WEST AFRICA. 



WEST INDIES. 



773 



miles, containing 500,000 inhabitants, and re- 

 garded as an exceedingly fertile and promising 

 region. France was unwilling to recognize any of 

 it as Spanish except the trading posts opposite 

 Corisco. As compensation for the concessions in 

 the northwest France now concedes only a frac- 

 tion of the (Spanish pretensions in the Muni dis- 

 trict, but still a considerable tract of country 

 which is capable of commercial development. 

 The coast line, about 75 miles in length, from the 

 Campo river, the southern boundary of German 

 Kiimcrun, to the Muni river, is conceded to be 

 Spanish, and inland the line is drawn about 10 

 30' east of Greenwich, giving a breadth of about 

 110 miles to the Spanish possession, which has 

 thus an area of over 8,000 square miles, and is 

 known as a fertile agricultural region through 

 which the river Benito flows. The agreement 

 provides that France is to have the right of pre- 

 emption should Spain at any time decide to alien- 

 ate the territory, while Spain has a similar right 

 of pre-emption over the Adrar country. Near 

 Cape Nun Spain has a settlement called Ifni, in- 

 closed inland by British territory and having an 

 extent of only 27 square miles and (5,000 inhab- 

 itants. 



Portuguese West Africa. South of the 

 Congo Portugal possesses the old colony of 

 An</ola, having a coast line of 1,000 miles extend- 

 ing from the Congo to the Cunene, the two rivers 

 dividing it respectively from the Congo State on 

 the north and German Southwest Africa on the 

 south, and stretching inland to the borders of the 

 Congo State and British South Africa. The total 

 area is 484,800 square miles, and the population 

 is estimated at 4,119,000. A military force of 

 4,010 men, of whom 2,858 are natives, is main- 

 tained to preserve order. The revenue for 1900 

 was estimated at 1,673,111 milreis, and expendi- 

 ture at 2,013,671 milreis. The imports in 1897 

 were 6,380,368 milreis, and exports 6,577,791 mil- 

 reis. There are 244 miles of railroad and 807 

 miles of telegraph line. The ports of Angola were 

 visited in 1897 by 615 vessels in the foreign trade, 

 of 1.053.248 tons, and 2,547 in the coasting trade, 

 of 70,743 tons. Coffee, rubber, wax, oils, cocoa- 

 nuts, ivory, cattle, and fish are the important 

 products, and sugar is grown from which rum is 

 distilled. Gold has been discovered, as well as 

 copper, iron, petroleum, and salt, and the Mossa- 

 medes Company, composed of German capitalists, 

 has a concession for mining, breeding cattle, and 

 colonization in a vast healthy tract in the inte- 

 rior. Kan Thome and Principe are salubrious 

 volcanic islands in the Bight of Biafra on which 

 Creole planters raise cacao, coffee, and cinchona. 

 Their area is 360 square miles, with a population 

 of 24,660. The revenue for 1900 was estimated at 

 404,196 milreis, and expenditure at 322,732 milreis. 

 The imports in 1898 were 1,663.914 milreis, and 

 exports 2,536.978 milreis, including 1,825,776 kilo- 

 grammes of coffee, 8.323,057 kilogrammes of 

 cacao, and cinchona bark valued at 29.686 milreis. 

 The Cape Tenlc Islrnnls are inhabited by a col- 

 ored race descended from Portuguese settlers and 

 negroes from all parts of the Guinea coast. The 

 area is 1,480 square miles, and the population is 

 114.130. The revenue for 1900 was estimated at 

 364.129 milreis, and expenditure at 319,941 mil- 

 reis. Imports in 1898 were valued at 1,558,047 

 milreis, and exports at 194,608 milreis. The prod- 

 ucts are coffee, medicinal drugs, and millet. The 

 islands were visited in 1898 by 3,225 vessels, of 

 3,365,137 tons. Portiif/ucse Guinea is surrounded 

 on the land sides by French Guinea and Senegal. 

