TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 841 
impede progress. Thus a mere advance to the higher ialand regions will not by 
any means solve all our difficulties; but it will greatly lessen them; and it is 
universally admitted that the more communication with the interior is facilitated, 
the more easy will it be to suppress this terrible traflic in human beings. By the 
General Act of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference of 1890-91, it was agreed by 
the assembled delegates that the construction of roads, and, in particular, of rail- 
ways, connecting the advanced stations with the coast, and permitting easy access 
to the inland waters, and to the upper courses of rivers, was one of the most effec- 
tive means of counteracting the slave trade in the interior. Here, then, we have 
the most formal admission which could be given of the necessity of opening up 
main trunk lines of communication into the interior. 
But not only does geographical knowledge help to demonstrate the necessity of 
improving the means of communication between the coast and the interior, but it 
helps us to decide where it is wise to make our first efforts in this direction. In 
the first place, it is essential to note that ifthe Continent of Africa is compared 
with other Continents, its general poverty is clearly seen. Mr. Keltie, in his excel- 
lent work on the Partition of Africa, tells us that ‘ at present (1895) it is estimated 
that the total exports of the whole of Central Africa by the east and west coast do 
not amount to more than 2U,000,000/. sterling annually.’ For the purposes of com- 
parison it may be mentioned that the export trade of India is between sixty and 
seventy millions sterling annually, and that India is only about one-seventh or 
one-eighth of the area of the whole of Africa. On the other hand, the trade of 
India has been increasing by leaps and bounds, largely in consequence of the 
country being opened out by railways, and there is every reason to hope that some- 
what similar results would occur in Africa under similar circumstances, though 
the lower civilization of the people would prevent the harvest being so quickly 
reaped. But, however it may be as to the future, the present poverty of Africa is 
enough to demonstrate the necessity of pushing ahead cautiously and steadily, and 
of doing so in the most economical manner possible. 
M. Decle, in an interesting paper, read before the International Geographical 
Congress in London last year, strongly advocated the construction of cheap roads 
for use by the natives, taking precautions to prevent any traffic in slaves along 
them. His suggestions are well worthy of consideration ; but the cost of transport 
along any road would, I should have thought, soon have eaten up any profits on 
the import or export trade to or from Africa. What must be done in the first 
instance is to utilise to the utmost all the natural lines of communication which 
require little or noexpenditure to render them serviceable; in fact, to turn our 
attention at first to the rivers and to the lakes. I have already pointed out that 
the early maps of Africa prove that the rivers have almost invariably been the first 
means of communication with the interior, and until this continent is rich enough 
to support an extensive railway system, we must rely largely on the waterways as 
means of transport. 
It may be as well here to remark that geographical knowledge is often required 
in order to control the imagination. I do not know why it is, but almost everyone 
will admit that if he sees a lake of considerable size depicted on a map, he immedi- 
ately feels a desire to visit or possess that locality in preference to others. A lake 
may be of far lesa commercial value than an equal length of thoroughly navigable 
river, and yet it will always appear more attractive. Look at the way in which 
the English, the French, and the Germans are all pressing forward to Lake Chad ; 
and yet Lake Chad is in reality not much more than a huge swamp, and, in all pro- 
bability, it is excessively unhealthy. Again, it is probable that the Albert Nyanza 
will prove to be of comparatively small value, because the mountains come down so 
close to its shores. Of course, the great lakes form an immensely important feature 
in African geography, but we must judge their commercial value rationally, and 
without the bias of imagination. , 
To develop the traffic along the rivers and on the lakes is the first stage in the 
commercial evolution of a continent like Africa. But it cannot carry us very 
far. Africa is badly supplied with navigable rivers, chiefly as a natural result 
of the general formation of the land. ‘The continent consists, broadly speaking, 
1896. Be 
