The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cameroons, by Albert F. Calvert This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Cameroons Author: Albert F. Calvert Release Date: February 14, 2021 [eBook #64553] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMEROONS *** Contents. List of Illustrations (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note) THE CAMEROONS {i} {ii} {iii} A [Image unavailable.] VICTORIA, CAMEROON. THE CAMEROONS BY ALBERT F. CALVERT, F.C.S., Knight Grand Cross of The Royal Order of Isabel the Catholic, Knight Grand Cross of The Royal Order of Alfonso XII., etc. AUTHOR OF The German African Empire, South-West Africa, Nigeria and its Tinfields, The Political Value of our Colonies, The Exploration of Australia, Mineral Resources of Minas Geraes, Brazil, etc. London: T. WERNER LAURIE, Ltd., 8, Essex Street, London. 1917. E. Goodman & Son, The Phœnix Press, Taunton. PREFACE. LTHOUGH the designs, which German philosophers conceived and German statesmen and strategists spent thirty years in perfecting, for the conquest of our Cape territories and the creation of a Greater Germany extending from the Mediterranean to Table Bay, are best illustrated and exposed by the defiantly defensive policy they pursued in South-West Africa, the rise, development and fall of the German Colonial Empire is more completely epitomised in the chapter dealing with the Cameroons. The establishment of the German East African protectorate forms a story that is intensely interesting, inasmuch as it reveals the duplicity of Teutonic methods in their relations with native races, European rivals and their own agents. Bismarck, the last barbarian of genius, repudiated Dr. Karl Peters when, equipped with private capital and acting on his own initiative, he was acquiring in the hinterland of Zanzibar a well-watered, fertile province equal in extent to South Germany, and obtaining from the Sultan the concession for the ports of Dar-es-Salaam and Pangani. It was necessary in 1884 for Germany to assure England that the Imperial Government had no intention of securing possessions in a region which was admittedly within Britain’s sphere of influence, and Bismarck pursued Dr. Peters to Africa with an official intimation that the State would not grant him protection for the lives of his party, or for any possessions he might acquire opposite Zanzibar. But when the intrepid Teuton, as the representative of the German East Africa Company, had accomplished the spade work and returned to Berlin, the Government continued negotiations with the Sultan through their Consul-General at Zanzibar. The formal ratification of the treaties made in the name of the Company, was followed by a revolt of the Arabs, and when the Company’s representatives had been allowed to be murdered or put to flight, Bismarck was able to declare that the situation that had arisen was beyond the control of private enterprise, and an expedition, under Major von Wissman, was accordingly despatched to East Africa to suppress the slave traffic which still flourished in that region. For the furtherance of such a humane and civilising purpose, the co-operation of the British fleet was readily enlisted, and with this support and the energetic measures taken by von Wissman’s army of ex-British native soldiers, the disaffected populace was eventually “pacified,” even if the slave traffic was not suppressed. The Company’s claims to the territorial concessions granted under the treaties having been made good—Great Britain could not, in politeness, protest against the acquisition of Mount Kilimanjaro, since the amiable Kaiser had expressed a sentimental wish that the highest peak in Africa might be within the sphere of German kultur!—the Reichstag voted ten and a half million marks for the maintenance and development of these newly acquired territories. Then, and not until then, did England realise that with the connivance of Downing Street and the assistance of British men-of-war, this rich and important territory, with an area of 384,000 square miles, had become a Protectorate of Germany. Having duped England, punished the natives, and established their rule, it was only necessary to recall Dr. Peters and hand him over to the tender mercies of his official and political enemies, to make this chapter of the history of German empire building characteristic in its completeness. {iv} {v} {vi} {vii} What Germany succeeded in doing in East Africa after years of intrigue and deceit, and the expenditure of much blood and money, she accomplished in the acquisition of Togoland with a minimum of cost or trouble. Dr. Nachtigal, in the capacity of German Trade Commissioner, was sent to West Africa by his Government to enquire into and report upon the progress of German commerce in those latitudes. He was despatched at a time when the English Government had completed their leisurely deliberations upon the appeal of the peoples of Togoland and the Cameroons to be taken under the protection of the British flag, and Mr. Hewitt, a British Consul, was voyaging to the Gulf of Guinea for the purpose of complying with the native request, when Nachtigal arrived there on his commercial mission. The German Commissioner, acting under instructions from the Imperial Chancellor, hastily unfurled the flag of the Fatherland at Lome, in Togoland, and succeeded in reaching Duala, and formally placing the Cameroons under German rule, before Hewitt arrived upon the scene. Lord Granville addressed a reproof to Bismarck for not having divulged the nature of the errand upon which Nachtigal had been sent, and the incident was closed. In the three decades that followed, the German administrators in Togoland, with the thoroughness with which the Teuton is gifted, taught the natives the “sharp lesson” considered necessary to prepare them for the reception of Germany’s civilising rule, furnished the colony with 200 miles of railway, over 750 miles of excellent roads of native construction, a score of postal and telegraph stations, and a telephone system, and established a wireless station—the