A direct Indian service was also inaugurated which further cut into Zanzibar trade; while a line of steamers started to circumnavigate Africa, going down the west coast to Cape Town and returning up the east coast leisurely through the Suez Canal back to Hamburg. It was not long before the Germans had practically the whole of the east coast trade in her hands, and the German description of Dar-es-Salaam as the metropolis of the whole of the East African coast began to have some foundation in fact. After quelling the "insurrection" in 1889, Major von Wissmann set the corps he had formed to the building of Government offices and residences, and the imposing edifices round about the lagoon at Dar-es-Salaam are tribute to their skill. A strong force of police was enrolled and consisted of 260 Europeans and 2,750 men, who, uniformed in khaki, were armed with the most modern guns and rifles. They constituted a formidable fighting force of sixteen companies, each of which had several machine guns. The natives are in the main mild-mannered; and as long association with the Arabs made a condition of slavery quite a natural existence, they were readily terrorised, and the Germans found ideal ground for cultivation. Energetically the administration set to work to open up the country by establishing centres of trade; the country was intersected in every direction by paths six feet wide for _machela_[F] travelling, and the natives were compelled to make these paths free of charge and maintain them in good order. The administration, German like, was all by rule of thumb, and even the prices of food were everywhere fixed by tariff. German home methods were applied everywhere with a mixture, as in Zanzibar itself, of a shoddy imitation of Indian life. The Port of Dar-es-Salaam (the "Haven of Peace") was made the capital, and from here the principal railway runs into the interior. From the coast the town is hardly visible, the quiet lagoon on which it is built being so shut in by bluffs; while the entrance is between coral reefs, the passage through which is in some places not much over fifty yards. The harbour is small but is perfectly sheltered, and with its fringe of palms makes a striking picture. The town is laid out on luxurious lines with wide well-paved streets, an extensive botanical garden, electric light, and a powerful wireless installation. The neighbouring native town is a striking contrast, being squalid in the extreme. The railway system extends for nearly 1,000 miles, and a line from Dar-es-Salaam to Lake Tanganyika was being pushed on energetically. The territory is eminently suited for the cultivation of tropical agricultural products, and the export of these amounts to roughly £1,800,000 per annum--about equally divided between European and native.