CENTRAL AFRICA. 



149 



the waters ; lizards, serpents, monkeys, and buf- 

 faloes, in the forests. The river-banks are con- 

 cealed by a dense growth of gigantic papyrus, and 

 by the ambatch, the wood of which, says Schwein- 

 furth, is as light as a feather. Between the 

 wooded areas lie vast savannas, dotted with ter- 

 mite hills and the cabins of the Shillook negroes. 

 From the Giraffe River to the White Nile, or from 

 the seventh to the ninth degree of latitude, there is 

 nothing to be seen but a boundless swamp. The 

 warm, stagnant water is filled with papyrus and 

 ambatch, and covered with floating isles of water- 

 plants. Mosquitoes swarm here, and the sluggish 

 air, laden as it is with swamp miasms, causes fever 

 and dysentery. As we approach Gondokoro the 

 laud rises and mountains begin to appear ; the 

 river flows between rocky banks, in which the 

 gneiss predominates. The aspect of the country 

 is entirely changed ; we are now entering the 

 inhabitable portion of Central Africa. The coun- 

 try of the Niam-Niam, of Mombottu, of Madi, of 

 Unioro, and of Uganda, where reigns the famous 

 King M'tesa — in other words, the whole region to 

 the north of Lakes Victoria and Albert — is a veri- 

 table earthly paradise, if we are to believe the ac- 

 counts given by travelers. Mighty trees — palms, 

 figs, acacias — form lofty vaults, in whose shade 

 flow countless rivulets. So active is vegetation 

 here that in the course of two years a dense 

 thicket is to be seen in the clearings made by the 

 natives by burning down the timber. Cameron 

 describes sycamores in the shade of which five 

 hundred persons encamped ; and the baobab, the 

 mammoth of the plant kingdom, also attains 

 enormous proportions. Nature never rests. The 

 vertical sun and the unfailing abundance of water 

 enable the plants to grow unceasingly, and to 

 produce flowers and fruit at all seasons. In the 

 equatorial region rain falls regularly every month 

 in the year, and in the southern zone, as far as 

 the seventeenth degree, it rains in summer just as 

 in winter. 



The altitude of the central plateau, which va- 

 ries from 600 to 1,300 metres (Victoria N'yanza 

 is 1,120 metres), moderates the heat, cools the air, 

 banishes miasma, and favors the growing of the 

 products both of hot and temperate climes. The 

 cereals of Europe grow here, as well as the sugar- 

 cane, durah, and rice. Spices of all kinds, oils, 

 resins, coffee, cotton, dyeing-plants, as garance 

 and indigo, a great variety of medicinal plants, 

 lumber of the best quality, the banana, fig, date, 

 orange, even the vine — all these are produced 

 here. Of mineral products we find gold, iron, 

 and, more important still, coal, which crops out 



abundantly in various places. The climate re- 

 sembles that of the Himalaya sanitariums. It 

 seems to be less enervating than the climate of 

 Java ; the latitude is the same, but the African 

 plateau is more elevated, and therefore less hot ; 

 yet in the coffee districts of Java, among the 

 hills, the Hollanders live and multiply, nor does 

 the death-rate exceed to any appreciable degree 

 the death-rate of Europe. Those explorers of 

 Africa who succumbed to disease were carried off 

 by the fevers of the low-lying regions of the coast, 

 and of the marshes of the interior. Those who 

 have traversed the lake plateau, as Livingstone, 

 Speke and Grant, Baker, Stanley, Cameron, Gessi, 

 did not there contract any fatal disease, though 

 exposed to privations and climatic conditions 

 which in Europe would have broken down the 

 strongest constitution, such as lying on the damp 

 ground, wearing wet clothing for weeks, taking 

 food irregularly, often eating food that was un- 

 wholesome or insufficient in quantity. Suppose a 

 colony of whites settled at an altitude of 800 or 

 1,000 metres, occupying good houses and sup- 

 plied with all necessaries they will surely enjoy 

 better health there than they would at Calcutta, 

 Bombay, Singapore, or Batavia, or even in the 

 island of Bourbon, or in the Antilles. 



A moment's reflection suffices to discover 

 the magnificent future that awaits the colonies 

 which, before long, will be established in Central 

 Africa. Whence comes the wealth of the South- 

 ern States of the American Union, of Cuba, of 

 San Domingo and Brazil ? It is produced by 

 turning to account the amazing fertility of a soil 

 fecundated by the rays of the equinoctial sun, and 

 employing the labor of a race inured to the burn- 

 ing climate. In those countries, however, the 

 cultivation of the soil had two very disagreeable 

 aspects : on the one hand the slaves labored only 

 under compulsion, and hence their work was ill- 

 done ; and again the laborers commanded a very 

 high price. Transfer the same enterprises — as 

 the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, or 

 tobacco — to the interior of Africa, and how much 

 more favorable are the conditions ! The land is 

 more fertile, and vegetation incomparably more 

 vigorous. The laborer is there already, and has 

 not to be transported over sea at great cost, or 

 reduced to slavery. The natives are a laborious 

 i-ace, obedient, intelligent. Already they carry 

 on with success all manner of agricultural work. 

 Their wealth in cereals and in cattle is very great, 

 despite the chronic state of insecurity. They 

 know how to smelt copper and even iron, forging 

 arms and utensils of very good quality. The arts 



