MEN OF THE TREES 



by native Africans, we must recall what tremendous 

 changes have taken place in the lives of the tribesmen 

 of Equatorial Africa in recent years. A few decades ago 

 they were living in constant fear of hostile neighbours; 

 their time very much occupied in intertribal manoevres 

 and skirmishes, when suddenly Western civilization 

 burst upon them and hundreds of white men came into 

 their midst. Upon the rest of the world civilization 

 dawned slowly, and built itself up by imperceptible de- 

 grees. But upon the "Great Dark Continent" western 

 ideas burst as suddenly as its own tropic sunrise. At 

 once they were invaded by the latest means of trans- 

 portation and communication. Bicycles and motor cars 

 may well have seemed the materialization of some devil's 

 magic to peoples who had not yet arrived at the wheel- 

 barrow stage, and the telephone a truly supernatural 

 form of communication to races whose news had hith- 

 erto been transmitted by means of drum taps from hill 

 to hill. But Africa has taken with amazing rapidity to 

 these, at first terrifying, innovations. The native boy 

 loves to chatter with his far-distant friends over the 

 telephone. 



There are, however, vast tracts of Africa where the 

 telephone does not penetrate. It is then in these regions, 

 which form so formidable a problem for the administra- 

 tion, that our new and fascinating toy, broadcasting, 

 might be utilized, not merely as it is in many coun- 

 tries, for an evening relaxation — an amusing fireside 

 hobby, an agreeable and easy complement to the evening 



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