window\ We w^ere detained four hours by a
wash-out near Athi River Station, and only last week a hunter
found three lions not more than three himdred yards from
this station. He followed them and killed two.
^^'hen the road was first built the lions were much more
troublesome than they are now. At that time a lion went
prowling around one of the stations in daylight and drove all
the employees into the telegraph office, where they barricaded
the doors. The operator then wired the next station, "Don't
let number four stop here, a lion is sitting on the platform."
Recently two hunters were about to camp beside the road
for the night, when a man with an ox team passing told them
he had seen two lions near the road about a half mile back.
One of the hunters said, "I am going to see if I can get a shot
at them." The other said, "It is getting too late." Neverthe-
less, the first man went to look for them alone. He soon saw
them about one hundred yards distant; taking aim, fired,
wounding the female ; another shot, and he missed her. By this
time the Lioness was upon him. The horse was paralyzed with
fear and would not move. The lioness pulled the hunter off
his horse; the man rammed his left arm into her throat, and
the unequal fight began. Fortunately, another ox team hap-
pened along. The driver had no gun, but he ran to the hunter's
33
OUR HOLID.W 1\ Al'KICA
UGANDA RAILWAY
assistance, with his long whip dealt the lioness a few heavy
blows, which caused her to give up the fight and run off. The
hunter was so badly lacerated that he died a few da}-s after-
ward.
Alajor Gordon, a retired army officer, who came back on
the ship with us from Cape Town, owns a large cattle ranch
two hundred and fifty miles north of Victoria Falls in Rho-
desia, not far from the Congo line. Usually he rounds his cat-
tle up in a paddock at night, to avoid trouble with lions and
leopards. Recently six lions raided his cattle paddock.
Something had to be done to drive the ugly beasts away. Ac-
cordingly he started out on horseback the next day to hunt
them. A few hours later he came in sight of five lions in one
l)unch. One was a tremendous big fellow with a black, shaggy
mane. The Alajor immediately decided to get this big one,
the leader of the gang, if possible. WHiile the lion was leis-
urely making his way toward a bunch of brush, the ]\Iajor
made a circuit and intercepted him. As soon as the linn saw
him, he charged for horse and rider. The critical time had
come. The Major held his gun as steadv as possible, as his
horse was ^■ery restless, and when the lion was about five
yards distant, fired from the horse's back. Extraordinary as
it seems, the shot went true and entered the head about an
inch below the eye, and killed the lion. The ]\Iajor had the
skin with him and exhibited it to us. It was the largest lion
skin we have ever seen, ten feet from tip of nose to tip of tail —
a great trophy.
35
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
NAIROBI
Nairobi is the capital of British East Africa and is a rap-
idly growing town made by the railway. It is situated on a
level plain, five thousand feet above sea level, almost under
the equator. It has a population of one thousand whites and
fifteen thousand blacks. The business buildings are located
on what is called "Government Road," which is about a mile
and one-half long, well paved and has a row of Eucalyptus
trees on each side. It is most picturesque with its swarming
humanity. One sees natives representing all the different tribes
of East Africa in their state of dress and undress, loaded down
with beads, copper wire bracelets, anklets, shields and spears.
On this street are the outfitters for the hunters, and it is here
that the natives are hired as porters, to carry the camping out-
fit. There are very few horses and mules here and the usual
mode of conveyance is by Rickshaw. These are not so light
and easy running as those in Japan, but have heavy wheels and
carry two persons, with two natives to push and one to pull.
The nights are rather cold, but the midday sun is very hot. To
us, after one day out of the sweltering heat of Mombasa, it
seemed delightful. If we were to select this part of the world
as a permanent place of residence, which we do not anticipate,
we should certainly live in Nairobi. The courts and other gov-
ernment business is now transacted in one-story sheet iron
houses, but this will all be changed in a few years. Some beau-
tiful bungalows have been built in the suburbs, with handsome
gardens.
The growing of fruits has not yet progressed far enough
to decide what is best suited to this climate, but most tropical
fruits will do well. Corn and wheat are raised in this section
in a small way.
Nairobi is a great center for big game hunting, and most
of the hunting parties, or Safari, as they are called in this coun-
try, are made up here. If you were to come out to Africa to
37
OLR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
NAIROBI
hunt or to "shoot," as they say, you would come to this place
and hire one hundred porters to carry your camping outfit.
Also gun bearers and cooks. To each porter you would have
to give a blanket. Then go marching to those places where it
is reported plenty of game is to be found. First you must get
a hunter's license, which will cost two hundred and fifty dollars
and allows you to hunt outside of the game reservations, for
one year, and limits you to two elephants, twenty zebras, two
buffalos and no giraffe, and many other variety of animals,
limited to two ; and you may kill as many lions and leopards
as you can. After you have made all preparations you are
still not sure of success. A hunter with a friend had been out
for some time with a large number of porters, and all things
needed, and had really gotten almost nothing. They saw three
herds of elephants and were near enough to photograph them,
but did not kill any. It is not encouraging when it is raining
every day and one is tramping through the wet grass and sleep-
ing in a wet camp, to get no game. On the other hand, we
were informed that recently Mr. Paul J. Rainey. an Americnn
hunter, brought with him a pack of hounds, and with their as-
sistance, killed sixty lions in a few weeks. Lion skins of good
quality sell here for fifty dollars each.
^\'e left Nairolji for Uganda on February 24, 1912, and
found the railway trip most interesting. Anticipating a cold
night, we took a large roll of blankets and wraps, all of which
we used and were still uncomfortably cold, although just under
the equator. There are a good many white settlers on farms
along this part of the road. In fact, more farming is done
on this northwestern end of the road than we have seen else-
where. We crossed the great Rift Valley in daylight. This is
a crack in the earth's surface, two thousand feet deep, and
from one to twenty miles wide. It is said to be two thousand
miles long, running nortli and south through the central part
of the continent. It is a very extraordinary freak of nature,
supposed to be caused by the earth's cooling. Idiere are sev-
39
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
NAIROBI
eral lakes along different places in this valley, some of them
sweet and others salt. The land lies in fine shape for farming
in this Rift Valley and is nearly all fenced up. It is used as
grazing land for cattle and sheep, as the rains are too uncertain
for agriculture. Often no rain falls in this valley for four
months.
VICTORIA NYANZA
We reached Port Florence on Victoria Nyanza early in
the morning and at once went aboard the steamer "Sir Clement
Hill" — carrying capacity, two hundred and fifty tons; length,
two hundred and twenty feet, for a six days sail, on this, the
greatest body of fresh water in the world — area, 32,165 square
miles; Lake Superior being next with an area of 31,750 square
miles. This lake is the source of the Nile, for thousands of
years hidden from the sight of white man, and only discovered
about fifty years ago by the explorer Speke. It is three thou-
sand six hundred feet above sea level. Over the Ripon Falls,
it pours out its tremendous volume of water to feed the desert
lands along this great river for three thousand miles to the
Mediterranean. This is where the fatal sleeping sickness has
carried off two hundred thousand natives in ten years. After
investigation, it has been decided by the scientific men that this
sleeping sickness is caused by the bite of the Tsetse Fly, which
infest the many islands and shores of this great lake. Ac-
cordingly, the English government has, by force, removed t'ne
natives two miles back from the lake shore, and taken them en-
tirely off the islands. It is supposed that this wholesale remov-
al has saved the lives of the remainder of the Baganda Tribe,
41
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
VICTORIA NYANZA
who inhabit this region. They could not understand the reason
for tlieir removal and continued to run back to the islands until
finally the government officials were compelled to burn their
boats. These shores and islands are covered with beautiful
trees, luxuriant vegetation, and looked very inviting as w'e
passed along. There are hundreds of these islands in the lake,
some of them quite large, and nearly all have been inhaljited.
The adjacent shores, where the towns are situated and where
our landings were made, have been cleared of jungle. All trees
near the water have been cut down, and the Tsetse Fly is not
doing as great havoc as formerly. The Tsetse Fly will not
live except in deep shade and near the water. The moscjuitoes
are also very troublesome on this lake, and particularly on the
shallow shores at the landing places.
When we anchored for the night we were extraordinarilv
careful to use good mosquito net at night and ha\e it well
tucked in. The equator crosses this lake near the ncjrth shore
and the line dividing the British and (lerman territory, passes
nearly through the middle of the lake. The southern part of
the lake belongs to Germany. There are several small tov/ns
along their shores.
43
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
UGANDA
Our first stop was at Entebbe, the residence capital of
Uganda. It is beautifully situated on the hills rising from the
lake and it is there that the Governor and officials live. The
government house is on the highest point, surrounded by lovely
gardens. The many bungalows are very attractive, with the
settings of their gardens of tropical flowers and overlooking
the lake. The English take the greatest interest in their gar-
dens, both flower and vegetable. On the steamer we met a
government official and his family, who lived at Entebbe.
They asked us to dinner at their home. We accepted and had
a delightful time and an excellent dinner. They were charm-
ing and agreeable, and their bungalow was most attractive.
The bungalow is built of brick and plastered over. The floor,
cement, painted a brown color and polished like hard wood,
which keeps out all insects. The furniture is covered with
chintz in bright colors, and the rugs are leopard and lion,
or any other skin shot by the host. They don't buy the skins,
but shoot the game themselves. One lady hunter said, 'T
should not think you would want skins you did not shoot for
yourself." Our reply was that we would certainly never have
any if we had to kill the beast. She seemed surprised at the
statement. She and her husband and son have been out for
three months on "Safari," but the son was taken with appen-
dicitis in the bush. Fortunately, they got into a little town
where there were two doctors who pulled him through with-
out an operation.
From Enteblje, r)ur next stop was Kampala. It is the
headf|uarters of the police, or as we would call it, state militia.
The business is done by East Indians.
Kampala is built on seven hills. The soil is very fertile;
coffee, cotton, antl some rubber is raised, and bananas every-
where. On one of the hills the native King of Uganda lives.
45
OUR H()LI1).\^ l.\ AI'kICA
UGANDA
His residence is enclosed by many reed fences. On another
hill is the mission of the White Fathers, or French Catholics.
On another is the church of England Mission, with its large
three-steepled cathedral and fine hospital. On the summit of
another hill is Saint Joseph, or Nsambya Mission, English
Catholics. This is the one we visited, as we wanted to see a
fine coffee plantation. On another hill is the government of-
ficial's residence, and the old fort has a hill to itself.
Kampala is situated seven miles from the lake on a good
macadamized road, and we made the distance by Rickshaw in
one hour. The four natives we had to pull and push our Rich-
shaw were good strong fellows and sang nearly all the way.
We were told they were singing our praises, calling me the
greatest and strongest "Bwana" (a great man) that ever lived,
and Mrs. Wheeler, "the beautiful lady." Apparently they
sang this same verse over several hundred times.
Uganda country, on this side of the lake, is undulating and
beautiful. Most of the land is planted with bananas, and a
small part with sweet potatoes. The banana is the main food
of the pe.'iple here. It ripens at all seasons of the year, so
that the natives have it ready for use continually. The banana
grows about three times as large as those we get in America,
and the quality is excellent. There are many varieties, but
they must be cooked before they are fit to eat.
W^e were advised to go out and see the Catholic Father's
coffee plantation and mission, which we did, and they treated
us most cordially. Father Proctor is in charge and took us
over the plantation of about six hundred acres. They are ex-
tensively engaged in raising bananas and coffee, and trying to
raise cocoa, but have not made much headway with the latter,
as yet. The coffee trees are beautiful and promise an abundant
harvest.