most powerful in the world outside Europe—which was not only in communication with Berlin, 3,450 miles distant, but with East Africa, the Cameroons and South-West Africa. The final installations at Kamina were completed in June, 1914; in August the German operators learnt by wireless that Great Britain had declared war on Germany; and on 26th August the Kamina Station notified Berlin that the colony of Togoland, the smallest, completest, and only financially independent German possession, had capitulated to an Anglo-French force. The German annexation of South-West Africa was a more intolerably humiliating and provocative act of aggression; it is one that only now—after the territory has been recovered by the brilliant campaign of the Union Army under General Louis Botha—can be forgiven Lord Granville. Prior to 1883 the natives of Damaraland and Namaqualand, suspicious of the intentions of Germany, had petitioned to be taken under British protection. Downing Street experienced a temporary uneasiness, but Bismarck’s assurance that Germany had no intention of establishing Crown colonies in Africa, extinguished the fleeting distrust. The Cape Colony was not so easily satisfied. A British Commissioner, who was appointed to confer with the native chiefs, reported favourably upon the proposal to officially confirm the authority of the Cape Government over the region extending northward from the Orange River to Portuguese Angoland. Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor of Cape Colony, urged upon the home Government the desirability of the step, and the Colonial Office decided upon the formal acquisition of the port at Walfisch Bay. Bismarck, hesitating to commit what might be construed as a deliberately hostile act, invited Great Britain to state her intentions with regard to the rest of the south-west territory, but failing to receive any definite reply, he decided upon bold if impudent measures, and in April, 1884, the Chancellor announced that the territory north of the Orange River was under the protection of the German Empire. As Bryden says, in his History of South Africa, “it was an unfriendly act, carried out in an unpleasant manner, and the British Colonists in South Africa are not soon likely to allow it to pass out of remembrance.” It not only destroyed the symmetry of a British South Africa, and gave Germany rights in territories marching with British colonies, but it added 322,450 square miles of African territory to the German Colonial Empire, for which a Bremen merchant named Luderitz parted with a hundred pounds and a score of old muskets. Germany’s method of developing her new possession in South-West Africa was entirely in keeping with her manner of acquiring it. From the first she proceeded to colonise on military lines. Railways were constructed with regard to their strategic importance; they were made on what is still called the Cape gauge; and were directed towards the Union border. A standing army was raised and compulsory service was instituted. An artillery depot established at Windhoek, the capital, contained a worthless collection of old gun- carriages and bales of locally-collected hay. This was to secure the colony against the imaginary evil intentions of the inoffensive and unarmed Ovambos, who inhabit the north-east corner of the colony. At Keetmanshoop, some hundreds of miles further from Amboland, but within 150 miles of Cape territory, was a great arsenal, furnished with guns and shells, rifles and cartridges, ambulances, transport vehicles, and military stores and supplies sufficient to equip and maintain an army of fifteen thousand men for two years. In the face of these facts and figures, we may be forgiven for doubting the honesty of the German Colonial Secretary’s denial that Germany ever had any intention of occupying, either permanently or temporarily, the territory of the South African Union, and of disregarding the expression of Lord Haldane’s pious belief that the Kaiser’s life’s purpose was “to make the world better,” and that in Germany’s method of colonial expansion, “she was penetrating everywhere to the profit of mankind.” In some ways the story of Germany’s annexation of the Cameroon provinces, and her subsequent extension of that area, is the most interesting of all, because if she secured her footing in East Africa by subterfuge, and in South-West Africa by the exercise of sharp practice supplemented by a certain display of bold decision, she edged her way into the Gulf of Guinea by virtue of no other quality than that of sheer bluff, but, having consolidated herself in the positions she had thus gained in West Africa, she allowed the world to understand that she was determined to expand her sphere of influence, if necessary, by recourse to arms. In 1885 Germany legalised her occupation of the Cameroons by placating France with an exchange of unimportant territories, and renouncing in favour of Britain her nominal claims to St. Lucia and to Forcados, at the mouth of the Niger River. Having thus solidified their position, and secured themselves against what Passarge calls “the intrigues and provocations of the English,” the German administrators proceeded to Germanize their new province and systematically to develop its tropical resources. Although they established customs houses, courts of justice and post-offices, and constructed about 125 miles of a projected railway system of 285 miles, and, between 1898 and 1911, increased the total trade of the colony by nearly forty million marks, the colony did not prove a departmental or material success. The staffs of the Experimental Institute of Agriculture at Victoria and the Department of Agriculture at Buea, devoted their energies to the scientific raising of tropical economic plants, to experiments in plantation culture, and to the training of young natives in the virtues of Teutonic industry and organisation, while, by Government Proclamation, all native children were compelled to attend the Government schools, acquire an intelligent knowledge of the language and history of Germany, and practice the art