SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 311 



this part of Africa says the route to the lakes has been closed, and 

 the missionaries and merchants murdered. 



North of the English possessions, the coast to the Red Sea is 

 barren and inhospitable, little rain and no harbors, and so worthless 

 that it has not been claimed by any European nation. North of 

 this region is Abyssinia on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, — a 

 mountainous country with deep valleys, rich and fertile, but most 

 unhealthy. Three or four thousand feet above the level of the sea, 

 is a healthier country, inhabited by a race of rugged mountaineers, 

 whom it has been impossible to dispossess of their lands. On the 

 Red Sea, Italy has a small colony at Massaua, and England a camp 

 at Suakin. The only parts of the coast not claimed by Europeans 

 are inhospitable, without population or cultivation of any kind. 



The Belgians have spent many millions in the exploration of the 

 Kongo and its tributaries. They have several small steamers mak- 

 ing trips from Leopoldville up the river to Stanley Falls, and up its 

 branches, supplying the main stations on the river and its branches. 

 The Kongo Free State, unlike all other African colonies, is free to 

 all. Merchants of any nation can establish factories, carry on trade, 

 and enjoy the same privileges and equal facilities with the Belgians. 

 The valley of the Kongo, and the plateau of the great lakes, have a 

 similar climate and soil ; but the Kongo is easier of access, pro- 

 visions are cheaper, more readily obtained, the natives less warlike. 

 The Kongo Free State will therefore be more rapidly settled than 

 any other part of the equatorial regions excepting Cape Colony. 



The trade with these countries is carried on by European com- 

 panies under royal charter, with quasi-sovereign powers for ruling 

 the country and governing the natives, as well as for trading with 

 them. England, Germany, and Portugal subsidize steamship com- 

 panies which make regular trips along the western coast, stopping 

 at the different stations. 



From this statement it will be seen that England occupies the 

 healthiest portion of Africa (Cape Colony), the most fertile valleys 

 (the Nile and the Niger), the richest gold-fields (Gold Coast and 

 Transvaal) ; that Portugal comes next, claiming the most desirable 

 portion of equatorial Africa north of Cape Colony and south of the 

 Kongo, but that it is unable to colonize this country, which will 

 inevitably fall under the control of England ; that the French 

 claim Algiers and Senegambia, and are contending with England 

 for the trade of Timbuctu and the upper valley of the Niger ; that 

 Germany, after vain attempts to penetrate the interior from Kam- 

 erun or Angra Pequena, has planted her flag at Zanzibar, arid has 

 determined to contest with England for the lake region and the 

 great plateaus of Central Africa; while Italy, imitating the other 

 states, tries in vain to obtain a footing on the Red Sea, worthless if 

 obtained. 



Population. 



The population of Africa is roughly estimated at 200,000,000, — 

 about 18 to a square mile, as against 88 in Europe. It is supposed 

 that Africa was originally inhabited by the Hottentots, or Bushmen, 

 who are now found only in south-western Africa, and by the pyg- 

 mies or dwarfs scattered about Central Africa, who, some say, be- 

 long to the same group. This group is noted for its dwarfed stature, 

 generally under five feet ; but whether their size is natural, or due 

 to privation and scanty food, is not certainly known. The Hotten- 

 tot language is distinct from any other known form of speech. They 

 seem to have been driven from Central Africa by the Bantu. The 

 Bantu occupy the greater part of Africa south of the equator. They 

 probably formerly inhabited north-eastern Africa, but were driven 

 from their homes by the Hamites. The Bantu resemble the Negro 

 in their general character, color, and physique, but their language 

 shows essential differences. There are countless tribes of Bantu, 

 each tribe having its own language, yet there was originally a pri- 

 meval Bantu mother-tongue, from which all the dialects of this im- 

 mense region are undoubtedly derived. The idioms of this family 

 are generally known as the alliteral class of languages. North of 

 the Bantu are the Negroes proper, occupying the greater part of 

 Africa between 5° and 15° north latitude. The negro tribes are 

 multitudinous, and, though alike in their main physical features, 

 are diverse in their speech. 



North of the Negro are the Nuba Fulah group, apparently indige- 

 nous to Africa, but without any thing in common with the other 

 indigenous groups. Their name, " Pullo," or "Fulah," means " yel- 



low," and their color serves to distinguish them from the Negro. 

