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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 12, 1908)
HIE OMAHA SUNDAY REE: JULY 12. IMS. Portuguese East Africa and Its Part in Working the Rand Gold Mines (Copyright, 190S. by Frnnk fj. Capenter.) AMH'Kj c;HL:KK. Portugu.s I K-4t Afrlc ttfj-eclal Corre I itpondenee of Ths icr.) uui nere in ma jungle. In th miasmatic lowland buck of th Indian ocean. about ii.OOO mile northeast of Cap Town, In the heart of Portuguese Africa, I find an American tnannglng a cotton plantation. He Is employed by th KhodaaU company and he has set out a tract of about LOO acres along the line of the railroad which rune from Belra to Bulawayo. Ills work la entirely ex perimental. The company owna three mllce on each aide Ha tracks, and It hopes to develop a great cotton Industry in the Portuguee possessions. The cotton la now two months old and It la already knee high. The plant look thrifty and the fields are aa clean as a garden. They are watched day and night to keep out the rhinoceroses and hippopotami, and during the rainy season one ha to be careful how he wade through the rows for fear of losing a leg to a hungry crocodile. I have had a long talk with the man ager. Ills nam la Stillson and he oome from Meridian, Mlrs. He tells me that one of the chief dangers is from th wild beasta. The country haa many Hons, and tile men killed a young leopard with their hoes the other day. The leopard was asleep and they sneaked up on him and unk their mattocks into hi brain. Mr. Stillson says that the tracks the hippo potami make are each as big around aa a dinner plate and that if they get inte the fields they ruin the plants. Cotton In loath Africa. I talked with this man aa to the pros pects of raising eotton in this part of the world. He tell me that there Is a vast deal of available land, both In this region and farther south. Some cotton ha boen grown on the Maputo river, not far from Lorenco Marques, and experi ments are being made in other part of Portuguese East Africa. The cotton raised her at Bamboo Creek ha a longer fiber than that from the same seed when grown In America, Mr. Stillson Is ex perimenting with our cotton and with Egyptian cotton. He uvea a steam plow to break up the ground and then runs American cultivator over It. Th cot ton that 1 now grown hare was planted last December nod the first picking took place In May. Th plants ripen at different time and th Egyptian cotton later than th American, cotton. The picking season oontlnuea throughout th uramer. I understand that th Mozambique com pany, which controls this great territory, ha sold fi.OCO acre of land to a syndicate in th province of Mozambique, anC that this syndicate Intend to raise cotton upon It. The land I to be Irrigated and tram ways are already being built on th plan tation. Bteam and motor plows are to be Imported and the estate will have the most up-to-date of labor-saving appliances. - Odd Contract Labor System. During my talk with Mr. Stillson I asked him some question a to th men who worked his plantation. Bald he: "We use the negroes, and hie them through the Mozambique company. This . company ha control of the natives and they are forced to do as it says. W are now paying about $3.30 per month for a good man. We hand thl over to the com pany, and it allow th man $3 and takes th 80 cent a It commission. That I the way all labor 1 furnished here. We have now ISO men in the fields and we get them all from th company. If a man shirks or refuse to work, w send him to the mili tary commandant for punishment, and it h will not work after that he Is put in jail and1 another man 1 sent In his place." Alexander BW YORK, May 30. Since tha Ml beginning ox May the eyes of I the aeronauts of this country lint, irw .. v i . , j .w . ' ' . .-.in Tillage of Hamraondsport, N. T., which has of late been the scene of much activity in tho construction of both dirigible ballon and of "heavier than air" machines. notable example of the latter type la th Whit Wing, con structed by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, chairman of th Aerial Experiment associ ation, from th designs of F. W. Baldwin, th designer of th Red Wing, which made an excelleat record on th Ice of Lake Keuka last winter. The association' waa formed about a year ago for th purpose of trying out the Idea of several men Interested In the art of flying aad ha already given earnest of good work. Th RJ Wing wa th first machine of Hs type to make a publlo flight in thl country. On March U hut it flew 111 feet at a dlstanc of tea foot from th ground. The roaehlna was forty-three feet long, ix feet Six Inches dep at th center and four