of singing German patriotic songs. Despite this paternal concern for the agricultural and educational well-being of the natives, the application of German methods proved a disappointment. The children at the end of their school course considered themselves too superior to undertake manual labour, while the men, resenting the German indifference to their national feeling and {viii} {ix} {x} {xi} {xii} {xiii} {xiv} inherited methods of work, developed the spirit of native unrest. A lack of sympathetic understanding of the natives was attended by culpably injudicious treatment of them by the German officials, and the relations between the authorities and the aborigines led to the frequent employment of the Imperial troops, while the inadequacy of means of internal communication rendered the progress of “one of the most productive countries in the world” both slow and difficult. But, disappointing and costly as was the German failure to administer and develop the Cameroons, the Teutonic lust for territory was unabated, and, in its resolve to extend its holding in this quarter of the globe, the Government did not hesitate to emperil the peace of Europe. When the German cruiser Panther appeared at Agadir, in July, 1911, the object of the Wilhelmstrasse was not to protect purely imaginary German interests in that part of Morocco, but to maintain a menacing attitude that would compel the French to cede to the Bully of Europe their territory to the south of the German Cameroons. The negotiations for the transfer were concluded in June, 1913, and fifteen months later French and British troops commenced a joint expedition to wrest from the German authority, by military means, the province from which the former had been ejected by diplomatic blackmail and the insistant rattle of the sword in the scabbard. It is instructive to recall the methods by which Germany acquired her African possessions, if only for the partial answer it provides to the question as to what the Allies intend to do with them. It is absolutely certain that however the Allies agree to dispose of the four colonies in question, they will never be restored to Germany, notwithstanding the fact that Herr Dernburg has committed the Emperor to the pledge that he will never consent to make peace except on terms which include their surrender. Germany got into Africa as a burglar effects an entrance into a well-stored building, but it is not because her gains were ill-gotten that she will be deprived of them. Having experimented in the civilisation of natives for three decades, she has revealed an utter inability to colonise for the benefit of mankind, but the hopeless failure of the German system of imposing her rule upon subject races, is not the reason why she will henceforth be debarred from participation in the work of civilising the world. The colonial possessions of Germany, as well as of England, France and Belgium, form part of the stakes for which all Europe is in arms, and they will become the spoils of the conquerors. As the Imperial Chancellor has announced, the future of the Cameroons will be decided not in West Africa, but in another theatre of war. Germany’s explanation of her desire to acquire colonies was based upon her need for extra territory capable of supporting her growing population. For this purpose she acquired East Africa, and immediately set about the task of raising, equipping and drilling a large force of black troops. She seized the French Cameroons, and at once increased the handful of natives which the French had found sufficient for the maintenance of order in the colony, to an army of 1,550 black and 185 white troops, and she had planned the formation of additional corps of mounted infantry, and the rearming of all the troops with modern rifles. As soon as wireless telegraphy became a practical means of communication, a wireless station was installed in Togoland which rendered the little colony of inestimable potential value from a military point of view, while in South-West Africa, the extent and completeness of her defensive and offensive preparations, is abundant proof that the real value to Germany of this territory lay in the proximity of the region to the Boer States, disaffected to Great Britain. “The land was not taken for bona fide colonisation,” wrote the Rev. William Greswell over thirty years ago, “only as a point d’appui.” Germany pushed forward her military preparations in East, West and South Africa, as she did in Prussia, because she had convinced herself of England’s ultimate inability to hold India, Egypt and her colonial dominions. Her professors assured the Kaiser and his junker parasites, that the English had lost both “the qualities of creative genius in religion and the valour in arms of a military caste”, that we had become “a timorous, craven nation, trusting to its fleet”; and that, while we had “failed to impress our dominion” on the chiefs of the Indian Tributary States, the colonies were “shivering with impatience under the last slight remnant of the English yoke.” Because of their arrogant attempt to put their theories and their conclusions to the test, the German people are being stripped of all their overseas possessions. They have already lost their South-West Protectorate and Togoland, and the Allies are now successfully engaged in crushing German resistance in Eastern Africa. It is not my purpose in this little book to follow the fortunes of the Allied troops; it will be time enough to write the story of the campaigns when the task is accomplished, and the future administrations of the colonies are in operation. My object in the following pages is to give the public the particulars about the Cameroons which I have collected not without the expenditure of a considerable amount of time and trouble. A natural desire to ascertain the nature of the difficulties that would have to be surmounted by the allied forces, and a desire to learn something of the natural resources and commercial potentialities of the territory that was about to be acquired, sent me to bookshops and libraries in search of works