122 National Geographic Magazine. 



the French took possession of Algiers. There has been a large 

 emigration from France ; but the climate, while excellent as a 

 winter climate for invalids and others, is unfavorable for a per- 

 manent habitation, especially for infants. The births in one 

 year have never equalled the deaths. When Algeria was first 

 conquered by the French, it was a wilderness, but is now a 

 garden. The cultivation of the grape has been most successful, 

 and extensive iron- mines have been opened. The French are 

 gradually pushing their way from Algiers across the desert to 

 Timbuctu, and also from Senegambia to Timbuctu. The ex- 

 pense of maintaining Algeria has greatly exceeded any revenue 

 derived from it. Though many doubt the political wisdom of 

 retaining it, yet the French have too much pride to acknowledge 

 that the enterprise has been in any way a failure; and they will 

 undoubtedly hold it, and perhaps found an empire. Senegambia 

 and the coast of Guinea, claimed by the French and English, are 

 low and moist, filled with swamps and lagoons, which will pre- 

 vent any European colonization. 



South of the Kongo, the Portuguese claim a wide section of 

 country running across Africa. They have occupied this countiy 

 over two hundred years. They have done little towards coloniz- 

 ing, and only hold a few trading-posts on the coast and in the 

 interior, dealing principally in slaves, ivory, and gold ; and it 

 may well be doubted whether they have the stamina or ability to 

 colonize this country, or to produce any permanent impression 

 upon it. 



The soiith portion of Afr'ca, from the 18th j)arallel on the 

 Atlantic to the 26th parallel on the Indian Ocean, is generally 

 fertile; and the climate is favorable to Europeans, and is capable 

 of sustaining a large population. The growth of Cape Colony 

 has been very slow, but a more rapid growth is anticipated. We 

 believe it will be permanently occupied by the English, who will 

 disposses the aborigines, and foi-m a great and permanent 

 English State. The coast of Zanzibar, occupied by the Germans 

 and English, is rich and fertile, the climate unhealthy; but when 

 the mountain-ranges are crossed, and the elevated plateaus and 

 lake regions are reached, the interior resembles the Kongo region. 

 Massaua and Suakin, on the Red Sea, are unhealthy and worth- 

 less, unless connected by railroad with the upper Nile. 



There remains equatorial Africa, including the French settle- 

 ments on the Ogowe, the region about Lake Chad, the Kongo 