47
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
UGANDA
The Sisters have a school with over three hundred black
children and a hospital where the natives are treated. The
children come from great distances, bringing their food, living
in the little rest houses built of thatch, from Monday until
Friday, and then return to their native village. These devoted
Christian workers have been here from ten to fourteen years,
and do not find it necessary to return to England to recuper-
ate their health. This leads us to think that if other mission-
aries, as well as individuals, in the service of the government,
were as careful as these good people, it would not be necessary
for them to have a furlough for the benefit of their health.
The Mission buildings are built of cement, all roofed with
thatch, like that used for the native buildings here. It makes
a waterproof roof and much cooler than any other kind.
The prevalence of wild game in this country may be il-
lustrated by the fact that the good Sisters of this mission have
quite recently been annoyed by the nightly visits of a leopard,
which comes into the compound and makes much noise barking
and growling. One of the natives has been trying to shoot it
with a bow and arrow. They are not allowed to have guns
of any kind, and the leopard still makes his nightly visits.
There are many elephants and buffaloes in Uganda. They
are so numerous that they damage the crops. No doubt the
government will soon give permission to kill as many as they
wish, otherwise the farmers will be driven out of business.
There is a large cotton gin in Kampala, which is doing a
good business at present. We saw seventeen wagon loads of
cotton from the landing to the gin. These wagons are all
pulled and pushed by from six to ten native men. The mer-
chants here are East Indians. They are said to be dishonest
and tricky and a detriment to the country, l)ut the natives have
not, as yet, developed so as to become merchants. These East
Indians carry in their little shops a small assortment of such
49
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
UGANDA
things as a native needs. We noticed American made brown
cotton and prints in their stock. These American made goods
are preferred to any other. Their stores are one story cor-
rugated iron shacks, called tin houses. There are only a few
brick buildings.
Uganda seems to be well adapted to raising coffee and
cotton. At present cotton has much the largest acreage, and
every steamer that crosses the lake to the railway is loaded
with it. The prospects are, that in a few years, this will be-
come one of the most important cotton growing countries in
the world, outside of the United States. The freights are
about three cents a pound to England, but the labor is very
cheap, only two or three rupees (a dollar) a month.
We made our last stop at Jinja, before returning to Port
Florence. The point of interest to us at that place was Ripon
Falls, the source of the Nile, which has been seen by only a
few white people. The actual fall is not more than thirty feet
at the dam and the volume of water does not compare with
our Niagara Falls. The lake narrows here to a few hundred
yards. The magnificent view of this river, stretching away
to the north amid enchanting scenery, is most impressive. One
can well imagine how elated the explorer Speke must have
felt when, after enduring countless hardships, he at last looked
upon and solved one of the great mysteries of the ancients,
"the source of the Nile." The channel where this fall makes
its way out of the lake has abrupt banks about one hundred
feet high, and nature has built a rock dam across this channel,
about twelve hundred feet long, forty feet high and thirty
feet thick. The strata of rock is set upon the edge, and at
first sight looks as though it was built by man. It is so reg-
ular and straight. The water has broken through this natural
dam in three places. At present there is not much need of
electric power, but if this country develops, as is expected, in
a few years a great electric power plant will no doubt be
5^
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
UGANDA
erected, and abundant power furnished for all purposes, in all
directions for many miles.
There is a newly built railroad from this place, Jinja,
sixty-one miles down the Nile, to the place where the river
becomes navigable, and on this part of the Nile the English
government has a small steamer, making a run of about one
hundred and fifty miles. The engineer of this steamer came
out \Nith us on the Dunvegan Castle, after being" home on a
furlough. He has been in this country several years and tells
us that his boat has more cotton, coffee and peanuts than it
can carry, and that the government will soon put on another
steamer. Some people already go down the Nile by this route
via Khartum to the Mediterranean.
In order to do this one would take the railway from Jinja
for sixty-one miles, then the small steamer above mentioned
for about one hundred and fifty miles to a point where the
Nile is too rocky and swift for navigation. Along this part
of the river for three hundred miles the traveler would have
to walk, or to be carried in a hammock. The walking is not
very good in this section, and it takes about thirty days to do
this. The water is scarce and the heat very great. The flies,
moscjuitoes, elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros, hippottami, lions,
leopards, antelopes and many insects abound here. After
doing the w^alking, the river steamers and railways would take
one through Khartum and all the way dow'u the Nile to the
Mediterranean. Every year there are parties who do this trip,
and some of them women. We had, before leaving home,
thought of doing this trip, and wrote to Thomas Cook & Son,
of London, inquiring about it, but they replied that on account
of the three hundred miles of walking, it was not practical.
On landing at Jinja there is a large sign reading in En-
glish, "To Ripon Ealls." We took a Rickshaw, propelled by
three lusty natives, pointed to the sign board and told them to
53
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
UGANDA
take us to the falls. They started in the right direction, and
we supposed it was understood where we wanted to go. We
had been told it was only about fifteen minutes' walk. Our
Rickshaw men took us through the pretty little tin town of
Jinja and out in the country on a well graded and mecadam-
ized road, through fields of bananas, which were in a fine
state of cultivation, and every few hundred yards would be
found a small native village nestling among the banana trees.
One peculiar thing about all these natives of Central Africa is,
that they build their huts and villages as far as possible out of
sight, so that one might travel for days through a thickly set-
tled partion of Africa and see almost no habitation. Quite
likely, this idea of building their huts and villages in secreted
places was brought about by the continual warfare among the
tribes. In several places we passed one hundred or more na-
tive men resting in the shade of large trees. They had car-
ried cotton from the country, fifty or sixty miles, and were
now returning to their homes. All this was very pretty and
interesting, but we wanted to get to the falls. After trotting
along about an hour we asked the leader where he was taking
us. He pointed ahead, mumbling his language. However,
after traveling several miles more we decided we were lost in
Uganda. At last, we made our Rickshaw team turn back to
the town and found the falls beyond the hills, in another direc-
tion. It was after five o'clock in the afternoon when we
reached the falls, and taking photographs so late in the day is
not usually successful. We returned to the steamer and are
sailing across the Victoria Nyanza to Port Florence on our
w^ay to the coast, after having penetrated into the "Heart of
Africa" for nearly one thousand miles from the sea.
Our little steamer has been quite comfortable; the food
better than we anticipated, and we have greatly enjoyed the
trip, as every day has brought something new and strange, and
showed us the manner of living of these people of interior
Africa.
55
OUR HOLIDAY IX A 1- RICA
NATIVES
Toda}-, we noticed on the horizon, several clouds, which
at a distance resembled clouds of smoke arising" from forest
fires. The captain told us they were small flies or lake gnats.
Sometimes the steamer is enveloped by these clouds and they
make life miserable for the time being, as they get into every-
thing. We are told that the natives eat them, but they eat al-
most anything.
The scenery on the Uganda railway from Victoria Nyanza
to Nairobi is fine. The first fifty miles after leaving the lake
the railway climbs to the summit of the mountain, eight thou-
sand three hundred and twenty feet. We enjo3'ed this mag-
nificent scenery without discomfort, as the recent rains had
laid the dust. On the top of the mountain is a wide plateau
of fine undulating farm lands, all taken up by white settlers,
and many beautiful homes are to be seen. This is almost un-
der the equator, but with the high altitude the air is bracing
and invigorating. Almost everything that grows in the tem-
perate zone does well on this plateau.
NATIVES
We will tell you of the different nati^•e tribes in our
"Heart of Africa" trip. The Swahali of the coast, the Massai,
who are the herders of cattle, and the warlike tribe, the Ki-
kuyus. who work in the fields, and the Somalis, who are the
house boys and giui bearers, and the Kovorondo, that wear no
clothing. The tribes have nothing to do wdth each other, and
each have their own distinct characteristics. The Baganda,
in Uganda, are more ci\ilized and better workers than any of
the other tribes. The older Avomen in all of these tribes do
most of the work, and it is usually well done, in Uganda, as
57
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
KIKUYU BELLE
Notice the lobe of her ear — over two inches in diameter.
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
NATIVE KIKUYU DANDY— Notice the ear lobe is stretched out large
enough to take in a three-inch block of wood.
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
KIKUYU WOMAN LOADED BEYOND HER STRENGTH
An object of pity.
NATIVES
the fields of bananas and sweet potatoes are free from weeds.
These Uganda natives were wearing some clothing when the
wdiite man discovered them. One of the characteristics of the
Kikuyu tribe is the disfiguring of their ears. They stretch
the lobe of the ears so that the hole will take in a small fruit
can or a block of wood three inches in diameter, and they
slit the rim of their ears and put in three sticks, like a lead
pencil, through the upper part of each ear.
To add to the general effect, they take red earth, mixed
with oil, and scrub it into their wool and smear their entire
faces and bodies with it, until they look about the color of a
chestnut sorrel colt. Many of them wear strings of beads,
and a piece of cotton cloth draped over one shoulder to their
knees. The Kovorondo, located on the east side of Victoria
Nyanza, usually wear no clothing of any kind, having only
coils of iron and brass wire around their legs and arms. Both
the Samolis and Masai have fine physical appearance. The
Samoli are Mohammedans, and horsemen ; the Masai are cat-
tle herders, who do their work, as they did their fighting, on
foot, and are a very martial type. These tribes are much like
little children, who hardly know right from wrong, and will
follow their triljal chief and do as he commands. As a gen-
eral rule, thev have very little conception of morality or hon-
esty, until taught by the white man. They have very little
gratitude, small regard for their children, and none for their
jiarents or relatives when sick. Sometimes they throw their
sick relatives out of their huts to die, and leave their bodies to
be devoured by wild animals. Still more horrible to relate,
after death from sickness or other cause, some of them cook
and eat their own relatives. They have no conception of God,
unless their regard for witchcraft should be so considered.
They do not worship idols, or have any other form of worship.
There are manv self-sacrificing missionaries in this coun-
try, trying to teach and elevate these people. We believe that
they are doing noble work, but the improvement is so slow^
that it must be very discouraging. Many times these natives
6i
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
EAST COAST
claim to believe in God, when they really have no conception
of a Divine Being-. There are many white residents of Africa
who claim that the missionaries are doing no good, and that
their converts are simply converts to get what they can from
the missionary. It will, no doubt, be admitted by most of the
thinking Christian people, that it is a problem as to what is
best to do for these, the lowest order of humanity. The ma-
jority of opinion by Christian people living in Africa is that
it would be better to have the missionaries teach the natives to
work, rather than reading and writing, and doing at all times
all things possible to open their minds to the Gospel, by
preaching and teaching that there is one God Almighty, and
that Tesus Christ died to save all that truly believe in Him.
DOWN THE EAST COAST
After waiting at Mombasa for several days we took a
small steamer, belonging to the British India line, bound down
the east coast of Africa with a cargo of rice from Bombay.
We sailed out of Mombasa harbor at sunset and our last view
of the island, with its mellow tinted houses nestled in greenery,
with the blue sea for a setting, was a beautiful sight.
63
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
i^PCra
OL'R 1I()L1I).\\" IX AI-RIC"A
ZANZIBAR
In the earl}' dawn of the (Ui}', after leaving Mombasa, on
looking" (lUt of the cabin wincbnv, we saw, close. at hand, the
island of Zanzibar, rising out of the blue sea, outlined in beau-
tiful greens of the \vaving palms. We were rowed ashore in
a nati\e boat in the cool of the morning. The ancient Arab
city, with its narrow lanes, or streets, winding in and out be-
tween the high white walls of the houses, looking very oriental.