that would satisfy my curiosity. I was disappointed to find that the information I wanted was not available in English form, English authors having decided, apparently, that the colony did not lend itself to interesting or marketable compilation, and since the British Government had not accredited a Consul to the Cameroons, not even a belated Consular Report was procurable. In this extremity I turned my attention to such German publications as were obtainable in this country and, from the official writings of Dr. Paul Rohrback, Dr. Grotefeld, Dr. Paul Preuss, Dr. Walter Busse, Herr Eltester, and Siegfreid Passarge, I gathered a mass of information concerning the geographical and geological features, the vegetation and forestry, and the natives and native cultivation, together with an interesting summary of the progress made under the German system of development and the success they had attained in their experiments in plantation cultivation. In a paper written by Captain W. A. Nugent, R.A., who had been a member of the Boundary Commission in 1907, and acted as British Commissioner appointed to survey and fix the boundary between the German Cameroons and Nigeria in 1912, I found a full and admirable description of the territory traversed. This volume contains the result of my researches, selected and arranged in such a manner as will, I trust, be found acceptable to English readers who share my curiosity concerning the natural resources, the commercial position and the prospects of the colony, and who also entertain the hope that part of it, at least, will ultimately form a link in the chain of British overseas dominions. ALBERT F. CALVERT. Royston, Eton Avenue, N.W. {xv} {xvi} {xvii} {xviii} {xix} {xx} {xxi} CONTENTS PAGE Discovery and Exploration 1 Plantation Cultivation 24 Native Education 56 The Cameroon-Nigerian Boundary 62 COLOURED PLATE Victoria, Cameroon Frontispiece LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plate Duala 1 The Quay at Duala 2 Landing-place at Duala 3 Post Office, Duala 4 Court House at Duala 5 Hospital at Duala 6 Natives’ Metal Work 7 The Bâle Mission at Duala 8 Workshop of the Bâle Mission, Duala 9 Manga Beli’s Palace, Duala 10 The Native Quarter, Duala 11 Business Offices in Duala 12 Natives Wood Carving 13 The Woermann Floating Dock at Duala 14 Landing Jetty 15 Constructing the Central Railway from Duala to the Nyong River 16 View of the Wuri River at Bonaberi 17 The Wuri River above Duala 18 Elephant Grass 19 Buea, former Seat of the German Government of Cameroon. Great Cameroon Mountains in the Background 20 View of Buea 21 The late German Governor’s Palace, Buea 22 Buea 23 Algau Cattle grazing near Buea 24 Grazing Land near Buea 25 Tobacco Plantation near Buea 26 The new Okoti Crater on the Cameroon Mountain taken from the East 27 Forest on the Cameroon Peak at an elevation of 1,800 metres 28 View of Victoria 29 Victoria, with the Great Cameroon Mountain and Little Cameroon Mountain 30 View of Ambas Bay 31 Steep Coast near Victoria 32 Botanical Gardens, Victoria 33 Office in the Botanical Gardens, Victoria 34 Buildings of the Victoria Co., Victoria 35 Vegetation in the Forest 36 {xxii} {xxiii} {xxiv} Kribi, at the Mouth of the Kribi River, the Chief Trading-place on the Coast of South Cameroon 37 Kribi 38 Low-lying Coast near Kribi 39 Mission House at Kribi 40 Boa-constrictor 41 Natives of Bule 42 Marshy Land in the Oil-palm Region near the Coast 43 Oil-palm in a Maize Field 44 Preparation of Palm-oil by Native Methods 45 Oil-palms 46 Cocoa Tree with Fruit 47 Seven-year-old Oil-palm Trees 48 The Oil-palm. Crown with Clusters of Fruit 49 Station Yard at Edea 50 The Sanaga River near Edea 51 The Sanaga River near Edea 52 Bridge over the Southern Arm of the Sanaga River (Duala-Nyong Railway) 53 Entrance to the Forest near Edea 54 Woermann Line Boats on the Sanaga River 55 Rapids in the Sanaga River 56 Maize Stores at Jaunde 57 Park-like District in a Clearing of the Forest on the Edea-Jaunde Road 58 Native Soldiers at Jaunde 59 Native Troops in Camp 60 Native Troops on Active Service 61 Native Village. Gabled Huts 62 On the Upper Nyong River 63 Colonial Troops at a Factory on the Upper Nyong River 64 Ferry Boat on the Nyong River 65 Steamer at the Landing-place of a Factory on the Nyong River 66 Collecting Rubber in the Forest 67 Dehane Rubber Plantation (Nyong River) 68 Dehane Rubber Plantation (Nyong River) 69 Manager’s House on the Dehane Rubber Plantation 70 Clearing the Ground for Planting Rubber Trees 71 Ground Cleared for Planting 72 Mixed Trees in a Plantation 73 Pay Day on a Rubber Plantation 74 A Path through the Dehane Plantation on the Nyong River 75 Natives Waiting for the Dinner Bell 76 Banana Trees on a Rubber Plantation 77 A Four-year-old Rubber Tree ready for Tapping 78 Natives at Dehane 79 Roll Call of Labourers on a Plantation 80 Elephant Grass 81 Tapping the Rubber Tree 82 Small huts for Patients suffering from Sleeping Sickness 83 Forest on the Banks of the Mungo River 84 Native Suspension Bridge over the Mungo River 85 {xxv} {xxvi} Native Suspension Bridge over the Mungo River 86 The “Mungo” German Government Steamer on the River 87 A Tree Trunk used as a Bridge 88 Village of Ninong at the Western Base of the Manenguba Mountains 89 The Elong Mountain in the Bamenda Range seen from the foot of the Manenguba Mountains 90 Forest on the Banks of the Cross River 91 Fishing on the Cross River 92 The Cross River at Nssanakang 93 Factory on the Cross River for Trading with the Natives 94 Banana Trees near Ossidinge 95 A Village in Keakaland, Ossidinge 96 Head-dress and Tribal Marks of Keaka Women 97 Native Musical Instruments in Keakaland 98 Caravan Crossing the Ndi River near Fontschanda 99 Typical Vegetation 100 A Palm Grove 101 A Suspension Bridge 102 A Suspension Bridge 103 Suspension Bridge over the Fi, near Tinto 104 Fumban in Bamum 105 Native Market at Bamum. Provisions and Kolo Nuts being Sold 106 Ndjoia, Sultan of Bamum, between two War Drums, at Fumban 107 Sultan of Bamum with the Captains of his Troops 108 Made by the Natives of Bamum 109 Trial Field for