the Solomon Islands, the Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne Islands, and certain Samoan Islands. This part of the German possessions also had a particular significance during the earliest stages of the war, for Apia, the capital town of German Samoa, surrendered on August 29 to a British Expeditionary Force sent by the Government of New Zealand.
Samoa consists of an archipelago of fourteen islands in the Pacific, eight of which belonged to Germany. Previously, in 1900, Germany, the United States, and Great Britain were interested in the government of these islands, but troubles were frequent and in that year Great Britain withdrew her claims to any portion, receiving compensation from Germany by concessions in other parts of the world. The other six islands are held by the United States.
Turning now to the more important of the German colonies, reference must first be made to German South-West Africa. This great territory, covering an area of 320,450 square miles and lying between Portuguese West Africa and Cape Colony, is, as to the southern part and much of the east, a barren desert. Elsewhere, it struggles on as an agricultural country. It suffers largely from lack of water, finding its main source of wealth in the dia- mond-mining industry. In the last few years there had been a considerable increase in the number of farms worked by white farmers and in the output of diamonds, but it is believed that this latter source of wealth is likely to be soon exhausted-say within the next eight years. During the year preceding the war the colony experienced great shortage of money, and a land bank was formed with a capital of £500,000, for the purpose of lending to farmers on mortgage, particularly for water supply.
German East Africa was the largest German colony, covering 384,000 square miles, twice the area of Germany, but out of a population of nearly eight millions only about 5,000 were whites. The climate here is not favourable to the European. Hemp was the chief export, rubber coming second, while hides, wax, and gold were exported in large quantities. The German Government here made an endeavour to create a peasant proprietary, but the prospect of training up such a class of cultivators was always rather remote. The native labourer prefers spasmodic effort to steady work on land of his own. The military defences of this colony consisted of fourteen companies of native soldiers under the command of white officers. Their total strength, before the war, was about 2,500 troops with 260 white officers.
The Cameroons come next in importance. This colony is situated on the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and the
