The Eastern Congo 



was a place of some consequence to the Germans, as it 

 contains, apart from one of the huge German fortresses, 

 some good stone residential buildings. The Belgians have 

 still further improved the place by the addition of the fine 

 building which we occupied. Glass being unobtainable, 

 mica squares were used in the construction of the windows, 

 obtained I am told from the mica mines near Karema, on 

 the south-eastern coast of Lake Tanganyika, at a cost of fifty 

 centimes per square of eight inches by five inches. Kitega, 

 which overlooks the higher Ruwuwu (or Ruvubu) Valley 

 is now connected by a good motor-road, through the inter- 

 vening mountainous country, with Usumbura on Lake Tan- 

 ganyika and is situated some third of the way along the 

 old caravan route to the Victoria-Nyanza. As it stands 

 at close on six thousand feet above sea level the climate 

 leaves nothing to be desired and the nights are cold. 



The Independence of the Belgian Congo being celebrated 

 on the twenty-first of July, the Belgians took advantage 

 of the first occasion of the celebration of this fete in late 

 German East Africa, by organising an enormous gathering 

 of the native inhabitants from all parts of the Ruanda and 

 Urundi. This proved a great success and resulted in a 

 week's festivities, enlivened with dances, gymkanas and the 

 drinking of much banana-beer. From photographs shown 

 me by the Belgians at Kitega and judging by the fact that 

 there were upwards of twenty thousand natives and all 

 the big chiefs of the two districts present, the spectacle 

 must have been an imposing one. The native military band 

 known to many as " the latest Belgian atrocity," was sent 

 up from Kigoma and no doubt helped to enliven the pro- 

 ceedings still more. The Resident killed two birds with 



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