Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/495

 claims and even threatening hostilities. His protests were met by the appearance of German ironclads in the Zanzibar waters, and he soon found that it would be necessary to accept "accomplished facts."

The population of the Vitu territory and neighbouring archipelago is one of the most heterogeneous in the whole of East Africa. Galla immigrants, Bantus from the south, and those Wa-doé people who were till recently regarded as anthropophagists, have flocked in crowds to the district; while runaway slaves, confident of

here finding a safe refuge, and even land to cultivate, have been attracted in thousands from every part of the seaboard. Then, in order to provide the new arrivals with wives, the "Lion" introduced into his kingdom some Wapokomos, Wabonis, and other members of various Bantu tribes. Even the Portuguese element is represented at Vitu by some families of half-castes.

The numerous ruins which may still be seen on the shore near the mouths of the Tana, attest the commercial importance formerly enjoyed by this district.