East African Battlefields

1916

If the occupation of Ruanda, German East Africa, by Belgian troops from the Congo, and their establishment of a provisional government in this territory prove to be permanent Belgium will possess the most densely populated as well as one of the most fertile and salubrious territories of central Africa, says a bulletin of the National Geographic society.

Ruanda lies to the east of Lake Kivu, through which runs the boundary line between the Upper Congo region and the German possessions. To the north lies British East Africa. The Kagera river, also known as the Alexandra Nile, flowing in irregular S shape, east, north and west, and emptying into Lake Victoria Nyanza, is the eastern boundary.

While there are two considerable tracts of forest in Ruanda, the central portion of the territory is bare of trees, but on the mountain slopes there is to be found wonderfully rich grass, on which graze magnificent herds of cattle that constitute the chief wealth of the natives. The agricultural possibilities of the region are almost unlimited.

One of the most striking advantages of this territory is its high altitude, an average of nearly a mile above sea level, so that although it lies under an equatorial sun, the temperature is usually about the same as that of a warm summer day in central Europe. Malarial mosquitoes are not known here, nor does the dread tsetse-fly hover over the land, bringing sleeping sickness to human beings and quicker death to cattle.

Contrasts in the Natives.

Two remarkable contrasts are to be found among the natives of this region. The highly developed, intelligent Watussi are magnificent physical specimens, lithe, well-proportioned and athletic. It is not uncommon to meet men from five feet eleven inches to seven feet two inches tall. On the other hand, on the island of Kwidschwei, in Lake Kivu, and in the bamboo forests of Bugoie the traveler finds the pygmy Batwa tribe, whose spear-carrying warriors are under five feet in height, shy, timid and devoted almost entirely to the chase. The aborigines belong to neither of these tribes, however, but are the Wahutu, a medium-sized, agricultural people. The black sultan of the region, one of the world's most powerful potentates ruling in territory held by white colonists, is a Watussi. His word, subject to the censorship of the European resident or governor, is law to a million and a half people.

There is abundant water in Ruanda, the small mountain streams never running dry. When the grass becomes parched on the hillsides, the natives burn it off and immediately there springs up fresh, tender pasturage for the cattle.

The perfunctory salutation among friends is one of the interesting customs of the country. Upon meeting they either place their arms lightly about the waist or else grasp each other's elbows, holding them for a while, then one declares "I wish you cattle," while the other replies, "I wish you women."

First Explored by Von Gotzen.

This region was first explored in 1894 by Count von Gotzen, formerly governor of German East Africa, who came from the coast as far as Lake Kivu, about which Arab traders had frequently brought vague reports. This beautiful, island-dotted body of water, 5,000 feet above sea level, was the last considerable lake to be discovered in central Africa. Its outlet is the Rufiji river, which flows south into the famous Lake Tanganyika.

One of the most noted parties of exploration which has visited Ruanda was that headed by Adolphus Frederick, duke of Mecklenburg, who marched through the territory with an impressive retinue of carriers in 1907-8. In his report he said of this region: "Ruanda is eminently adapted for colonization by white men. The country possesses a fabulous amount of wealth in its herds, to the breeding of which its pastoral people are particularly devoted. Also agriculture may be carried on in a remunerative way, for the quality of the cattle itself is as excellent as that of the milk they yield. As to the quality of the soil, it simply leaves nothing to be desired, so that it is evident that there is a splendid opening here for the establishment of business on a vast scale."

Immense Territory Involved.

When the American public reads that the troops of the Belgian Congo have defeated the colonial troops of German East Africa at Shangugu and that the victors are proceeding southward from Lake Kivu in the direction of Lake Tanganyika, it is hard to realize that the two colonial possessions involved have a combined area four-fifths as large as all of continental Europe, the Russian empire excepted. Belgium's territory alone in this quarter of the globe is 80 times as large as the mother country, while the population of the jungle wilds of the Congo basin is variously estimated at from 14,000,000 to 30,000,000. The German colony is nearly double the area of the home country, while the population is estimated at 8,000,000. In both possessions, however, the number of Europeans, chiefly officers of the home government, does not exceed a few thousands.

Shangugu lies on the southern shore of Lake Kivu, which has an area almost as large as the state of Rhode Island and is nearly a mile above sea level, with gigantic volcanic peaks looking down upon it from the north.

The most interesting settlement in German East Africa is Ujiji, a town of 14,000 inhabitants, chiefly Arabs. This slave and ivory mart of the nineteenth century was first visited by Europeans in 1858, when Richard Burton and J. H. Speke discovered Lake Tanganyika, on whose eastern shores the town is situated. Of even more interest, however, is the fact that it was here that Henry M. Stanley's famous undertaking to find the lost explorer, David Livingstone was accomplished on October 28, 1871.