Cotton and Tobacco at the Government Station, Fumban, Bamum 110 Bamum. Note the Frieze of Animals under the Grass Roof 111 Street Scene in Bamum 112 Street Scene in Bamum 113 Street Scene in Bamum 114 A House in Bamum 115 A Street in the Women’s Quarter 116 Cotton Field near Bamum 117 Dracæna the Fetish Trees of West Africa 118 Market-place at Banjo with the Banjo Mountains in the Distance 119 The “Malam” of Banjo in Hausa State Costume 120 Banjo, a Settlement in the Interior 121 Vegetation in the Forest 122 The “Island” Mountain District in North Adamaua between Ntem and the Ribäu Slope on the Banjo Road 123 Granite Mountain in Central Cameroon 124 Sudan Natives of Central Cameroon. Wute Natives in War Costume 125 War Games of the Wute Natives 126 Woman of the Wute Tribe 127 Woman of the Wute Tribe 128 Sudan Natives in Central Cameroon. Wute Archers 129 Sudan Natives in Central Cameroon. Wutes with their War Drums 130 Hump-backed Cattle of Adamaua 131 Hump-backed Cattle of Adamaua 132 The Faro above Tschamba 133 Caravan Travelling. Resting 134 Kumbo Highlands on the way to Lake Mauwe, between Bakumbi and Banka 135 {xxvii} {xxviii} Kumbo Highlands between Banka and Lake Mauwe 136 The Remains of a Volcano in the Kumbo Highlands 137 Forest in the Highlands 138 Change from Forest to Grass Country on the broken edge of the Inner Highlands near Fontem 139 Cultivated Portions of Grass Country 140 Typical Grass Country in Bafu-Fondong, on the Great Dschang-Bamenda Road 141 Women Working in the Fields in the Grass Country, North-west Cameroon 142 Death Dance of the Natives near Dschang 143 The Chief Bafu-Fondong on his Throne 144 Tatooed Fondong Negro 145 A Chief’s Wife in the Grass Country 146 Parasites on a Tree, near the Grass Country 147 Bali Negress in the Grass Country 148 Mbo, a Fortified Station near the Grass Country 149 Kusseri, a Fortified Station in North Cameroon 150 The Resident’s House at Kusseri 151 Mecca Pilgrims at Kusseri 152 Log Path through a Swamp 153 Horsemen in North Cameroon 154 View of Elephant Lake 155 Village of Kilgrim in the Mandara Mountains 156 The Lagone River at Musgum 157 Caravan Crossing a River 158 Njoja, with his Wives and Children, sitting in front of his Palace 159 Bakwiri Women and Children Dancing 160 The Head Chief Balwen in his War Costume 161 Chieftain in Gala Attire 162 Hausa Girl at a Spring 163 Natives of North Cameroon 164 Deng-Deng, a Settlement in the Interior 165 Dikoa, a Settlement in the Interior 166 Ebolowa, a Settlement in the Interior 167 Floods near Ssigal 168 Sultan of Ngaumdere with his Bodyguard 169 Market at Ngaumdere 170 Main Buildings of the Bibundi Plantation 171 Bungalow on the Bibundi Plantation 172 Plantation in Full Bearing 173 Baia Youths 174 Baia Women 175 Dead Elephant 176 Walrus 177 A Hausa Village 178 A Native Village. Musgum Huts 179 A Native Village. Huts with Cone-shaped Roofs 180 Caravan Travelling. Hiring Carriers 181 Rubber Caravan 182 Ivory Caravan 183 Scene at an Ivory Factory 184 {xxix} {xxx} T Weighing the Ivory 185 Factory in the Interior of South Cameroon 186 Roll-call of Labourers 187 Bridging over a Ravine 188 Sawing Wood 189 Njem Woman, South Cameroon 190 Prow of a War Canoe 191 MAPS Plate Density of the Population 192 Flora 193 Fauna 194 River Basins 195 Ivory Districts 196 Chart showing Entrance to Duala from the Sea 197 Hausa Territory 198 Profile of Cameroon 199 A. F. Calvert’s Map of Cameroon 200 THE CAMEROONS DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. HE large bay or estuary in the Gulf of Guinea, lying south of Nigeria and facing the island of Fernando-Po, was discovered by Portuguese navigators in the fifteenth or sixteenth century and christened the Rio dos Camaroes (the River of Prawns), from the abundance of Crustacea that infested its waters. The name was also used to designate the neighbouring mountains, which rise to the north-west of the bay. The English usage, until the end of the nineteenth century, was to confine the term, the Cameroons, to the mountain range, and to speak of the estuary as the Cameroon River. It was left to the acquisitive Germans to extend the use of the name in its Teutonic form—Kamerun—to the whole Protectorate. The establishment of German trading firms and factories at various places on the West African coast suggested to the Imperial Chancellor the practicability of laying the foundations of his projected German Colonial Empire in the Cameroon region of the Dark Continent. On March 19th, 1884, Dr. Nachtigal, a former Consul at Tunis, was instructed to proceed on this civilising mission, and on July 5th and 6th he hoisted the German flag at Bayida and Lome, in Togoland. On the 10th of that month the English gunboat Goshawk entered the Cameroon River, and the mission’s hope of further extending the sphere of German influence on the coast of West Africa appeared doomed to extinction. But the Goshawk departed on the following day, leaving the field clear for Nachtigal, who rushed through some agreements with the chiefs Deido, Bell and Akva, declared the country to be under the protection of Germany on July 14th, and appointed Doctor Buchner Provisional Governor of the newly acquired territory. The new Governor acknowledged the protest against German occupation, which was formally made by the British Consul on July 19th, and proceeded to hoist the German flag at Bumbia, Maliba, and Batanga. In this nefarious and undignified manner the German Government obtained a foothold in the Gulf of Guinea, but it still remained for them to regulate their intrusion among the nations already established in the region. In order to solidify the position they had taken up, and, in the phrase employed by Siegfreid Passarge, “to withstand the intrigues and provocations of the English,” who laid claims to Victoria and the Rio del Rey coast, it was necessary to have the treaty of occupation confirmed. On May 7th, 1885, a treaty was concluded by which the British waived their claims in favour of Germany, who reciprocated by renouncing their nominal claims to Forcados, at the mouth of the Niger, and to