CENTRAL AFRICA. 



157 



But, even in the present state of things, com- 

 modities for export would not be lacking if the 

 cost of transportation were not so heavy. Where 

 everything must be carried on the backs of men, 

 the only products that can profitably be trans- 

 ported to the coast are ivory, gold, gums, or 

 slaves, who are their own carriers. With steam- 

 boats, a tramway, or an elephant-express, com- 

 merce would develop to an extraordinary degree. 

 Cameron, in the concluding chapter of his book, 

 enumerates the chief products that might be ex- 

 ported ; these are : Sugar, for the sugar-cane 

 thrives wherever there is not lack of water ; cot- 

 ton, which is cultivated everywhere, and which 

 grows wild in sandy districts, especially in Ufipa ; 

 palm-oil, which is abundant in the whole Lualaba 

 basin up to an elevation of 700 metres ; coffee, 

 which grows spontaneously in Karagwe and else- 

 where, producing a bean of the same size and 

 flavor as Mocha ; tobacco, everywhere cultivated 

 on a small scale, that grown in Ujiji being of the 

 very best quality ; sesame and castor-oil, spices 

 of every kind, sorgho, copal, caoutchouc, maize, 

 bananas, hemp, wax, hides, copper, gold, cinnabar, 

 and silver. Such are the chief products already 

 exploited by the natives, to say nothing of others 

 which the European would soon discover and 

 turn to account. M. Bonnat's experience goes to 

 show the chances of success which await the man 

 of enterprise who, backed by the International 

 Exploration Society, should take up his abode in 

 this magnificent country. 



One-hundredth part of the effort made in con- 

 quering India would suffice to found here an em- 

 pire larger, more productive, less costly to ad- 

 minister, and less exposed to outside competition. 

 The virgin soil of Central Africa possesses a fer- 

 tility very different from that of Hindostan, now 

 impoverished by thousands of years of exhaustive 

 husbandry. Being regularly and far more abun- 

 dantly watered by the equinoctial rains-, it is 

 never exposed to those droughts which periodi- 

 cally cause such cruel famines in the provinces 

 of India. The negro is a far more able-bodied 

 agricultural laborer than the Hindoo ; and, wher- 

 ever there exists a small measure of security, the 

 population rapidly increases, and hands are in 

 plenty. In the whole region of the great lakes 

 the villages touch one another ; the land is culti- 

 vated with great care, and the laborers are better 

 fed than the rural population of Europe. Hence 

 there might be developed here an outlet for our 

 manufactures greater than India and Australia 

 taken together. 



The most pleasing feature of the plan devised 



by the Brussels Congress is, that it does not pro- 

 pose to conquer Central Africa by force in the 

 interest of any one power ; but to bring that im- 

 mense region into the current of civilization, for 

 the benefit of mankind in general, by peaceful 

 means and by the development of commerce. 

 The organization of the society founded at Brus- 

 sels, and the noble words pronounced by King 

 Leopold when he inaugurated the enterprise, 

 clearly show its international character. At its 

 head is an executive committee, consisting of a 

 president — the King of the Belgians himself — and 

 three other members, namely, M. de Quatrefages, 

 representing France ; Dr. Nachtigal, Germany ; 

 and Sir Bartle Frere, England. To these will be 

 added two delegates for each national committee, 

 appointed in the different countries. The mission 

 of these national committees is to bring the pro- 

 gramme of the society into public notice in their 

 respective countries ; to collect subscriptions, and 

 to suggest to the international committee plans 

 for the judicious employment of its funds. In 

 Belgium the national committee was formed im- 

 mediately, under the presidency of the king's 

 brother, the Count de Flandre. Thanks to the 

 warm attachment of the people for their sovereign, 

 subscriptions have come in freely. Most of the 

 departments of the government, the officers of 

 the army, the civic guard, the criminal and pro- 

 vincial councils, the functionaries, the industrial 

 establishments, have contributed their mites. 

 The sum already collected is sufficient to yield 

 an annual revenue of 124,000 francs — enough 

 to defray the expense of an expedition every year. 

 Had not the industrial crisis considerably reduced 

 the income of the whole people, the subscriptions 

 would have been larger; and, besides, the enter- 

 prise is still only in its initial stage. In German v 

 the national commitee has been formed under the 

 auspices of the prince imperial, and its president 

 is the Frince von Reuss. In England the "Afri- 

 can Exploration Fund " has been placed under 

 the patronage of the Prince of AVales. Portugal, 

 the home of great navigators, will not be indiffer- 

 ent to this work, for her fearless travelers, the 

 Pombeiro brothers (1806-1815) and Silva Porto 

 (ISoS-ISSY), have already traversed Africa from 

 the Congo coast to Mozambique, and she owns 

 the ports that will be the principal outlets for 

 African commerce. A committee is in process of 

 formation, under the patronage of the Lisbon 

 Geographical Society and the Minister of the 

 Colonies. An important role seems also to be 

 reserved for Holland, whose sons colonized the 

 Cape, and founded the two free states of the 



