Feb. 1, 1889.] 47d [Phillips. 



the proclamation bj'' the State, the registration of every non-indigenous 

 land-holder was completed, not without much arduous labor. 



Matters relating to mines and forests are under the control of the same de- 

 partment that regulates lands. Except on one's own legally registered 

 property no trees nor plantations can be cut or damaged, unless with the 

 consent of the Governor-General or one of his authorized deputies, pre- 

 viously and specially obtained. No mines can be worked without a 

 license from the sovereign, and the sale and transfer of lands by the 

 State does not confer any mineral rights. 



RELIGIOUS MISSIONS. 



By the sixth article of the Berlin Conference, all the signatory powers 

 engaged to watch over the preservation of the indigenous populations of 

 that I'egion and to ameliorate their moral and material conditions of 

 existence, and guaranteed an especial protection to missionaries, savants 

 and explorers. Liberty of conscience and religious toleration were ex- 

 pressly guaranteed both to the natives and to European settlers without 

 any restriction whatever. 



The care of the missionaries is an astute idea ; they are always the 

 precursors of civilization, undergoing hardships, in their spiritual zeal, 

 from which ofttimes men shrink who have no loftier motive than love 

 of wealth. Every mission founded is a central source from whence 

 the influence of white culture sheds, beacon-like, a far-reaching influence 

 among the less famed nations of the world and becomes one more step 

 towards their peaceable conquest by civilization. By them the points of 

 contact are increased, and through them relations of the most friendly 

 character are established and maintained. To their schools resort the 

 young barbarians, desirous of becoming acquainted with the wonder- 

 working arts of the European, and they return not only with a knowledge 

 of rudimentary education, but also with ideas as to liovv to obtain the 

 most profit from their badly tilled fields, and once again the lamp of 

 science is handed on yet one step further in its dissemination. 



The missionaries of Christendom are the barrier to the progress of Islam 

 in the dark continent, an influence that can hardly be overestimated. 

 "Wherever Islam penetrates," writes Dr. Nachtigall, "slavery is in- 

 stalled, and to demolish the traffic in human beings, it is neces.sary to 

 strike at its source, in Islam." 



No traces are to be found of the good results formerly accomplished by 

 the labors of the zealous workers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 

 ries ; indeed, by the eighteenth century, the indigenous races had totally 

 relapsed into a brutal and beastly idolatry. A few isolated attempts were 

 made to remove this sad state of affairs, but without great success. When, 

 in 1885, the Congo Independent State was founded, two missions were 

 existing on the Congo ; the Peres da Saint-Esprit were installed at Boma 

 and some Protestant missionaries were at Stanley pool. 



PROC. AMEK. FHILOS. SOC. XXVI. 130. 3h. PRINTED OCT. 25, 1889. 



