The Eastern Congo 



Bay Railway, which is again being pushed forward with 

 new energy and capital. In all likelihood the junction with 

 the Cape to Cairo Railway will occur at a small place called 

 Fungarumi, high up on the Lufira-Lualaba Watershed. 

 Stands, at this place, are already reaching a high figure in 

 consequence. Apart from the Cape Railway, the Katanga 

 can now be reached mechanically by rail and steamer from 

 Boma up the Congo and Lualaba Rivers to Bukama, also 

 by rail and steamer via Dar-es-Salaam and Kigoma, across 

 Lake Tanganyika to Albertville and thence to Kabalo and 

 up the Lualaba River. 



The natives working on the mines are recruited from all 

 over South Central Africa : principally of late from Portuguese 

 Angola ; these natives make first-class workmen after a 

 month's training with pick and shovel. 



The mine " boys " are thoroughly well looked after, 

 especially as regards food — there being a daily ration on a 

 liberal scale fixed by Government, which includes a good 

 portion of fresh meat and vegetables and nuts or beans and 

 palm-oil. This fixed rationing of natives besides being an 

 inducement to good work — it being proverbial that a hungry 

 negro is good for nothing at all — gives a great impetus to 

 trade, and as more than 60,000 natives are employed annually 

 by the various companies in the neighbourhood, some idea 

 can be gained of the amount of produce required to feed 

 them and the extent of the market. 



Elisabethville, the capital of the Katanga Concession, is 

 a remarkably well laid out town of over 1,600 inhabitants, 

 only ten days by train from Cape Town. Since the advent 

 of the railway this place has made rapid progress and now 

 contains many fine buildings, and good hotels with every 



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