HENRY V. PELTON. 21 



To the productiveness of the soil abundant testimony 

 is given by all travelers. The natural products include 

 most of those peculiar to the tropics and, in nearly all 

 districts, the natives cultivate the soil to some extent, 

 but of course this is done only so far as to satisfy 

 their own simple needs. Of the possibilities of its future 

 productiveness, we have many assurances. Livingston 

 said of the country about the Leambye that it is capable 

 of supporting millions of inhabitants, and would yield 

 grain sufficient to feed vast multitudes. Stanley refers 

 again and again to the quick growing and abundant 

 crops which the country, in most parts, yielded, and to 

 the inexhaustible natural resources of the great river 

 basins. Wheat, tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, rice and cot- 

 ton may be raised in vast quantities. There is a great 

 equatorial belt of exceeding fertility between fifteen de- 

 grees North latitude and fifteen South latitude ; north 

 and south of this, two other belts, with less rain, but 

 enough for crops, and again after passing the Sahara and 

 the Kalahari deserts, there are fertile districts in the ex- 

 treme North and the extreme South. 



The mineral wealth of Africa, while yet undeveloped 

 and known only in part, is unquestionably very great. 

 Gold has been found in many places, copper is abundant 

 in the centre of Southern Africa, and also in the equa- 

 torial regions. Iron is reported in quantities in several 

 parts and lead, plumbago and other minerals have al- 

 ready been discovered. 



The people are estimated to number about 200 millions 

 which would make the density of population about one- 

 fifth that of Europe. They are divided into almost in- 

 numerable tribes, and these are warring with each other 

 with great frequency. When the International Associa- 

 tion, by a peaceful expedition, opened the Congo basin, 

 they found it necessary to make four hundred treaties 

 and to obtain two thousand signatures of native chiefs. 



