GARUA AND THE NORTH KAMERUN 19 



drive along another broad and excellent road, planted 

 with a young avenue. It stretches, we were told, 

 some seven days' march, and is drivable all the 

 way. 



The station was only occupied in 1904, and it seems 

 miraculous that so much could have been done in 

 the time. I commented on this to my companion, 

 Lieut, von Scheffer, who replied that while the British 

 seek popularity the Germans aim at progress. 



Gold has been found in the vicinity, but no attempt 

 has been made to work it yet, though a few enter- 

 prising men have pegged out claims. 



The country itself is beautiful. Sharply outlined 

 ranges lie to north, east, and west, and the Benue 

 winds in and out in great silver loops ; while the 

 undergrowth, though at first glance uniform, is com- 

 posed of myriads of varieties of flowers and grasses 

 — a collector's paradise, though few were of an in- 

 dividual beauty to catch the eye. It is a pastoral 

 district, and herds of small humped Fulani cattle and 

 droves of shaggy goats feed on the lowland pastures. 

 No one dares ascend the hills, for they are occupied 

 by unsubdued tribes, who were driven from the plains 

 by the all-conquering Fulani at a time when capture 

 meant slavery, and they have not yet realised that 

 now the white man has come, danger is at an end. 

 They are a continual source of menace, and often 

 creep down to perform some act of piracy in the 

 valleys, carrying their loot back to the uplands where 

 no armed force can follow them. 



Circles of stone remain at intervals in the road 

 to mark their occupation, for in the days when they 

 still inhabited the valleys these were places of worship, 