feet, deep at th extremities. The upper and lower plane were covered with silk, and they had a combined area of tat square feeet The seat of the operator was arranged tectlon was the rudder, eight feet across Just abov th lower rlane in the center of th machine and waa fitted with a silken protecting guard. On the end of thl pro and two feet deep. This wa under th control of th navigator. A tall was attached ten feet In the rear of the machine. It was fourteen feet ten Inches acrusa and three feet deep, giving a surface of forty-four square feet. To this tall was attached a vertical rudder four feet square. The propelling power was derived from a forty horepower eight-cylinder engine weighting 148 pounds. When the motor w tsarted th runners slid along th Ice for 1M feet and then th machine rose gracefully Into the air. Tills test showed Dr. Rell and hi asso elates that they were working In th right direction and that it waa posxlble to build a Tying machine that would combine all th advantage of such Buroyean type as th Far id on and the Deloerrange with th reputed simplicity of the Wrighl brothers' machine. In a subsequent ex periment the Red Wing was wrecked, al though the operator and the motor wer uninjured. The construction of another machine waa at once begun, and early In May the White Wing was completed. This ma. chin wa built of heavier material and with slightly larger plan sui faces, but It had on radical Improvement. Th Red Wing had shown a lack of meana of insuring lateral stability, and It would at time tilt over sideways In a fashion to try th nerve of the pluckiest operator. This fundamental fault wa remedied effectively In the new machine. The tips at the extremities of the wlic.'s, which are used by th operator for correct ing th tilting of the machine, were fitted with binge about their for edge, and thus by a system of steering gears It be came possible for the operator to chantf th acgl ef tnetdene at wllL If th ma chin tncUne to one aide, th man by kemiUisT on tno high side operate a tiller which la onaeot4 bar steering rope. b iPiii im p i i js m P ' . , ,-r 'dr-? -9 .is)-.. Jrl - - Jf. .T- tKKTK AT "What punishment are used In such cases 7" "The most common one is slapping the man on the hand with a web strap which sucks up the skin. The suction Is like that of a piece of leather pressed nguinst a flat stone. It Is very falrilu'l, but It dors not usually lay a man up for more than a day or so at a time." "What hours do your men work?" "From sunrise to sunset. They work hard and I should say they are as good hands in the cotton field as our negroes at home. They are much like our negroes, but they are on the whole better formed and. If anything, more muscular." Fortnsrae Natlvrs for Mine. Portuguese East Africa la now one of the chief sources of the labor supply of the mines of the Transvaal. Before th Chi nese were Imported four-fifths of the negro workmen were brought In from the outside, and most from this region. The miner paid about $3 a head to the Portuguese au thorities. Within the last year i. as been decided that the Chinese must be sent back home a soon as can be, and a large num ber of natives will be required to take their places. There are white labor contractor now going through Portuguese East Af rica and British Central Africa looking up men to work In the gold mines. We took a great gang of such laborers on the ship at Chinda, the chief port for Ny assaland, aa w came down the coast to Belra. The landing there Is rough. We anchored outside the bar and the negroes were brought to the ship In a steam launch and loaded by means of a great basket. This basket was about as large aroud aa a hogshead and about ten feet in height. There was a door at one side. The negroes, to the number of a dozen at a time, stepped Into this. The door was closed and then the basket, negroes and all, was raised by means of a derrick to our steamer. The Graham creasing the angle of Incidence of th tips t the lower side, and decreasing this antile on th high side. This Is how the machine Is kept on an even keel, the operator lean ing Instinctively to the high side. The steering wheel Is so arranged that the machine can be Instantly steered right or left, as Is an automobile, while an up and down movement can he secured by pushing the wheel In or out. The tall la composed of two superposed surfaces very similar to those of the Red Wing. Tills machine wlegh W8 pound The association staff, consisting of Di. A. O. Bell, G. H. Curtlss, director of ex periments; F. W. Baldwin, chief engineer; J. A. D. McCurdy, treasurer, and Lieut. T. Selfridge, secretary, assisted by Augus tus Post, tcr,ry of the Aero Club