  Oh! Africa, mysterious Land! Surrounded by a lot of sand And full of grass and trees, And elephants and Afrikanders, And politics and Salamanders, And Germans seeking to annoy, And horrible rhinoceroi, And native rum in little kegs, And savages called Touaregs (A kind of Soudanese). And tons of diamonds, and lots Of nasty, dirty Hottentots, And coolies coming from the East; And serpents, seven yards long at least And lions, that retain Their vigour, appetites and rage Intact to an extreme old age, And never lose their mane. Illustration: Military officer, possibly German, staring into the distance in front of a sign for German East Africa, with a snake wrapped around the sign post. Far Land of Ophir! Mined for gold By lordly Solomon of old, Who sailing northward to Perim Took all the gold away with him, And left a lot of holes; Vacuities that bring despair To those confiding souls Who find that they have bought a share In marvellous horizons, where The Desert terrible and bare Interminably rolls. Great Island! Made to be the bane Of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. Peninsula! Whose smouldering fights Keep Salisbury awake at nights; And furnished for a year or so Such sport to M. Hanotaux. Vast Continent! Whose cumbrous shape Runs from Bizerta to the Cape (Bizerta on the northern shore, Concerning which, the French, they swore It never should be fortified, Wherein that cheerful people lied). Illustration: The Negus, the Sultan facing us and a third man with his back towards us. Thou nest of Sultans full of guile, Embracing Zanzibar the vile And Egypt, watered by the Nile (Egypt, which is, as I believe, The property of the Khedive):— Containing in thy many states Two independent potentates, And one I may not name. (Look carefully at number three, Not independent quite, but he Is more than what he used to be.) To thee, dear goal, so long deferred Like old Æneas—in a word To Africa we came. We beached upon a rising tide At Sasstown on the western side; And as we touched the strand I thought—(I may have been mistook)— I thought the earth in terror shook To feel its Conquerors land. |
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