Chapter 37

_Inhabitants._--The human race is represented by only one indigenous native type--the Negro. No trace is anywhere found of a Hamitic intermixture (unless perhaps at the north end of Lake Nyasa, where the physique of the native Awankonde recalls that of the Nilotic negro). Arabs from Zanzibar have settled in the country, but not, as far as is known, earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. As the present writer takes the general term "Negro" to include equally the Bantu, Hottentot, Bushman and Congo Pygmy, this designation will cover all the natives of British Central Africa. The Bantu races, however, exhibit in some parts signs of Hottentot or Bushman intermixture, and there are legends in some mountain districts, especially Mount Mlanje, of the former existence of unmixed Bushman tribes, while Bushman stone implements are found at the south end of Tanganyika. At the present day the population is, as a rule, of a black or chocolate-coloured Negro type, and belongs, linguistically, entirely and exclusively to the Bantu family. The languages spoken offer several very interesting forms of Bantu speech, notably in the districts between the north end of Lake Nyasa, the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and the river Luapula. In the more or less plateau country included within these geographical limits, the Bantu dialects are of an archaic type, and to the present writer it has seemed as though one of them, Kibemba or Kiwemba, came near to the original form of the Bantu mother-language, though not nearer than the interesting Subiya of southern Barotseland. Through dialects spoken on the west and north of Tanganyika, these languages of North Eastern Rhodesia and northern Nyasaland and of the Kafukwe basin are connected with the Bantu languages of Uganda. They also offer a slight resemblance to Zulu-Kaffir, and it would seem as though the Zulu-Kaffir race must have come straight down from the countries to the north-east of Tanganyika, across the Zambezi, to their present home. Curiously enough, some hundreds of years after this southward migration, intestine wars and conflicts actually determined a north-eastward return migration of Zulus. From Matabeleland, Zulu tribes crossed the Zambezi at various periods (commencing from about 1820), and gradually extended their ravages and dominion over the plateaus to the west, north and north-east of Lake Nyasa. The Zulu language is still spoken by the dominating caste in West Nyasaland (see further ZULULAND: _Ethnology_; RHODESIA: _Ethnology_; and YAOS). As regards foreign settlers in this part of Africa, the Arabs may be mentioned first, though they are now met with only in very small numbers. The Arabs undoubtedly first _heard_ of this rich country--rich not alone in natural products such as ivory, but also in slaves of good quality--from their settlements near the delta of the river Zambezi, and these settlements may date back to an early period, and might be coeval with the suggested pre-Islamite Arab settlements in the gold-bearing regions of South East Africa. But the Arabs do not seem to have made much progress in their penetration of the country in the days before firearms; and when firearms came into use they were for a long time forestalled by the Portuguese, who ousted them from the Zambezi. But about the beginning of the 19th century the increasing power and commercial enterprise of the Arab sultanate of Zanzibar caused the Arabs of Maskat and Zanzibar to march inland from the east coast. They gradually founded strong slave-trading settlements on the east and west coasts of Lake Nyasa, and thence westwards to Tanganyika and the Luapula. They never came in great numbers, however, and, except here and there on the coast of Lake Nyasa, have left no mixed descendants in the population. The total native population of all British Central Africa is about 2,000,000, that of the Nyasaland Protectorate being officially estimated in 1907 at 927,355. Of Europeans the protectorate possesses about 600 to 700 settlers, including some 100 officials. (For the European population of the other territories, see RHODESIA.) The Europeans of British Central Africa are chiefly natives of the United Kingdom or South Africa, but there are a few Germans, Dutchmen, French, Italians and Portuguese. The protectorate has also attracted a number of Indian traders (over 400), besides whom about 150 British Indian soldiers (Sikhs) are employed as the nucleus of an armed force.[2]

_Trade and Communications._--The total value of the trade of the protectorate in the year 1899-1900 was £255,384, showing an increase of 75% on the figures for the previous year, 1898-1899. Imports were valued at £176,035, an increase of 62%, and exports at £79,449, an increase of 109%. In 1905-1906 the imports reached £222,581 and the exports £56,778. The value of imports into the Rhodesian provinces during the same period was about £50,000, excluding railway material, and the exports £18,000. The principal exports are (besides minerals) coffee, cotton, tobacco, rubber and ivory. A number of Englishmen and Scotsmen (perhaps 200) are settled, mainly in the Shiré Highlands, as coffee planters.

