QBE \T r.KITAlN AM> IKKLAND. 





Imini-tered with its dcpendiMi- 

 les, Diego Garcia, and the Seychelles, 



Hot, \\lli' 1- a.s-1-leil li\ all K\eclll i\e 



,1. consisting nf lli- military commander, 

 lonml Secretary, tin- L'rocureur-General, 

 . i --General, tin- Auditor-General, and 

 ..-led member* of tlif Ci'iincil nf <io\ern- 

 Thi> Council i- vested with legislative 

 on tin- representative system, ll i> coiu- 

 d of the Governor and ~? member-, of whom 

 :licial, !) arc nominated liy tin- Governor, 

 nd 10 an- circled. Thr Governor i- Sir ( 'harlo 

 'ii Lees, appointed in iss',1. The popula- 

 ti.'ii of Mauritius ..11 .Ian. 1, 18!)0. wa> ::;.', tiii I. at 

 whom 'J"> I. KM wen- Hindu.-. Tlir ivst includes 

 the white planter*, \vln> are French Creoles, 

 Africans and mixed races, and .!('>'> Chinese. 

 The revenue in ISS'.i wa- s. 7 1 1,802 rupees, and 

 .i'fiiditure s..V>s.:i:!v.> rupee?.. The imports 

 ere valued at ri.li I '.(>.'>> rupees. The staple 

 iroduct is sugar, which was exported to the 

 alue of 'js.'.!!!!.?!)! rupees. The total exports 

 ere 32.8015.:! 15. consisting, in addition to raw 

 gar, of rum, vanilla, aloe fiber, and cocoa-nut 

 1. Th Seychelles Island.-, which support a 

 )pulation of H5, Hi'J. export cocoa-nut oil, soap, 

 ml tortoise shell, and Bodrignes, the Chagos, 

 d other islands produce the cocoa-nut palm. 

 St. Helena, in the south At lantic. having an 

 area of 47 square miles, was once an important 

 port of call on the Cape route to the East. 

 There is a population of 4,315 natives and 126 

 Knglish. It is used as a naval station, and is the 

 headquarters of a fleet of American whalers. 

 Ascension, with an area of 35 square miles, is a 

 itariura for English sailors who contract 

 vers on the coast of Africa. The English 

 lonies on the west coast of Africa are the Gold 

 iast, Lagos, (iamliia, and Sierra Leone. The 

 Gold Coast Colony proper has an area of 15,000 

 square miles. Including the protectorate, the 

 area is said to be 46,000 square miles, with 1,- 

 905,000 inhabitants. Lagos is an island on the 

 ~>lave Coast. The area, including protected terri- 

 ry on the mainland, is 1,071 square miles, and 

 the population is estimated at 100,000. The 

 territory at the mouth of the river Gambia, con- 

 st it utt-d' an independent colony in December, 

 1888, has an area of 2,700 square miles, and a 

 population of 50,000 persons. Sierra Leone, in- 

 cluding t ho island of Sherbro and the territory 

 on the coast extending from the Scarcies river to 

 the boundary of Liberia, has a total extent of 15,- 

 000 square miles and a population of 180,000, of 

 whom 75 .(MX) inhabit Sierra Leone, which has an 

 area of 300 square miles. The revenue of Lai, r <>s 

 in iss<) was J57.<:}:!, and expenditure 57,488. 

 The revenue of the Gold Coast was 111,388, 

 while the expenditure was 125,003. Sierra Leone 

 collected 70,830 of revenue and had 66,771 of 

 expenses. In Gambia 26,281 were collected 

 and the expenditures were 21,566. The im- 

 ports of Lagos were 464.2(50 in value, and the 

 exports 457,649; imports of the Gold Coast 

 colony IM40.H6S. exports 'J 1 l.V.i'jr, : imports of 

 Sierra Leone 277,781. exports t:U9,719: im- 

 ports of Gambia 140,818, exports 167,599. 

 Palm kernels and oil are largely exported from 

 all the colonies except Gambia, which produces 

 ground-nuts for export. Other articles of ex | >rt 

 are rubber, cola nuts, ivory, gum copal, wax. 



cotton, and hide*, (iold mining has U-en l*-gun 

 on the (iold Coast. Cotton ami indigo yrow 

 wild, and coffee and cacao plantation- ha\ 

 started by native and French capitalists and by 

 American missionaries in Sierra Leone, Ginger 

 is also grown for export. The trade of thi- 

 colony has .suffered from the competition of the 

 neighboring French settlements. Major Pea- 

 in Sierra Leone and ('apt. Kennev in 

 Gambia were engaged in !*!! in delimiting the 

 frontiers in conjunct ion with French commis- 

 sioners, in accordance with the An^Io-French 

 \\i-t African agreement of Aug. 10, 18H9. Gun- 

 boats were sent uji the (iamliia river in April, 

 1891, by Gilbert Thomas Carter, the Adminis- 

 trator at Bathurst, for the purpose of punishing 

 the native king, who had mutilated an envoy 

 sent to warn mm to desist from plundering 

 British colonists. 



A vast region not subject to the direct do- 

 minion of the British Government is the Niger 

 district and the adjacent Oil Rivers protectorate. 

 The Niger territories, which under the Anglo- 

 French agreement of Aug. 5, 181*0, include all 

 that belongs to the Kingdom of Sokoto, with the 

 Oil Rivers district, have a total area of about 

 500,000 square miles and a population estimated 

 at 17,000,000. The Niger district is governed by 

 the Royal Niger Company, chartered on July 10, , 

 1886, with a paid-up capital of 1,000,000. 'The 

 capital is Asaba, and the military headquarters 

 are at Lokoga. The kingdom of Sokoto was 

 founded by Fulah conquerors on the wreck of 

 the Haussa empire, and covers an area of un- 

 known extent on the Niger river and eastward 

 to the confines of Bornu and southward in the 

 direction of Adamawa. The King of Gando and 

 other Fulah chiefs are tributary to the Emperor 

 of Sokoto, who is descended from the Sheikh 

 Dam-Fodie Othman, the founder of the king- 

 dom. The area of Sokoto and Gando is taken 

 to be 219,500 square miles, with a population of 

 15,000,000. The people cultivate rice and other 

 grains, dates, and cotton, which they weave and 

 dye, and also make leather goods for export. 

 The Niger Company, as a commercial adventure, 

 it is said, has not been much more successful 

 than the British East Africa Company. The 

 race for Lake Chad called for a more vigorous 

 effort than the dispute about the Benue river 

 with the Germans of Cameroons, which was 

 settled diplomatically, for the French Govern- 

 ment developed great activity in the Niger region, 

 and German expeditions were being organized, 

 as well as French ex | "editions from both north 

 and .south of the British Niger territory, t 

 tablish relations first with the Mohammedan 

 rulers of the Western Soudan. The Niger Com- 

 pany was nearer Lake Chad than either the 

 French or the Germans, and made the first bid 

 for a protectorate over Bornu. An expedition 

 under Charles Mackintosh left Ribago, on the 

 Benue, in October, 1890. Kuka, the capital of 

 Bornu, a town with a population of 120,000, was 

 reached after three weeks' travel. The Sultan 

 assigned quarters to th'e emlia-sy and took the 

 treaty under consideration. At the end of two 

 months he returned the presents that had In-en 

 offered, and said that he would make no treaty, 

 a- every Mohammedan state that had allowed 

 European intrusion had suffered, and therefore 



