NATCH. \L AI)\'AN TACiES 19 



and transport. British East Africa is specially 

 handicapped in this respect. The development 

 of the fertile plateaux, now being rapidly occupied 

 by white settlers, must inevitably sufifer through 

 the fact that all their produce has to pass over 

 a single-line railway 300 miles long before it 

 can reach the coast. Mwezi, the richest part 

 of German East Africa, has the Uganda Railway 

 for its only outlet also, and even when the 

 Dar es Salaam-Tabora line is built it will still 

 have the disadvantage of costly railway com- 

 munication to contend with. 



The circumstances of Portuguese East Africa 

 present in this respect a striking contrast. The 

 fertile centres are near the coast, and its rivers 

 are navigable, so that independently of its railway 

 tapping different parts of the interior, the country 

 in its navigable rivers and its enormous stretch 

 of seaboard is particularly favoured. 



The Province is again well placed as regards 

 markets. The tropical countries of Africa arc 

 dependent upon Europe for their market, and 

 in the case of German and British East Africa 

 this is reached through the Suez Canal, which, 

 with its heavy tolls, added to the cost of railway 

 transport, constitutes a severe handicap. Portu- 

 guese East Africa, on the other hand, is served 

 by several steamship lines working round the 



