THE EAST COAST 165 



rails for the line that is to strike right into the 

 heart of the Tanganyika country and exploit 

 trade for the German Empire. We stayed here 

 for several days, discharging these metal roads 

 for the iron horse to run along, and then it was 

 that I saw Dar-es-Salaam, capital of our Germanic 

 rival's Colony, the borders of which march with 

 our own dependencies of East Africa and 

 Northern Rhodesia, in a new light. 



An Italian gunboat, which had been coasting 

 off the Juba, put into the Bay of Rest and 

 saluted the German flag. From peaceful-looking 

 palm groves modern cannon returned the inter- 

 national compliment. A Gunner Major from 

 India and I went ashore and saw battalions of 

 black troops, officered by Germans and drilled 

 by German sergeants. They marched and 

 "goose-stepped," and the ground shook with the 

 stamp of many feet. The Gunner raised his 

 eyebrows in a mild surprise and asked me if 

 I was not amazed that this lazy lagoon could 

 become so warlike. I had not associated the 

 spirit of Sedan with the harbour of peace. And 

 yet in reality there should have been nothing 

 surprising about it. We all know now that one 

 of the dreams of Berlin is a great German Empire 

 in Africa, washed by the Atlantic on the one 

 side and the Indian Ocean on the other. Dar-es- 

 Salaam has been builded as a corner-stone in the 

 Imperial conception. 



We in East Africa have been content to re- 

 garrison crazy old fortresses, to let colonization 

 mingle with antiquity. We have peopled the 

 highlands, and count our power in terms of 

 occupied farms and coffee crops. 



Not so Germany. She has reared up strong 

 places on the coast and girt her Colonial policy 



