August 29, 1918 
LAND &> WATER 
11 
In Hun Hands in East Africa : By EfFendi 
^ T the outbreak of war in East Africa the Germans 
^m completely lost their heads, and the generally 
/ ^ expressed opinion was that within a few months 
/ ^^ the Union Jack would be fl\'ing over the German 
■*- -^^bomas or forts. Consequently the British civi- 
lians who were in the Protectorate, and who had been taken 
prisoners, were quite decently treated ; although even then 
countless otTicial promises were broken. 
The month of November, 1914, was a most unfortunate 
one for East Africa in many ways. Then an Indian Expedi- 
tionary Force suffered a severe defeat at Tanga, an event of 
far-reaching effect. Hitherto the natives had had the greatest 
respect for everything English, and the German askari 
— many of them discharged men of the K.A.Rs. — were by 
no means an.xious to try conclusions with the much-feared 
enemy. After the Tanga disaster, however, there was a 
marked difference all round. The German troops, both 
Europeans and blacks, became confident instead of depressed ; 
pessimists became optimists, and optimists became un- 
balanced idiots who predicted the imminent occupation of 
British East Africa and proclaimed from the house-tops 
their conviction that Britain could -now never send a force 
large enough to conquer their colony. 
It will thus be seen that the Germans felt that they had 
the upper hand. True to their nature, they immediately 
began a policy of oppression. It is important to remember 
that the unnecessary hardships and cruelties to which British 
prisoners were subjected were not gradually evolved on 
account of unavoidable circumstances, but that a deliberate 
policy of maltreatment was embarked upon by the German 
authorities as soon as their unexpected victory at Tanga led 
them to believe that they could ill-use with impunity the 
enemy subjects in their power. 
At Kilimatinde 
At this time the writer was confined at Kihmatinde, almost 
in the centre of German East Africa. The land is — or was 
then — literally flowing with milk and honey ; large herds of 
cattle grazed in the immediate vicinity .of the station, while 
fowls and eggs were plentiful and cheap. At first the food 
was splendid, but before Christmas, 19 14, it had become 
almost uneatable. The so-called bread was a fearsome con- 
coction of sour native meal ; the rice was gritty, only half- 
decorticated, and half-cooked ; the meat was what could 
not be sold in the native market ; and beans which we often 
got, were invariably weevil-eaten and burnt. 
But food was a secondary matter. What was far worse 
was that there was no pretence of executing justice. Pris- 
oners were confined to dirty, ill-smelling, vefmin-infested 
native cells some 7 feet square and 6 feet high, without any 
trial for slight, if any, offences. A planter, also sentenced 
- without a chance to defend himself, contracted severe malaria 
whilst undergoing punishment ; but, in __spite of repeated 
requests to the commandant, was refused quinine, blankets, or 
■ even drinking water. Finally, he was compelled to drink the 
-soapy water in which he had waShed. 
In March, 1915, we were deprived of servants, and ordered 
to do all our own washing, cleaning, waiting at table, and 
• other menial duties. This again was a deUberate attempt 
to degrade us in the eyes of the natives, for under ordinary 
conditions the European keeps at least two servants in his 
employ. 
At the end of April nine of us were transferred to another 
camp, called Kiboriani. On the journey thence we were 
given no food for twenty-four hours. 
There we were, in the charge of two Germans of the worst 
possible character — two privates, whose actions were not 
■ controlled in any manner. They treated the forty ladies 
. and men under them in the most arbitrary manner ; the 
native askari were allowed almost unrestrained action, even 
so far as to abuse the ladies and insult the men. The food 
was worse even than at Kilimatinde, and every one suffered 
from chr >nic diarrhoea. 
On one occasion a local English mission sent two boxes of 
pomegranates for the prisoners ; but, rather than let us eat 
them, they were locked in a store-room and allowed to rot. 
We calculated that we were costing not more than 5d. per 
head per day to feed, and that that estimate was liberal ! 
The cell was a leaky grass hut that had previously been a 
donkey-shed. Although the altitude was 6,000 feet, the 
unfortunate prisoner was allowed only one blanket, and was 
■ fed on cold water and uneatable bread. 