W^ith a guide, we \isite(l the market place, the bazaar where
the cross-legged Hindu sits in his little shop (which is a hole
in the wall) with expressionless face. We went to the Africa
Hotel for breakfast (which was not very good), and were
taken to the top floor. In climbing the two flights of stairs,
which were of stone, we noticed the steps were worn half
down. It must ha\e taken a century to wear these stone steps
in that way. as the feet that travel them are usually bare.
From the Orient we descended to the Modern world and hired
a motor car for the drive to the clove "shambas," or planta-
tions of Bububu, seven miles from the city, over an excellent
paved road, between rows of Mango and Palm trees, and the
picturesque, thatched huts of the natives. The old palaces of
former sultans lined the way, as in olden times when the Sul-
tan died, a new palace was built for his successor, and the
others allowed to go to ruin. These picturesque ruins are now
covered with a thick mass of vines or jungle vegetation. Zan-
zibar exports three quarters of all the cloves used in the w^orld.
This is a good year for the l)usiness and a bumper harvest is
now nearlv completed. The trees are planted in rows, like our
orchards, and the leaxes are similar to our cherry trees.
This is one of the greatest ivory markets of Africa. Most
of the business is done by a New York firm, Arnold Cheney &
Co., who have been here many years.
The present Sultan. Ali-bin-Hammond. who is about
twentv-five years of age, was educated at Eaton, in England,
and, of course, speaks English fluently. He has built, for him-
self, a palace in the center of the business district, with his
67
Ol'K IIOI.IDW l.\ Al-kKA
ZAXZUJAR
harem adjoining, lliis palace is bnilt with colonnades all
around it up to the fourth floor, looking more like a business
house than a palace.
Zanzibar is under an English protectorate ; the Sultan
claims a strip ten miles wide along the coast, and has leased it
to the English at a regular annual rental. A court of English
lawmakers sit with him to make all laws, and he has little ac-
tual power.
The Germans l)ought out all the rights of the Sultan along
their coast, so he has no claim to their East African territory.
A former Sultan was not so good a trader, and undertook co
bluff the British authority and dared them to fire on his ships.
The result was that his little fleet was sunken in forty-five
minutes. The mast of one ship still shows abo\e the water in
the harbor, and a danger light is hung above it everv night.
The harbor is protected l)y islands, and is a rather good place
for vessels to anchor. There has been no landing place made
for passengers, and the nati\'e row boats, \\hich bring pas-
sengers from the s]ii])s. are run upon the beach as far as pos-
sible.
As we wandered about the tangled streets we came upon
the original church mission, estaljlished by Livingstone, the
greatest missionary explorer Africa ever had. This church
is in a large garden with tropical trees, making it an in\itingl\'
cool and peaceful place. The church door was open and we
stepped inside a few minutes. We called upon the American
Consul, who is a Virginian, and a most agreea1)le gentleman.
We were gladly welcomed, and he invited us to luncheon or
dinner, but we did not impose upon his politeness. He tel^s
us that there is an .\merican Colony here, consisting of another
man and himself. He has very comfortable but oriental look-
ing rooms. Alanv ciu'ios about, and a carved wood oriental
window with hanging baskets and birds. A li\eried servant
brought us a refreshing drink of water.
The English have a fine golf and tennis club here and the
Consul in^•ited us to play a game of golf with him. at five
69
OUR IIULIDA^" IX Al'RICA
MOZAMBIQUE
o'clock, but the very thoug'ht of such exertiou. caused us to
perspire profusely, and we declined with tlianks. The English
abolished slavery fourteen years ago, and since that time the
labor to work the large clove plantations has been rather un-
certain.
MOZAMBIQUE
Our next call was at Mozambique, fifteen degrees south
of the equator. It is an island and was one of the first colo-
nies of the Portuguese in East Africa, settled in 1508. The
harbor is protected by two other small islands, and on one of
these is the best lighthouse on all the east coast. This is the
only possession of Portugal in East Africa, which was not
taken from them by conquest. Mozambique was held against
all odds for centuries. The aljility to hold this possession may
have been due to the fact that the harbor has a narrow en-
trance and is guarded by the largest and best fort in Africa.
This fort has walls many feet thick, and in some places seventy
feet high, and is supplied with a large number of cannon,
which in their day must have been of great service in defending
this ancient stronghold. It is a matter of history that the
stones used to build this great fort were brought eight thou-
sand miles, in the tiny Dhows, or vessels of that time. It
almost seems incrediljle. Those early Portuguese were colon-
izers and fighters, and certainly had perseverance to build
such a fort and to bring the material from such a great dist-
ance. We were permitted to visit this fort, and go through
it in all parts, and take as many photographs as we liked.
There were about a dozen soldiers on dutv, two of whom went
with us. While we could not understand a word they spoke,
still they courteousl)- showed us all there was to be seen.
There are about one hundred old cannon on the walls, l)ut
they are so badly rusted and weather-worn that not a shot
71
Ol'R HOLIDAY l.\ AlklCA
H
^
MOZA^IBIQUF,
could be fired tmrn anv of them. Of course, the Ptjrtugnese
recognize the fact that the fort and ecjuipment are of no use
in these days of modern warfare.
We passed the Governor's palace near the f(jrt and
walked through what was once the Governor's garden. At
present the palace is used as a telegraph station, and the gar-
den is for the public.
]\L)zaml)i(jue nvw have had a hundred thousand or more
population in the days of their prosperity (three hundred
vears ago), but today it looks deserted. The streets are nar-
row but clean, and the houses are built of stone. Idie heavily
bolted doors and barred windows of the sixteenth century still
remain, and in some of the windows the original panes of
mica, used in place of glass, may still be seen.
The climate is said to be unhealthy for Europeans, and
we onlv saw about one-half dozen white people in the city.
Thev offered for sale to visitors, beautiful specimens of coral
and shells, and some picttu'e postal cards. We tried to pur-
chase some of the latter — price, a shilling per dozen, and of-
fered a half crown in payment. Ixit the whole of their force
could not raise enough money to give us our change.
\'iewed from the harbor the town looks very picturestjue.
There is a good landing pier, which is more than can be said
of some other ports in this part of the world. This part of
the coast is subject to torrential, tropical rains and severe cy-
clones. A few hours after we sailed we had a demonstration
of one of these storms. Just a few miles ahead of us the storm
gathered and the clouds were blacker than anv we had ever
seen, at least so thought llic one lady passenger. Airs. Wheeler.
The captain noted that the barometer was rapidly falling and
(juickly proceeded to secure all hatchways and fasten the steer-
ing gear with ropes, as it was rather loose and shaky. How-
ever, the storm did no damage. The rain was \er}- heavy
and the wind kicked u]) a \ery rough sea. and being a head
wind put us behind time scxeral hours. Init that is ot no con-
se(|uence in this part of the w^rld.
73
Ol'k IK )I.II) \\' l.\ .\|-RIC^A
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
OUR H()LI1).\\" L\ AI-RICA
BEIRA
We landed at Beira, March 14, 1912, and found it greatly
in contrast with the coast cities we had just xdsited. Wdiile
it is rather a new place, and has only seven hundred and ninety-
nine white people and ahout fi\'e thousand native hlacks, it
still has a prosperous appearance, and many improvements
are being made, ddiis is the seaport of the Biera and Alash-
onaland and Rhodesia Railway, and the only seaport that has
a railway connection to the interior for several hundred miles.
This railway has only been completed about fi\e years and is
the most direct and natural outlet to the sea for Rhodesia and
all adjoining territory, and is already doing a large freight
business with the interior.
Beira is built in the sand. One must walk through about
a foot of sand in the streets. It is Portuguese territory, l)ut
most of the whites are English. There is a small trollc}' rail-
way system here similar to that in Mombasa. We took a
ride on the trolley over the whole system and noticed many
new buildings going up, one sash and door factory which
employs over one hundred hands, several large printing estal)-
lishments, and an excellent hospital for natives, which is well
patronized by them. Most of the houses are Imilt of corru-
gated iron with roofs of the .same material. This gives the
place a very temporary appearance and makes the houses ex-
tremel}' hot in midday.
^Ve had a little experience when we first landed, having
been told that the "Queens" was the l)est hotel. This was a
mistake, which I soon found out. T left Airs. AAdieeler with
the luggage and went to find the hotel, to get them to send
for our trunks. Wdien T found the "Queens" it did not look
inviting, having the ap])earance of a cheap hotel in a newly
made mining camp. The hotel office was in the l)ar room,
which at one side o])cned to the street, and when T called, was
OUR HOLIDAY J.\ Al-kICA
BEIRA
filled with Purtui^iiese and almost all other nationalities. The
business "at the bar'" was rushing". The manager sat on a
nail keg outside of the door, and "Dick Deadeye," with a six
shooter strapped around his waist on the other side. I asked
the manag'er if this was the "Queens." He admitted it was.
I asked if he had a room for Airs. Wheeler and myself, and he
replied in the affirmati\ e. I asked if that was his only office
and he said it was, but that Airs. Wheeler could get to the
room by going up an outside stairway. I was much troubled
by such a reception and was thinking what my better half
would .say if we were forced to accept such hospitality. How-
ever, on my way back I met an Englishman who directed us
to the "Savoy Hotel," which was built on a modern plan, with
clean and comfortable rooms.
A high sea wall has been built for a mile or more along
the sea front, and ver}' con\-enient landing piers. The place is
reall}- a sand bar.
Beira has an excellent prospect for the future. While it
is a hot place, yet it is healthy for white people.
7'J
OTR IIOLIDAN." IX Al'RlCA
SALISBURY
At seven o'clock the next morning we took our departure
on the mail train for the interior. This railway is three and
one-half feet gauge, with iron cross ties and sixty pound rails,
well built, and for so new a countr}- the accommodations are
good. We had a compartment in a new car. The train car-
ries a dining car, which ena1:)led us to get along very well.
For the first hundred miles out the country is low, flat and
hot, but Cjuite fertile. It is very unhealthy for the whites,
and in this part of the country the Tsetse Fly abounds. After
passing this flat count r}- the road rises rapidly and we passed
through a hea\-ily wooded section. By the time we reached
Salisbury, three hundred miles from the coast, we were about
five thousand feet above sea level.
This young city of about three thousand population is
the capital of Rhodesia, and it has the appearance of pros-
perity which one sees in a new country. There are some cred-
itable brick and stone blocks. At ele^'en o'clock in the morning
the business streets were very lively. There are several good
stocks of goods here, as the town draws trade for hundreds of
miles. There is a cathedral, several churches, hospital, public
library and state buildings. The streets are filled with almost
every kind of vehicle, from a rickshaw to a twelve-mule
freight wagon.
In talking with a merchant in Salisbur}- he said he had
l)een here for sixteen months and was doing well, and would
not think of going back to England, but that there had been a
large number of business failures during the last season, caused
by poor crops, resulting from \-ery light rainfall. This is the
greatest country for bicycles that we ha^•e ever seen, and nearly
all the white ladies ride their wheel. The soil in this part of
Rhodesia is not rich, except in spots. \\'e noticed in some
places fine fields of corn called "Mealies." We saw a pros-
perous looking farmer \\h(» said he had a good farm twelve
8i
OUR HOLIDAY IX Al'KICA
SALISBURY
miles back from the railway, and that he had raised an excel-
lent crop of "]\Iealies." but that the crop over the whole coun-
try was so light that he expected to get one dollar and forty
cents per bushel for his, which is about twice the usual price.
