WEST AFRICA. 



833 



B : 



The French Congo has an area of about 450,000 

 uare miles and a population variously esti- 

 ated at from 8,000,000 to 15,000,000. The Com- 

 issioner-General is A. Grodet. Col. Gentil is 

 ommissioner for the Shari protectorate, which 

 eludes the northern Congo and Ubangi regions, 

 here military administration is in force. There 

 re 45 schools in the colony, with 2,654 pupils, 

 'he expenditure of France in 1902 was 500,000 

 ancs. The local budget of revenue and expend- 

 ture in 1900 was 3,834,000 francs. A loan of 

 ,000,000 francs was raised for roads and tele- 

 graphs. The natives cultivate manioc and Euro- 

 peans raise coffee, vanilla, and cacao. Rubber 

 is collected in the forests. The total value of im- 

 ports in 1900 was 10,550,000 francs; exports, 

 7,550,000 francs. The exports of rubber were 

 .3,015,000 francs; of ivory, 2,927,000 francs; of 

 woods, 1,150,000 francs. Minor exports are palm- 

 oil, palm-kernels, cacao, kola-nuts, and piassava. 

 The ports were visited in 1900 by Q9 vessels, of 

 137,698 tons. A railroad from Libreville, the seat 

 of Government, to the Congo is projected. France, 

 Portugal, and Belgium renewed in 1902 the proto- 

 col signed at Lisbon in 1892 relative to import 

 duties in the western basin of the Congo. The 

 .ad valorem system was temporarily maintained 

 pending the establishment of specific duties, which 

 shall not exceed 10 per cent., and the existing 

 rate of 6 per cent, ad valorem was raised to 10 

 per cent. The French Government granted in 

 1893 a territorial concession of 104,000 square 

 kilometers in the Ogowe district to a French com- 

 pany, and in 1899 divided the whole of the French 

 Congo between 40 concessionaire companies domi- 

 ciled in France though largely controlled by Bel- 

 gians. English trading companies have hitherto 

 enjoyed the whole trade in these regions. In the 

 Congo basin by the act of Berlin there must be 

 complete freedom of trade ; no monopoly or favor 

 of any kind can be granted in matters of trade. 

 The Ogowe district of Gabun is not included in 

 the free-trade zone. The companies that ob- 

 tained concessions in the French Congo bound 

 themselves to allow every latitude to the trading 

 .operations of the foreign firms for two years, and 

 :at the end of that period to buy them out. For 

 two years the French companies did nothing, and 

 the English companies still had all the trade. 

 In 1901 the French companies established facto- 

 ries, and informed the natives that they must 

 trade only with them. The English merchants 

 through their native agents had all the produce, 

 consisting of india-rubber, palm-oil, palm-kernels, 

 ebony, and ivory tusks, brought to their factories 

 and induced the natives to have no dealings with 

 the ^concessionaire companies. Thereby the for- 

 eign merchants came into conflict with the French 

 authorities, who told them they could no longer 

 trade with the natives, that these must bring 

 their produce to the concessionaires. When the 

 merchants, nevertheless, continued to carry on 

 trade the French officials seized and threw into 

 the bush their cotton cloth and other trade 

 goods, seized the native produce and delivered it 

 to the concessionaires. The merchants applied 

 to the local courts, and these decided that, all 

 lands vacant and without ownership having been 

 incorporated in the public domain, and the right 

 to the produce of the public domain having been 

 conceded to the companies, these had the sole 

 right to buy produce except the produce of the 

 native reservations. In the native reservations 

 the foreign merchants would enjoy complete 

 freedom of trade. There were, however, no na- 

 tive reservations yet delimited, and to survey 

 and delimit them would be the work of years. 

 VOL. XLII. 53 A 



As in the meantime they could do no business, 

 the French companies could buy them out at any 

 price. They did not abandon the contest, how- 

 ever. They continued to trade even after the 

 companies obtained damages against them for 

 illegal trading and trespass. They influenced the 

 natives to go back into the bush and bring down 

 no produce at all, and demanded of the Trench 

 authorities full compensation for the business 

 they lost, not only in the Congo basin but in the 

 Ogowe district. Where the local officials had 

 broken into the English factories, seized trade 

 goods in the possession of the merchants, and 

 forcibly closed trade routes, the French Gov- 

 ernment acknowledged that the merchants had 

 claims for redress, but that they had a right to 

 continue to buy produce from the natives was 

 not acknowledged. The French had to send out 

 punitive expeditions against the natives to pre- 

 vent them from secretly dealing with the English 

 merchants, whose native agents when caught car- 

 rying on the clandestine trade were punished. 

 Two Mohammedan chiefs on the upper Ubangi 

 who sold ivory to the English fell upon a puni- 

 tive expedition and fatally wounded the French 

 officer in command. Another French officer was 

 assassinated by Pahouins near Libreville. An 

 expedition was attacked by the Pumos on the 

 Sanga river. The manager for one of the con- 

 cessionaire companies was murdered at his fac- 

 tory at Likelemba, and the neighboring factory 

 at Pembe was pillaged. In Ngounie a punitive 

 expedition destroyed the villages and plantations 

 of the natives, who fought the soldiers fiercely. 



French Guinea, lying between Portuguese 

 Guinea and Sierra Leone, has an area of about 

 95,000 square miles and a population estimated 

 at 2,200,000. The Futa Jallon has been added to 

 the territory, which has been extended so as to 

 include Dinguiray, Siguiri, Kurussa, Kankan, 

 Kissidugo, and Beyla. There are 7 Government 

 schools, with 426 pupils. The natives cultivate 

 rice, millet, and earthnuts, and gather gums and 

 rubber. Cattle are raised in Futa Jallon. The 

 local revenue and expenditure in 1901 balanced 

 at 6,895,000 francs. A harbor will be constructed 

 at Konakry and a railroad built to the Niger, a 

 loan of 4,000,000 francs having been authorized 

 for the purpose. French, English, and German 

 steamers call at that port. The number of ves- 

 sels entered at the ports during 1899 was 5.072, 

 of 312,391 tons; cleared, 5,002, of 308,523 ..tons. 

 The value of imports in 1900 amounted to 14,275,- 

 452 francs; exports, 9,779.772 francs. The exports 

 of rubber were 7,322,000 francs; of cattle, 1,000,- 

 500 francs; of palm-kernels, 477,000 francs; im- 

 ports of cotton cloth, 5.325,000 francs. 



The Ivory Coast, which has been extended so 

 as to include the Kingdom of Kong, has an area 

 of 125,000 square miles and 2,500,000 inhabitants. 

 The budget of revenue and expenditure in 1901 

 was 1,908,000 francs. The natives grow corn 

 and rice. White planters raise coffee with suc- 

 cess. Coconuts and rubber are gathered by the 

 blacks, and woods are brought down from the 

 forests. The value of imports in 1900 was .ON>.- 

 873 francs; exports, 8,074,589 francs. The ex- 

 ports of rubber were 4,725.000 francs; of palm- 

 oil, 1,475.000 francs: of mahogany, 1.200,000 

 francs. During 1900 the number of vessels en- 

 tered at Grand Bassam \va- S71. of 1.140.307 

 tons; cleared, 865, of 1.12(5.943 tons. A cam- 

 paign in the Hinterland resulted in the submi 

 sion of the natives of Baule in the early part of 

 1902. 



Dahomey, including the added territories of 

 Say and Nebba, has an area of about 60,000 



