 Atangana won over other chiefs and headmen through gifts , tax cuts , flattery , and intervention on their behalf . He lavished attention on visitors from out of town , letting them stay at his palace and use his horses , and treating them to feasts . In addition to flattering them , this allowed him to monitor their activities and dealings with the colonial authorities . His clerk appointees in Jaunde informed him of the doings of both the Germans and his subjects . Atangana gained a substantial amount of wealth . He owned workshops and sold produce from five plantations to provision impressed railway construction workers . 