The price of land in Rhodesia, so far as we could ascertain,
for the unimproved veldt, runs from one dollar to two dollars
per acre, that is when buying from the government. This
veldt is usually covered with small, gnarled trees and costs
about five dollars per acre to clear it ready for crops. The
plowing is done by oxen or bullocks, as they are called here,
from four to eight cattle being hitched to a plow. One black
boy goes ahead and leads the bullocks, another wields a whip
long enough to reach them all, while another holds the plow,
or sometimes it is a gang of two or three plows. The cattle
raising in this country is said to be prosperous.
In traveling through the countr}" \\-e did not see over two
hundred head of stock cattle in traveling nearly one thousand
miles by rail, almost the whole country is bare of crops and
cattle. The price of native cows here is twenty-five to thirty-
five dollars per head, and they are quite small and inferior
stock, of the East Indian breed, with a large hump on their
shoulders.
We are told that all the good land near the railway has
been bought and is held for speculation. Immigration is com-
ing in very slowly and the land s])eculator will not reap a har-
vest.
We trax'eled on the railway from Reira to Ihilawayo,
then on to A^ictoria I^alls and back to P)ulawa_\d, and (here is
not a town worth calling a town, outside the above named
places, except the coal mining town of W'ankie. Usually the
town is simpl}' a station house.
83
OL'R HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
VICTORIA FALLS OX THE ZAMBEZI RIVER
\^ictoria Falls is one of the world's wonders, where we
spent five never-to-be-forgotten days. It is one of nature's
sublimest spectacles. As we approached, the everlasting roar
filled our ears and the spray arose to the height of a mile to
meet the clouds. The river where it takes the great leap is
nearl}' a mile wide and the fall is four hundred and fifty feet.
The peculiarity of these wonderful falls is that the general
level of the country is the same, both above and below the
cataract. The water drops into a great fissure or chasm, which
is about five hundred feet wide and lies at right angles with
the river. Over one bank of this great chasm the water pours
in a broken mass for nearly a mile, and one may stand on the
opposite bank from where the water plunges down on a level
with the top of the fall, the like of which is not seen elsewhere.
These falls are supposed to be formed by the earth cooling,
making these great clefts in the rock formation. Within a
mile below the falls the stream is forced to run in four differ-
ent or contrary directions. This great chasm is forty-three
miles long.
On our first morning we made a trip to the eastern side,
called the "Rainbow Falls," as when the sun shines through the
spray it makes a beautiful rainbow. From this end we see
probably not more than one-third of the grand sight, as the
tremendous spray obscures the view. The next day we made a
trip to what is called the "Rain Forest." This takes us along
the brink oi the great chasm or the main fall. The spray was
so hea\y that we had to wait until the w ind would sweep it
about to get the extraordinar}- view. In the meantime the
spray nearly washed us away. We had put on oil hats, rain-
proof coats and ruljber boots, but nothing can withstand such
a do\\n])onr of water as the spray we here encountered. We
found that oiu' rain-proof coats were of no use at all, as cNcry
stitch of our clothing was as wet as water ccndd make it. It
was warm water and not harmful. Another da_\-. when the
8:;
OUR HOLIDAY TX AFRICA
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^1
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
OTR llOUnW IX A I- RICA
VICTORIA FALLS
wind was favorable and took the immense volume of spray in
another direction, we went into the "Rain Forest" for nearly
half a mile, and got some fine photographs w'ithout getting
wet. On this trip we saw many hundreds of monkeys playing
about in the tree tops. On another day we followed the chasm
and on looking down saw many baboons from six feet tall
to the babies, all very funny, and full of curiosity. In taking
a long walk in the jungle and high grass of this tropical coun-
try we ne\'er were bitten by an insect, never saw a snake or
a wild animal, but we saw the spoor of the deer. The dif-
ferent parts of this great cataract have names as follow^s : The
Devil's Cataract, or Leaping' Water, ninety feet wide with two
hundred and sixty feet fall ; the main fall is divided by a
small island into two portions, five hundred and seventy-three
and three hundred and twenty-five yards \vide, respectively;
the Eastern, or Rainbow Fall, is six hundred yards wide, with
a drop of four hundred and fifty feet. It is impossible to de-
scribe the grp.ndeur and sublimity of nature as here shown
in these wonderful falls, which a lover of nature leaves with
regret.
The camera gives only a faint idea of the beauty of Vic-
toria Falls, and instinctively we feel how small is man and
how great the Creator.
The railway bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below
the falls. It is so close that the spray falls on the trains as
they pass. This bridge is four hundred and fift}' feet above
the water, is said to be the highest in the world, and was built
by American engineers. It was necessary to build a cantile\er
bridge, the kind that is commenced on each end and meets in
the middle.
One day we had a delightful tri]) about ten miles up the
Zambezi Ri\'er by motor boat. The river is about a mile and
one-half wide and dotted with sc\era1 small islands. The
foliage on these islands is \er}' hca\\' and green. We landed
on one of these islands and ate our lunch under the tropical
prdm trees. The scenerv along the rixer is charming. Part
89
OTK ITOLID.W TX AI-RTCA
VICTORIA FALLS
of the way our course lay through very swift rapids. We were
only about one-half a mile above the falls when we started,
and one of our party was thinking what would become of our
launch and the people in it if the spark plug should blow out,
as we have frequently known it to do on automobiles, and
leave us without power, remembering the drop over the falls
was four hundred and fifty feet. There are some Hippo-
potami along the river in this section. We did not see any on
our trip, but later in the day some people were out in a small
boat and a "Hippo" coming very close, nearly turned the boat
over.
One day the thermometer stood at ninety-five in the shade
while we were there, but we did not suffer from the heat.
Sometimes the temperature gets up to one hundred and six-
teen degrees. In their cold season, which is August, thev have
a little frost.
The Victoria Hotel and the meals were excellent, and the
manager a pleasant and accommodating gentleman. The
Mashonaland Railway is now built eight hundred miles
farther north from the falls. The present terminus being
about two hundred miles o\-er in the Congo countrv, which is
Belgian territory.
After building to Victoria Falls the raihvav company
were led to build to "Broken Hill." about three hundred and
fifty miles distant, as there was a great mine there with lead
and zinc ore. After much money was s])ent it was found
that the ores were so refractory they could not be smelted,
and today these great ore deposits are deserted. AAdien the
"Star of the Congo," a wonderfullv rich copper mine, was
discovered, the railroad built the line to that point. This rail-
road was built 1)}' a corporation, but the English government
owns about one-half the stock, and have guaranteed the bonds.
Being built into a wilderness populated by savages, it takes
some time to build up a paving business, and while this coun-
trv does nol fill up with in"!migrants like our own fertile
91
OUR HOLIDA^' IX AFRICA
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VICTORIA FALLS
prairies did, still a moderate immigration is coming in and it
will be a paying road some time.
Aluch trouble is now being experienced in smelting the
copper ores of the "Star of the Congo" mine. A Belgian en-
gineer, who has been on the works for a year, was coming
down on the same train with us and told us of the refractory
copper ores, but they hope soon to overcome this and will then
send a big stream of copper to the European markets. While
their ores are very rich it is not a profitable place to invest
until all doubt about their smelting has been removed.
Many hunters now go up this road to the Belgian terri-
tory to hunt, as far as Lake Tanganyiki. The hunting in that
section is said to be unequaled in any part of the world, game
of all kinds being abundant. This place is so remote from
civilization that ivory is about the only item that is valuable
in dollars. Some tusks are being sent out from there by the
way of Victoria Nyanza to the sea at Mombasa.
When the Ciermans get their railway finished to Lake
Tanganyiki it will l)e the shortest route to those wonderful
game districts, and will take the outgoing shipments from
that section. That country is reported to be fertile and will
no doubt soon be settled l)y Europeans, as it lies high, and
should be healthy.
\\ ankie is a coal mining station, al)()Ut eight\' miles south
of Victoria Falls. It is the only coal mine now being worked
in Rhodesia. The quality is semi-anthracite and makes good
steam coal and is used for all the railways in this part of
Rhodesia. The xem runs from five to twenty-nine feet in
thickness and where the coal is so scarce as it is in Rhodesia
this mine is worth more than some gold mines. This little coal
mining" town has some two thousand population, nearly all
native negroes, and is the only town on this line of railway be-
tween Victoria brails and Ihilawa^o, a distance of two hundred
and ninety miles. Tliis w ill serve to illustrate how few white
population there is now in Xorth western Rhodesia, llie popu-
lation is about se\en hundred and fifty whites and the black
93
OUR iiULiiJAV iX Ai-"R1LA
J3ULAWAYO
population is estimated at about three hundred and fifty thou-
sand. These blacks do but little farming', raising only small
patches of "Mealies" for their own use, and have a few cattle,
the water is verv scarce for live stock.
BLJLAWAYO
After the dust}-, disagreeable tra\'eling on the railway
cibout one thousand miles, it was a great comfort to get the
good accommodations provided by the Cirand Hotel. \\'e
noticed with surprise that the table waiters were wearing
shoes. This is the first time that we have seen shoes worn
by servants in hotels since coming to Africa. Undoubtedly it
is one of the indications that we are approaching the more
civilized portions of this great continent. Idiis is a Ijright,
young cit}' with six thousand population, good hotels, electric
light, ])ul)lic lil)rary, V. M. C. A. association, hospitals and ex-
cellent church l)uil(lings. It has a first-class [)ul)lic sch()ol sys-
tem and a daily newspaper. Idie "Indaba Tree." under which
judgment was dispensed hv "King ]\I(^silikatse" and "King
Lobengula," is still standing near the city limits. Bulawayo
is a Zulu word, meaning "The place of the killing."
One of Cecil Rhodes' homes is located one and one-half
miles from the town. It has an axcnue one hundred and thirty
feet wide, i)lanted with evergreen trees the whole length. The
house is of not much importance, but the grounds are large
and he beautifully. It was undoul)te(llv the intention of the
f)wner to build a mansion on this place. Rhodes gave it to
the state and it is now called Government House and is occu-
pied by state officials.
The streets of this town are one hundred and thirty feet
wide, regularly I'lid out at right angles, but the buildings on
95
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
CECIL RHODES STATUE— BULAWAYO.
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
BULAWAYO
each side are only one and two stories, which gives the houses
a squatty and low appearance. At the intersection of two prin-
cipal streets is a statue of Mr. Rhodes on a pedestal about
twenty-five feet high. It is made of bronze and represents
Mr. Rhodes in the attitude of making a speech. He is dressed
in a business suit, with both hands behind him. The day we
were there was the tenth anniversary of his death and a beau-
tiful tribute to his memory, in the shape of a large wreath of
flowers, was placed on the pedestal. At another prominent
corner is a pedestal about twenty feet high surmounted by a
gatling gun. On the side of this pedestal are the names of a
company of soldiers who were entirely annihilated in the last
war with the natives. Bulawayo is destined to be a city of
importance when this frontier country is settled up. It now
has railroads from three directions, that is from Cape Town,
Beira and Victoria Falls.
Mining is in the air here, and many enterprising men
have located in Bulawayo, with flaming signs in their office
windows, telling the passerby of the great opportunity for in-
vestment. There is a gold mine near the city, which is being
worked with moderate success. A miner just in from his
mine handed us for inspection a cone made of gold, which
would weight at least twenty pounds. He had brought it to
town for sale to the bank. There were two prosperous min-
ers on the train with us who had just worked out a small
gold find which netted them ten thousand dollars. They were
going down to Cape Town to "blow it in." It has been demon-
strated that there are gold mines in many directions from
Bulawayo. In 1908 the amount taken out from all Rhodesia
was twelve million five hundred thousand dollars. It is very
difficult to get the natives to work in the mines.
