4 Africa and the Institute in Padua

Chapter 4 Africa and the Ins titute in Padua Soon after taking my exams, I returned to Padua to pack c rates. The n I went to the Lido in Venice to wait for the day I would leave for Eritrea with the expedition to stud y cosmic rays. Finally, toward the beginning of September, 1933, the crates were loaded onto a "mixed use" ship (a merchant ship that also had a few passenger cabins). The ship was headed for the Far East through the Suez Canal. One morning at about five o’clock I went to oversee the tr ansfer of the crates from the Lido, where we had conducted some preliminary experiments , to the commercial port where the ship was docked . Traveling wi th the crates on the canal boat, I watched as the two gondoliers rowed rhythmically through the city to the other side of town . It was a glorious day and, given the early hour , it was not too hot. Th e trip in the gondola made a strong impression on me, so much so that I wrote a few pages about it (who knows where they are now ). There was plenty to excite my young mind. Still quite young, I was about to leave on a scientific expedition to a distant country . L eaving Venice, land of civilization, for untamed Africa , I felt a bit like a missionary. I was against colonialism and thought that the Fascist s were terrible administrators for their bla ck subjects for whom I felt great compassio n. I was glad to have the opportunity to study the situation first hand . On board, we installed some instrument s and immediately started gathering data. A few days later we left Venice headed for Trieste . T here I met Eugenio Curiel once again. I walked through the city with him and b efore we left , he came on board to say good -bye and to see the instruments. Then the ship stopp ed for two or three days at a factory pier in Spalato to load cement. We visited the city, which is located on an enchanting strip of the Dalmatian coast. We saw some re lic s of ancient Italian colonization: a Venetian castle by the docks , as well as an immense palace with superb columns built by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Among these were nested numerous small houses of more recen t vintage . Italian ultra -nationalists claimed that these ruins gave Italy the right to annex this part of the coast, b ut the peop le were predominantly Slavic. And although Italian was spoken in some of the stores, just out side of town , there was no longer any trace of Italy . On the road from the ship to the city we met peasants wear ing the traditional Dalmatia n red beret and passed through a very poor and dirty village. From Spalato we crossed the Mediterranean, reaching Port Said a few days later . The weather was magnificent, and the sea was very calm. On the ship we continued taking measurements, taking turns so that we could collect data throughout the night. We landed for a few hours in Port Said . This was my first contact with Africa. Naturally, we drank Turkish coffee, bought cigarettes and sent postcards. I entered a store to buy cigarettes and stamps, and I paid what was asked. Some of my traveling companions who were familiar with eastern customs , laughed at my naiveté. One of them, a doctor, who also wanted to b uy cigarettes, used a very different method. He sat wit h us at a cafe' and waited for someone to approach him with cigarettes to sell . Soon a young Arab man appeared, dressed in the local tunic; his handsome face was tanned, his skin -color was not dark and he had noble features . He asked a much higher price for his cigarettes than I had paid. Before I could gloat over my deal, the doctor offered about ten times less. The Arab did not leave: he approached the doctor 41 and began barter ing by cutting his original price in hal f. The doctor did not flinch, and insisted on his offer, treating the Arab with what seemed to me to be inhuman contempt. The doctor's behavior repell ed me, and my sympath ies were with the Arab. The doctor pretended to ignore him, treat ing him like a stray dog, w hile he continued to talk to us. The Arab stayed near him. Every once in a while he lowered his price until after about half an hour , the doctor had the cigarettes at the price he had initially offered. This, I learned later, was the normal way to make a p urchase in the East. At a bout midnight we boarded the ship and began sail ing through the Suez C anal. I spent the entire time on the bridge, watching the desert, the canal, and the other ships. There, for the first time, I saw the new German flag with a swastika on the stern of a ship that was traveli ng in the opposite direction. I must admit that it disturbed me in a way I had not expected. I felt a surge of anger or even hat red. We also passed a Russian oil tanker , t he letters CCCP st anding for USSR and a red flag bearing the hammer and sickle flying on the stern. I looked at it with benevolent interest , rather than with approval. For me, everything about Russia was wrapped in myster y. I watched the ship careful ly, as if it could explain things I didn't know, as if it were a rare message from an unknown world, from an uncharted land . I knew nothing about the country, but I knew that many people had bravely challenged the persecution of Fascist governments under that flag. I raised my ha nd and waved a friendly greeting to the Soviet sailors. We traveled a few more days across the Red Sea. It was hot, and we put on colonial helmets , continuing to take measurements until we were forced to stop because of the heat and humidity. We arrived a t Massawa by night. The pilot boat from the port approached our ship, leaving a phosphorescent trail in its wake . I peered through the darkness in a futile attempt to see the Black Continent. Only a few hundred meters away was Africa, Bl ack Africa, with its wild and primitive fascination. I was excited, and I burn ed with impatience to set foot in Africa . Finally , the ship was dock ed. As though to further delay our landing, a fat colonial official boarded the ship to welcome us . Wearing a white uniform decked out in braids , he informed us that a car and a truck were waiting to bring us and our instruments to Asmara. With the formalities over , we landed. Along the shore there was a brick colonial structure, some public buildings, some banks. The first thing I noticed were the longshoremen. Oh, how different they were from the beribboned government official! They were thin, and dressed in dirty rags. They squatted on the railroad tracks, perched on their toes, and sitting on their heels. This position seemed uncomfortable and unstable to me. But the local longshoremen were comfortable. I oversaw the unloading of the crates, urging the porters to be careful, but they did not understand me. Then we went to a hotel to get some sleep . All night a large fan turned in the middle of my room over my bed. Massawa is one of the hottest places on earth. The next morning we left for Asmara. The road first crossed an arid desert. Then we began to climb towards a plateau. Th ere was little vegetation: a few thin, wild olive trees raised their contorted branches towards the sky. Slowly, as we climbed, it became cooler, and the scenery became more hospitable. Everything looked strange: clothing, faces, plants, rocks and moun tai ns. Packs of monkeys scampered through the hills. We passed Dogali, a place that had been made famous by one of the many unfortunate incident s of the Italian colonial campaign. A monument had been erected to commemorate the soldiers who had died to conquer this country from which Italy had never derived any gain . The indigenous vill ages consisted of huts, called tucu l. Every one was extremely poor. In Asmara we entered the house that had been placed at our disposal. Our servant was waiting, a boy of about 15 named Solomon. We began to open the crates and to test the instruments. We went to see the construction of the hut where we were to conduct our experiments. The hut was to be built on an amba ( hill) a few kilometers from the cit y, inside a fort. The completion of the little wooden structure would take a few more days. On one of the first days, when we were still working on the house, a group of local children came to sing in our honor. We came to the doorstep to admire the spectacle, which we enjoyed. Then we distributed backsheesh . The population in the colony of Eritrea is quite varied. On the plateau there are Tigreans, a people 42 similar to those in northern Abyssinia: with dark skin, but not Negroid, their f eatures more similar to Arabs. The men wore tight little white pants, over which they wore a white shirt. Over this they wore a white scarf, called a sciamma , which was wrapped like a Roman toga.

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