White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-03-10

WdlO lOl LOU uullcS, W IllO hCW
istrative capital, Yaounde.
To reach the terminus Of the first
the Chemin de Fer du Nord-one
crosses the Douala river to the village
of Bonaberi
The daily train, following the ig-
noble custom of civilization, leaves at
fendishly early hour, an hour when
the tleecy dawn mists lie on the river,
permeate ones clothes, and unglue the
labels from the baggage. Passengers
of both colors intensely dislike each
other, as is natural before breakfast,
and embarkation is accompanied by
profanity in something over thirty Ian
guageS.
The engine burns wood, frequently
such trides as ebony and mahogany,
and the rain of blazing sparks makes
it incumbent upon the passengers to re-
main close within the carriages.
Almost at once, however, the multi
plicity and grandeur Of Cameroun be-
come manifest, and one can no longer
be dull.
All the way to Nkongsamba the line
climbs upward, slowly for three-quar-
tiers Of the distance, then sheerly. For
the first six hours the route lies
through the region of the great equa-
torial forest.
At either side of the narrow cut
rear up the mighty, regimented trees.
The tops, flaring fiat and wide to take
the sun, are often 200 feet above the
ground. Some Of the trunks are four
feet through and all are wrapped and
tangled in vines that make a continu.
Gus, eternal pattern. Bushes, weeds,
ferns the size of apple trees, choke
the ground. Everything is green,
superbly living in immortal summer.
Plantations and UpIands.
Occasionally the forest breaks and
the train passes plantations of tobacco
Certain grades Of Cameroun wrapper
sell for $3.50 a pound wholesale),
banana, palm oil, and cacao. Less fire.
quently, there are native villages of
half dozen ramshackle "long houses"
of the Bantu type, and now and then
larger towns with the ubiquitous cor.
IuSdISQ hun ldCIOly III CNAOCdSVs
Then, on higher ground, the train
begins to go through open clearings,
stretches of lush, rolling meadowland
Of a sort unimaginable in ordinary
tropical "bush." The trees begin to
dwindle, the vegetation thins down and
becomes more orderly. At a few miles
from Nkongsamba there is no more
! Jungle, only what northerner would
accurately call woods" The equato.
rial forest, in less than 100 miles and,
more Importantly, with 5000 feet of
altitude, has been forced out.
From Nkongsamba an auto goes 1877
miles north and little east to the ma.
tive city Of Foumban. 1t is lovely
road, speaking strictly from the stand.
point of scenery, not roadbed.
Foumban Is Surprising.
After a firing days drive in
bumpy truck, Foumban is astonishing,
so complete is its contrast with what
has gone before. The city stands upon
! a hill and is surrounded by an elab-
| crate system of ancient trench fortifi-
| cations dating from the years Of the
| Fulah raiders. The trees, which have
been planted along every street, give it
a wooded effect wholly absent among
the neighboring grass meadows. One
| has an immediate impression of order,
prosperity, civilization.
Many of the houses of Foumban are
! of sun-dried brick and are rooted with
native tiles or grass thatch. The com.
| pound fences are neatly constructed.
| The market, made of brick and tile, is
| modern in type and perfectly clean
| At the center of the town is an impos.
| ing three-story structure set in the
midst Of elaborate gardens.
| 1t is the palace of Njoya, sultan OF
| the Bamoum and overload Of Foumban
Everything-order, bricks, and garden
| is indigenous. Foumban existed
when the white man was no more than
myth. Even now outside influences
! have touched it only slightly.
The sultan and the majority Of his
| people are Mohammedans. In accord.
| ance with the curious rule that people
of the African deserts and prairies
readily adopted Mohammedanism, and
that the people Of the African forests
almost invariably did not, the Bamoum
scarcely recall time when their life
was not strongly Influenced by the
Arabic belief.
y In the center of the town, facing the
sultan's palace is the mosque, frame
building of strongly Moorish type, even
to the vertical stripes Of red and white
paint. Here, every Friday, the elite OF
the Bamoum gather.