The country or veldt, as it is called here, is red clay,
sand and gravel and lies undulated and dotted wdth small,
stunted trees.
The right Honorable Cecil Rhodes was the father of this
great country of Rhodesia, which was named for him. He
99
OL'R HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
BULAWAYO
lies buried in iMatopa Hills, twenty-seven miles out from
Bulawayo. He selected this burial place, and probably there
is not a grander or more impressive sepulcher of modern times.
We drove out to see the place one beautiful morning in March.
The roadway is niacadamed and graded the whole distance.
Matopa Hills are a wonderful sight. They are granite
hills rising out of the plains. As far as the driveway extends
there is soil sufficient in the narrow valleys to grow trees,
shrubs and flowers, which gives the drive a park like appear-
ance. Arriving at the end of this drive there is a walk of a
mile or two of very stiff climbing up to the grave, and on the
top of the highest of these granite boulders, called "World's
View," is the sepulcher hewn out of solid rock. It is covered
with a slab of granite on which is inscribed "Here lies the re-
mains of John Cecil Rhodes," nothing more, for he who
knows Rhodesia, knows of Mr. Rhodes' life and work and
a eulogy cut in marble is not necessary. The whole hill is a
monument to this, the greatest empire builder of our time. By
his judgment and ability, while at the head of affairs in Africa,
being i)rompt to decide and quick to act, a country equal
in size to one-half of Europe was taken for the British nation
without a shot being fired or a life lost.
In going by train from Bulawayo to Kimberly, we passed
through Mafeking. This was the place that General Baden
Powell, during the Boer war, held for a number of months,
Vv^th only eight hundred men. It now has a population of six
thousand, and is the chief business center of the western Trans-
\'aal. We also saw the place where the first gmi of the Boer
War was fired. We have met many men that were in the war,
and it was interesting to hear them talk al)out it.
lOI
OL'R HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
KIMBERLY
We arrived at this most important diamond mining place
in the world, on March 28, 19 12, after a long, tiresome jour-
ney by rail from Bulawayo a distance of seven hundred miles,
time two days and one night; average speed at little less than
twenty miles per hour, through a most unattractive, dusty
country. This little city, with its thirty-four thousand popu-
lation, is known everywhere. It was brought into existence
in 1870, when diamonds were first discovered here. The first
year "The Star of the South African Diamond Mines" was
discovered, and this, with other valuable diamond finds, start-
ed a great rush to this point, which created a big mining camp
and developed into the city of Kimberly. It is a pretty little
city with streets very irregular and shaded by lovely pepper
trees. There is, within a radius of three and one-half miles,
the DeBeers, the Kimberly, the AX'esselton, the Bultfontein
and the Dutoitspan, all celebrated diamond mines, and now are
owned by the DeBeers company. The value of diamonds stead-
ily advanced until 1907, when the financial troubles arose in the
United States, which caused much falling off in demand for
diamonds. As the DeBeers company now owns all five of
these mines, they work only as many as the market justifies,
aiming to keep up the price by keeping down the production,
as they produce three-fourths of the world's output of dia-
monds. However, the Premier Diamond Mine, near Pretoria,
may have some important bearing on the diamond supply in
the future, and the DeBeers company do not own the Premier.
After a poor bed and a poorer l:)reakfast at the Queens
Hotel, we went to the office of the DeBeers company for a
permit to visit their Kimberly Diamond ]\Iine. It was cheer-
fully granted when we explained to the obliging secretary
that we were simply untitled Americans doing Africa, and did
not wish to return without seeing the greatest diamond mine
in the world. Armed with our permit we hastened to the Kim-
103
OUR ilULlDAV iX AFRICA
KIMBERLY
berly mine and were soon under the direction of a most polite
and educated guide. First we went to the old or surface mine.
It is called a "pipe," that is to say, a circle four hundred and
fifty feet in diameter, wdiich stands in a perpendicular position
and goes straight down into the earth to an untold depth.
This "pipe" is filled with soft blue rock, called by the miners
"the blue," and this is the rock that contains the diamonds.
All the great machinery of this mine is simply to get the dia-
monds separated from the blue rock. First they worked open
from the surface, but the sides are so soft that they continually
caved in on the works, until it was impractical to work longer
from the surface. Then the miners went back a cjuarter of a
mile and sunk a shaft about one thousand feet and drove a
lateral tunnel into the "blue" and at present they are mining
about six hundred feet below the surface.
As we stood beside the elevator which brings the blue to
the surface we noticed that there were two large iron buckets,
each holding about a ton. ^^'hen one is filled it shoots to the
top very rapidly, and at the same time the other iron bucket
drops to the bottom. Automatically, when these buckets reach
the top they dump their load into a large funnel made of iron
and under this funnel runs a small railway track and small
iron dump cars which hold about one-half a ton. From this
funnel the ''blue" is dropped into these dump cars and hauled
away to their dumping floor, which is a wide stretch of hard
level earth about three miles long and more than a mile wide.
The blue is left for a year to decompose and slack in the sun,
the wind and rain. After the elements have for a year slacked
and pulverized the "blue," it is put in these little dump cars
again and run away to the washer. The guide took us through
the washing department where the water is turned in a great
many churn like tanks and the ''blue" is washed and churned
JDy machines until all the gra\-el. as well as the diamonds, is
washed out. The diamond bearing gravel is then taken to the
Pulsator, which is a separate Iwilding and where this gravel
105
OL'R HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
KIMBERLY
is separated into six different sizes, and each size is slowly
pulsated over an inclined iron plane, which is covered with
vaseline. When the gravel drops on this plane the diamonds
stick to the vaseline and the other gravel is gradually rolled
off. The attendant then scrapes off the vaseline and the dia-
monds. This is placed in a small iron drum with very small
holes perforated on all sides. This drum is then securely
locked and dropped in a large tank of boiling water. When it
has boiled until most of the vaseline has floated off, it is put
into another tank of boiling- soda water and here all the re-
maining grease is soon removed. Then the drum is taken into
the sorter's office where it is unlocked and the contents poured
on the sorter's table. To an inexperienced eye the contents
looks like a pile of ordinary gravel. The sorter scatters it out
with a little trowel and selects the diamonds, throwing the
worthless gravel aside.
We watched the sorting process for half an hour, and dur-
ing that time a handful of diamonds were found. One was a
brilliant straw colored diamond the size of the end of your
thumb, a very large and valuable stone. Others were clear
white and larger than a kernel of corn, and many small dia-
monds. This is the result of washing of probably a thousand
truck loads of "blue." It is said that they get less than one-
half a caret of diamonds to a truck of earth. They are now
working in this mine from two to three thousand native blacks,
who make from seventy-five cents and rations per day upward,
according to their ability and zeal in the work. There are
seven hundred white men who make from seventy dollars to
one hundred and twenty dollars per month. The white men
are employed as bosses and do the work where great care and
attention is acquired. The native negroes are employed for
a stated term, from three to six months, and are kept within
the compound. They have good quarters and plenty of food
and in case of sickness or accident there is a well ecjuipped hos-
107
OUR IIOIJDAN l.\ .\l"kICA
KIAIBERLY
pital where they receive the best of attention and medical sci-
vice, without charge.
Mr. Rhodes was one of the early owners of these mines
and made his immense fortune here. By his skill and diplo-
macy the other large mines were bought out and consolidated
in one company, the DeBeers. It is by far the most important
and wealthiest of any company in the world in this business.
They have enough material in sight to keep them at work for
a generation, and as far as we can judge, there is no danger
of a scarcity of diamonds. It would be better for humanity
if there were none, and let this vast amount of labor be spent
in producing the necessities of life, rather than the luxury of
diamonds.
109
OIR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG
Johannesburg has a population of t^vo hundred and forty
thousand, of whom one-half are white. It is a real live city,
not excelled anywhere. All this has been brought about by
the largest gold mining camp in the world. In 1909, the
world's output of gold was estimated at four hundred and
fifty million dollars, of which the Rand Reef contributed one
hundred and fifty million, or a little over one-third of the
world's output. In 1910 the Rand's output was one hundred
and sixty million, and in 191 1 one hundred and seventy-five
million, showing an increase every year. This reef has been
located definitely for over fifty miles, and runs due east and
v^est through Johannesburg. Inside the city there are at least
fifteen mining plants, with their tall smoke stacks belching
smoke, each plant having acres of washed earth dumped
around them, making a little row of hills at least one hundred
feet high. The laborers employed here are the native negroes,
but it requires an army of white men to direct them. The
wages of nearly all are spent in this city, and the cash paid
out in wages each month is over seven million dollars, which
makes a very large, paying retail trade, yet the competition
is sharp and many of the stores do a credit business with the
miners, and they must have many losses. Many of the black
Zulu boys die of pneumonia, as the mines are warm, and in
the winter the weather is cold.
We made a visit to the "Robinson Deep" gold mine, in-
side the city limits. There are acres of iron vats and ma-
chinery where the gold is extracted by the "Cyanide" process.
They are working this mine now at the depth of eighteen hun-
dred to thirty-three hundred feet and crushing the rock with
heavy stamps. A tremendous power ])lant is required to handle
these acres of machinery and to drive the great number of
electric motors in all parts of the mine, besides the power
required to hoist the material and to run the dump cars to
III
OL'R HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
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OL'R HOLIDAY IX AhklCA
-i-40- " ^
JOHANNESBURG
carry away the refuse. Also to drive the great number of
pressure drihs which are used in drilHng blast holes. The
capital invested here is almost fabulous. The smallest mines
having an investment of one million dollars and over, and
many of the larger plants five million dollars. In the "Trans-
vaal Leader" of April 3, 1912, are printed reports of fifty-six
of these mining plants, and their profits as reported, run all
the way from nothing to three hundred per cent per annum,
but most of them report dividends of about twenty per cent.
Johannesburg is six thousand feet abo\'e sea level, al-
though only twenty-eight degrees south of the equator, is cold
during the winter months; in June, July and August fre-
quently they have snow and ice. It is situated on rocky hills
with beautiful homes and gardens. All of our fall flowers,
at this time, were blooming in great profusion. Cosmos grow
wild and were everywhere in the fields. Dahlias and chrys-
anthemums were glorious, beside scarlet sage and many others.
We went to one of the show nurseries. It was certainly
a lovely place with all kinds of fruits and flowers. \Yq also
were taken to the Country Club. It w^as most beautifully
landscaped. There was an eighteen-hole golf links, eighteen
tennis courts, swimming pools and many other sports. The
Country Club has fifteen hundred members. The city is
only twenty-eight years old and has immense business blocks,
really looks much like Kansas City, Missouri, being situated
so high, it gets more rain than the surrounding country. This
keeps the vegetation very thick and green. While we were
there the rain fell nearly every afternoon. Still it was very
dusty in the morning, as the wind blows the sand from the
mines, making it very disagreeable. A sign frequently seen
in the sho]) \\indows reads as follows: "Closed on account of
the dust ; come in."
115
OL'K I1()IJI).\\- IX Al'kICA
JOHANNESBURG
The Premier Diamond Mine is situated thirty miles east
of IVetoria. It is one of the largest in the world. We could
not leave this part of Africa without seeing it and made a
special trip there one day, going through the whole place. The
diamond "Pipe" is four hundred and fifty feet across one
way, and nine hundred feet the other way, being oval in shape,
and goes straight down into the earth beyond the knowledge
of the local engineers. This mine has always been worked
from the surface and it is an interesting sight to stand on the
bank and see the army of mules and iron dump cars at work
in the pit, five hundred feet below. All the "blue" rock here
is taken directly to the stamp mills and is ground and washed.
