A special party was landed under a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the town; and having returned with the principal German officials as hostages, the official entry was made by Colonel Beves, and the Union Jack was hoisted over the town hall.
The Germans had retired to the capital at Windhoek, where they were said to have three years' provisions and stores, and had removed from Luderitzbucht all railway rolling stock, but had damaged no property.
Colonel Beves issued a proclamation formally annexing the town, and providing for the security of life and property.
Prisoners of war and non-combatants were sent off to Cape Town. The latter included a number of Cape "Boys" who had been paid their wages in German goodfors; and these expressed their delight at the British occupation. The goodfors were cashed by Cape Town merchants for the "Boys," and were passed on in payment of amounts claimed from them by German subjects.
The occupation was conducted in the most orderly manner, and the late German residents of Luderitzbucht were loud in their expressions of appreciation of the consideration with which they were treated.
The Caprivi strip was entered by a force of police from Rhodesia, and within a few days Schuckmannsburg, near the Zambezi River, surrendered to them—and so a very unsightly intrusion into Rhodesian territory was wiped off the map.
[CHAPTER III]
EAST AFRICA
In the early days of modern African history, when Portugal was at her zenith and her richly laden galleons were plying between the Cape of Good Hope, Goa, and Calicut, practically the whole of the trade of the east coast of Africa north of the Zambezi River was in the hands of Arab-descended "Sultans" and Portugal—who had extensive "settlements" along the coast.