The Congo and Coasts of AfricaDavis, Richard Harding
History
The Congo and Coasts of Africa
Davis, Richard Harding
Africa -- Description and travel; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Description and travel
On the other hand, as opposed to these, there are the settlements of
the Portuguese, rotten and corrupt, and the German settlements of
Dar Es Salaam and Tanga which have still to prove their right to
exist. Outwardly, to the eye, they are model settlements. Dar Es
Salaam, in particular, is a beautiful and perfectly appointed
colonial town. In the care in which it is laid out, in the
excellence of its sanitary arrangements, in its cleanliness, and in
the magnificence of its innumerable official residences, and in
their sensible adaptability to the needs of the climate, one might
be deceived into believing that Dar Es Salaam is the beautiful
gateway of a thriving and busy colony. But there are no ramparts of
merchandise along her wharves, no bulwarks of strangely scented
bales blocking her water-front; no lighters push hurriedly from the
shore to meet the ship, although she is a German ship, or to receive
her cargo of articles "made in Germany." On the contrary, her
freight is unloaded at the English ports, and taken on at English
ports. And the German traders who send their merchandise to Hamburg
in her hold come over the side at Zanzibar, at Durban, and at Aden,
where the English merchants find in them fierce competitors. There
is nothing which goes so far to prove the falsity of the saying that
"trade follows the flag" as do these model German colonies with
their barracks, governor's palace, officers' clubs, public pleasure
parks, and with no trade; and the English colonies, where the German
merchants remain, and where, under the English flag, they grow
steadily rich. The German Emperor, believing that colonies are a
source of strength to an empire, rather than the weakness that they
are, has raised the German flag in Central East Africa, but the
ships of the German East African Company, subsidized by him, carry
their merchandize to the English ports, and his German subjects
remain where they can make the most money. They do not move to those
ports where the flag of their country would wave over them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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