From the Chinde mouth of the Zambezi to Port Herald on the lower Shiré communication is maintained by light-draught steamers, though in the dry season (April-November) steamers cannot always ascend as far as Port Herald, and barges have to be used to complete the voyage. A railway runs from Port Herald to Blantyre, the commercial capital of the Shiré Highlands. The "Cape to Cairo" railway, which crossed the Zambezi in 1905 and the Kafukwe in 1906, reached the Broken Hill mine in 1907, and in 1909 was continued to the frontier of Belgian Congo. There are regular services by steamer between the ports on Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika. The African trans-continental telegraph line (founded by Cecil Rhodes) runs through the protectorate, and a branch line has been established from Lake Nyasa to Fort Jameson, the present headquarters of the Chartered Company in North Eastern Rhodesia.

_Towns._--The principal European settlement or town is Blantyre (_q.v._), at a height of about 3000 ft. above the sea, in the Shiré Highlands. This place was named after Livingstone's birthplace, and was founded in 1876 by the Church of Scotland mission. The government capital of the protectorate, however, is Zomba, at the base of the mountain of that name. Other townships or sites of European settlements are Port Herald (on the lower Shiré), Chiromo (at the junction of the Ruo and the Shiré), Fort Anderson (on Mount Mlanje), Fort Johnston (near the outlet of the river Shiré from the south end of Lake Nyasa), Kotakota and Bandawe (on the west coast of Lake Nyasa), Likoma (on an island off the east coast of Lake Nyasa), Karonga (on the north-west coast of Lake Nyasa), Fife (on the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau), Fort Jameson (capital of N.E. Rhodesia, near the river Luangwa), Abercorn (on the south end of Lake Tanganyika), Kalungwisi (on the east coast of Lake Mweru) and Fort Rosebery (near the Johnston Falls on the Luapula [upper Congo]).

_Administration._--The present political divisions of the country [v.04 p.0597] are as follows:--The Nyasaland Protectorate, _i.e._ the districts surrounding Lake Nyasa and the Shiré province, are administered directly under the imperial government by a governor, who acts under the orders of the colonial office. The governor is assisted by an executive council and by a nominated legislative council, which consists of at least three members. The districts to the westward, forming the provinces of North Eastern and North Western Rhodesia, are governed by two administrators of the British South Africa Chartered Company, in consultation with the governor of Nyasaland and the colonial office.

