establishments, and regular communication is maintained
as far as Lake Kivu. Thence down the East Coast as far
as Ujiji the land has been fairly occupied by the Germans.
As for Ujiji, the difference between what Mr. Decle
saw and what it is now is most surprising. A fortnight
after he left it the improvement began. An English
traveller last year declared that its population amounted
to 20,000 ; that it was arranged in one long, wide street,
lined with mango trees ; that the government buildings
were of stone and double-storeyed ; and that it held a
garrison of 200 soldiers.
The greatest changes have, however, occurred in Uganda
and British East Africa. British authority has been established
over all the regions between Lake Victoria and the
White Nile. There is a strong administration supported
by Indian troops in Uganda. Indian merchants have
established businesses there, and the exports for 1896
amounted to .£30,000. The whites now number about
250 ; Christian work is represented by 378 churches and
100,000 converts. Mombasa is connected by a long bridge
with the mainland, and the head of the great railway is
now near the 150th mile from the coast. Two steamers
have been floated on the Nyanza, and a good road, suitable
for waggons, runs between the rail-head and the lake
shores. Loaded porters perform the journey in much less
than ninety days, while one bicyclist has been known to do
it in twenty-one days.
Il is safe to say that since Mr. Decle’s time over 6000
whites have settled along his line of march, and when we
think that each white, on an average, has ten blacks in his
service, we can form an estimate of the improvements that
are being made with 60,000 labourers.
Great, however, as has been the advance during the last
four years in the heart of “ savage Africa,” it is nothing to
what it will be four years hence. Rhodesia is only just
beginning to feel the benefits of its new railway, but by
January, 1902, the country will be permeated by railways,
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the Zambezi will be joined by rail to Nyasa, while we
may well hope that the locomotive will have reached the
headwaters of the Nile. With the aid of the ox-waggon
and the fickle pagazi the white civilizer did wonders ; but
the locomotive, which is the great labour-saving machine
for Africa, will have increased his powers many fold,
and in the future we shall hear no more of stirring
incidents, disasters, and distresses, such as Mr. Decle
relates.
With this rapid glance at Mr. Lionel Decle’s personality,
unique journey, and its vivid record, I heartily
recommend the narrative to English readers for its intrinsic
interest, and the greatness of the achievement.
HENRY M. STANLEY.
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