St. Lucia. In the same year the French ceded Great Batanga and the island west of Kwakwa-Kriek in exchange for the German possession of Konakry. These treaties legalised the position, and Germany was left a free hand to develop her possessions in the Cameroons, under the Governorship of Baron von Goden. In July, 1911, the German cruiser Panther appeared off the coast of Morocco, at Agadir, for the alleged purpose of protecting German interests, of which no trace existed in that quarter of the globe. The incident was ultimately closed by the cession to Germany of the French territory to the south of their Cameroon colony, which was subsequently incorporated with it under the name of New Cameroon. The transfer was made in June, 1913. Under French domination, three military stations, garrisoned with a total force of four officers, twelve non-commissioned officers, and 200 native troops, had been sufficient to preserve order, but the new rulers had their own ideas as to the military requirements of their growing Empire. We read in Jahrbuch über die Deutscher Kolonien (1913) {xxxi} {xxxii} {1} {2} {3} {4} that the German defence force numbers 185 Europeans and 1,550 natives, while it was the intention of the Government to form an additional corps of mounted infantry, to establish a stud farm for the breeding of troop horses, and to arm all the troops with 98·3 carbines. Since the declaration of war in August last, Togoland has capitulated to the French and British, and the German Cameroons are now being systematically and successfully invaded by the allied forces. The political future of these territories is, as yet, undetermined, but however they may be ultimately allocated, German domination in West Africa, with its blundering mismanagement and bumptious militarism, is a chapter of colonial history that is closed for ever. THE EXPLORATION OF THE INTERIOR. Although the commercial activities of the tribes inhabiting the African Mohammedan empires, and the construction of trade routes connecting Senegal with the Red Sea, had opened up the Soudan to Europeans, the territory which since 1884 has been known as German Cameroon was practically unexplored at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1822 an English expedition succeeded in reaching Lake Tchad and exploring its western and southern boundaries. This discovery was supplemented in 1851-52 by Barth and Overweg. Barth went from Kuka to Yola, and discovered the upper course of the Benue. He penetrated further, through the country south of Lake Chad to Bagirmi. In 1854 Baikie went up the Benue, as far as Djen, about fifty kilometres from Yola. Rohlf’s journey in 1865-67 and Nachtigal’s in 1869-74 are of little importance. In 1879 began the activity of Edward Flegel, who, on the steamer Henry Benn, navigated the Benue as far as Garna. Of much greater importance were the explorations of the Benue district in 1882 and 1883, the southern limit of which was marked by the towns of Ngaumdere, Banjo, Gaschaka, and Takum. The knowledge of the coastal district was extremely limited. Burton and Mann had ascended the Cameroon mountains in 1861- 62. In 1872-75 three German scientists, Buchholz, Reichenow and Lüders, made important zoological discoveries, while Rogozinsky, a Pole, in 1883, reached as far as Lake Barombi. But all efforts to penetrate into the interior were frustrated by the impracticable condition of the roads, the unhealthiness of the coast district—which was for the greater part uninhabited virgin forest—and by the hostile attitude of the natives. After many fruitless endeavours to explore this coastal region, an expedition in 1888 succeeded in crossing from Batanga by way of Njong and Sanaga, and in settling the boundary between Bantio and Sudannegern. The effort to reach the Cameroon estuary was frustrated by the opposition of the Bakoko; and after a journey of much difficulty the expedition returned to the coast. In 1899 a station was established and a foothold secured. In the same year the region north of Duala was explored, and the forest district traversed, the plateau of Baliland was ascended, and the grassy lands reached. With indescribable difficulty the districts from Ibi on the Benue to Yola were traversed. In 1902-4 an Anglo-German expedition, after a very minute survey, fixed the boundary line between Yola and Lake Chad, and in 1908 an agreement was made between Germany and France regarding the south and east boundaries. In 1907-8 the frontier between Cameroon and the Nigerias was surveyed by the British and German representatives, and the approximate line of demarcation subsequently settled between the two Governments was fixed and marked by an Anglo-German commission in 1912-13. BOUNDARIES AND TOWNS. The Cameroons are bounded on the north-west by Nigeria, on the north-east and east by the French possessions of the Military Territory of Chad and the Middle Congo and the French possession of Gaboon. The frontier runs in a north-easterly direction from near Calabar in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria to Lake Chad, and then in a general south-south-east direction to about lat. 2° N., from whence it strikes south-west by west, reaching the Atlantic just south of Spanish Guinea, which is thus surrounded on the north, east and south by German territory. The general outline of the country thus described is broken in the middle east by a triangular piece of land which gives access to the Ubangi river, an affluent of the Congo, at Singa, in lat. 3° 40´ N.; whilst in the south-east corner a strip of land seventy miles broad runs southwards, giving access to the Congo itself in about lat. 1° S. The Protectorate, with an area of 290 square miles, had in 1913 an estimated native population of 2,650,000, and a European population of 1,871, of whom 1,643 were Germans. The chief towns on the coast, from north to south, are Victoria, Duala (the capital), Kribi, and Ukoko. Buea is a large town on the eastern slopes of the Cameroon mountain, and Edea is on the Sanaga, about forty miles from its mouth. In the mountainous region in the north-west