Chapter I: Preface

This little book relates my experiences as a prisoner of war in German East Africa.

In the writing of it and the casting into book form I have received invaluable assistance from one conversant with literary methods, but the substance remains a plain, unelaborated narrative of facts.

I have tried to avoid dwelling unduly on the privations, discomforts and insults endured, and considerations of space forbid more than a passing reference to the wretched state of the native population. But I do not hesitate to state my conviction that if East Africa ever again comes under German rule it will be a lamentable disaster for the native races. German rule in Africa is “the rule of the kiboko.” Kiboko is a word probably unknown to the majority of Englishmen ... it is but too well known to every native ... it means “the lash.”

E. C. H.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE LOOM OF WAR 1

II. IN TROPIC SEAS 16

III. TREACHERY 22

IV. TAKEN PRISONER 38

V. EN ROUTE FOR KILIMATINDE 52

VI. MY FIRST PRISON 62

VII. SHATTERED HOPES 75

VIII. OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS IN CAPTIVITY 86

IX. THE MAJOR’S VENTURE 90

X. NEW ARRIVALS 100

XI. MORE ATTEMPTS AT ESCAPE 110

XII. TYPHOID AT THE BOMA 120

XIII. GERMAN CRUELTY TO NATIVES 132

XIV. TRANSFERRED TO TABORA 142

XV. ON SAFARI 158

XVI. MAHENGE 168

XVII. HOPE RENEWED 184

XVIII. A NIGHTMARE CAMP 203

XIX. RELEASED 217

XX. HOME AT LAST 228

Two Years’ Captivity in German East Africa