The process is similar to that described in the Kimberly Mines,
except that they do not spread the "blue" on the floors to be-
come weather slacked. All the blast holes are loaded with
dynamite and fuse and are fired at noon, while the miners are
at lunch. We perched ourselves on an elevation and waited
for the blast. It all went off within three minutes, and sound-
ed like artillery firing in battle. There are several million dol-
lars capital invested in the Premier Diamond Mines. They
work seven thousand natives and several hundred white men.
They "pip^" the water for the mines, thirty miles. They are
compelled to pay to the Natal Government sixty per cent of
their profit. The mine must be very profitable to do that and
still have a fair profit left for the stockholders.
The largest white diamond known was found here in Jan-
uary, 1905. The weight was three thousand and twenty-four
carets, or one and three-quarters pounds. Dimensions, four
by two and one-half and one and one-half inches in thickness,
too heavy to be worn as a chest sparkler with comfort. It was
presented to King Edward the seventh.
There is much prospecting going on in this vicinity, and
quite recentlv a new diamond mine has been located within
117
Ol-R HOLIDAY IX Al'RTCA
JOHANNESBURG
three miles of the Premier, but it has not been worked long
enough to determine whether it would be a paying investment.
Pretoria, the capital of the Union of the South African
States. It is a bright young city, forty-six miles north of
Johannesburg. It lies in a narrow valley, surrounded by pict-
urescjue hills, forty-five hundred feet above sea level. It is
a winter health resort and has all the modern city improve-
ments. At present they are erecting the capitol buildings,
which are expected to cost about twenty-five million dollars.
The site overlooks the town and is very beautiful. Offices
will be provided in these buildings for the Governor General,
ministers and officials, but the Union of the South African
Parliament will remain at Cape Town, as heretofore.
After a ten days' delightful sojourn in Johannesburg we
continued our journey by rail to Durban on the coast; distance,
four hundred and eighty-two miles. We made the trip by the
express train, unlimited, in twenty-five hours. This is the fast-
est train on this important railroad, and if we had taken any
other, no one knows when we would have reached our desti-
nation.
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OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG
Lady Smith is one of the small cities we passed throiigli
on our way to the coast. It is quite a pretty place in a rough,
scenic country. It was here that many hard fought battles of
the recent Boer War took place, and on the surrounding hills
are many monuments erected to mark the burial places of dif-
ferent heroes. One of these monuments marks the spot
where the son of Lord Roberts fell.
Pietermarifcburg is another of the young cities we passed
through in going down to the sea. It has a population of
thirty thousand and is the seat of the government of Natal.
It is the most beautifully situated of any place we have visited
in South Africa, lying in a basin two thousand feet below the
surrounding country. We were more than an hour winding
our w^ay around the steep incline, past many beautiful moun-
tain side residences with the city far below and in view most
of the time. They have many fine public buildings for so
small a place, the most important being the town hall, which
cost one-half million dollars. There is nothing small about
these people when they are spending the public money.
121
Ol'R HOLIDAY 1\ AI'UICA
DURBAN
The chief seaport of Natal and its commercial capital.
It has a population of sixty thousand, nearly half of which
are whites ; the remainder being Negroes and East Indians.
It is the cleanest and prettiest seaport we have visited in this
part of the world. The public buildings are handsome and
the streets are wide and clean ; all together it is most attractive.
The weather was ideally beautiful when we were there. On
the surrounding hills there are many beautiful residences sur-
rounded by lovely gardens, indicating much wealth. The
Marine Hotel, where we domiciled, would be a credit to any
city, and is beautifully situated, overlooking the bay. The
harbor has a narrow entrance, not more than half a mile wide,
with a lighthouse set upon a promontory, about two hundred
feet above the sea, and throws a strong light twenty miles
out. The town has been called the "Garden of South Africa,"
"The Pearl of the Indian Ocean," "The Queen of South
Africa." The most noteworthy structure is the new town hall,
said to be the handsomest building on the continent. It was
finished two years ago at an expense of one million and five
hundred thousand dollars. It contains the free public library,
museum, art gallery and offices for the city officials. We
visited the museum, which was most interesting to us, as it
contained all the wild animals, stuffed and in glass cases, that
we have recently seen in their live state, as well as a great
collection of other curios. The art gallery is well supplied
with pictures, manv of considerable note. The free public li-
brary has a large number of books and is a great benefit to
the city. The Governor's Mansion is located on the highest
point on the bluff, and has a charming view of the whole city,
harbor and ocean. This beautiful place was built several
years ago, when Durban had a Governor. The acres .sur-
rounding it were ])lantcd in rare trees, shrubbery and flowers,
interspersed with walks and drives. Since the formation of
the Union of the South African States one governor is ap-
123
ULR HOLIDAY IX A 1" RICA
DURBAN
pointed for all the Union, and he resides at the capital, Pre-
toria. Nevertheless, Durban in its desire to make the city
attractive, keeps this mansion and grounds in fine condition,
simply as a show place. There is a race course in the central
part of the city, given to the public at an early day with
the proviso that it can be used only for public sports, and
inside the track is an eighteen-hole golf course. The city has
grown up around this race course, but it must be retained for
sports only.
The largest vessels, drawing thirty-three feet of water,
come up alongside the loading docks, and a large dry dock is
maintained here. The coal mines, which are about two hun-
dred miles inland, have probably done as much as any other
one thing to make this a great shipping point. It is a good
quality of coal and delivered to the ships at four dollars per
ton. This causes all the big steamers from England to come
here for coal, and makes this really the starting point of the
Union Castle Mail Steamers on their return trip to England.
The climate is a very delightful one for a winter resort,
while the location is thirty degrees south, yet the Indian Ocean
so tempers the seasons that they never have frost at Durban,
and many of the tropical trees and flowers grow in profusion,
still the oranges which they raise are not good, as they are
green and sour. The rainfall is thirty-nine inches per annum,
enough to make this a fine agricultural country. The prin-
cipal exports from Durban in 1909 were coal, four million five
hundred thousand dollars; wool, four million five hundred
thousand dollars, and corn, two million dollars, not enough in
any line to greatly affect the world's markets. It is only
eighty-nine years since this city was settled, and there were
very few settlers in the interior for some years later. It is one
of the strictest Sabbath keeping places we have visited, al-
though they have several daily papers, none of them print a
Sundav morninq: edition.
12:
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
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EAST LONDON, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA
After a very delightful stay at Durban we took the Union
Castle Mail Steamship, "Walmer Castle," for Cape Town.
We had four days of perfect weather on our journey to Cape
Town, and on the way our first call was at East London,
which is beautifully situated on the sea coast at the mouth of
the Buffalo River. There is really no natural harbor, but
walls have been built on each side of the stream for a mile
inland, and piers have been built out into the sea for tw'O thou-
sand feet, and the channel is kept dredged out to the depth of
twenty-five feet. Fine docks have been built along the river
wall and loading cranes erected. The immense sum of ten
million dollars has been spent here to make this a good ship-
ping point. It is now the third port in volume of exports in
Cape Colony. The railroad comes along the docks, making
the handling of freight for small steamers very convenient.
On the day of our visit there were five steamers in port load-
ing or discharging cargo. As our steamer draws twenty-five
feet of water, we anchored one-half mile out. L'sually the
sea is very rough and the passengers going ashore are swung
over the side of the ship in a basket, and we had our first ex-
perience of this kind. It is a large circular willow basket that
will hold ten people. It is five feet in diameter and seven feet
high, with heavy loops on top and a small door on one side.
\\'hen full the door is bolted on the outside. The signal to
hoist away is given, the basket and load is swung by the
ship's crane, high in the air over the side, and rather suddenly
lowered to the deck of the small steam tender. It is rather a
dizzy experience. Tin's performance is repeated until the
tender is loaded.
East London has a population of twenty-five thousand,
one-half of them white and the other half negroes. It is quite
a pretty place and very fine surf bathing. We drove along
this beautiful wide beach, where the breakers continually roll
in, and enjoyed seeing the people in bathing. There is a fine
127
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OL'R 11()LI1).\\- l.\ Al'RICA
^1^1
Ml' I I
PORT ELIZABETH
beach hotel here and in the season thousands of people from
the surrounding country come here for a holiday, many of
them bringing tents and camping outfits. The tram cars run
along the whole length of the beach and there are many amuse-
ment places erected.
The railway runs back into the interior and is connected
with the whole South African system, and the country is very
fertile a few miles back from the coast. This part of the
country has been settled by the English for a hundred years.
Corn, oats and beans are generally raised, and wine producing
is of much importance ; but wool is the greatest export, and
our steamer was busy all day loading from lighters into the
hold. One of the sights of the town are the wagons with
twelve to twenty oxen with a negro leading the front pair
and another wielding a whip about fifteen feet long. The
town hall is the most showy building in the city, with a hand-
some clock tower and a bronze, equestrian statue, a memorial
of the soldiers killed in the Boer War. East London is well
supplied with hotels, schools, colleges, hospitals and churches,
and has a delightful climate.
I'ORT ELIZABETH, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AERICA
This is the second city in Cape Colony, and four hundred
and twenty-five miles east of Cape Town by sea, with a pop-
ulation of thirty-three thousand, one-half of whom are Euro-
peans and one-half Negroes. It has been occupied by the En-
glish about a hundred years and is a fitie business city, with
handsome public and ])ri\'ate buildings, and is a large shipping
port. It is sometimes called the "Liverpool" of South Africa.
It is situated on an open bay and shi])s do not have much
protection from storms which fref|uent these seas. The town
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PORT ELIZABETH
lies on the hills of about two hundred feet elevation, and
many of the streets are so steep that they are built with steps
for pedestrians, and not used for vehicles. In the center
part is a park where Sir Rufan Donkin, the first governor,
built a pyramid of stone to the memory of his deceased wife,
Elizabeth, for wdiom the town was named. It has the follow^-
ing inscription : "One of the most perfect human beings who
has given her name to the town below." As this is the high-
est point in the town, a lighthouse has been erected here, which
guides the mariner many miles at sea. There is an immense
amount of export business done here. All day from sunrise
to midnight we were busily engaged in packing away in the
hold of our steamer, every kind of produce that is sent out
from South Africa. First of importance is the wool export,
and next is the ostrich feathers, being consigned to New York
and London, and also some sugar.
There is a handsome town hall on the public square, a
public library containing forty-five thousand volumes, a fine
building and a credit to the place. A very life-like statue of
Queen Victoria, in white marble, stands in front of the library.
These people in South Africa are very extravagant in public
buildings.
Southern Africa is the greatest country for ostrich farm-
ing, and the American ladies wear more of the feathers than
any other people.
Mosscl Bay is situated on the southern shore of a bay by
the same name. This bay was one of the first known to Euro-
pean navigators. It is deep water and is a safe port for ships
in storms, which are not infrequent. We took from this place
a cargo of ostrich feathers and wool and left a cargo of Ran-
goon rice. Near the town is a headland, rising sheer from
the sea, and on this a lighthouse is erected.
135
OLR I1()L11).\\' l.\ Al'KICA
CAPE TOWN, CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA
We sailed into Table Bay on April 22, 1912, and were
delighted to reach Cape Town, often having heard of it for
its beautiful situation. It has a population of about two hun-
dred thousand, and it is surrounded on one side by the sea,
and on three sides by wonderfully picturesque mountains. The
business part of the city is solidly built with many stone and
brick structvu'es. The Parliament buildings are very fine, as
is the postoffice. Standard Bank of Africa, custom house and
public library. The largest mercantile blocks and hotels would
do credit to our best American cities. Idie streets are wide and
kept remarkably clean and neat.