of America, haa receutli rn eps-aard In put ting th finishing touches to tn. U4i'.:'.3 aud In making experlmenta In actual flight. In the first test a running start of a little more than 100 feet was made on the level, and when a speed of twenty miles an hour had been reached the operator Inclined th front rudder to the ascending position and the aeroplane rose quickly to a height ot twenty feet and sailed away. There seemed no reason why the flight should not have been continued for many miles, but at a distance of go yards the operator, having a momentary hesitation aa to ths effectiveness of his controls, turned the front rudder to the descending position and the machine gradually came down and landed In a ploughed field alongside the track. There was great cheering from the large crowd assemble' furmu fwtu.-J, iter rfis . V 11 irY V'n-7 s&&tnf. ,.y'7-r. tVffc f (JY-r-yq -f ' c t . ! , . 1 " ' 1 w r " ' ' '.. . i . r,,Kw. -' '... - T- ... -'A., (' ..j. v 4 . jt. . " :r J-:" .J V. I.Ot'RENCO MARQfES. CHIEF PORT FOR human freight howled out In unison aa It rose, and the men thought they were killed when the basket came down with a thud on the deck. During our stay we took about two score such basketsful of ebony humanity, mak ing something like 900 negroes In all. I was told that the men would be taken to Dcl agoa Bay, and thence shipped In by rail road to the mines of the Rand. They are employed on short time contracts, and a a rule serve only a few months, when they are anxious to go back home. The Chinese came in on three years' contracts, with the privilege of extending them to six years. They have made much better laborer than the native African, who, as a rule, wish to stop labor as soon as they have accumu lated enough money to buy an extra wife or so who can support them at home. Right at Bamboo Creek. I stopped at Bamboo creek on account of a washout on the railroad going Into Iho desia. I had traveled all day from Belra, on the Indian ocean, passing through lands largely covered with water. It had been raining for a week or so and tMe country Is now flooded. Some of the bridge have been swept away and the- road Is so un safe that the engineers do not dare to go over It at night. The result Is that our party Is landed here In the wilds. There is no town excepting a hotel and this cotton plantation. The hotel Is a tin shanty of one story with a barroom In front, a dining room at the side and a kitchen In the rear. The barroom Is filled with mementos of big game hunting. The huge skull of a hip popotamus lies on one end of the counter, and there are lion skulls and leopard skulls among the whisky and brandy bot tles at the rear. At one end of the room is a stuffed sebra with a stuffed leopard on top of him, and about the walls are the heads and horns of a dozen different kinds of antelopes. The bartender sells hippopot Bell Talks and the records were officially attested for the Aero club, Dr. Bell expressed himself much pleased with the showing made by the new aeroplane, which was exceedingly good for a maiden flight. He Insisted that the flight might have been continued for a long time had not the pressure of the air on the under surfaces of the wind base caused the base to buckle up and get in tho way ' the Propeller, and the consequent fouling impaired the action of the machine temporarily. "When that is repaired," be said, "w will ttkr?a tzmtc cumxiit mi tsmMux tr. .fV -!'-'V" &tiM vt- f," -'"i i ii ?-v ' ' I . "' , i ,f. .A. .'M' ' ..J ' . ' . ' GOLD MINES. amus hide whips and canes at extravagant prices, and he offers to lend me his rifle If I care to shoot big gnme. He says there are no end of rhinos and hippos nearby. 'Sweet Marie" in Black Africa. We were a curious party as we tame Into the hotel for dinner, and our entertainment was Interesting. In the first place we had the chief engineer of th Rhodesia rail ways, and with him a nephew of Lord Roberts, who la also a civil engineer. We had another railroad official, who has charge of a line away up the Zambesi, In British Central Africa, and the Ameilcan cotton planter of whom I have already spoken. Among the other travelers are a millionaire Wall street broker, who is making a pleasure tour of Africa, an Eng lish commercial traveler, and a South Af rican miner on his way to the Transvaal. We soon got acquainted and after dinner we had a little entertainment in the tin shack away out here In the wilds. The chief engineer played the organ and gave quite a concert, Including among his selec tions a number of American songs. One of the best of these was "Sweet Maiip," w'hlch was written by Cy Warinan when he wa the engineer on a railroad near Den