GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



AFRICA 



SiEKRA Leone. The first section of the first raih'oad in British West 

 Africa is now being operated between Freetown and Wellington. 



British South Africa. A company has been formed to construct and 

 operate a line of railway from Umtali to Salisbury, a distance of about 

 160 miles. Umtali is the terminus of the existing Beira railway system. 



Abyssinia. A recent report on the trade of Adis Abbata states that 

 ivory, which could once be obtained at the rate of a tusk for a pei'cus- 

 sion musket, is now sold at from $80 to $100 for 40 pounds. Coffee of 

 good quality grows wild in many parts of the country. 



CENTEAL AMERICA 



British Honduras. The report of the government surveyors on the 

 practicability of the proposed railroad from Belize to the western frontier 

 of the colony (a distance of 72 miles) estimates the cost of construction 

 at $3,575,237, or nearly $50,000 per mile. It is considered doubtful if the 

 road would pay interest on so large an investment unless it were continued 

 into Guatemala, and negotiations looking to that end are now in progress. 



Nicaragua. Mr Thomas O'Hara, U. S. consul at San Juan del Norte, 

 states in a recent report that there is neither a cellar nor a chimney in 

 that city. All the buildings are of wood, although lumber is expensive 

 and short-lived, the climate and wood ants combining to play havoc with 

 it. The exclusive use of wood (except in a very few cases for foundation 

 purposes) is not due to fear of earthquakes, but to the fact that there is 

 neither stone nor brick-clay in the vicinity. There is, however, no market 

 for imported brick. 



SOUTH AMERICA 



Venezuela. The government of Venezuela has ceded to Messrs Rut- 

 gers de Beaufort, bankers, of Amsterdam, the monopoly of all the salt 

 mines in the country, in consideration of the establishment of a new 

 bank in Caracas with a capital of $3,860,000. The bank will have the 

 right to establish branches and to issue notes to double the amount of 

 its capital. The concession is reported to have created great dissatisfac- 

 tion among the people. 



British Guiana. A recent writer on the gold industry of .British 

 Guiana says that whether the colony has a future as a gold-producing 

 country is a question not yet removed from the region of doubt. There 

 is no denying the fact that the central areas are richly auriferous, but the 

 difficulties and dangers attending the navigation of the rivers constitute 

 an enormous obstacle to the working of the deposits. The total gold pro- 

 duction of the colony for the year ending June 30, 1897, was 128,334 

 ounces, as against 119,422 ounces in 1895-'96. and 138,279 ounces in 

 1892-'93. 



J. H. 



30i 



