llti THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



worshippers of Siva and Vishnu, which with Brahma formed 

 the Hindu Trinity. 



Monday, March 30, 1 891. —Mr. Arthur L. Goodrich 

 read an interesting paper on "The Sources of the Nile." 

 After giving some historical and descriptive account of 

 Egypt, Mr. Goodrich said in substance that civilization in 

 Africa has not been either very seriously or successfully 

 attempted until lately. The Portuguese have been there 

 from very early times ; the French have held the coast re- 

 gion north of the Sahara and England has held Egypt. 

 There have been isolated trading posts in many places ; the 

 discoveries of Livingstone and Stanley have changed all 

 this and the whole country has been divided up within ten 

 or twelve years between six European powers who take 

 possession either in form of "protectorates" or of "zones 

 of influence ;" these are new terms. 



To establish a "protectorate" is to take possession of 

 the country of another and administer it at your pleasure. 

 It sounds like robbery, but is really an extension to na- 

 tions of the idea that the property of incompetents must 

 be administered for them ; as to the "zones of influence," 

 the various nations agree not to interfere with each other 

 in their dealings with the natives throughout certain de- 

 lined areas. 



The reasons for this division of Africa are three in num- 

 ber : first, Europe is overcrowded and there are signs that 

 America will not much longer consent to receive her over- 

 plus ; secondly, competition in commerce is so extreme 

 that new fields are an imperative necessity ; thirdly, Africa 

 is the only place left where the natives are too ignorant 

 to defend themselves. 



A description of the physical geography of the conti- 



