In Jinga Town.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13655, 25 July 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

In Jinga Town.

(By Frauk G. Carpenter, in the Detroit Free Press). .Tinga, Busoga.—Stands with me here on the cliffs of Jinga, in the land of Busoga. Looking down now from the wooded cliffs "where we stand we can see the beginning of the rap'ids and can hear the thunder of Ripon Falls, over which the Hood pours a short distance away. As at our American falls, the current is comparatively quiet above, but when ib leaves these islands it drops down in a boiling, bubbling, seething mass. The spray rises high into the air and falls back like rain on this tropical forest. It goes up in a mist and the dazzling sun of the equator paints rainbows in it. There are many fish in the lake and they often swim - down the falls. W 7 e can see them jump high out of the current, turning somersaults, as it were, as they go over the rocks. The woods are full of strange birds. There are cormorants and hawks, and one, may sometiimes see a whale-headed stork. . Where the Nile flows over the falls, the channel is only about 1200 feet wide, and I understand that the rocky foundation is such that the like can be easily dammed. The stream is deep and narrow, and it passes over a series of cataracts which continue almost forty miles. During this distance it is so swift that boats cannot live on it. These' waters of Victoria Nyanza rush onward with a terrible force, and this continues until within about thirty miles of Lake Choga. Here the land is almost level and the lake is shallow and quietl It has swamps filled with crocodiles and hippopotami, and the Nile flows peacefully. through. It then goes .onward traversing this' protectorate, : taking two other great jumps on its way to Albert Nyanza. The first of theee is at the Karuina Falls and the other at Muchison Falls, which is about two hundred miles north of here After that the current is comparatively smooth to Lake Albert.

This description gives yon but a faint idea of the electrical possibilities of the Nile away up here at its source. The British are surveying it, and are estimating its value as to the industrial development of the country. An English syndicate has a concession for the little island just under the falls, and it expects to expend half a million dollars in establishing a cotton factory here. , There are big lumbermen' who are exploiting the forests on both sides of the Nile, who want power; and I- am told that other parties are after concessions. The Government is averse to leasing, power stations at the falls proper, as it may be necessary to build a dam here to regulate tie outflow of the Nile. They do not object, however, to works bordering the rapids, below the falls, and a series of power stations might be, made thirty or forty moles long which-could, do all the manufacturing for tliifl ''part of Africa. The whole of Lake Victoria, which is larger than Lake'.Superior, is tributary to -this-.region,; and the yastj population .whiciu*urr6tuids it could 'be I 'supplied with cotton woven at these factories. At present one of the. great troubles in getting the natives to, raiee cotton is that of transportation. '■ -.lt is now. carried into Kampala on the heads.of porters, and the long march eats up.' the profits. By establishing ginning plants along the Nile much of the cotton will go, to them in boats, and more will be carried across country on. the excellent roads which the. British arej inducing the natives to build. There are already hundreds of miles of road in Uganda, which could be used by an automobile, and one can. travel thousands of miles on a bicvcle.

I have written about the big. rubber syndicate which hag a concession, of 150 square miles of forest in tins region. It has been planting out its estate, and is endeavouring to establish good labour conditions. The chief trouble here in prosecuting any; large enterprise is the lack of available workmen. The natives will labour for a few days or weeks and' then lay off until they have eaten what tkev-'have earned. At present the curtent wages aro 1 dollar a month, but the lumber syndicate now needs 3000 men, and it has offered the enormous sum of four rupees or 1.33 dollar a month for new hands. This increase is just- about a cent and a half a day, or, a rise from three arid one-third to four and one-half cents. As a result labourers are coming in from other parts of the . protectorate and there is a loud outcry that this risewill ruin the country. At present much of the lumber is sawn by hand, but modern machinery will soon be brought in. The natives of this district, which includes the source of the Nile, are known as the Basogas. They are not so civilised > as the' Baganda, but in many respects look and <lress not unlike them. They wear-bark cloth blankets, the materials for which they raise in their gardens. They men tie the blankets over their shoulders and the women wrap them around the body under the arms, leaving their necks and shoulders bare. They sometimes have a sash or bark about the, waist, and when working a girl often allows- her blanket to fall down to this sash, leaving the' upper part of her body nude. At such, times-it is possible to see the skin decorations which the women here affect as a .mark v.of beauty. They scar themselves below the bosom, making four long scratches which stand up like • ridges. Some of the women have strings of beeda and shells about tiheir waists, and not! a, few hove bracelets and anklets.

The .chief business here is agriculture, although some of the people have cattle, sheep, and goats. I see peanuts, Indian corn, beans, bananas, and sweet potatoes in the market, and am told that tie chief crop* is bananas, and that this fruife constitutes the principal article of food. It is an odd thing that the ■women here are not allowed to eat chickens after they are married. , Why this is I do. not know. It is somewhat like the custom which prevails among the- British East African tribes, when tihe , mawied women dare nob drink milk. I suppose the men want to monopolise both. , . . , The day may come when, 'there will be a great city here, and when railroads and steamboats will make this point ona of the chief centres of trade of these highlands of Africa. At present, the population consists of a few lmnd'red. black natives dressed in bark cloth and cotton. They live in. thatched huts scattered-along the wide streets.laid but by the English. There- are some Hindoo traders and a considerable market. The Government offices and stores are enclosed in a largo rectangular stookadf..