United States or Marshall Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And then, as, breathless, we waited to see what once was a Kroo boy float to the surface, he would appear sputtering and grinning, and saying to us as clearly as a Kroo smile can say it: "He never touched me!" Two days after we had stored away the mahogany we anchored off Duala, the capital of the German Cameroons.
Duala, Bernardo and Morales were passed, the road climbing all the time, the mountain ranges of Santa de Moa and Santa Verde rising sentinel-like on either side. The trail was obviously one for the saddle rather than for a cart, but Stuart rightly guessed that Vellano was afraid that his captive might escape if he had a separate mount.
"In declaring my willingness to relate our experiences during the defence and surrender of Duala and my experiences in English captivity, my motive was not to add fuel to the fires of hate against England. But it would be an injustice if we were silent concerning English outrages.
Duala is built upon a high cliff, and from the water the white and yellow buildings with many pillars gave it the appearance of a city. Instead, it is a clean, pretty town. With the German habit of order, it has been laid out like barracks, but with many gardens, well-kept, shaded streets, and high, cool houses, scientifically planned to meet the necessities of the tropics.
In Bell Town at Duala I walked for miles through streets lined with such huts and gardens, and saw whole families, the very old as well as the very young, sitting contentedly in the shade of their trees, or at work in their gardens.
A few well-directed shots from the big guns of the Cumberland, and the fort was silenced. Then, instead of coming to anchor, the cruisers steamed slowly up the river. Rounding a bend in the stream, Duala could be seen in the distance; likewise the forts guarding the town, and a bombardment of the fortifications was at once begun.
Now, through their glasses, the boys could see several German officers peering at them through long telescopes. "They've seen us," said Jack. "Yes," was Frank's reply. "But evidently they believe us friends, or they would open fire on us." "Perhaps their guns are not of the heavy caliber of those at Duala." "By Jove! I believe you have hit it!" exclaimed Frank.
Nowhere on the coast did we see as at Duala such gorgeous offices as those of the great trading house of Woermann, the hated rivals of "Sir Alfred," such carved furniture, such shining brass railings, and nowhere else did we see plate-glass windows, in which, with unceasing wonder, the natives stared at reflections of their own persons.
Chadwick that I am well pleased with his work, and with yours." "Thank you, sir," returned the lad, and saluting again, he turned and left the cabin. He was over the side of the Cumberland in a few moments, and was soon being rowed swiftly back toward Duala. Several hundred yards from the little landing, his cars caught the sound of a great hubbub.
To appreciate what Boma lacks one has only to visit the neighboring seaports on the same coast; the English towns of Sierra Leone and Calabar, the French town of Libreville in the French Congo, the German seaport Duala in the Cameroons, but especially Calabar in Southern Nigeria.
Word Of The Day