270 



EAST AFRICA. 



southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika. Por- 

 tuguese East Africa extends from the German 

 boundary to Tongaland, and is bounded on the 

 west by territories ovc-r which Great Britain 

 assumed a protectorate and assigned to the 

 British South Africa Company, and in the north 

 by Nyassaland, which was proclaimed a protec- 

 torate of Great Britain on May 14, 1891. 



British East Africa. the British East 

 Africa Company, chartered by the Crown on 

 Sept. 3, 1888, with an authorized capital of 2,- 

 000,000, of which 1,000,000 were offered for the 

 subscriptions of the public, leased from the Sul- 

 tan of Zanzibar for fifty years the strip of coast 

 10 miles wide north of the German boundary, and 

 in 1891 acquired all his sovereign and proprietary 

 rights within the British sphere in consideration 

 of a perpetual annuity of $80,000. In the same 

 year the ports north of Kismayu were retroceded 

 to the Sultan in order that they might be trans- 

 ferred to Italy. The district of Witu, previously 

 occupied by Germany, was ceded to the com- 

 pany in 1890. The area claimed as the British 

 sphere embraces the region north of the agreed 

 German boundary, west and south of the Italian 

 boundary, and east of the treaty limits of the 

 Congo State and the entire Nile basin as far as 

 the frontier of Egypt. Treaties have been made 

 by the chartered company with the King of 

 Uganda, various native chiefs between the coast 

 and Victoria Nyanza, some of the chiefs on the 

 west side of the lake to a point beyond Semliki 

 river, and some of the Somali coast tribes be- 

 tween the Juba and Tana rivers. The revenue 

 of the East Africa Company is derived mainly 

 from customs duties, which amounted to about 

 $100,000 in 1892. The principal exports are 

 cloves, sesame, ivory, rubber, gum arabic, copra, 

 coir, orchila weed, and hides. The imports are 

 cotton goods, beads, and iron and copper wire. 

 The company employs an armed force of about 

 800 Soudanese and 200 Sikhs. The acting ad- 

 ministrator at Mombasa, the chief port and seat 

 of government, is J. R. W. Pigott. 



The East Africa Company was unable to con- 

 tinue its operations, even after abandoning 

 Uganda, without a subsidy from the Govern- 

 ment, and unless this was forthcoming the di- 

 rectors proposed to turn the country over to Zan- 

 zibar on being reimbursed for the outlay. Of 

 the 1,000.000 of stock offered to the public, 

 526,000 had been subscribed, and of this 372.- 

 000 had been paid up. The expenditure up to 

 April. 1893, had amounted to 448,000, of which 

 225,000 represented the cost of exploration, the 

 acquisition of territory, the making of treaties 

 with native chiefs, and the maintenance of sta- 

 tions in the interior, including the expenses in- 

 curred in the occupation of Uganda. Pending 

 the result of further efforts to obtain Govern- 

 ment aid for the administration and military 

 defense of the country or for the construction 

 of a railroad to Lake Victoria or as far as Kiku- 

 yu, or of the alternative proposition to cede the 

 territories back to the British protectorate of 

 Zanzibar for a sum sufficient to wind up the 

 company without loss to the stockholders, which 

 the Sultan of Zanzibar could furnish by sur- 

 rendering the 4,000,000 marks received from the 

 Germans for their coast and other funds, the di- 

 rectors voted in May, 1893, to call on the share- 



holders for a part of the 30 per cent, not yet 

 paid up on their shares. The railroad route 

 surveyed by Captain Macdonald to the northeast 

 corner of the lake, in Kavirondo, is 657 miles. 

 The estimated cost of building the line is 3,409 

 per mile, or 2,240,000 altogether. The com- 

 pany's main source of revenue was cut off by the 

 extension, according to treaty, of the free-trade 

 zone of the Congo basin to its coast on July 1, 

 1892. The duty of 5 per cent, authorized by the 

 Brussels act of 1890 was still collected, but it 

 could only be applied to the purposes specified, 

 relating to the suppression of the slave trade. 

 Commander P. G. Dundas, who had previously 

 explored the Tana river and Mount Kenia, led 

 an expedition up the Juba river which promised 

 to open up that highway to Somaliland and af- 

 ford commercial communication with the Gallas. 

 But the result was the opposite of what was in- 

 tended ; for one of the officials of the company, 

 by his high-handed and aggressive procedure, 

 provoked the Somalis and involved the company 

 in hostilities. The condition of Witu necessi- 

 tated the continued military occupation of that 

 sultanate by a considerable force of Indian 

 troops, the cost of which was so great that the 

 company contemplated abandoning that district 

 as well as Uganda. The Somali outbreak was 

 caused by the agent stationed by the company 

 at Kismayu, one Todd, whom the Somalis 

 threatened to kill. The police of the company 

 fired on the natives, killing several, and the rest 

 were dispersed by the guns of the British gunboat 

 "Widgeon." The native quarter of the town 

 was burned, and all the Somalis were chased into 

 the interior, while the company's military force 

 was re-enforced to guard against another attack. 

 Those Somalis who signed papers declaring their 

 submission to the company were afterward al- 

 lowed to return. On Aug. 11, 1893. some of the 

 native soldiers mutinied and joined the tribes- 

 men, who attacked and killed the officer of the 

 East Africa Company, Mr. Hamilton. On Aug. 

 18 they attacked Kismayu, but were repelled by 

 the garrison under the command of Count Lova- 

 telli, an Italian traveler. The fort of Turk's 

 Hill and the English steamer "Kenia" were 

 captured by them and 3 Englishmen taken pris- 

 oners. On Aug. 23 the British war vessel 

 " Blanche " arrived and relieved the garrison at 

 Kismayu. Guided by Count Lovatelli, Lieut. 

 Lewes with 35 bluejackets recaptured the fort 

 at Turk's Hill, then proceeded up Juba river, 

 rescued the " Kenia " and the captive English- 

 men, after engaging the. mutineers and Somalis 

 and killing a large number, and destroyed Ma- 

 gareda, Hajowen, and other villages. 



Before this Rennell Rodd and Gen. Mathews 

 had gone with the war vessels " Blanche," 

 "Swallow," and "Sparrow," to re-establish Brit- 

 ish power and prestige in Witu, where the com- 

 pany's forces had been unable to cope with the 

 Sultan, Pumo Omari. The negotiations opened 

 with the latter by the acting consul-general 

 proved unsatisfactory. On Aug. 7 the Zanzibar 

 troops and British marines stormed the town of 

 Witu and captured it after an obstinate resist- 

 ance. The English losses were 2 men killed 

 and 15 wounded, including Lieut. Fitzmaurice 

 and Lieut. Gervis. The Sultan having retired 

 to Jongeni, that town was also attacked and 