At Tabora 
Accustomed as we thought we had become to every con- 
ceivalile kind of insult and hardships, the camp at Tabora 
was to provide us with many an unwelcoVne proof of -the 
Hun's devilish ingenuity in inventing trials for those in his 
power. This camp contained most o£ the military and naval 
prisoners, in addition to a number of civilians. 
Our arrival was scarcely propitious. Our escort, a mild- 
mannered nervous mission brother, had given us no food 
for twenty-four hours, informing us that the I.G.C. had 
given him strict orders to that effect. On entering the 
camp, he told the guard in charge, mentioning that we should 
probably complain. The answer, in a loud bullying tone, 
for our benefit, was: "Good God, we'll soon teach them to 
complain ;■ they'll soon get used to going without food!" 
At 6 a.m. we rose, washed, dressed, made our beds, and 
swept the room?. At 6.20 we were sent down to a well, 
some 400 yards off, each with two buckets, to get water. 
At 6.45 roll-call ; then breakfast. Often, if the guard felt 
ill-humoured, we were called away from table before anyone 
had finished ; sometimes even before many people had had 
their plates passed to them. Then until 11 o'clock we were 
kept carrying water for the camp, for native masons, for a 
tannery, for trees whose roots were in water, and for the 
guard's garden. Each trip we were carrying 60 lb. to 70 lb., 
and to do this hour after hour in the heat of the African sun 
was a great strain. Our journeys were timed, and if we 
were a minute or two longer than seemed good to the guard 
we were kept at it.till 11.30 or 12 o'clock, at which hour we 
lunched. The meal over and roU-call taken, we were free 
untU 2 or 2.30, according to our gaoler's mood. Then more 
water-carrying untU 4 or later gave us barely tirhe to change 
and bath before 6-o'clock fall-in. After dinner we could sit 
and chat until 9 o'clock, when we had a final roll-call, and 
were locked in the dormitories — long, corrugated iron sheds. 
At first, most men were engaged in water-carrying ; but 
other duties included cleaning our own and native latrines, 
stamping cement floors, road-making, weeding, gathering 
bark in the bush and carrying sacks of it back to camp and 
beating it for tanning purposes, and puUing through the 
streets lorries of cement and other goods before the eyes of 
jeering natives. ' Many of the service men were scarcely 
decently clothed, and when we were sent through the market- 
place with loads, the blacks enjoyed the edifying and pre- 
viously unknown spectacle of laughing at a crowd of bare- 
footed Europeans whose shirts were "nothing much before 
and rather less than half of that behind," and whose trousers 
were but in few cases intact. The German governor, who 
resided within a stone's throw of the camp for months, yet 
never once visited it, actually gave • orders that people in 
such a disgraceful state of clothing were not to offend his 
taste by marching past the end of his garden ; yet they 
could be halted in the main street for the edification of un- 
tutored savages. Fever was widespread, but no consideration 
\yas shown the invalids. 
Streams of the most disgusting abuse were poured over us 
individuaUy and collectively at roll-call and at other times 
by the guards, simply because they were top-dog, and meant 
to let us know it. 
One of the standing rules of the camp was that complaints 
were not allowed. Men were struck, kicked, and threatened, 
yet redress was impossible. 
The arbitrary high-hSndedness to which we were subjected 
may be gathered from the fact that roughly half of the 
prisoners were placed in cells, missionaries not being spared, 
and one old archdeacon, who was in the country before the 
Germans, i.e., over forty years ago, being threatened most 
rudely with incarceration. There was never any semblance 
of a trial, and frequently no charge was made. 
After the taking of Moshi, in March, 1916, things improved 
greatly. Native prisoners cleaned the latrines, Indians 
hauled water, and most of the jobs on which we had been 
employed were discontinued. The Governor intimated his 
desire always to treat the prisoners with every consideration, 
a.sked what "concessions" we requested, and hinted that we 
might be permitted to hve free in the town if we chose. 
Guards who had, blustered and abused now smiled and 
addressed us as Mr. — — . In short, the Hun, realising that 
his days were numbered, began to creep' and crawl, and 
smirk and smile, as he alone can. Cowardly at heart, he had 
not the nerve to continue to treat us as dogs. 
The Hun is more despicable when lenient than when brutal. 
