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

prepared by National Geographic Society
TN THE Who's Who of former Ger
man colonies in Africa, now man
4 dates under the control of the vari-
GUS European nations, Cameroun
stands out as one of the most interest
ing. Wedged in between French and
British territory at the inner corner
Of the Gulf Of Guinea on the western
coast, it was "Kamerun" to the Ger
mans. Now it has become French
mandate and is governed along with
French Equatorial Africa, a stable
empire under the tricolor.
Cameroun is vast territory itself.
1t touches the sea for distance Of
about 125 miles, and then fans out
gigantically to reach the Sahara to the
north, the Oubangui river to the east,
and Gabon colony at it's lower boun-
dairy.
The steamer which carries the trav-
eler to this out-of-the-way objective
passes through 19-mile channel be-
tween the huge guardian masses of the
island of Fernando Pc on one side and
Mount Cameroons on the other, and
turns eastward into the mouth Of a
broad estuary. To the south stretches
an endless vista of low mangrove
swamp. On the left, 60 miles away,
Is the mountain, it's peak rarely visible
in so humid a climate.
In midstream, to the annoyance Of
the captain, is the wreckage of two
German ships deliberately sunk at the
beginning of the World war to OBJ
struct the passage.
After several slow miles upstream
'Douala, the "big-town," becomes Wis
ible. 1t lies on fat-topped, not very
lofty, promontory and continues behind
the promontory along a glazing beach
and billy ridge. The effect, especially
after month of sea, is charming.
Douaa Is Attractive.
The big house of the chief of the
local administrative division of the
mandate appears white, elegant, and
richly shaded in the foreground.
the hill, are other sturdy, pretty stucco
residences, mango, palm, and bread
fruit trees overhanging them; and, of
course, along the water front are the
inevitable and inevitably ugly trading
factories" their galvanized iron roofs
shimmering in the violence Of the sun.
On closer examination Douala proves
at once the prettiest and the plainest
Of West African cities. 1t is ques-
ton of neighborhood. On the palm of
the fiat Douala promontory the Ger
mans established an exclusive white
residential quarter, complete with
parks, bandstand, and double or quad
ripple lines of trees on every street.
Alnog the wrist and forearm, to con-
tinue the metaphor, they planned a
native and trading section which could
continue inland upriver as far as it
liked, incorporating as it grew the
existing villages of Akwa, Deido, New
Bell, New Akwa, and New Deido. I'm
times these town names threaten to
become repetitious.)
This arrangement, substantially, has
kept up, though the French govern
ment has made no effort to enforce it.
The section Immediately around the
park, enlivened by the presence of
several cafes, is the best shaded, most
serenely quiet and lovely bit of town
on the coast.
For the rest-for the miles of deep,
hot sand along the rivers edge, the
lnnumerable hideous stores and ware
houses, the noisy recklessness of dilap-
idated auto trucks and even more
dilapidated native laborers-one can
cially flourishing and trade is growing,
at least. 1t is the one logical outlet
for the produce of the entire interior.
and the harbor is excellent In thirty
years the population has grown from
negligibility to over $4,000, more than
1000 Of whom, are Europeans
Douala will never be proud of its
climate. In the dry season it is hot,
breathless beyond belief. A tempera.
ture of so degrees Is absolutely chilly.
And in the rainy season one sloshes
about in high boots and a raincoat
through an almost continual downpour,
which, mysteriously, does little to mod
ify the temperature. The average an
nual rainfall here is more than Is
feet, and at one place on the st
the precipitation reaches the phenom-
email figure Of SO feet.
To the Interior by Rail.
The two Cameroun railways center
ct Douala. One runs due north for
100 miles to the terminal town of
Nkongsamba. The other which has
i Il a ..