Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-09-04


new franchise law. 1t has caused
feeling OF relief in South Africa.
TROPICAL SCENES.
The following letter written by Jack
Rogers, formerly of Marshalltown,
gives some entertaining views OF trip
up the east coast of Africa. The letter
was addressed to his mother, Mrs. NJ.
L. Rogers, Of Anaheim, Cal. Some
weeks ago Mr.. Rogers took his depar-
ture from Johannesburg, South Africa,
for London, sailing by way Of the east
coast. through the Red sea, the Suez
canal and the Mediterranean to Naples;
thence overland to Paris and across the
channel to London. From the letter
we are permitted to take the following
extracts:
Royal Portuguese Steamer vianzler,
July 90, 1S99.-My Dear Mere: In two
days we will have finished our sea voy-
age and arrived at Naples. The voyage
has been interesting in the extreme, but
at times the tropical heat was almost
unbearable. l can not attempt to. give
you a full account of he trip, but will
outline in about thirty minutes the yoy-i
age it has taken us over the same num-
Der of days to accomplish.
Leaving johannesburg on the 2Sth of
June, we arrived at Durham, the gar
den city of Natal, on the following eve;
ming. You are already familiar with
Durham from the description and pho
ltos sent you at the time of my visit
there in April. AS we did not leave
there until the LIST of July, l had an OPP
portunity of looking up several johann
nesburg friends and seeing again some
of the more interesting features of the
place.
We sailed from Durham the forenoon
of July LIST and put in at Delagoa bay
the following afternoon. In entering
the harbor we ran alongside the United
States cruiser Chicago. 1t seemed like
meeting an old friend to see Old Glory
again.
The town of Lourenco Marques is at
the head of Delagoa bay and is the
capital Of Portuguese East Africa. 1t
is the nearest seaport having direct
railway connection with the Witwaters-
rand. and consequently does a big i'm
porting and forwarding business.
The town itself is not interesting.
There are few handsome residences.
the various consulates and governors
houses on the Beria, high bluff over
looking the harbor. The business por-
ton of the town, especially the Arab
quarter, is very dirty. Every other
person one meets is a uniformed Portu-
guese official or soldier.
We left Lourenco Marques on the
afternoon of July Sd. and arrived at
Neira, a town built UP and governed by
chartered company under Portuguese
rule. on the 9Th of July. The town is
built on narrow sand spit and Is prac-
tically surrounded by water at high
tide. This town Is of considerable i'm
portance, as it is the direct base of sup
ply to Mashonaland and Matabeleland
and is connected by a two-foot gauge
railway with Bulawago. Cecil Rhodes
pet town, Beira. is a decidedly un-
| healthy place, the death rate ranging
| from to 20 per cent of the European
population during the different seasons
of the year. There are no horses or
| wagons in the place. The streets are
nothing but heavy sand that an animal
/ could not possibly travel through. The
| principal streets (there are only two)
/ have double track tram lines and all the
| traffic of the town, which consists prin-
| cipally OF funerals, is carried on by
/ rail, the motive being east coast ne
groes. We spent the night at Beira an6
left the following day for the old Por-
tuguese town of Mozambique, arriving
there on the afternoon of July 8.
4 The town is built on small island
and is the most important of the Portu
gese possessions in East Africa. 1t |!
strongly fortified and garrisoned by
something over 1000 troops. The forti
i fications are now out of date, but wer,
marvels of strength at the time they
were built.
The streets as rule are very mar
row, but are all we'll macadamized and
kept in good condition. The building,
are all of the same general design
massive walls, large windows, higi
ceilings and flat, concrete roofs-ant
are delightfully."- cool. IL not elegant
We were entertained by the British
consul, and afterwards shown over tn
Notifications by Portuguese officers.
We remained at Mozambique "a hours
and after a two days sail, put in a
Dar-es- Salaam, the capital of German
East Africa.
I forgot to say that at all ports nortl
of Durham / have mentioned. we use
, the Portuguese money, the RE being tn
| standard. There are about 10 ries to
cent. 1t rather staggers one not use
. to the money system to be charged
couple of thousand ries for meal.
AT Dar-es- Salaam they use the India
money standard-the rupee, anna an
pice. The rupee Is worth about 80 cents
The anna is 1-16 of rupee and the pic
> 1-64 rupee.
Dar-es- salaam is quite moder
] town and is substantially built Their
. is little here except the public building
: and the residences OF the German off
! Gals. Our party spent the evenin
, aboard German man-of-war that wa
: lying in the harbor. the guest OF one {
: the German officers who came up tn
{ coast with us.
Our next port was Zanzibar. We al
Y rived there on the morning Of the 12t
n and left on the evening Of the 18th. w
e enjoyed our stay here immensely. 1t
1 a city OF. say. 10000 inhabitants, all toll
4 mostly Indians and East Coast Negroe
but with number OF Arabs, Turks, ct
: The European population II very SINAI
The town 10 governed by q mucl
: married sultan. although the whole u
: land is practically in the possession