TRANSPORTING A NAVY THROUGH JUNGLES OF AFRICA 



WHEN THEIR FIRST AEROPLANE WAS SIGHTED 



Spell-bound, gazing upward with arms extended, eyes bulging, and mouth agape, the 

 panic-stricken natives first believed the aeroplane a new kind of bird monster swooping down 

 from the sky to destroy them. But when their fear was overcome, they clustered around the 

 machine and referred to the pilot as "the Great White Chief from Heaven" (see text, page 359). 



with a heavy list to starboard shortly 

 afterwards. There were no casualties on 

 our side, but the boats were much shaken 

 by their own gunfire. 



In the meantime great excitement pre- 

 vailed on shore, where the action had 

 been witnessed not only by the whole of 

 the Belgian naval and military personnel, 

 but also by thousands of excited natives. 



These people had flocked to the coast 

 from inland villages to watch a spectacle 

 they had never seen before and are never 

 likely to see again — a naval engagement. 

 They covered every hill-top and crest 

 along the coast, and when it became 

 known that the German ship had been cap- 

 tured, their excitement knew no bounds. 



NATIVES OVERJOYED AT VICTORY 



They came bounding down from the 

 trees and hill-tops, giving vent to loud 

 whoops of delight and gesticulating 

 wildly, simply falling over each other in 

 their hurry to reach the beach in order to 

 pay their homage to the new Great White 



Chief, our commander. There they as- 

 sembled in thousands, arrayed in their 

 brightest pigments and gaudiest loin- 

 cloths, a jigging, jogging, frenzied mass 

 of black humanity — a sight not to be for- 

 gotten. 



The Belgians also expressed their joy 

 in the usual demonstrative Continental 

 fashion of embracing and kissing each 

 other and by the singing of their national 

 anthem. The members of the naval ex- 

 pedition whose duties kept them ashore 

 were also embraced and kissed, which I 

 rather think gave some of them reason to 

 reflect that even victory has its disadvan- 

 tages (this with all due respect to the 

 bearded donors of the kisses). 



When our commander stepped ashore, 

 he was met by a guard of honor and over- 

 whelmed with the congratulations of the 

 Belgian officers. A band of native buglers 

 greeted him with a musical fanfare, 

 weird and wonderful, and the guns from 

 a shore battery thundered out their salu- 

 tations. 



