Charles Eliot

“ The main difficulty for cotton-planting, however, as well as for other industries on the coast, is the scarcity of labour, but I think it can be met in two ways. Firstly, Indians should be induced to settle in the country. I do not think they should be allowed to hold land in the highlands among Europeans, nor are they likely to be attracted by either the climate or class of agriculture which is profitable there; but they are wanted on the coast where the natives are few and indolent, and where the country and its products strongly resemble Southern India. ”

“ It was only during the construction of this railway that people became alive to the fact that the road to Uganda was more valuable than Uganda itself.
The peculiarity of the East Africa Protectorate is that, though it is equatorial, large parts of it possess a temperate climate which has been shown, by an experience now amounting to about fifteen years, to be suitable to Europeans. Not only can they reside continuously in the country, but they can rear children there. ”

“ All this part of the Protectorate is a game reserve in which no shooting is allowed, with the result that the most extraordinary spectacle of wild and fearless animal life may be seen quite close to the train. ”

“ Secondly, I think that Uganda and East Africa should be treated as a whole, and the dense and intelligent population of the former Protectorate encouraged to migrate into select areas of the latter, due precaution being taken to prevent the spread of the sleeping sickness. The proposal to send natives of Uganda to work in the mines of South Africa did not seem to me feasible, but I see no reason why they should not be encouraged to labour for a period as cultivators on the coast of East Africa, which is comparatively near their own country and not unlike it. ”

“ It is difficult to make those who have not seen the country believe that it recalls an English summer landscape with its green lanes and sunny parks, and one often feels that it would not be out of keeping to see some village spire rising above the trees, which are so curiously European in appearance. ”

“ Nothing, however, is more likely to stimulate traffic and the need of communication than the development of Uganda and the establishment in its neighbourhood of colonies of Europeans connected with South Africa by business interests. The fact that such colonists from South Africa are actually settling in considerable numbers in the neighbouring East Africa Protectorate will probably prove of great importance for the future of the country and determine the direction of its development. ”

“ Politically the East Africa Protectorate is less important than Uganda—that is to say, it does not contain many points which are of strategic value or affect the neighbouring lands. But it offers a series of excellent harbours along the coast, and since ships could be supplied with practically unlimited quantities of meat and European vegetables, it might be valuable as a provisioning station in time of war. ”

“ The grazing of the Rift Valley is decidedly good, but the idea prevalent among many Europeans in East Africa that it is better than in other parts may be erroneous, and it is probable that the pasturage on the higher levels of the Mau escarpment is really superior, though the land has not been crazed down by native flocks, as, owing to tribal quarrels and the coldness of the climate, the natives do not much frequent the upper regions.
The Mau escarpment bounds the railway on the west, and its level, excluding peaks, is often as much as 9,000 feet. ”

“ Here the quantity of stock attests the excellence of the pasture, and one may sometimes see the curious spectacle of gazelles which have strayed into the flocks grazing unconcernedly among the sheep and the native herdsmen. ”

“ In North America the negroes are most successful as clergymen and lawyers, and in Africa serous difficulties can often be avoided if they are heard with a large patience and the aggrieved parties are allowed to argue for two or three days. Secondly, though native reserves are a good thing if they mean that the land necessary to natives is secured for their use and cannot be taken up by Europeans, they are not a good thing if they mean that natives are to be left to themselves, and that no attempt is to be made to induce the nomadic tribes to adopt a settled life and abandon raiding. ”

“ In any case it is clearly most important that the power which occupies Egypt should also occupy Uganda, for a rival in the possession of the sources and upper course of the Nile might have opportunities of seriously injuring the territories which depend on its rise and fall. Uganda has another aspect which is important for Egypt and the Sudan. It is a Christian native state. Probably in no part of the world have the efforts of missionaries met with such rapid and thorough success. Elementary education and a taste for European civilization are generally diffused ”

“ For practical purposes the healthiness of the coast is increased by the proximity of the highlands, which can be reached in twenty-four hours from Mombasa when a change of air is needed. The chief products of the lowlands are rubber, copra, mangrove, bark (which is used for tanning) , and various kinds of valuable fibre. The indigenous rubber, which is obtained from a creeper called landolphia, is of good quality and plentiful in many districts, particularly in the forests near Melindi and Witu. It is also found in various parts of the highlands, and is abundant in Uganda. ”

“ The Germans have seriously undertaken the task of investigating and improving their possessions, and their long coast line, which in many parts possesses a rich and fertile hinterland within easy distance of the sea, has enabled them to obtain gratifying results. But they also suffer, though in a less degree than the Italians and Portuguese, from want of communication with the interior, and the consequent difficulty of maintaining order or encouraging trade. ”