'liable Bay is what originall}- made Cape Town. It i.-.
such a fine natural harbor that the trading ships for India
in early days made this a half-way stopping place before the
Suez Canal was built. Even yet it is the half-way to India
for many ships to call and renew their supplies.
The Holland Dutch settled Cape Town and held it for
one hundred and fifty years. About one hundred years ago
the English took the place by force. Since the Boer War,
in which the English had such a hard time to concjuer them,
they have given back to them so much of the government that
the Parliament is made up of Boers and English, and both lan-
guages are spoken, and all public documents are printed in
both Dutch and English. As the railways are owned and oper-
ated by the government, all the cars and stations have both
the Dutch and English names and both languages are taught
in the public schools. These sturdy Boers do not like the En-
glish, and many of them will not learn to speak the English
language. On their most prominent street a bronze statue of
the first Dutch governor. Van Reebeck, stands.
The mountains give the town the finest setting, entitling
it to rank in beauty with Naples, Rio Janeiro and San Fran-
cisco, the most beautiful seaports of the world.
Table Mountain rises back of the town three thousand five
/
Ol'R 11()J.I1)A^■ IX AFRICA
CAPE TO\A'X
nundred and eighty-two feet, cutting the sky Hne with its hor-
izontal front for two miles. To the left is Devil's Peak, thirty-
three hundred feet high, and to the right is Lion's Head,
twenty-one hundred feet high. The two lower mountains
stand in advance of Table Mountain and together they form
the Horse Shoe Valley, in which Cape Town is located.
The old Dutch Reformed Church, commenced in 1699,
was the first erected in South Africa, which makes it the most
ancient of all structures in Cape Town. The clock tower con-
tains the clock which was sent from Holland in 1727. This
is the only part of the original church now standing, the re-
mainder having been rebuilt, and seats three thousand persons.
The great hundred-foot span of the roof is most notable. No
supporting posts in this church. Beneath the floor lies the
remains of eight of the first Dutch governors, which has
caused it to be called the "Westminster" of South Africa.
On Sundays they hold three services in this great church ;
preaching at ele\'en in the morning, and three in the afternoon
is in Dutch. Init at the evening services, it is in English. Wt:
attended the e\ening service, heard a good sermon with fine
music from a choir of fifty voices. The pulpit is raised about
twenty feet high on the side of this great audience room, which
is a hundred feet wide, two hundred feet long and about sixty
feet high, fhe pews are very high, with straight backs, and
it is extremely plainly furnished. We took an automobile drive
cut to Houts Bay, going over the justly celebrated Victoria
road, cut into the side of the mountain and o\erlooking the
Atlantic Ocean on one side. Sometimes it is liigh abo\'e the
water, and again near the sea. A most magnificent \'iew of
the sea. win'ch reminds us \ery much of the famous Sorrento-
Amalfa Drive in Southern Italy along the Mediterranean Sea.
Arriving at Houts Bay we walked along the sandy beach
where the .surf was rolling in. This is a beautiful little bay.
almost shut in by the mountains. On one side where the water
is deep the fishing is fine. We saw several wagon loads of
fish being taken to the city market. Great big fellows that
139
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OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
V i 9
CAPE TOWN
would weigh ten or twenty pounds, and two feet long, all
caught with hook and line. The water is cold and the fish are
fine eating. After having tea at a little hotel at the bay we
returned b}' another road, going back of the mountains, and
here the scenery was more delightful even than by the seashore.
The road rises half way to the mountain tops and passes
through a gap between the high peaks. In the little valley the
market gardeners have their cosey little homes with thatched
roofs l)uilt in Dutch style. \\'e passed through a suburb called
Wynburg, where many of the fields were covered with grape
vines, and it is in this section that great quantities of wine
are made, to be exported from Cape l^)wn. We passed
through several dense forests where the trees were so thick
that they shut out the sun and sky from the roadway. \Vhen
we would come out in the open space between the forests we
could see for miles over the country dotted with homes built
in Dutch st}le, surrounded with well trimmed evergreen hedges
and fields of grape vines. It was certainly the most beautiful
and picturescjue dri\-e that we have ever taken.
At another time we went to Camps Bay on the tram cars.
This is another most uni(|ue trip. On leaving Cape Town
the road climbs the mountain side to Kloofs Neck about a
thousand feet above the town. It is a pass between Table
Mountain and Lion's Head. From this point the view is mag-
nificent over city and bay. A\ e proceeded along the mountain
side on the back of Lion's Head, graduall}' dropping down
until we came to Camps Ba\' on the sea side. There are here
twelve small mountain i^eaks above the sea shore called the
twelve apostles.
143
Ol'k IIOI.IDAN" l\ AI'RICA
CECIL JOHN RHODES
W'e went out to see the home of the right Hon. Cecil
Rhodes, called Groote Shiiiir. It is an estate of several hun-
dred acres, lying on the side of the mountain, much of which
is covered by a forest of pine trees. The avenue leading to it
is through a stately collonade of pines, nearly a hundred feet
wide. The estate is laid out in gardens, has a high fenced past-
ure for herds (jf animals, such as the South African buck, zel^ra,
monkeys and other beasts, and houses built especially for them.
The house is stately looking, built of white plaster and brick
with a fine \eranda across the front. At his death it was willed
to the Cape C(dony government, to be occupied by the Premier
of the Union of South African States. At present it is occu-
pied by General Botha, of Boer War fame. At a high point
on the Rhodes" estate is a "Classical Monimient" of "Ph}'sical
Energy," erected by the nation to the memory of 'Sir. Rhodes.
From there on.e has a \'iew of Ta1)le Mountain and Dex-il's Peak
on one side, and over the bay and Cape Flats on the other. In
the botanical gardens in the central part of Cape Town is a
fine statue of Mr. Rhodes, representing him delivering a
speech, dressed in his customary business suit with his right
hand raised. An inscription on the pedestal, evidently taken
from his speech, reads "Yonder is }-(HU- Hinter Land." He
was easily the greatest man that Modern Africa has produced,
and died at the early age of forty-nine. His policies are still
being carried out, l)ut if he had h\ed another twent}' years he
would tmdoubtedl}- ha\e rendered greater service to Africa,
the land of his adoption. As it is, he has left an imprint, not
on]\- on Africa, but on the other English, speaking people of the
world. His will, w liich pro\ided scholarships at Oxford
(where he was educated) for young men, giving them three
\-ears in tlii> renowricd unixersit}-. was the crowning act of his
life. Mr. Rhodes directed, in great detail, that these scholar-
ships are intended to more closeh' cement all English speaking
people. The scholarships arc distributed as follows: South
T45
OIR HOLIDAY 1\ Al-RUA
CECIL JOHN RHODES
Africa, eight ; Australia, six ; Xew Zealand, one ; Canada, two ;
New Fonndland, one ; Bermuda, one : Jamaica, one ; United
States, two; for each state and territory, ninety-six; Germany,
fifteen. The total numl^er of scholarships, one hundred and
thirty-one, annual expense ahout fifteen hundred dollars each,
making about two hundred thousand dollars per year, to con-
tinue for all time. He had about one million dollars per annum
income at his death, which has since been increased. There
is no reasonable doubt about his trustees being amply able,
financially, to carry out his request. His largest wealth was
in Kimberly Diamond Alines. In addition to the foregoing he
provided annuities for his relatives, besides many legacies for
friends and servants. Notice that our o\\n E^nited States gets
about three-fourths of this endowment. These scholarships
are to be earned by competition and examination, giving the
brightest minds among English speaking young men an oppor-
tunity to get a university education. These young men will
be monuments to his memory, which will be ()f longer duration
than monuments made of marble and bronze. We have two
voung men of our own city now being educated at Oxford at
the expense of the Rhodes endowment.
SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT
We \'isited the Parliament at Cape Town, 1)oth the Senate
and Representati\e Chambers, while in session. There were
in the Senate alxnit forty members, and a speech was being
made in English on the stibject of irrigation, ^vhich is very
much r.eeded in this country, where rainfall is usually deficient.
In the house of the Ivepresentati\'es f|uite a spirited debate \vas
T47
Ol'R HOLIDAY IX AI-RICA
PARLIAAIENT
going on over the revision of the pohce laws. Some of the
members spoke in Enghsh, others in Dutch, and some in both
languages. The Speaker of the House read the motions be-
fore putting them to \-ote. first in English and then in Dutch,
all of which took much time, and one would think it rather con-
fusing. The English are \ery mild and diplomatic in their
colonies here, as well as elsewhere, but we think they have made
a mistake here, in authorizing two legal languages. The House
of Representatives is elected l\v the people. It is only in the
Cape Colony State that the negroes are permitted to vote,
if they can read and write, and have two hundred and fifty
dollars" worth of property.
The Senate is appointed by the Governor, also the Prime
Minister, and the (iovernor is appointed by the King of En-
gland. The L'nion of South African States at present con-
sists of Cape Colcjuy, Orange Free State, Natal and the Trans-
vaal, with a Protectorate over Rhodesia, which may, at some-
time, become a part of the l'nion. The Boers have a ma-
jority of the members of the House, but as no laws can be
passed without the concurrence of the Senate, the Legislation
must be satisfactory to the English. The present Governor is
Lord Gladstone, son of the late Premier of England. There
are many serious jjroblems for the Parliament of South x\frica
to sol\-e, one of the most im]jortant of these is the care, regu-
lation, education and direction of the negro race. The pro-
portion of negroes being about fifteen to one of the whites.
The increase of the negroes is very rapid, compared to the
whites, and the relatixe number will continually be getting
greater. Formerly this increase was kept somewhat in check
by the continual warfare of the different tribes, l)ut since the
English govern the country these wars are not permitted, and
their numbers are rapidly increasing.
149
OL'R HOLll)A^■ IN" .\l"kl(.\
SOUTH AFRICA NATIVES
In some parts of Africa where the natives have been ci\ -
ihzed and enhghtened, it is claimed that there is much discus-
sion on the subject of "Africa for the Africans." It has been
stated that the negroes emigrating from the United States
to Africa are preaching this doctrine. There are only about
one and one-half millions of whites in all South Africa, not in-
cluding British East Africa and West Africa. They could
not hold this country if the millions of natives were armed,
educated and had a leader who could hold the various factions
together, a condition which is not likely to occur in a thousand
years.
In the study of geograph}- in our bo}hood school davs
we were taught something about the nations being uncivil-
ized, half civilized, civilized and enlightened, and we confess
that we never realized what these terms really meant, until
coming on this trip, and here we have seen all the above men-
tioned grades of humanity.
There is much complaint in South Africa about the scar-
city of labor. The natives, as a rule, will not work unless
compelled to do so, and it has been suggested that the white
man has similar ideas. The native has as many wives as he
can buy. and they do all the work, building their huts, plant-
ing and raising the few crops that are really needed, and the
man is simply "The Lord of all Creation." He has no desire
to create a fortune for the use of his famih- after he is gone.
"Why should he work"? The only incentive which makes a
portion of them work is to get mone>' to buy cattle,
which they can trade for wives. The price of a wife is three
cows, and that has kept the prices of cattle high. We are
told that cows are worth from twenty-five to thirty-five dol-
lars ])er head in Central Africa. About two hundred thousand
native men are employed in the mines here, and these are
drawn from all parts of East and South Africa. That of
course, has something to do with the scarcit\- of labor. Form-
ULR ilUi.lDAV IX Al-RICA
MADEIRA
eiiy the gold mines on the Rand were worked by Chinese labor,
brought here on contract, to Ije returned to China when their
contracts expired. The home g"o\ernment in England raised
an objection to this and the Chinese laborers were sent home.
