834 



WEST AFRICA. 



square miles and 1,000,000 inhabitants. Porto 

 Novo, the capital, has a population of 50,000. 

 The natives cultivate corn, manioc, and yams 

 and obtain from the forests palm-kernels, coco- 

 nuts, etc. The budget of revenue and expenditure 

 in 1901 was 2,974,200 francs. Kotonu, a port 

 having about 15,000 inhabitants, is connected by 

 telegraph with the Niger, and a railroad is being 

 built by a company to Abomey, the capital of 

 the former Kingdom of Dahomey. The king was 

 exiled to the French Congo in 1900. The value 

 of imports in 1900 was 15,221,419 francs; exports, 

 12,755,894 francs. Liquor, cotton goods, and to- 

 bacco are the largest imports. The exports of 

 palm-kernels were 0,595,800 francs in value; of 

 ,.;ilin-oil. 5,352,225 francs. The ports were vis- 

 ited in 1900 by 415 steamers, of 393,401 tons. 



British Possessions. The Gold Coast is a 

 Crown colony. The Governor is Major Matthew 

 Nathan. The colony proper has an area of 40,000 

 square miles, with 1,473,882 inhabitants. The 

 number of Europeans is about 500. There are 

 11,000 pupils in the missionary schools. The ex- 

 ports are palm-oil, palm-kernels, rubber, and cab- 

 inet woods. Gold-mines have been opened and 

 a railroad is being built to enable mines to be 

 worked in Ashanti, which was conquered and 

 made a British protectorate in 1896. The north- 

 ern territories of Adansi and Ashanti and the 

 part of the neutral zone which by the Anglo- 

 German agreement of Nov. 14, 1899, falls to the 

 share of Great Britain, which is to be marked out 

 by a joint boundary commission, are under the 

 direction of a Commissioner, Col. A. H. Morris. 

 The revenue of the colony in 1899 was 322,- 

 500; expenditure, 309,660; imports, 1,323,- 

 220; exports, 1,111,740; tonnage entered and 

 cleared, 1,250,410 tons. The exports of rubber 

 were 555,731; of palm-oil, 183,204; of kernels, 

 106,156; of gold dust, 51,300; of kola-nuts, 

 57,020. The northern territories have an area 

 of 50,000 square miles. Many mining conces- 

 sions have been taken out, and companies have 

 been floated that had no auriferous deposits that 

 can be made profitable. This circumstance and 

 the lack of transportation have militated against 

 the progress of gold-mining. The railroad has 

 been built as far as the Offin river. The inhab- 

 itants are good material for soldiers and many 

 are recruited for the British West African regi- 

 ments. Pabia is a district that both Germany and 

 Great Britain claim, and both had military to 

 watch events until the boundary commission 

 came. The western boundary of the Gold Coast 

 was delimited by an Anglo-French Commission in 

 the fall of 1902. 



Layox, another Crown colony, is administered 

 by a Governor, Sir William McGregor. It has 

 an area of 985 square miles and 85,607 inhab- 

 itants. The Government maintains 31 schools, 

 with 3,371 pupils. Palm-oil, palm-kernels, ivory, 

 gum copal, cotton, rubber, cacao, and coffee are 

 exported, and spirits, cotton cloth, tobacco, and 

 hardware are imported. A railroad was built 

 from Lagos to Abeokuta, 60 miles, and the ex- 

 tension to Ibadan, 66 miles, is now completed. 

 The Lagos protectorate has an area of 21,000 

 square miles and a population of about 3.000,000. 

 It includes all towns belonging to Ibadan and 

 Oyo, Ikirun. and all the Yoruba country. The 

 revenue of the colony in 1899 was 192,790; ex- 

 penditure, 223.290; imports, 966,600; exports, 

 915,940; tonnage entered and cleared, 968,828 

 tons. The exports of palm-oil were 168,458 in 

 value; of palm-kernels, 412,817; of rubber, 

 160,315. 



ia is governed by an Administrator. Sir 



George C. Denton. The colony has an area of 

 69 square miles with 13,456 inhabitants, of whom 

 62 are Europeans. There are 6 schools, with 

 883 pupils. The main export is earthnuts. 

