It was intended to give in August, 1914, a demonstration of the economic life of the Colony, and to hold at Dar-es-Salaam an exhibition for the whole country, to be connected with the opening of the working of the whole length of the Tanganyika railway. The exhibition was to have been held under the patronage and graced by the presence of the German Crown Prince, and festivities extending over a fortnight were arranged for. German firms were to have sent a large number of exhibits, and numbers of visitors from Europe were expected. Visitors have certainly since arrived, but not in the guise it was anticipated. On 8th August, 1914, H.M.S. _Pegasus_ and _Astraea_ appeared before Dar-es-Salaam and proceeded to destroy the powerful wireless station, and in a few hours the town and several liners in the harbour surrendered. The _Pegasus_ was subsequently attacked by the _Königsberg_ while the former was at anchor, and being outranged was destroyed. The _Königsberg_ did not, however, have a long spell of liberty, for she was shortly afterwards discovered by H.M.S. _Chatham_ hiding in shoal water, sheltered from view by dense palms, about six miles up the Rufigi River Opposite Mafia Island, and put out of action. Meanwhile British forces composed of Sikhs, other Indian troops, and King's African Rifles, whose headquarters are Zanzibar, proceeded from British Central and British East Africa to occupy the German territory. CHAPTER IV TOGOLAND AND KAMERUN When the Germans entered the field of Colonial enterprise in 1884, the European Powers chiefly concerned in Africa were Great Britain, France, and Portugal--the latter's connection with the Dark Continent, indeed, dating from the earliest days of its modern history. Portuguese power had, however, been for some time in process of decay, and her influence was on the wane. The interests of France were centred in the north and north-west of the continent, while Great Britain was supreme in the south. The adventure of Leopold, King of the Belgians, on the Congo was still a private venture in the hands of H. M. Stanley, and had not yet borne fruit in the shape of the Congo Free State. British and French had been actively engaged in operations for the suppression of the slave trade, but the energies of the two countries were at this time being devoted rather to the development of the trading stations established on the Gold and Slave Coasts on the Gulf of Guinea. "Spheres of influence" were being leisurely demarcated by France and Great Britain--the latter feeling so secure in her position that she hardly treated seriously, in fact scouted, the notion of being rivalled in her supremacy. For some considerable time Germany had been making an effort to secure a portion of the trade of the west coast, overcoming the difficulty of introducing her cheap and inferior goods by giving them English and French trademarks, quite in keeping with the best principles of German trade.