WEST AFRICA. 



789 



jection. The Sultan of Ndele has a fighting force 

 of 1,000 rifles and 3,000 spearmen. Bagirmi for- 

 merly covered 06,000 square miles, with a popu- 

 lation of 1,500,000. The Sheik Senussi has hith- 

 erto made no effort to develop a military power, 

 although he has been indefatigable as a religious 

 prophet in extending his teachings and his re- 

 ligious influence. In Hedjaz the majority of the 

 Beduins have been converted to his doctrine. 

 While the civil war in Wadai was going on he 

 interfered no more than he had in the conflict of 

 the Egyptian mahdi with the British or that of 

 Rabah with the French. He remained in the 

 desert northwest of Wadai, where he dug wells in 

 the desert and established settlements of the 

 order, and where the Mohammed, Tubbu, Aulad 

 Suliman, and even the Tuareg tribes were devoted 

 to him. The Sultan of Wadai sent him presents 

 of slaves and grain. If the French established 

 their power in Wadai he intended to migrate far 

 to the west and seek in the desert south of 

 Morocco the conditions under which the pure the- 

 ocracy and the religious life of Mohammed's time 

 can be revived. The Turkish Government has 

 been hostile to Senussi in Fezzan, and has aided 

 the rival organization of the Medaniyeh. Once an 

 attempt was made to entice the Sheik Senussi 

 to Stambul, where he would have been detained, 

 and once a plot was formed to seize him in Djer- 

 bub, in consequence of which he sought a refuge 

 in the oases of Kufra, whence he wandered far- 

 ther south when the Turks tried to install a 

 Kaimakam in that district. 



French Guinea has an area of about 95,000 

 square miles and 2,200,000 population. The 

 products are earthnuts, gum, and rubber, of 

 which last 1,857 tons, valued at 6,993,577 francs, 

 were exported in 1899. Rice and millet are grown 

 for food. The total value of imports in 1899 was 

 15,441,710 francs, and of exports 9,461,496 francs. 

 There were entered 5,072 vessels, of 312,391 tons; 

 cleared, 5,002, of 308,523 tons. Of the imports 

 only 3,980,004 francs came from France, and of 

 the exports France took 747,373 francs, while 

 5,581,763 francs went to Great Britain. The 

 revenue raised in 1900 was 2,870,000 francs. 

 Wharves have been built at Conakry, and a rail- 

 road to the Niger is being constructed. The de- 

 pendent protectorate of Futa Djallon, a country- 

 rich in cattle, extends to the border of the mili- 

 tary territories. 



The Ivory Coast, including the kingdom of 

 Kong, also reaches to the military territories. 

 The area is about 125,000 square miles and the 

 population 125,000. The Governor, M. Robardeau, 

 resides at Grand Bassam. The local revenue in 

 1900 was 1,403,000 francs. The chief exports are 

 palm-oil, rubber, gold, which is mined near the 

 capital, and coffee, which has been planted within 

 a few years by Europeans. Valuable forest prod- 

 ucts are brought from the interior. Gen. Combes 

 undertook a campaign in 1901 to pacify the Baule 

 country in preparation for the building of a rail- 

 road from the coast. A gold-mine was discovered 

 early in 1901. 



Dahomey and its dependencies have an area of 

 60,000 square miles and about 1,000,000 inhabit- 

 ants. The Governor, M. Liotard, resides at Porto 

 Novo, which has 50,000 inhabitants. Abomey, 

 the capital of the former kingdom of Dahomey, 

 has 15,000. The natives of the coast district are 

 good agriculturists, who raise corn, yams, and 

 manioc. Oil and coconuts are obtained from the 

 forests. The protectorate extends to Say, on the 

 Niger, to which a railroad may be built from the 

 port of Kotonu, which is connected by telegraph 

 with the Niger and Senegal. The local revenue, in 



1900 was 2,200,000 francs. The value of imports 

 in 1900 was 13,950,000 francs, and of exports 14,- 

 300,000 francs. In 1901 the railroad as far as 

 Abomey was pushed forward with a great force of 

 workmen. The railroad will be carried immedi- 

 ately to Tshaura, 190 miles north of Kotonu. The 

 country was peaceful and contented and the har- 

 vest of palm-kernels abundant. The trade has in- 

 creased 50 per cent, in three years. British cotton 

 goods and German and French spirits are the 

 chief imports, and the exports are palm-oil to 

 England and palm-kernels to Germany by way of 

 Lagos. 



The French Congo extends northward behind 

 the German Cameroons to Lake Chad and north- 

 eastward to Bahr el Ghazal, being divided from 

 the Congo Independent State by the Congo and 

 the Ubangi. The Commissioner-General, A. 

 Grodet, residing at Libreville, administers the 

 former territory of Gabun-Congo, while the north- 

 ern regions, where French troops have been active 

 of late, are organized as the Military Territory of 

 the Lands and Protectorates of the Chad, em- 

 bracing the Shari and Kemo basins excepting the 

 native kingdoms of Bagirmi, Kanem, and Wadai. 

 The total area is estimated at 425,000 square 

 miles and the population at 15,000,000. The local 

 revenue in 1900 was 3,834,060 francs. The French 

 budget for 1901 appropriated 2,078,000 francs for 

 the colony. The forests abound in rubber and 

 cabinet woods. The natives grow manioc and 

 plantains. European planters raise coffee, vanilla, 

 and cacao. Gold, copper, and iron are found. The 

 total value of imports in 1899 was 6,690,263 

 francs, of which France supplied 2,500,000 francs. 

 The total value of exports was 6,625,041 francs, 

 of which 1,600,000 francs went to France. The 

 export of rubber was 3,015,000 francs in value; 

 of ivory, 1,878,000 francs; of woods, 1,150,000 

 francs. Other exports are palm-oil and kernels, 

 coffee, cola-nuts, and piassava. The ports were 

 visited in 1898 by 103 vessels, of 250,009 tons, of 

 which 49, of 127,667 tons, were French. The 

 chief port is Loango. River craft ascend to Libre- 

 ville, which will be connected with the Congo by a 

 railroad. There are 45 schools in the colony, 

 with 2,654 pupils. 



British Colonies. The Gold Coast is a 

 Crown colony having an Executive and a Legis- 

 lative Council to advise the Governor, Major Mat- 

 thew Nathan. The area is 40,000 square miles, 

 with 1,473,882 inhabitants, not including the 

 Adansi and Ashanti dependencies. The popula- 

 tion of Cape Coast Castle is 11,614; of Accra, 16,- 

 267; of Elmina, 10,530. The number of Europeans 

 in the colony does not exceed 500. There are 

 about 11,000 pupils in the Government and the 

 Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, and German Lu- 

 theran schools. The revenue in 1899 was 322,- 

 500; expenditure, 309,660. The value of im- 

 ports was 1,323,220; of exports, 1,111,740. 

 The tonnage entered and cleared was 1,250,410 

 tons. There are 100 miles of railroad from Se- 

 kondi, on the coast, toward Tarkwa, which will 

 be continued to Kumassi, or one will be built from 

 Appam. One from Accra to the Volta river is 

 projected. There are 688 miles of telegraph-lines. 

 The Anglo-German agreement of Nov. 14, 1899, 

 makes the Daka river the boundary between the 

 colony and Togoland up to 9 of north latitude, 

 and beyond that a line running north which 

 shall be so deflected as to leave Gambaga and 

 Mamprusi on the Engjish and Yendi and Chakosi 

 on the German side of the boundary. Ashanti 

 was conquered and annexed in 1896, and the 

 King has since been held a prisoner in Sierra 

 Leone. Gold is mined in many places with Euro- 



