Paw-Paws and Pith Helmets

'Paw-Paws and Pith Helmets' is a look at the lighter side of the life of the people sent out to Africa by the Colonial Office to provide local government in the colonies in the early twentieth Century. It is the story of a rather inept young man who, in order to avoid being sent to Sandhurst by his ambitious father, joins the Colonial Service and is assigned to the 'Treaty Territory.' This is a strip of land along the Rovuma River between Tanganyika and Mozambique where the Portuguese Governors have been experiencing incursions by Germans from Tanganyika who appear to consider it their own little private hunting ground and flagrantly ignore the border. The British are offered the chance to administer the area on behalf of Portugal and Asquith's government seize the opportunity with expectations of ultimately taking over the whole of Mozambique and thereby extending their influence in the region. The hero, Godfrey, finds himself living in the all-male Boma with a disparate group of people from several different sources who seem to share only some element of unreasonable hostility towards the owner of the only dukkah in the area, one Trader Harris, an avaricious German Jew with a large family. They discover that the Portuguese have done precious little in the way of developing the area and notice that in particular, there are no medical facilities at all, either for themselves or for the local natives. The District Commissioner arranges for a medical team to be sent out and after a time they arrive. The team comprises a delightful but aging doctor and three nurses. Their arrival has an immediate and drastic effect on the Boma but they settle down to 'normal' life and relationships develop. The clash of cultures in having to deal with witch doctors and petty chiefs take up much of their time as do visits from both the Portuguese officials and their own Regional Commissioner but they bungle through more by accident than by careful planning. By the time their three year first tour of duty is up, two of the people at the Boma have married one or other of the nurses and Godfrey's brother has married Trader's eldest daughter. They set off for their respective homes on long leave, unsure whether their next posting will be back to the Rovuma or not. It turns out that Godfrey is to return, now promoted to District Officer, but upon his arrival there he finds that he and his wife are the only two left from the old group and the new District Commissioner is at loggerheads with Trader, father to Godfrey's sister-in-law. There is a huge argument when the DC tries to bar Trader and any of his family from the Boma. He is unaware that Trader owns the ground upon which the Boma has been built and for which he charges no rent on the basis that the people at the boma are by far his most important customers. Godfrey quits his job in protest that his sister-in-law is not considered fit to visit him and his wife and decides to join his brother on a private venture at the mouth of the Rovuma where they plan to offer exotic fishing charters and hunting trips to the interior.