88 RECENT EX PL OR A TIONS IN EQ UA TORI A L A FRICA 



The native processes of rubber-gathering are crude and waste- 

 ful in the extreme. If intelligent and economical methods were 

 adopted, there would be far greater yields than formerly, and 

 the west African rubber would command a higher price. Unless 

 better methods of extracting rubber are introduced, it is safe to 

 predict that under the increasing demand for rubber one of the 

 most thriving industries of Sierra Leone will be ruined by the 

 extinction of the plant. At present, for the purpose of extract- 

 ing a few pounds of rubber, large trees are totally destroyed. 



The forests in the Kuniki and Koranko districts are quite ac- 

 cessible, it being about seven da3^s' march to Makali, where the 

 woods are entered. Water carriage for light canoes is possible 

 down the Rokel river from Benkia, two marches from Makali. 



These forests, however, are small compared to those on the 

 Anglo-Liberian frontier along the Morro and Mano rivers, which 

 extend nearly a thousand miles. The exploitation of these 

 forests has been impracticable for the last twenty years, owing to 

 border raids, but under present conditions of peacefulness it is 

 now possible to open up these forests, which abound in rubber 

 and elephants, and the southern portions of which are within 

 two days' journey of Sulina. 



A protectorate will shortly be proclaimed over the British 

 sphere of influence in the interior, and under the proposed ar- 

 rangement of five districts, each to be under a competent com- 

 missioner, it is hoped there will be a rapid development of the 

 interior, especially in the way of opening up communications 

 and fostering trade. 



RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA* 



Africa is fast losing its title of the Dark Continent, and if explorations 

 continue at their recent rate for a few years longer it will be as well 

 known as other parts of the globe. Three young men recently crossed 

 it from east to west, following, in the main, the route taken by Stanley, 

 and correcting a few of the slight mistakes made by that explorer, as the 



* In studying the geography of the Dark Continent it should be borne in mind that 

 owing to the interehangeability of the letters r, 1, and d in many of the African dia- 

 lects and to the fact that explorers of various nationalities have applied to the names 

 of the different tribes and geographic features of the regions tliey have visited the 

 orthographic forms peculiar to their own languages, the geographic nomenclature, even 

 of such portions of the interior as are now mnpned in more or less detail, is far from 

 being definitely established. In some cases the variation in spelling is so great as 

 almost to preclude identification, and not even in the case of names of European origin 

 is there that uniformity of orthography which is so much to be desired. J. H. 