ver. The song was composed by one en ' glneer in the wilds of the Rockies, and now far off here in the wilds of Africa it was sung for us by another engineer. After the songs we hau big game stories, including those of Hon hunts, e'ephant hunts, and struggles with hippos and rhinos. Among these was a surprising tale about a crocodile which the Central African engineer had recently hot. He said the reptile was an old one and that it had evidently been a great man eater, for he had found forty-eight native brace lets and anklets in Its stomach. His pre sumption was that the crocodile had eaten forty-eight negroes so ornamented, to say nothing of numerous others who had left Off their Jewelry when they went to bathe. of Progress Made go at It again and In all probability wo shall have something more to show. But, at all events, while our former trial waa truly called an experiment, this can truly be called a demonstration. Every new trial now will bring us nearer to the goal. "When the people see a machine flylr-g over their heads they have no further doubt of the ability of man to fly. But, as a matter of fact, while we have today made an appreciable step In advance, It is not popularity tht we are seeking. We. are concentrating ourselves on making actual scientific progress,' auutMMMitjcxMBt&ftrir ' e . - ; ; 1 - - 1 !' ' 'I tit iit&k F Mt M(mm .r. Yiti J? . ff-sMUT -X y$JErPiX This is my first taste of Portugese East Africa. I saw the country first at C'hlnd and sailed for miles along th ooast before I camo to Belra. The territory is enormous. It extends along the borders of the Indian ocean as far as from New York to Omaha and at the north It goes Inland as far as from Washington to Boston. It Is lnrger than Texas and It would make conslderaUy more than six states the size of Ohio, Kentucky or Virginia, Its native popula tion Is estimated at z.000,000 or I.OW.OOO, but no accurate census has been taken, and, although the Portugese have owned the country for more than 300 years, they know almost nothing about it. Th greater part of it, as I have said, has been leaned to the Mozambique company and another part to the company of the Zambesi. Belra belongs to the Mozambique company and that company fixes the taxes and pays Portugal for the privilege of exploiting th town. l,t runs the posloffice and (wll It own postage stamps. Praaao System. It farms out the natives and make them pay taxes, which in soma cases they work out by giving their labor to foreigners. This is known as th praxzo system. The country lb divided up Into districts known as prazzos. These are put up at auction, the successful bidder having the right to collect the taxes of . his prazza for a term of three years. He Is allowed to levy a tax of so much on each native and he must pay that amount in cash or work. The contractor has also the right to force the people to do a certain amount on the public roads and on house building for the offi cials. He has also other rights whlcu make the systei.i little more than legal ized slavery. The taxes are often paid In goods, and the value of their work 1 measured by American or English cot ton cloth, the price of which can be reg ulated largely by the collector. A part Later the White Wings flew 1,017 feet In nineteen seconds. While Dr. Bell Is greatly interested in this form ot flying machine, it Is stated on good authority that his real scientific pet bear little resemblance to It. He Is now preparing to build an Improved aerodrome composed of over 6,000 cells ef tetrahedral form. These trlangler cells are of silk. They have a six Inch base line, and are framed In thin slips of wood. Instead of having the two plane surfaces of the White Wings form, this aerodrome Is virtually ya bank of contiguous cells. The experimental Jk PORTUGUESE LABORERS FOR TUB OOLD MINES OF cf the labor is the hunting of elephant and the gathering of rubber, both of which are exceedingly profitable. I am told that the abuses of such men tn the faraway district are terrible and that the people have comparatively few rights that the tax collectors are bound to re spect. It i said that slavery la still common in' some regions, although it is not recognized by the government and la contrary to law. The conditions are not a bad as in Fortug-ues West Africa, where slaves are still bought and sold, but they are had enough. Moaamblqae n Back Ksmlitr, The cities of Portuguese East Africa are changing. It used to be that Mozambique wa by far th moat Im portant. Situated on a little Island, In th wide channel between Africa and Madagascar, it wa for year on of th great porta of the continent. It was a eenler of th Slav trad and the resi dence of