 Minor exports are hides, beeswax, cotton, corn,, 

 rice, and rubber. The protectorate has an area 

 of 2,700 square miles, with about 200,000 inhab- 

 itants. The revenue of the colony in 1901 was 

 43,726; expenditure, 48,518; imports, 2r>2.- 

 646; exports, 233,667; tonnage entered and 

 cleared, 284,635 tons. The Gambia protectorate 

 has 90,000. The Jolahs, a wild tribe near the 

 French frontier, murdered two commissioners 

 and some of the police. An expedition was sent 

 to punish them by burning their towns and 

 seizing their grain and cattle. The people of this 

 and other protectorates are rapidly becoming 

 converted to Mohammedanism, even some who 

 had previously embraced Christianity. The 

 spread of Mohammedanism causes a great de- 

 cline in the spirit trade. The Marabouts, as the 

 native Mohammedans are called, form nearly 75 

 per cent, of the population. 



Sierra Leone has an area of about 4,000 square 

 miles, with 74,835 inhabitants, of whom 224 are 

 Europeans. There are 65 schools, with 5,583 pu- 

 pils in average attendance. Freetown, the cap- 

 ital, which has 30,033 inhabitants, is a fortified 

 naval station and the headquarters of the Brit- 

 ish forces in West Africa, consisting of a West; 

 India regiment of 800 men and a West African 

 regiment raised in 1898, besides engineers and 

 artillery. There is also an armed constabulary 

 of 600 men for frontier defense. The exports are 

 palm-oil, palm-kernels, benni-seed, earthnuts, 

 kola, rubber, gum copal, and hides. A railroad 

 from Freetown to Rotofunk, 60 miles, is being 

 carried farther to Bo, 80 miles. The revenue of 

 the colony in 1899 was 168,380; expenditure, 

 145,090; imports, 689,810; exports, 336,010, 

 including palm-kernels for 163,271, rubber for 

 43,730, and kola-nuts for 61,456; tonnage en- 

 tered and cleared, 1,181,748 tons. The Sierra 

 Leone protectorate has an extent of about 30,- 

 000 square miles, with about 375,000 inhabitants. 



Nigeria has an area of about 400,000 square 

 miles and a population estimatel at from 25,000,- 

 000 to 40,000.000. It comprises Benin, Ilorin, and 

 the coast region formerly called the Oil Rivers 

 protectorate and the regions on the middle Niger 

 and the Binue that were the field of the commer- 

 cial operations of the Royal Niger Company, 

 founded by Sir George Goldie in 1882, and of the 

 political activity of that company which secured 

 this extensive, populous, and productive country 

 to Great Britain. British protectorates over these 

 regions were proclaimed in 1884 and 1887, and in 

 1900 the Niger Company surrendered its charter 

 and handed over the administration to the Im- 

 perial Government. The territories south of a 

 line drawn from Owo on the Lagos frontier 

 through Idda on the Niger to Ashaku on the fron- 

 tier of the Cameroons, most of which formed the 

 Niger Coast protectorate that was not controlled 

 by the Royal Niger Company, were added to 

 Nigeria, but are still administered separately 

 from the northern protectorate. A part of the 

 lower Niger region was added to Lagos. The 

 revenues collected from imports and exports in 

 Lagos and Southern Nigeria will be divided with 

 Northern Nigeria, which has no present source 

 of revenue. In 1901 the revenue amounted to 

 380,984. of which 362.472 came from customs. 

 The expenditure was 304.143. The value of im- 

 ports was l.!!i!UiH). and of exports 1.166.147- 

 The tonnage entered and cleared was .V><uiS] (mis. 



Southern Nigeria is thickly inhabited by pagan 



