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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



are for forestal and agricultural prod- 

 ucts. 



COLONIES OF THE WEST COAST 



The watershed of the Niger and the 

 adjoining Atlantic areas have largely en- 

 gaged attention through their fertility 

 and trade possibilities. The railway from 

 Guinea to Conakry, owned by the West 

 French African government, has been 

 built, thus connecting the upper Niger 

 with the ocean. Its average cost per 

 mile was $32,000, and 5 million dollars 

 were paid the natives for construction 

 work. The availability of local labor is 

 shown by the 12,000 natives working on 

 the road in 1909. Its economic value to 

 the country is evidenced by the steadily 

 increasing freight, which has raised the 

 net income per mile from $200 in 1906 

 to $1,240 in 1909. 



M. Hubert explored geologically the 

 Siguiri and adjacent regions through 60 

 square degrees, and maps now cover geo- 

 logically 400,000 square kilometers. M. 

 Aug. Chevalier, 1908- 19 10, investigated 

 the Atlantic coast colonies, the flora, 

 agricultural factors, and forestal re- 

 sources of Guinea receiving close atten- 

 tion. The Ivory Coast proves especially 

 rich in rubber along the Liberian bound- 

 ary. In Dahomey a region mapped as a 

 marsh proves to be a dry, well-wooded 

 plain. The explorations of Captain 

 Gross disclose the existence on the Ivory 

 Coast of valuable forests of an area of 

 about 8 million hectares and the exist- 

 ence therein of 58 kinds of useful woods. 

 There is no tribal organization, but the 

 government is by family. Labor is avail- 

 able under just and humane conditions, 

 so that the forests can be economically 

 exploited. The dreaded local climate 

 proves susceptible to hygienic improve- 

 ment. Fourn's surveys in Dahomey, 

 Ringenbach's investigation of the sleep- 

 ing sickness, Gironcourt's explorations 

 of the bend of the Niger, and Zeltner's 

 work in the Sudan are worthy of note, 

 but space lacks. 



THE CHAD REGION 



Of all narratives of missions, that of 

 Capt. Jean Tilho, 1907- '09, in surveying 



the Niger-Chad boundary most appeals 

 to the imagination through the vast and 

 strange country it concerns. The region 

 was opened by France in 1901, when her 

 troops defeated the cruel negro tyrant, 

 Rabah, the pest of the terror-stricken 

 tribes. The country is an interior drain- 

 age basin, like our own Salt Lake Valley, 

 of enormous extent — about three times 

 the area of France. French methods 

 have brought about order and prosperity, 

 50 mcharistes today keeping peace among 

 the various tribes along a border of sev- 

 eral hundred miles. 



Scientific explorations disclosing its re- 

 sources, the Chad basin was amicably 

 divided between England, France, and 

 Germany. Tilho's boundary work was 

 supplemented by extended researches be- 

 tween 12 0 to 17 0 north, and from o° to 

 1 5° east (Paris). His survey included 

 400 astronomical positions and involved 

 25,000 miles travel. Valuable collections 

 and observations were made in ethnol- 

 ogy, magnetism, geology, and natural 

 history. 



WOOD WHICH IS LIGHTER THAN CORK 



Especially interesting are the strange 

 am bach (Hermininiera elaphioxylon) 

 forests, growing in the waters of Lake 

 Chad to 25 feet in height and 12 inches 

 in diameter. This curious tropical tree 

 grows only in water of moderate depth 

 and so rapidly that it attains its full 

 height in two years. The wood when 

 dried is the lightest in the world, its 

 density being only 40 per cent that of 

 cork. 



The most interesting feature is Lake 

 Chad, in the center of this vast country, 

 2,000 miles distant from the ocean at 

 Senegal and 1,200 miles from the Nile. 

 While its maximum area of 10,000 square 

 miles slightly exceeds that of Lake Erie, 

 Chad is noted as being the shallowest 

 lake of the world, its average depth being 

 less than six feet. Fed by local rainfall 

 and by three contributing streams (prac- 

 tically all water coming from Shari 

 River), it loses about four feet annually 

 by evaporation. In 1908 it was but one- 

 fourth its maximum size, owing to sue- 