are Bare, Dschang, Bali, Bamenda, Wum, Esu, and Kentu; to the east of these is Fumban, and to the west, in the low-lying country near the Nigerian border, Ossidinge. In the western portion of the plateau are Tibati, Banyo and Tingere, and in the centre, at the junction of the main routes of the interior, is Ngaumdere. In the country north of the plateau the chief towns are Garua, an important trading centre on the Benue, Lere, Binder, Marua, Mora, Dikoa, and Kusseri. In the southern part of the country are Yaunde, Dume, Bertua, Gaza, Carnot, Bania, Lomie, and Akoafim. Molondu is in the extreme south-east. THE PROGRESS OF THE PROTECTORATE. In the first twenty-eight years of their occupation the Germans had established courts of justice at Buea, Duala, Kribi, and Lomie, custom houses at Duala and Buea, thirty-eight post offices throughout the territory, and had maintained order among the natives by means of twelve companies of Imperial troops. They had constructed and opened 108 kilometres of the 1-m. gauge line of 160 kilometres from Duala to the Manenguæ Mountains, and had opened the central line from Duala to Widimange, on the Nyong River— a distance of 293 kilometres of 1-m. gauge line—as far as Edea, ninety kilometres from Duala. The imports had increased from 9,296,796 marks in 1898 to 29,317,514 marks in 1911, and their exports in the same period had risen from 4,601,620 to 21,250,883 marks, a total increase in the trade of the colony of nearly thirty-seven million marks. The want of means of communication was found a hindrance in the economic development of the territory, which was admittedly possessed of “unlimited liabilities.” Vast tracts in the interior were proved to be suited for cotton cultivation; oil palms, cocoa, and rubber were ascertained to {5} {6} {7} {8} {9} {10} be of “incalculable wealth,” and the Cameroons were described by Dr. Grotewold as among the most productive countries in the world. But the administration, or the critics of the administration of the Protectorate, had discovered that the lack of proper means of communication was not the only factor that retarded the progress of this richly endowed country. The unrest amongst the natives had revealed on the part of the authorities the lack of that sympathetic understanding of their native subjects which makes for successful colonisation. Their treatment of the natives was culpably injudicious, and their mistakes in dealing with them were so frequent and serious that the relations between the Government and the native population were constantly strained, and the services of the Imperial troops were in great demand. GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. The country on the whole is mountainous and forms the north-west limit of the central African plateau. The coastland is flat alluvial country spreading out on either side of the Cameroon Mountains, and broken up with mangrove swamps, lagoons and deep estuaries. The Rio del Rey region on the west of the Cameroon Mountains is a stretch of alluvial land with a breadth of thirty to forty kilometres, which forms the extreme eastern portion of the great alluvial plain extending from the Gold Coast to the Cameroon, and attaining its greatest development in the Niger Delta. Within the alluvial the volcanic massive of the Cameroon Mountain rises to a height of 4,070 m., and divides the land into two parts, which are connected only by a small and high strip of territory. To the east of the dividing mountain lies Dualaland. The other three orographical regions which comprise the Cameroon country includes the Cameroon plateau, which forms the largest and most important part of the colony; the enormous region of Adamana, which is generally level and nowhere reaches an elevation of more than 600 metres; and the extensive swampy lands of the Lake Chad basin which are under water during several months of the year. The greater part of the colony is covered with red, loamy, sandy weatherings, which are characteristic of the tropics. If this red earth contains hard concretions of brown iron ore, they are named “Laterit.” These cellular-like volcanic scoria are characteristic of the surface of the soil generally, and especially in those districts where the loamy deposits have been washed away by heavy rains. Vegetable soil is more abundant in the rainy regions of the south, and also in the lowlands. Indeed the result of this humid weathering is a kind of whitish yellowy kaolin, or china clay, which is found in the south plateau. A blackish mould to a thickness of one or two feet covers the lowland south of Lake Chad, and is there called “Firki.” Whilst in the south of the colony red and yellow clayey soil preponderates, the further north one goes to the dryer regions, reddish sand, a product of the physical weathering, is to be found. CLIMATE. In the coast region of the Cameroons the climate is warm and moist, with a high rainfall. The temperature is not excessively high, the heat being tempered by the cold Benguela current coming northward from the Polar regions. According to Knox (The Climate of Africa) February is the warmest month and July the coolest, the maximum and minimum temperatures being 89·7° F. and 66° F. respectively. The mean temperature at Victoria and Duala is about 77° F. The coast is one of the most unhealthy places in Africa, but the conditions are considerably better and more suited to Europeans in the high-lying districts in the north. The climate of the latter is largely of the continental type, characterised by extremes of temperature. At Bali the mean temperature is about 64° F., the maximum 87° to 90° F., and the minimum 43° to 45° F. At Fort Crampel, on the eastern side of the plateau, the maximum temperature reaches 113° F., and the minimum 49° F. On the Ngaumdere plateau it is sometimes very cold, and sleet storms are not uncommon, the temperature sometimes falling to 37° F. As regards rainfall, there are as a rule four more or less distinct seasons in the southern and central regions—the chief dry season at the beginning of the year, the so-called long wet