THE CAMEROONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1306, 3 October 1914, Page 4

THE CAMEROONS.

COLONY THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN BRITISH.

The Cameroon (or Kamerun) Protectorate is In the north-east bight of the Quit of Guinea, and lies between British Nigeria on the west, and the French Congo, and extends from the coast northeastwards to the southern shore of Fake Chad, its area being 191,130 square miles, and its population 2,540,000. The natives are the Bantu negroes near the coast, and the Sudan negroes inland. In 1913 there were 1871 whites, of whom 1643 were German. The protectorate was under an. Imperial governor, assisted by a chancellor, two secretaries, and a local council of three representative merchants. THE PRINCIPAL, TOWNS. The seat of government is at Buea, a post 3000 feet above the sea on the slopes of the Cameroons mountain. This mountain, which is 13,370 feet high, and whose south-western base is washed by the Atlantic, is the highest point on the western side of Africa, and it alone of the great mountains of the continent lies dose fg the coast. Duala, the chief town of the Protectorate, is situated on the Cameroon estuary at the mouth of the Wuri river in latitude 4deg. 2tnin. N., longitude qdeg. 42min. East. It consists of various trading stations and native towns on the south bank of the river Hickory, on the north side of the stream, and the starting point of the railway to the interior, is also part of Duala, which has a total population of 22,000, including several hundreds of Europeans. Duala is the headquarters of the

missionaries and merchants. The principal streets are wide and treelined, and the sanitation is good. The Government offices are placed in a fine park in which are statutes of Gustav Nachtigal, the famous German explorer of Central Africa, and others. The port is provided with a floating dock. Other flourishing towns or trading stations are Baromi and Victoria and Batauga and Campo in the southern portion of the colony. On the route from Duala to Take Chad is the large commercial town of Ngaundere, inhabited chiefly by Hausas and occupied by the Germans in 1901. Another large town is Garua on the Benue river. Further north, and within 30 miles of Lake Chad is Dikwa (Dikoaj, the town Chosen by Rabah as his capital after his conquest of Bornu, Gudfei, on the lower Shari, and Kusseri on the Logoone, are also towns of, some note. PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRY. Cameroons is rich in natural products, one of the most important being the oil-palm. Cocoa cultivation was introduced by the Germans, and proved remarkably successful. Palm-oil, palm kernels, cocoa, rubber, copal, copra, Calabar beans, kola nuts, and ivory are the principal exports. There are several kinds of finelygrained wood, a very dark ebony being especially remarkable. Cotton, indigo, fibres, bananas, yams, maize, peanuts, sugar cane, sorghum, and pepper are also largely exported. Minerals have not been found in payable quantities, but iron is smelted by the natives, who are very clever smiths. Dikwa is the centre of an important trade, chiefly in coffee, sugar, velvet, silk, and weapons, as well as gold and silver objects, brought by caravans across the Sahara desert from Tripoli. REVENUE AND TRADE,

Revenue is raised chiefly by Customs duties on spirits and tobacco, and a general ten per cent, ad valorem duty on most goods. A poll tax is imposed on the natives. The local revenue is supplemented by an Imperial grant. The military force consists of 199 Germans and 1,550 natives, and the police force of 40 Germans and 1,255 natives. The imports from oversea in 1911 amounted to ,<o 1 i395’5 1 3) and in 1912 895, The exports in 1911 totalled. and in 1912 803. In 1905 there entered at the live ports 604 trading vessels, of i. 733,030 tons. Some 70 per cent, of the import and export trade was with Germany, the remainder being almost entirely with Great Britain. Tne percentage of the trade with Germany was rapidly increasing, and that with Britain decreasing. HISTORICAL. Cameroon and the neighbouring coast were discovered towards the close of the fifteenth century by the Portuguese navigator Fernando Po, whose name is borne by an island lying off the Cameroon estuary. Trading stations were established by Europeans as early as the 17th century. Trade was confined to the coast, no white man being allowed to proceed inland, until after the German occupation. la 1837 the King of Bimbia, a district near the Cameroon estuary, made over a large part of the country to Great Britain, and in 1875 the oversea slave trade was finally stopped, with the help of British warships. In iB6O the first German trading station was established by Messrs Woermann, of Hamburg. BRITISH NEGLECT. It is curious to note that but for the neglect of the British Government, the Cameroon country might have been British territory thirty-two years ago. Although British influence was powerful, and the British Consul for the Oil Rivers during that period exercised considerable authority over the native chiefs, requests made by them —in particular by the Dualla chiefs in 1882—for annexation by Great Britain, were refused or neglected, with the result that when Germany started on her quest to pick up unappropriated parts of the African coast, she was enabled to secure Cameroon. A treaty with King Bell, a rich native chief, was negotiated by Dr Gqstav Nachtigal, the signature of the King and the other chiefs being obtained at midnighj on July 15th, 1844. TOO late. Five days later, Mr E. H. Hewett, British Consul, arrived with a mission to annex the country to Great Britain, and on July 26th a French gunboat also entered the estuary ,on a belated annexation mission. Though too late to secure King Bell’s territory, Mr Hewett concluded treaties with all the neighbouring chiefs, but the British Government decided to recognise the German claim to the whole Cameroon territory. Some

of the tribes, disjppointed at not being taken over by Great Britain, refused to acknowledge German sovereignty. Their villages were bombarded, and they were reduced to submission. The settlements of the English Baptists at Victoria were at first excluded from the German protectorate, but in March, 1887, an arrangement was made by which, while the private rights of the missionaries were maintained, the sovereignty passed to Germany. The Baptist Society thereafter made over its missions to the Basel Society. NATIVE OPPOSITION TO GERMANY. The extension of German influence in the interior was gradually accomplished, though not without considerable bloodshed. The shores of Lake chad were first reached by a German military force on May 2nd, 1902. In 1904 and 1905 there were native risings in various parts of the protectorate.