 The Hottentot, Bantu, Negro, and Fulah, though distinct, have 

 each of them the agglutinative forms of speech. The Hamites are 

 found along the valley of the Nile and in Abyssinia. The Shemit- 

 ic tribes occupy the larger part of the Sudan, bounded on the east 

 by the Nile, and on the north by the Mediterranean and northern 

 Atlantic coast. 



About one-half of the population are Negroes proper, one-fourth 

 Bantu, one-fourth Shemites and Hamites, a few Nuba Fulahs and 

 Hottentots. There are almost innumerable tribes, speaking differ- 

 ent languages or different dialects. Over six hundred tribes and 

 languages have been classified by Shilo, yet each is generally unin- 

 telligible to the other. Practically speaking, there are but two great 

 divisions among the inhabitants of Africa, — the Negroes and 

 Bantu, occupying equatorial and southern Africa ; and the Hamites 

 and Shemites of northern Africa. But there is no clear-cut line 

 even between the Mohammedan and Negro. For many hundred 

 years the Negroes have been taken as slaves, and carried into the 

 north of Africa, and have furnished the harems with wives, and the 

 families with servants. The servants are often adopted into the 

 families, so that the Negro blood now largely predominates even 

 among the Shemites and Hamites. 



A broader and more practical distinction than that of language 

 or blood is made by the religion of the African. The Mohamme- 

 dan religion was probably brought from Arabia by the Shemites. 

 They conquered the country along the coasts, and exterminated or 

 pushed to the south the former inhabitants. Then, more slowly 

 but steadily, Mohammedanism forced its way south by the sword 

 or by proselyting. Within the last fifty years it has re-assumed its 

 proselyting character, and is now more rapidly extending than at 

 any previous time. 



Its missionaries are of a race nearly allied to the Negro. They 

 live among them, adopting their customs, and often intermarrying 

 with them. They teach of one God, whom all must worship and 

 obey, and of a future life whose rewards the Negro can compre- 

 hend. They forbid the sacrifice of human victims to appease the 

 wrath of an offended deity. They forbid drunkenness. They give 

 freedom to the slave who becomes a Moslem, and thus elevate and 

 civilize those among whom they dwell. The Christian missionary 

 is of a race too far above him. He is a white man, his lord and 

 master. He teaches of things his mind cannot reach, of a future 

 of which he can form no conception ; he brings a faith too spiritual ; 

 he labors with earnestness and devotion, even to the laying-down 

 of his life. Yet the fact remains that Christianity has produced but 

 little impression in civilizing and elevating the people, while the in- 

 fluence of Mohammedanism is spread on every side. 



In passing from the equator south, the tribes become more de- 

 graded. Sir Henry Maine enunciated the theory of the evolution 

 of civilization from the lowest state of the savage. In Africa he 

 could have found all stages of civilization ; in the lowest scale, man 

 and his mate, living entirely on the fruits of the earth, in a nude 

 condition, his only house pieces of bark hung from the trees to 

 protect him from the prevailing \vind. The vulture guides him to 

 where, the previous night, the lion had fallen on his prey, leaving 

 to him the great marrow-bones of the elephant or the giraffe ; his 

 only arms a stick, belonging to no tribe, with no connection with 

 his fellow-man, his hand against every man, the family relation 

 scarcely recognized. His mental condition is shown by his inabil- 

 ity to count more than two : all above that is many. It is the land 

 of the gorilla, and there seems to be little difference between the 

 man and the ape, and, like wild beasts, they are hunted, and shot 

 by the Boers. In ascending the scale, the family and tribal rela- 

 tion appears, — a house built of cane and grass or the bark of the 

 tree ; a few flocks ; skill in setting traps for game ; the weapon a 

 round stone, bored through, and a pointed stick fastened in the 

 hole. Then come tribes of a low kind of civilization, that cultivate 

 a little ground, having a despotic king, who has wives without 

 limit, numbering in some cases, it is said, 3,000 ; wives and slaves 

 slaughtered at his death, to keep him company and serve him in 

 another life. With them, cannibalism is common, and of these it 

 is said that " when the sun goes down, all Africa dances." Then 

 come tribes of a higher civilization, where the power of the chief is 

 limited ; where iron, copper, and gold are manufactured, and trade 



