GERMANY. 



365 



open instructions being to make an official in- 

 spection of the trading-stations on the West 

 African coast and to raise the German flag 

 over Angra Pequefia. In the beginning of 

 July Dr. Nachtigal arrived at Little Popo, on 

 the Slave Coast. German traders had acquired 

 lands and established factories within a few 

 miles of the boundary of the English colony 

 of the Gold Coast. The English at Quitta at- 

 tempted to oust them from this position by 

 inciting the negroes to drive out the Germans, 

 and cede the strip of coast to them. The 

 Togno negroes threatened to destroy their 

 factory if they did not depart within a week, 

 and the English commandant was preparing 

 to take formal possession of the territory in 

 the name of Great Britain, on the ground that 

 the Hamburg traders dealt in contraband arti- 

 cles, when the German commissioner appeared 

 on the scene. On the 5th of July he hoisted 

 the German flag at Bey Beach and at Bageida, 

 taking under the protection of the empire a 

 strip of coast twelve miles long. The Togno 

 King Lorson ratified a treaty concluded some 

 time before with the commander of the cor- 

 vette Sophie, and promised to disturb the 

 traders no more. From Little Popo Dr. 

 Nachtigal proceeded to the Cameroon s, in 

 Guinea. The German merchants had been 

 treating for some time with the chiefs Aqua 

 and Bell for the cession of the Cameroons 

 coast. The negotiations halted after the ar- 

 rival of an English gunboat, the commander 

 of which announced that the English consul 

 would soon come to treat with the natives. 

 "When Dr. Nachtigal arrived, the treaties were 

 speedily signed. The German flag was raised 

 at Cameroons and Bimbia, and afterward at 

 Malimba, Little and Great Batanga, and other 

 points, establishing German sovereignty over 

 the whole of this productive region from 

 Cameroons to the boundary of the French 

 possessions. Cameroons, opposite Fernando 

 Po, is described as one of the most beautiful 

 spots in Africa, and, as the rocky shore rises 

 to the height of 3,000 feet and over, the cli- 

 mate is not unwholesome nor unpleasant. 

 The Cameroon river is one of the richest of 

 the oil-rivers. The whole coast supplies palm- 

 oil in abundant quantities, besides ivory and 

 other products. The trade of the Cameroon 

 river amounts to 800,000 gallons of palm-oil, 

 and 12,000 or 15,000 pounds of ivory. The 

 trade is entirely by barter. The Dualla ne- 

 groes of the Cameroons district, numbering 

 about 20,000 souls, carry on the trade with 

 the interior, exchanging the native products 

 at the factories of Woermann, Jantzen, and 

 some small English firms for cotton goods, 

 gunpowder, rifles, salt, rum, gin, and tobacco. 

 A line of steamers plies once a month between 

 Bimbia and Hamburg. These annexations of 

 Germany on both sides of the Niger region 

 prompted England to declare a protectorate 

 over the Niger delta to the limits of the Ger- 

 man acquisitions on either side. From the 



Cameroons Dr. Nachtigal proceeded to Angra 

 Pequefia, where the German flag was hoisted 

 in August. 



The acquisitions effected in 1884 give Ger- 

 many over 750 miles of the West African sea- 

 board, Portugal possessing some 800 miles, 

 France 600, Great Britain 1,300, Liberia 350, 

 and 850 remaining in native hands. A Ger- 

 man squadron was stationed on the west coast 

 of Africa, composed of four corvettes with 50 

 guns and 1,313 men. The vessels are among 

 the most efficient of the German cruisers. On 

 the island of Fernando Po the Spanish Govern- 

 ment granted to Germany a spot for a coaling 

 and consular station. Herr Rohlfs accompanied 

 the German squadron, and afterward proceeded 

 to Zanzibar to act as German consul, where he 

 secured special arrangements with the Sultan, 

 whose relations had been previously confined 

 to Great Britain, which country exercised a 

 quasi -protectorate over the former main outlet 

 of the slave-trade. The district of Cheik-Said, 

 near the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, was pur- 

 chased by Germans in the autumn. On the 

 east shore of South Africa, in Zululand, and 

 in the Portuguese possessions, there were signs 

 of German commercial activity and colonial- 

 enterprise. Bismarck intimated that if Zulu- 

 land was not subject to English sovereignty, 

 it was as open to German colonization as any 

 other ownerless territory. The English anx- 

 iety about the German annexations in South 

 Africa was not merely on account of the future 

 trade of the Lake N'garni and upper Zambesi 

 regions, but sprang from fears regarding the 

 significance and consequences of the proximity 

 of Germany to the Boer Republics. These 

 fears were heightened by the cordial reception 

 given in the summer to the Boer delegates in 

 Berlin, and the confidential conferences of Mr. 

 Kruger with the German Chancellor. 



Annexations In the Pacific. Later in the year 

 the Germans developed a colonial activity in 

 the Pacific. Their colonizing campaign in 

 this quarter of the world was calculated to 

 create more embarrassment for the British 

 Government than their action in South Africa. 

 In December, news that the German flag had 

 been raised over the northern coast of New 

 Guinea, or Papua, as far as the Dutch line, 

 and in parts of the Admiralty Islands, in New 

 Britain and New Ireland, the Duke of York's 

 Islands, New Hanover, Marshall Island, and 

 Anderson Island, created consternation in Aus- 

 tralia. This action anticipated the Australian 

 scheme of extension, which has been prepared 

 with much excitement. When the British au- 

 thorities refused to countenance the annexa- 

 tion of New Guinea by Queensland in 1883, 

 the colonists were told that there was no dan- 

 ger of foreign acquisition. Lord Derby de- 

 clared in Parliament that any attempt on the 

 part of a foreign power to settle on the coast 

 of New Guinea would be regarded as an un- 

 friendly act. Subsequently, in deference to 

 the wishes of the colonists, the home Govern- 



