This It Is Which Causes The Ebony,
Bar, And Cam Wood To Be Cut Up By Them Into Small Billets Which A
Man Can Carry.
The French and Germans are both now following the
plan of getting as far as possible into the interior by the
waterways, and then constructing railways.
The construction of
these railways is fairly easy, as regards gradients, and absence of
dense forest, when your waterway takes you up to the great park-like
plateau lands which extend, as a general rule, behind the forest
belt, and the inevitable mountain range. The most important of
these railways will be that of M. de Brazza up the Sanga valley in
the direction of the Chad. When this railway is constructed, it
will be the death of the Cameroon and Oil River trade, more
particularly of the latter, for in the Cameroons the Germans have
broken down the monopoly of the coast tribes, which we in our
possessions under the Niger Coast Protectorate have not. The Niger
Company has broken through, and taken full possession of a great
interior, doing a bit of work of which every Englishman should feel
proud, for it is the only thing in West Africa that places us on a
level with the French and Germans in courage and enterprise in
penetrating the interior, and fortunately the regions taken over by
the Company are rich and not like the Senegal "made of sand and
savage savages." Where in West Africa outside the Company will you
find men worthy as explorers to be named in the same breath with de
Brazza, Captain Binger, and Zintgraff?
Some day, I fear when it will be too late, we shall realise the
foolishness of sticking down on the sea coast, tidying up our
settlements, establishing schools, and drains, and we shall find our
possessions in the Rivers and along the Gold Coast valueless,
particularly in the Rivers, for the trade will surely drain towards
the markets along the line of the French railroad behind them, for
the middlemen tribe that we foster exact a toll of seventy-five per
cent. on the trade that comes through their hands, and the English
Government is showing great signs of an inclination to impose such
duties on the only stuff the native cares much for - alcohol - that he
will take his goods to the market where he can get his alcohol; even
if he pays a toll to these markets of fifty per cent. But of this I
will speak later, and we will return to the question of transport.
Mr. Scott Elliot, {463} speaking on this subject as regarding East
African regions, has given us a most interesting contribution based
on his personal experience, and official figures. As many of his
observations and figures are equally applicable to the West Coast, I
hope I may be forgiven for quoting him. His criticism is in favour
of the utilisation of every mile of waterway available. He says,
regarding the Victoria Nyanza, that "it is possible to place on it a
steamer at the cost of 12,677 pounds.
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