 The capital is on the island of Bolama. The area, 

 defined in the convention with France signed in 



1886, is 4,440 square miles, and the population is 

 about 820,000. The commercial products are rub- 

 ber, wax, oil seeds, ivory, and hides. The revenue 

 for 1900 was estimated at 50,655 milreis, and the 

 expenditure at 216,742 milreis. The value of im- 

 ports in 1898 was 458,566 milreis; exports, 223,136 

 milreis. 



WEST INDIES. The West Indian islands 

 are colonies of European powers with the excep- 

 tion of the large islands of Hayti-Santo Domingo, 

 Cuba, and Porto Rico. Their population con- 

 sists of the descendants of former negro slaves, 

 with a sprinkling of white Creoles, who have in 

 recent times declined in numbers through emigra- 

 tion. The islands have gone through a long de- 

 pression, due to the competition of European beet 

 sugar with cane sugar, which is still their princi- 

 pal product, though on some of the islands it has 

 been replaced by other crops. Great Britain im- 

 ported from the British West Indies in 1898 

 sugar for 232,378, rum for 106,223, cacao for 

 446,498, and dyewoods for 33,820, all imports 

 amounting together to 1,283,413, while British 

 exports to the islands were valued at 1,839.980, 

 the chief articles being cotton goods for 450.- 

 244, clothing for 203,533, leather and leather 

 goods for 93,433, iron goods for 119,534, fer- 

 tilizers for 76,103, and machinery for 44,210. 

 Flour and provisions are imported into the West 

 Indies from the United States and jerked beef 

 from the Argentine Republic and Uruguay. Of 

 9,167,767 tons of shipping entered and cleared in 



1898 at British West Indian ports 7,239,354 tons 

 were British. In consequence of the economical 

 crisis in the British West Indies, aggravated by 

 destructive hurricanes in the cases of Barbadoes 

 and the Windward Islands, the British Parlia- 

 ment in 1899 authorized advances from the treas- 

 ury amounting to 663,000, of which 150,000 

 were loaned to Jamaica to cover deficits and 

 303,000 to construct public works and railroads, 

 110,000 were allotted to Trinidad for railroads 

 and public works, 50,000 go to Barbadoes to re- 

 pair the damages of the hurricane, and 50,000 

 for the same purpose to St. Vincent. A royal 

 commission appointed to inquire into the condi- 

 tion of the sugar-growing colonies recommended 

 these loans for temporary relief. The conclusion 

 of the commission was that there is danger of re- 

 duction and even of extinction of the sugar in- 

 dustry from the competition of bounty-fed sugar, 

 and yet in many of the islands there is no other 

 industry that could profitably take its place. 



British Colonies. The largest of the British 

 islands is Jamaica, which has 4,424 square miles, 

 including Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cay- 

 mans, and the Morant and Pedro Keys. The area 

 of Jamaica itself is 4.193 square miles. The popu- 

 lation in 1899 of Jamaica was 730.725; of Turks 

 and Caicos Islands, 5,482; of the Caymans, 4,322. 

 There are 635 miles of telegraph on the island of 

 Jamaica, and 185 miles of railroad. The Gov- 

 ernor is Sir August us Hemming. The Legisla- 

 tive Council contains 5 official, 6 nominated, and 

 14 elected members. Kingston, the capital, has 

 46,542 inhabitants. The white population of the 

 colony in 1891 was 14.692. In 1896 there were 

 14,118 East Indian immigrants settled on the 

 island, including 1.562 indentured laborers. Im- 

 migration was suspended in 1886, but in 1891 it 

 was resumed. There were 893 public schools in 



1899 with 96,252 pupils enrolled and 56.853 in 

 average attendance. The British garrison in 1899 

 numbered 1.620 officers and men; the Jamaica 

 militia. 761. The cultivated area in 1898 was 

 660,491 acres, of which 164,307 were tilled and 

 373,048 were pasture. Sugar cane covered 27,123. 



