Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

202 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Wireless Telegraphy. should be set end of Africa to the other more quickly than might otherwise be possible, the suggest- ion has been brought forward that wireless telegraphic sta- tions on the Marconi system up at Udjidji, the present ter- minus of the wire, and at Gondokoro, the southernmost point of the Soudanese tele- graphic system. The local authorities in Ger- man East Africa are strongly in favour of this, and an applica- tion is to be made to the trustees under the will of the late Mr. Alfred Beit, who left a handsome amount for the development of internal com- munications a- cross Africa, for a grant to enable these stations to be built and NKATA REPAIRING STATION. equipped It is not proposed, however, that these should be regarded as permanent, and they would be used only until such time as the land line could be completed. The country north of Udjidji going towards Uganda is, however, of a nature that renders the erection of a telegraph line a work of considerable diffi- culty, inasmuch as it is for the most part low-lying marshland and swamps, interspersed here and there with dense jungles of close- growing tropical vegetation. Under these cir- cumstances it is probable that considerable detours will have to be made when the country comes to be more accurately surveyed. It is felt, therefore, that a wireless telegraphy in- stallation would be of great benefit, and would enable the Company to commence earning greatly increased amounts much sooner than the German authorities would be willing to bear part of the cost of building and equipping these stations, since the local authorities take a proportion of the revenue received from all messages passing over the portion of the line that lies within their territory. So far there has been no necessity to organize a police force to F^olicc guard any portions of the wire Patrols from damage by marauding natives, as was been explained, most of found necessary during the con- struction of the Uganda railway, when Sikhs from the Punjaub had to be recruited to put a stop to the ravages of the natives, who ripped up the railway track bodily and con- veyed it to their villages. As has the natives of the country through, which the greater part of the line passes have a wholesome fear of the wire and everything connected with it, and the patrol parties that are sent out from the various stations from time to time to repair “ faults,” and to examine the condition of the line gen- erally, manage to keep the tribes from inter- fering with it. There have been many instances during the construction of the line of men, both white and black, continuing their work under cir- cumstances when they had every justification for abandoning it, and there are on record instances in which have been performed deeds of a decidedly heroic character. Perhaps the most striking of these cases occurred when the first section of the line would otherwise be possible. It is stated that was being built from Salisbury to Tete, on