“ Around Mazeras there is a good deal of cultivation, but shortly after it begins the least profitable and most uninteresting part of the journey—the Taru Jungle, a belt of forest and scrub nearly two hundred miles wide, which divides the highlands from the coast This jungle contains very little visible water, but the fact that it supports a thick vegetation, and that the land responds with a wonderful outburst of green and flowers to every shower, or the most rudimentary irrigation, indicates that the soil is rich and may some day be utilized. ”

“ The first is that British officials should make a more strenuous attempt to learn native languages. There can be no doubt that many quarrels which have led to serious and costly punitive expeditions could have been amicably settled had the parties been able to discuss the situation in any common language, for it must be remembered that the greatest talent and one of the great passions of the African is the use of words. ”

“ In view of the power which Islam has shown of spreading among African races, and the damage done on the Upper Nile by the Khalifa and the Dervishes, the existence of this Christian state must be regarded as a great guarantee for the preservation of peace. ”

“ This surprising fact seems most improbable to those who are not acquainted with the Protectorate, but it must be remembered that temperature and climate depend on elevation as much as on geographical position. The best-known equatorial countries—such as West Africa, Brazil, and the Malay Archipelago—are comparatively low and flat. It is only rarely, as in Bolivia and East Africa, that we find the much rarer combination of equatorial position and considerable altitude. ”

“ East Africa, on the other hand, is, as a rule, a green country, and offers a rich spread of grass. Severe drought is rare, and, it would seem, always partial The famine of 1897 was formidable because there were no means of communication to combat it; but had the Uganda Railway then been in existence it might have been easily overcome. ”

“ It would appear that the majority of white immigrants into East Africa are South Africans. It has often been suggested that they were not the best class of colonists for the country, and it was suggested that New Zealanders or Australians would be preferable, But the fact of the preponderance of South Africans, if it proves to be true, must be accepted, and is likely to have important consequences which can hardly be disadvantageous as tending to draw two British Colonies together. Among those consequences may be the opening up from Uganda of. ”

“ It is somewhat difficult to define their extent, as the country at some distance from the railway is not known as well as it should be, but the belt of good land is about three hundred miles wide in the part where it is traversed by the railway, and it is gratifying to report that those who explore the less-known districts nearly always report the discovery of fine land in some unexpected place. ”

“ Since the Government has changed their policy and begun to favour European immigration, which they did not in practice encourage until the autumn of last year, the country has made most rapid strides, and the increase in trade and general prosperity is greater than the most sanguine would have dared to anticipate twelve months ago. ”

“ It thus affects our two most important interests in the Continent In Northern Africa we have chosen Egypt and the east as our sphere rather than Morocco and the west. Now, the main factor in the prosperity and safety of Egypt is the Nile, and by the possession of Uganda we control the whole course of this river from its double source in Lakes Victoria and Albert to its mouth in the Mediterranean. ”

“ He also says that the cultivation of ramie fibre in Kikuyu promises to be a certain success. Land is rising rapidly in value, and he thinks that some of the best land near the railway will touch £20 per acre. The timber on the Mau is reported to be excellent both in quality and quantity, and a large concession is being arranged for working the forests, which will probably involve the construction of a branch line. The only crop which has been a failure is cotton, from which great things were expected. ”

“ We know that these tribes are not incurably nomadic, for many have settled down within the last few generations, and no effort should be spared to make the Masai and other races adapt themselves to new conditions, for the continuance of their wandering and predaceous habits can only mean their rapid extinction. ”

“ It is said that hotels and a bank are being constructed, which will certainly add to the comfort and possibly to the appearance of the town. Nairobi, though not beautiful in itself, is the connecting link between two dissimilar regions, each very beautiful in its own way. ”

“ The country has definitely thrown in its lot with Christianity, and—here is the point—it is anti-Mohammedan. It is, therefore, not likely to originate any fanatical movement, and forms a barrier against the spread of any such movement southwards. ”

“ The commonest animals are zebras, a large antelope, called the hartebeest, of somewhat bovine appearance, and two very graceful smaller antelopes, yellowish, with a black stripe, known as Grant's and Thomson's gazelle. ”

“ Leaving Mombasa at noon, it reaches Makindu at the end of the jungle very early in the morning, and about sunrise 3ie traveller awakens between 8,000 and 4,000 feet above the sea-level, and in scenery which will astonish him if he is making the journey for the first time, and make him think he has travelled several thousand miles and not two hundred and fifty, which is the actual distance. The air is clear and cool and the grass dewy. ”

“ It would appear, however, that inexpensive engineering works would suffice to prevent such disasters in the future, and, apart from this, there are many other places where cotton can be grown without danger of inundation—notably, the Lamu Archipelago, a group of islands close to the mainland, and somewhat resembling those of South Carolina and Georgia. ”