The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-09-19
DARK CONTINENT
NOW ALL READY
FOR A BIG BOOM
Clearing Up of the Colonial
Situation Opens Up
All Africa

Through the redistribution Of CO.
lonial possessions and the removal of
the blight of German domination, At
RIGA bids fair to be the boom CONT
nent' of the Twentieth Century"
says a bulletin of the National Geo
graphic Society.
With that introduction the society
announces a series of bulletins deal
ing with colonies of the erstwhile
Ozark Continent" First of these is
Mozambique, which, it is explained,
is Portuguese colony south of what
was German East Africa, now, releas-
ed from the imperial designs of Ger
man African expansion and therefore
extremely likely to play a more con-
spicuous part in African develop
ment. A description of Mozambique,
based on a communication from O..
w, Barrett, follows:
"a country as big as the Atlantic
states from Florida to New York,
with the capital near the southern
boundary and half dozen smaller
towns scattered along the coast;
more than 3 million inhabitants of
which only about / per cent are
white; one of the oldest of all Eu-
ropean possessions and one of the
richest in agricultural Possibilities, but
one of the least known countries in
the world. Such is Mozambique.
-Four or five good ports and as
many bad ones; five towns and
small but up to date capital city, and
generous number of military posts
and outposts, a few of which are in
the real raw interior; millions of
acres of the finest alluvial soil fairly
aching to show the farmer what big
Grips may be grown; waterways like
the Zambes, the Limpopo, and plen-
ty of smaller ones to allow cheap
handling of products; n deserts, no
salt sinks, no large swamps, no
mountainous wastes, no impenetrable
jungles; out of some twenty only one
or two tribes that object seriously IL
paying taxes to the government, now
that they realize that the tax col
lector is vital organ of the white
tribe, which objects to any one tribe
exterminating another in the good
old way.
"The early history of this strange
section of East Africa should not be
even if it could be, written. We know
the old time black was as bad as a
barbarian can be, and the endless
tale of persistent, widespread and
continuous butchery would not be
good to read.
"The Zulus have had for centuries
a superstitious fear of salt water, and
so, when Chaka, Dingaan, and their
brother fends have devastated prac-
tically adj the country between Zu-
luland and Inhambane, wiping out
kraals and even whole tribes by
scores, they came to a long chain of
lakes, the lower Inharrime parallel
with the coast, and there they
stopped, thus saving one tribe of true
pure blood kafirs who had fed over
onto the dunes, and low, bushy hills
between the rosary of brackish la
goons and the Indian ocean. This
tribe, the M'chopis, is the purest if
not the only unmixed kair tribe now
in existence.
AT ONE DANCE 5000 NATIVES
"At Quesico we had the good for
tune to witness batuque, OF ball,
lasting nearly three days, at which
about three thousand fine specimens,
mostly adults, were present. To de-
scribe the weird minor music of the
marimbas, or huge zylophones, the
blood freezing death chants, the
thrilling war songs, the expression
dances of both women and men, and
rites and divination ceremonies which
the witch doctors were induced to
show us would require much space.
"The young girls dance Of the
M 'chopi tribe requires several years
of practice before the difficult poses
and contortions can be successfully
performed. Ankle rattles are worn
by the girls. These hollow spheres
are made of palm leaf or grass, if
not young gourd fruits, ana are part
ly filled with large seeds, pebbles,
etc. The noise of these ankle rattles
is supposed to assist in keeping time
in the dance. This is probably Zulu
custom, and even today in civilized
Durham the ricksha boys frequently
wear similar ornaments.
"Near Mopea, three days up the
Zambesi, we passed through two
small native lraals in which the lions
had eaten 18 natives in three months
previous. 1t is quite impossible to
hunt these man-eaters on account of
the tall, rank grass flour to six feet
hlgh,) and, since the ysoon learn that
two or three cuffs will make a big
hole in the side of an ordinary hut,
the poor native must roost high or
die"