GERMAN EAST AFRICA

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 6, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 27.

GERMAN EAST AFRICA.

THIS important colony, which our missionaries have recently entered, lies on the Indian Ocean, extending inland from 250 to 300 miles. The estimated area is 345,000 square miles, about the size of Texas and Indian Territory. The population is estimated at 1,700,000. The government of the country is in the hands of the East Africa Company, and an imperial commissioner. The development of the trade resources of the country, much of which has never been visited by Europeans, has also been entrusted to this company. The company is gradually establishing trading-posts, and opening up new routes to the Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tanganyika. Important articles of export are ivory, gum, copal, caoutchouc, and sesame seed.

On the north, and just within the boundary, is Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest peaks in Africa. It rises 19,700 feet above sea-level, almost four miles in perpendicular height. Tho it is in the Torrid Zone, and only 180 miles south of the Equator, it is capped with perpetual snow.

The Usambara Railroad, now being constructed by the government from the port of Tanga inland, has been completed about fifty miles. It is being pushed on through the cotton plantations as rapidly as possible toward the great mountain, 170 miles from the ocean. It is expected that cotton fields will be planted in this section to such an extent as to supply all the home mills. This promising region, as also the British territory just north of it, known in ancient times as Ethiopia, bids fair to be a fruitful field for the Master's kingdom.

Referring to Ethiopia reminds us of Abyssinia, which is a somewhat progressive “empire” within that region of ancient note. It is a country in which the Sabbath of the Lord never has been entirely lost sight of, and where (shall we not say for that reason?) the natives never have descended to the low level of moral and civil character that has marked the fall of other African peoples. We hope to see this particular field entered soon with the last message of the Gospel of the kingdom.