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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THE BELGIAN KONGO 



The activities of Belgium have con- 

 tinued along lines of extreme commercial 

 exploitation, which have given rise to 

 commentaries, especially in connection 

 with the main product, rubber. What- 

 ever may have been past conditions, im- 

 provements are promised for the future 

 in the way of opening up government 

 land, equalizing taxes, and restricting 

 application of punishments. Four hun- 

 dred miles of railway and fleets of steam- 

 ers afford transportation, which will soon 

 be supplemented by suitable extensions 

 by rail. 



Perhaps the most extended research 

 work has been in connection with Cap- 

 tain Newcombe's surveys for a railway 

 from the upper Kongo to the watershed 

 of the Nile. The railway levels from the 

 Atlantic vary less than 60 feet at the in- 

 tersection with the levels from the Indian 

 Ocean. 



GERMAN COLONIES 



With national systematic methods, Ger- 

 man officials have gathered data bearing 

 on the resources of their colonies, which 

 possibly lack financial aid from the gov- 

 ernment to the extent it has been granted 

 by other nations. Diamond-mining and 

 cotton-growing are recent developments 

 of the colonies of the west coast. 



It is interesting to note that the best 

 atlas of Africa comes, not from a Ger- 

 man source, whence it would be expected, 

 but from an Italian, Signor Ghisleri. 



German East Africa is a model Ger- 

 man colony. Peace and order prevail, 



and education receives particular atten- 

 tion. The government has thousands of 

 pupils in its schools, which are specially 

 devoted to handicrafts. Many mission- 

 ary societies devote their energies to the 

 improvement of the people. It is doubt- 

 ful if elsewhere in Africa there is such 

 close attention to the individual native, 

 and apparently with good results. There 

 are many wide, well-kept roads, and 

 though there has not been great railway 

 development, the telegraph is largely in- 

 stalled. 



LIBERIA 



Americans are interested in Liberia, 

 where after 90 years the hinterland is 

 unknown. Light is thrown on it through 

 the French-Liberian boundary commis- 

 sion of 1907. M. Moret (French) crossed 

 Liberia from Gribo, 6° 21' north, 15 0 

 west, to Sinoe. The hundred miles of 

 unknown country thus traversed is cov- 

 ered with dense forests of rubber and 

 palm. The few unwarlike, inactive na- 

 tives eat only once a day, subsisting 

 principally on palm nuts. Inland are 

 rare patches of rice or beans, but toward 

 the coast sugar-cane, bananas, etc., ap- 

 pear. Animals were seen but rarely. 



The natives practice sorcery with Afri- 

 can cruelty. They think that everything 

 has a soul, and ascribe the singing of a 

 lamp to its contentment with the oil. 



Abyssinia as yet remains outside of 

 any distinct European sphere, but time 

 and circumstance will undoubtedly bring 

 its warlike tribes to the normal African 

 fate — exploitation by the white man. 