The native now dees this work to the detriment of the farmer,
who r.eeds more help.
After nine days very delightfully spent in Cape Town
we sailed for London.
MADEIRA
Aladeira was our only stop on our \oyage from Cape
Town to London, of seventeen days, and we only stopped
there a few hours to get the mail and take on coal and water.
It was a pleasant break in the long journey, as ^Madeira is one
of the beautiful and cjuaint places. \\t saw but few changes
since we were here a few years ago. The island belongs to
the Portuguese and they are not progressive, and do not keep
the city in sanitary condition. From the steamer the view is
fine, as the mountains are ab(^ut four thousand feet high
and form a beautiful background to the city, which is scat-
tered along the water's edge and half wa}' up the mountain
side.
On landing we t(»ok the ordinar) ox sled, \\hich is most
commonly used here, and were conveyed through the town to
the cog railway station, where we boarded the little train,
which consists of a small cog locomotive behind one coach,
which carries fifty people. Tn a (|uarter of an hour we were
pushed lialf way up the mountain to a hotel, where we enjoyed
our breakfast. The air is inxigorating at this elexation, two
153
oik IK )i.ll).W l.\ AI'klCA
MADEIRA
thousand feet, and the view over the ]ydy and citv is heautiful.
Being situated in latitude thirty-three degrees north, the vege-
tation and flowers looked lovely to us, after having l)een on
the sea for thirteen days. After enjoying this scene for a
short time we engaged a sled and two nati\'e guides and coast-
ed down the mountain side for two miles, d'ime, ten minutes,
which was "going some" over the narrow r()adwa\', paved
with smooth, round pehbles. That is a great amusement that
we ha\'e ne\'er heard of in any other place but Madeira, to
coast down the mountain on sleds without snow. While our
steamer was anchored in the harbor we were continually sur-
rounded by native Portuguese, in their small boats, begging
us to throw silver coins in the Avater to see them dive, and
they would invariably get the money. Manv of them climbed
to the topmost deck of our steamer, sixty or seventv feet
above the water and dived into the sea from that great height.
Madeira is noted for its exports of wine, hand made emljroid-
ery and willow chairs. It is also a great winter resort for
the English people.
On the voyage from Madeira to Southampton, which
takes four days, we had high seas and a great roll to our
ship, especially while passing through the Bay of Biscay.
This is generally considered a rough part of the sea. In one
place the sea was strewn for miles wdth floating fence posts.
Evidently a ship had met rough weather and her cargo of
fence posts had slid off her deck.
^55
OL'R II()L1I).\^ l.\ AI'kICA
EXGLAXD
After a \-o}'age of seventeen days from Cape Town we
were delighted to arrive in England, and soon boarded the
train for London. This is the most beautiful season in En-
gland. All the country is like one great park, clothed with
greenest vegetation. The well trimmed hedges, the lovely
country homes and prosperous towns, all looked so charming"
after our long voyage, that we wear a "smile that won't come
off." To us, London is the most interesting city in the world.
There is so much of interest to be seen, both old and new\
We motored out to Windsor Palace through the most beau-
tiful country along the Thames River, and back through Rich-
mond Park and Hampton Court. Although this is so near
London, there are large estates where we saw herds of deer
and antelope. It was a holiday and the river was full of pleas-
ure craft. \\'e dro\-e through avenues of great chestnut trees
in full l)loom, Some white and others with the most beautiful
pink blossoms, and acres of rhododendrons. Another day we
took a drive to the old part of the city, to London Bridge,
the London Tower, through the many streets made memorable
by Dickens, among which are. Hounds Ditch, Petticoat Lane,
Thread Needle Street, past the Bank of England, the old Bai-
ley Prison, the London Library, the British Museum. Trafal-
gar Square and I'iccadilly Circus, etc. AA'e tried the Tupenny
Tube, and it does not compare with out subway in Xew ^ ork.
We entered bv an elevator which dropped us down about
ninetv feet. This tube is only wide enough for one train, and
that is a very close fit. which, with the great depth below the
surface, makes one feel very shut in and stuffy. There are
very few surface car lines in London, and no elevated ones.
ATost of the street transportation is done by motor busses,
built large enough to carry twenty passengers inside, and
twentv on to]), and they run everywhere: but the most con-
venient and agreeable transportation in London is the motor
taxi cab. There arc thousands of them and they are all pol-
LS7
oik IK )1J1).\^ i.\ Ai'kiCA
NATIVE AND BABOON.
ENGLAND
ished and clean, and charge onl)' eight-pence or sixteen cents
a mile.
Just opposite our hotel was a new building, the "Royal
Society of Medicine." It was opened by the King and Queen
w^hile we were there. As our room on the second story front-
ed this building we had a fine \'iew of Royalty, as they drove
up in their carriage. The King and Queen looked exactly
like their pictures, with whom all are familiar.
We attended the Internaticjnal Horticultural Exhibition,
the finest show of the kind since 1864. There were acres of
flow^ers, each variet}- being placed together, and e\ery \ariety
of the most superb grown. The roses were as large as cab-
bag'es, many of them so large that they looked artificial, and
the orchids were the finest and greatest variety that was ever
shown. The vegetables and fruits were also extraordinarily
fine. It was with regret that we left this great city, as w-e
sailed for home on the Cunard Line 'Si'dy 23, 1912. In going
to Liverpool, the railway runs through much the most beau-
tiful pirt of England, and at this time of the year the country
looks its best, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
England is a tht)usand }ears older than the Lnited States,
and is a finished country, while ours is still in the making.
Proljablv bv the time we are as old as England the C(^untry
will be much more beautiful. In crossing the Atlantic, when
out about a thousand miles, we received the following wireless
message: "Mav 2~, 1912, Captain of the Campania, greeting:
You are now communicating with the oldest ship afloat, the
Australian (^ Mulct Ship, 'Success,' formerly known as the
'Ocean Hell.' We are bound for New York, under our own
sail, sixteen days out, all well." She will be a great curiosity
when she arri\es in New ^'ork.
Our ship took a new course, two hundred miles south
of the usual crossing', to ax'oid icebergs. We did not see any
ice, but saw many steamers. .\n oil barge that had fix'e large
s(|uare sails being towed by a steamer. It was the queerest
shi]) we have ex'er seen in mid-ocean, and not the kind of craft
159
OIK I1()1J1)A^■ l.\ AI-klCA
COLOBUS :\IOXKEY— fEXTRAL AFRICA.
OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
AFRICAN LEOPARD.
OUR IIOLIDAN' IX AI"klCA
m
SUMMARY
that we would like to sail on when the sea is rough. We saw
several whale, and about half the deck of a large steamer that
passed us quite close. We could not tell to what ship this
deck had once belonged, but being about two hundred miles
south of where the Titanic sunk, and six weeks since that
horrible disaster, it might have been part of that unfortunate
ship.
SUMMARY.
After the short visit we have made to this \ast continent.
from our observation we would say that we think the soil is
generally thin and poor. There are but few thick jungles,
such as are found in the tropics in A\'est Indies or South Am-
erica, even under the equator there are no such great jungles
of forest as are found in Brazil. While the soil near the
equator is the best we saw in Africa, and raises good crops,
it does not equal the fertile prairies of our United States. In
Rhodesia, as well as most of South Africa, in the central
port of the continent, much of the country is sparsely covered
with small trees about as large as apple trees, and thin grass;
this is called "the Veldt," and covers much of Central Africa.
Along the coast, and for one or two hundred miles inland.
the soil is better, and here are produced the best crops in
South Africa, but not equal to those raised in South America.
West Indies or United States. The rainfall in British East
Africa is ample, and more than needed for crops, but in nearly
all of South Africa is deficient and will prevent its ever being
a great agricultural country. The weather, of course, is gen-
eral1\- from warm to hot, yet is suitable for white peo])le in
nearly all the inland sections where the ele^■ati(^n is usually
from 4000 to 6000 feet abo\c sea level. The fl\- pest abides
163
OLK HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
s,-
^^k»*
"A
^
y^.
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OIU IIOLIDAN IX Al-UICA
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
OL'R IIOLTD.W I\ Al'kICA
SUMMARY
along some of the low lands near the sea. and some of the in-
land lakes; in such places cattle and horses cannot he raised,
but the donkey and goat will survive.
These fly infected districts, the white man will du well
to avoid, and in some sections the negro cannot li\-e until the
"Tsetse Fly" has been driven out. Another pest is the ants.
In nearly all parts of Africa where we have been, except the
extreme southern part, there are ant hills from one to ten feet
high, in some places more numerous than hay cocks in a
meadow, and special care must be taken to keep them out of
the h(juse and out of the fcwjd. ]\Iost of the upland interior
is adapted to grazing cattle, horses, sheep and ostriches, and
large ranches are being established in some sections. We met
a large cattle raiser who has his ranches two hundred and fiftv
miles north of Victoria Falls, near the Belgian Congo line,
where he reports that cattle do well after they become ac-
climated; he has brought out from England many head of high
grade breeding stock : about three quarters of these die be-
fore they become acclimated, but he is gaining on the quality
of his cattle, and is now going back to England after more
thoroughbred cattle. Although the soil and climate seems to
be well adapted to fruit culture in all parts of the continent, but
little progress has been made in fruit so far. Oranges are
small, green and sour, in fact we did not find any good fruit,
excepting the bananas in British East Africa, until we arrived
at Cape Town, and there they have fine fruit of all kinds in
season. The grapes in Cape Colony are extra fine, and that
section is already a large wine producing country.
Wild game of all kinds is plenty in nearly all portions
of Africa, except those places along the coast where the white
settlers have killed or driven them aw^ay : elephants, rhinoceros,
buffalo, giraffe, zebra, antelope, ostrich, monkeys, baboons,
lions, leopards. h}-enas. etc.. and along the water hippopotamus,
crocodiles and alligators. About three-fourths of all the
game is of the antelope species, such as the eland, which are
the largest and weigh a thousand pounds when full grown :
169
OUR IIOIJDAV JX Al'RICA
OUR HOLIDAY IX AFRICA
X
OL'R HOLII).\\- l.\ A1-KIC"A
SUMMARY
then the wildebeest which weigh five to seven hundred pounds,
and the hartebeest. which weigh three hundred pounds, Grants
gazehes, Thompson gazelles, even down to the little dik-dik,
which weigh fifteen pounds or less. All these antelope species
are good meat for the white man, and the zebra, which come
next in number, are considered fine meat by the natives.
Probably the best hunting ground in Africa today is be-
tween the Belgian Congo and Lake Tanganyiki, about one
thousand miles north of Victoria Falls ; all kinds of African
game are reported so plenty there that hunting is more like
shooting sheep than wild animals.
Africa will undoubtedly get a large immigration from
Europe for many years to come. It is a very interesting coun-
try for the traveler who is seeking the strange and unusual,
and we enjoyed our trip very greatly. However, there is noth-
ing to induce our people to emigrate to that part of the world,
nor do we think that there is a country on the globe that has
as many advantages and opportunities for the poor man as
our own United States. We are delighted to get home after
an absence of four months, having traveled about eighteen
thousand miles by sea and five, thousand by land, around the
continent and through much of the interior. We never missed
a connection by steamer or rail, had no accidents or mishaps
of any kind, did not miss a meal while away, return invigor-
ated in body and mind, and ready for work : here ends "Our
Holidav In Africa."
^73
PRESS OF COMBE PRINTING CO.
ST. JOSEPH. MO.. U.S.A.
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UCSB LIbKAKi
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