th chief Portuguese officials. The country has two capitals, one at Mozambique at th north and the other a Lourenco Marques at th south. Mozambique 1 still th headquarter of the Mozambique company and lta opera tions are conducted from there. Lourenco Marques is the chief commercial center, and, with it magnificent harbor and it short railroad to th gold fields. It Is fast becoming one of the most Important cities' on the east eoast of Africa Mozambique He on a little island only a quarter of a mile wide and not more than a mil long. It la close to th mainland and canoe are always moving back and forth carrying food and sup plies. The Island -is covered with houses. It ha clean sidewalks paved 'with ce ment and Its roadways are macadamized. ft has. a fort and public buildings, but now- the streets are practically doserted. Many of the good houses are vacant, and others have been turned Into the homes of coolies and petty trading store. Th baaar in Aerial Navigation machine made last year wa thlrty-nln foet long and nine feet deep. The new machine will be a trifl larger. The operator sits In the center and easily controls the machine. Dr. Bell when ques- tlorjad as to the prospect of developing an effective and practical machine of this typo said: "The White Wings shows progress on the exact lines It was Intended to follow. It is an improved form of the flying machine that have so far been successful. It secures high speed, at the expense possibly of tome degree of stability. THTD TRANSVAAL In which the slaves were exposed for sat have passed away and the town 1 prao Ucallv dead. The city of Belra Is not as prosperous a It has boon in the past. Its population ha fallen off since the Boer war, and It now has AW or 700 whites, about 1,(00 negroes and a eor-Hdnrablo number of East Indiana It is a town of banks, store and hotel. tionrrnoo Marques. Lourenco Marques, on the other hand, I rapidly growing. U is lighted by electricity, and there are lines of electric tramways Which connect Its various sections. It ha a new postofflce, a new railway station and many new buddings. The great marsh at too back of th dry haa been drained and the mosquito plague is practically wiped out. The town la rapidly becoming the chief poTt for the Transvaal, and it I where our American good for that region are now landed. The city haa ,on of the best harbor on the African continent It la known as De la go a bay. It Is twenty-eight miles long and about fourteen miles wide, and it remind on of Manila bay in its extent. Lourenco Marquea began to grow when , th railroad connecting It with Johannes berg wa built. This was about thirteen year age, and lta progress has been steady from then until now. It Is by far the nearest rout from the sea to the gold field. The distance from Johannesburg I only about M miles, while from Durban, the chief port of Natal farther south, I I 483 mile, and from Cape Town more than 1,000 mile. The Portugese government ha been doing: much to Improve the harbor. Tbny have built a quay almost half a mil long and have equipped It with all modertt convenience for loading and unloading ves sels. They have built great warehouses) and have also oonsctructed a dry dock and other marine work. FRANK O. CARPENTER, "But, like other of the same typ, M requires the greatest concentration 1 and presence of mind as well as skill for It effective operation, and mistakes are apt to have serious results, especially In th experimental stages, In which tho operator has to learn the new business of coping wltti Instant decision with the wind gust and overcoming th vagaries of th machine. "What I am now proposing to do In my new cellular construction aerodrome I to support the machine and the operator in the air to begin with. My experiment are carred on over water. I fly the ap paratus In the air as the schoolboy file hi kite, attaching It by the kite Btrlng or. In thl case, by cable to a steamboat. "The operator then starts th motor on tli machine. When be begin to travel faster than tha boat the line slacken and the aerodrome forge ahead.. When from any cause the motor stops the tow Una gain become taut and the aerodrome) contlneu Its flight aa a kite. "The advantage of this Is that while th essentially Important matter of xperl mentlng I being carried on absolute safety for the operator and the machine Is Insured i by the great stability of thl form of struo ture. I get a slower speed, but I am aecur- Ing the guiding principles that we ar all' In search of In the new science Just aa Surely as Is don In the faster machine, without the element of risk. "In point of fact I want to run on of i these machlusa myself and I Intend to I do If