GERMAN NATIVE TROOPS IN EAST AFRICA.
ET° THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR?'] gra,—In your "News of the Week" ending January 12th there is a reference to the composition of the German black troops in East Africa which cannot, I think, give anything but a also impression to the general reader. Your statement on p. 26 implies that the Germans in East Africa recruited their " Askaris " from —a small warlike class "—i.e., some definite section of the native population. On the contrary, the composition of the German native army was quite as mixed as that of our own King's African Rifles. It is true that the Wa-Nya-Mwezi and Wa-Chagga con- tributed the bulk of the men, but there were many other tribes represented as well as these, and besides the local natives there were-great numbers of fighting men from other parts of Africa— namely, Arabs, Somalis, Nubians, and so forth. I think that a good many of us who took part in the campaign in East Africa share the opinion that the really astonishing loyalty of the Askaris to their German officers was mainly due to the fact that a German soldier, white or black, comes a long way first in com- parison with a civilian, and it was his great prestige among the civil population that kept the Askari loyal. The Germans, more- over, pay their black troops very well—a good deal better than we pay ours.—I am, Sir, &c., M'zuriau. [Our words were merely a summary of the Prime Minister's &tat ement.—En. Spectator.]
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