AFGHANISTAN. 



AFRICA. 



9 



the year was not yet considered wholly secure, 

 and his authority was little felt outside of the 

 district which was under his immediate control. 

 A correspondent of the London " Times," writ- 

 ing from Oandaharon the 24th of October, 

 spoke of the extreme indifference which pre- 

 vailed there as to what was passing at Cabool, 

 and as to what was the position of the new 

 Ameer, and represented that Abdurrahman's 

 rule was still hardly more than nominal at 

 Ghuznee, that the tribes south of Ghuznee were 

 quite beyond his influence, and that at Canda- 

 har itself the feeling was hostile to him. Ayoob 

 Khan, who was again at Herat, endeavoring to 

 obtain means to make another advance against 

 the British, and retrieve the losses he had suf- 

 fered before Candahar, was a rival for the al- 

 legiance of the Afghans not to be despised, and 

 combinations were talked of between his forces 

 and the partisans of Yakoob Khan, and the dis- 

 affected tribes, which, if they could have been 

 carried out, would have made him really a 

 formidable competitor for the supremacy. The 

 efforts of Ayoob Khan were not, however, 

 attended by results encouraging to his cause. 

 He sent messengers to Meshed to ask assistance 

 from Persia without success, and excited dis- 

 content at Herat by his arbitrary conduct in 

 exacting taxes which he had levied in ad van 36 

 in order to secure means to push forward his 

 military preparations. His force at this timo 

 consisted of three complete regiments, all of 

 which had served with him in his expedition 

 against Candahar, sixteen field-guns without 

 horses, and two heavy pieces of artillery. This 

 force even could not be depended upon, for in 

 November the regiments which had been de- 

 feated at Candahar refused to serve any longer, 

 and returned to their homes. Notwithstanding 

 the signs of weakness in his actual position, a 

 strong feeling was believed to exist in his favor 

 among the Pathan population, and apprehen- 

 sions were entertained that, in case the British 

 should entirely withdraw from the country, a 

 rising would take place in his favor, with great 

 danger to the authority of Abdurrahman. Some 

 hopes existed that a way might be found to in- 

 duce him to acquiesce in the British policy, and 

 with this object the father-in-law of Ayoob 

 Khan, who had accompanied General Roberts 

 on his march from Cabool, went to Herat, de- 

 signing to express the attachment of the people 

 to him, but at the same time intending to advise 

 him to enter into negotiations with the British. 

 Abdurrahman was also said to have made over- 

 tures to Yakoob Khan in order to persuade him 

 to acknowledge his authority, and to have even 

 sent him a present of money. 



The Wali of Candahar received permission 

 from the Viceroy, on the 29th of November, to 

 retire to India with his family. The fact was 

 the subject of much speculation and of conflict- 

 ing interpretations as to its meaning. The cor- 

 respondent of the London " Standard " in Can- 

 dahar said that the Wali's intention of proceed- 

 ing to India was not in any degree due to a 



hint from the British authorities as to the ex- 

 pediency of such a step. The Wali himself said 

 that the disposition of the people toward him 

 had entirely changed since the fighting at Shir- 

 poor, and that he was so disgusted at their hos- 

 tile attitude, notwithstanding all the efforts he 

 had made to benefit them, that he felt compelled 

 to abandon any further effort to gain their good- 

 will. In consequence of the long hesitation 

 of the British in declaring any definite policy, 

 the Pathan population, who would have accept- 

 ed their rule had they shown themselves de- 

 termined that it should be permanent, were 

 now declaring with great unanimity for Ayoob 

 Khan. 



AFRICA.* The area of Africa, according 

 to the new volume of the " Bevolkerung der 

 Erde," published by Behm and Wagner (vol. 

 vi. Goth a, 1880), was in 1880 estimated at 

 29,909,444 square kilometres t (= 11,548,519 

 square miles), and the population at 205,679,- 

 000. New planimetric calculations have been 

 made by these editors of all the large countries 

 of Africa, and thus new and more accurate 

 statements of the areas can now be given. 

 The latest information that could be gathered 

 from official publications and the accounts of 

 travelers and missionaries in regard to popu- 

 lation, make but slight changes in the figures 

 published in 1878. The table on page 10 ex- 

 hibits the area and population of the princi- 

 pal divisions and subdivisions in 1880, accord- 

 ing to the new volume of the " Bevoikerung 

 der Erde." 



The most important among the recent terri- 

 torial changes in Africa is the annexation of 

 the kingdom of Medina to the republic of 

 Liberia. The area of Medina is not exactly 

 known; its population is estimated by the 

 Government of Liberia at about 700,000, and 

 the total population of the republic is there- 

 fore supposed to amount now to about 1,400,- 

 000. (See LIBEKIA.) 



The Italian commercial firm, R. Rubattini, 

 took, in 1880, actual possession of the territory 

 of Assab, which had been purchased in 1870 

 from some chiefs of the Danakil. It is there- 

 fore now regarded as Italian territory. In- 

 cluding the small islands of Omm el Bachar 

 and Ras er-Raml, this territory contains fifteen 

 square kilometres. 



(For an account of the British, French, Span- 

 ish, and Portuguese possessions in Africa, see 

 GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, SPAIN, and PORTU- 

 GAL.) 



The government of the Cape Colony, after 

 the conclusion of the Zooloo war, undertook to 

 disarm all the native tribes. The Basutos 

 protested against the application of the dis- 

 armament to themselves, pleading special rea- 

 sons for the exemption, without avail. An 

 agitation followed, which lasted through sev- 

 eral months, and ended in the Basutos begin- 



* For a fall account of the religious statistics of Africa, see 

 " Annual Cyclopedia " for 1879, p. 15. 

 1 1 square kilometre = 0-336 English square miles. 