season from June to September, a short dry season in October and November, and a short period of great rainfall in part of November and in December—but the divisions indicated are by no means well marked. The Adamana district, situated on the north of the plateau, lies beyond the equatorial beet, and there are consequently only two seasons, one wet and one dry. The massive of the Cameroon Mountains presents a district which is singular with regard to its climate, vegetation and animal life. At its base is a primeval forest, and the climate is tropical and humid. Debundja and Bibundo have practically no dry season, the rain being continuous nearly the whole year round. On the east side, the rainy season lasts for only two to three months in the year. Buea, which lies on the lower slopes of the misty region, has a fresh, cool climate, and is quite free from malaria. The temperature varies frequently, in some cases from 1·5° to 2° Cent. in the course of two or three minutes. Instead of the usual heavy tropical rains, it has only a drizzling rain, and the humidity penetrates everywhere, even the dwellings. On the upper slopes, when the north-east wind blows, it is icy cold, except at midday. Hoar frost is frequent and snow fairly so. The mountain is nearly always cloud-capped, and it is seldom possible to obtain a really clear view of the summit. VEGETATION AND FORESTRY. The combination of tropical heat and rain in the alternate regions of forests and brushwood swamps produces a tropical growth of cocoa palms, cotton plants, flax and fibrous trees, and rubber vines in prodigal luxuriance and variety. The virgin forests are tropical to a height of about 1,000 m., when they become less dense, and the oak ferns make their appearance. Between 1,500 and 1,800 m. the wild coffee shrub grows abundantly, the oak ferns disappear, and are succeeded by glades and brushwood. At an altitude of 2,200 m. the forest suddenly comes to an end and the grass land begins. Only in the ravines, in which the soil is moist and sheltered from the winds, the forest continues to the 2,700 m. level. The high forest—the most magnificent of all tropical forest formations—is characterised by its amazing variety of entirely different trees, including, among others, the great wool tree, the mahogany tree, the yellow and red wood trees, the oil-palm, and rubber. Among the trees of the brushwood districts the principal are acacias and the oil- {10} {11} {12} {13} {14} {15} palm, which to a height of from 700 to 900 m. covers the slopes of the Cameroon plateau to the coast. The chief planting activity appears to have been at Johann-Albrechts-Höhe, and in the Dibombari district on the Northern Railway. A forestry plantation at Manoka, near Duala, was abandoned on account of its remoteness, the difficulty of water supply, and the constant lack of labour. The principal work for the making of forest and state reserves has been conducted in Yabassi, Yaunde, Edea, and Dschang. The efforts of the forest department and of private persons have been concerned mainly with: (a) Investigations of woods suitable for beams, wharves, and for boat and waggon building; (b) trials of woods resistant to teredo navalis for small boats; and (c) experimental shipments to German South-West Africa of woods serviceable for building, mining and street paving. A large increase, amounting to 270 per cent. in the production of building and other timber, took place in 1911. The first place in the exports is held by Cameroons mahogany, which is stated to be increasing gradually in value in the market; its exports having risen in value from £7,022 in 1910 to £22,000 in 1912. The next wood in importance is Cameroons ebony, the exports of which have been as follows: 1909, 672 tons, worth £3,038; 1910, 1,221 tons, worth £6,090; 1911, 1,652 tons, worth £6,777; whilst in 1912 the value of the shipment was £9,055. The increase of exports has been largely due to an increase of cutting by the natives, and this has entailed a considerable amount of robbery by them. As a consequence, timber exploitation on Government lands was entirely prohibited to natives in the period 1912-13, and concessions were given to Europeans with much caution; a decrease in the production was therefore expected. A difficulty regarding the exploitation of timber in the Cameroons is the lack of good waterways in the forest regions. CATTLE RAISING. In spite of the very great difficulties caused by the tsetse fly, much attention has been paid to stock-breeding in the Cameroons, although with the exception of certain efforts made in Kusseri, in the extreme north, and in Garua, in Adamana, nothing in the nature of methodical horse-breeding by natives exists. The indigenous cattle are of two kinds, the dwarf cattle and the humped cattle. Cattle- breeding in the proper sense is only found among the Fulla tribe in Adamana, in Banyo and the Lake Chad regions. From these places there was once an active export of cattle to the neighbouring British and French Protectorates, but this has been diminished in recent years owing to a large export duty. The interest in cattle-production on the part of the natives has been increased in recent years, under official encouragement, in the districts of Dschang and Bamenda. The Fulla cattle are greatly prized in the central districts, in which, by reason of the ravages of the tsetse fly, no cattle can be bred, and when railway communication has cleared the infected regions, a thriving cattle export industry to the coast will be developed. The increased prosperity of the rubber districts of the south, especially Molondu, Dume and Lomie, has led, in recent years, to a demand for meat among the natives, and this has been supplied from the Hausa and Fulani herds. In 1911 about 20,000 head of large stock and 8,000 of small stock were sent from Adamana to the south, and this is estimated to mean an exchange between the north and the south to the value of about £150,000. As is usual in West Africa, the natives possess neglected goats, sheep and fowls, and in some cases pigs, though this is only true...