_History._--The history of the territory dealt with above is recent and slight. Apart from the vague Portuguese wanderings during the 16th and 17th centuries, the first European explorer of any education who penetrated into this country was the celebrated Portuguese official, Dr F.J.M. de Lacerda e Almeida, who journeyed from Tete on the Zambezi to the vicinity of Lake Mweru. But the real history of the country begins with the advent of David Livingstone, who in 1859 penetrated up the Shiré river and discovered Lake Nyasa. Livingstone's subsequent journeys, to the south end of Tanganyika, to Lake Mweru and to Lake Bangweulu (where he died in 1873), opened up this important part of South Central Africa and centred in it British interests in a very particular manner. Livingstone's death was soon followed by the entry of various missionary societies, who commenced the evangelization of the country; and these missionaries, together with a few Scottish settlers, steadily opposed the attempts of the Portuguese to extend their sway in this direction from the adjoining provinces of Moçambique and of the Zambezi. From out of the missionary societies grew a trading company, the African Lakes Trading Corporation. This body came into conflict with a number of Arabs who had established themselves on the north end of Lake Nyasa. About 1885 a struggle began between Arab and Briton for the possession of the country, which was not terminated until the year 1896. The African Lakes Corporation in its unofficial war enlisted volunteers, amongst whom were Captain (afterwards Sir F.D.) Lugard and Mr (afterwards Sir) Alfred Sharpe. Both these gentlemen were wounded, and the operations they undertook were not crowned with complete success. In 1889 Mr (afterwards Sir) H.H. Johnston was sent out to endeavour to effect a possible arrangement of the dispute between the Arabs and the African Lakes Corporation, and also to ensure the protection of friendly native chiefs from Portuguese aggression beyond a certain point. The outcome of these efforts and the treaties made was the creation of the British protectorate and sphere of influence north of the Zambezi (see AFRICA; § 5). In 1891 Johnston returned to the country as imperial commissioner and consul-general. In the interval between 1889 and 1891 Mr Alfred Sharpe, on behalf of Cecil Rhodes, had brought a large part of the country into treaty with the British South Africa Company, These territories (Northern Rhodesia) were administered for four years by Sir Harry Johnston in connexion with the British Central Africa protectorate. Between 1891 and 1895 a long struggle continued, between the British authorities on the one hand and the Arabs and Mahommedan Yaos on the other, regarding the suppression of the slave trade. By the beginning of 1896 the last Arab stronghold was taken and the Yaos were completely reduced to submission. Then followed, during 1896-1898, wars with the Zulu (Angoni) tribes, who claimed to dominate and harass the native populations to the west of Lake Nyasa. The Angoni having been subdued, and the British South Africa Company having also quelled the turbulent Awemba and Bashukulumbwe, there is a reasonable hope of the country enjoying a settled peace and considerable prosperity. This prospect has been, indeed, already realized to a considerable extent, though the increase of commerce has scarcely been as rapid as was anticipated. In 1897, on the transference of Sir Harry Johnston to Tunis, the commissionership was conferred on Mr Alfred Sharpe, who was created a K.C.M.G. in 1903. In 1904 the administration of the protectorate, originally directed by the foreign office, was transferred to the colonial office. In 1907, on the change in the title of the protectorate, the designation of the chief official was altered from commissioner to governor, and executive and legislative councils were established. The mineral surveys and railway construction commenced under the foreign office were carried on vigorously under the colonial office. The increased revenue, from £51,000 in 1901-1902 to £76,000 in 1905-1906, for the protectorate alone (see also RHODESIA), is an evidence of increasing prosperity. Expenditure in excess of revenue is met by grants in aid from the imperial exchequer, so far as the Nyasaland Protectorate is concerned. The British South Africa Company finances the remainder. The native population is well disposed towards European rule, having, indeed, at all times furnished the principal contingent of the armed force with which the African Lakes Company, British South Africa Company or the British government endeavoured to oppose Arab, Zulu or Awemba aggression. The protectorate government maintains three gunboats on Lake Nyasa, and the British South Africa Company an armed steamer on Lake Tanganyika.

Unfortunately, though so rich and fertile, the land is not as a rule very healthy for Europeans, though there are signs of improvement in this respect. The principal scourges are black-water fever and dysentery, besides ordinary malarial fever, malarial ulcers, pneumonia and bronchitis. The climate is agreeable, and except in the low-lying districts is never unbearably hot; while on the high mountain plateaus frost frequently occurs during the dry season.

See _Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi_, &c., by David and Charles Livingstone (1865); _Last Journals of David Livingstone_, edited by the Rev. Horace Waller (1874); L. Monteith Fotheringham, _Adventures in Nyasaland_ (1891); Henry Drummond, _Tropical Africa_ (4th ed., 1891); Rev. D.C. Scott, _An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Mang'anja Language, as spoken in British Central Africa_ (1891); Sir H.H. Johnston, _British Central Africa_ (2nd ed., 1898); Miss A. Werner, _The Natives of British Central Africa_ (1906); John Buchanan, _The Shiré Highlands_ (1885); Lionel Décle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (1898); H.L. Duff, _Nyasaland under the Foreign Office_ (1903); J.E.S. Moore, _The Tanganyika Problem_ (1904); articles on North Eastern and North Western Rhodesia (chiefly by Frank Melland) in the _Journal of the African Society_ (1902-1906); annual _Reports_ on British Central Africa published by the Colonial Office; various linguistic works by Miss A. Werner, the Rev. Govan Robertson, Dr R. Laws, A.C. Madan, Father Torrend and Monsieur E. Jacottet.

(H. H. J.)

[1] The nomenclature of several of these rivers is perplexing. It should be borne in mind that the Luanga (also known as the Lunga) is a tributary of the Luengwe-Kafukwe, itself often called Kafue, and that the Luangwa (or Loangwa) is an independent affluent of the Zambezi (_q.v._).

[2] The organized armed forces and police are under the direction of the imperial government throughout British Central Africa, and number about 880 (150 Sikhs, 730 negroes and 14 British officers).

BRITISH COLUMBIA, the western province of the Dominion of Canada. It is bounded on the east by the continental watershed in the Rocky Mountains, until this, in its north-westerly course, intersects 120° W., which is followed north to 60° N., thus including within the province a part of the Peace river country to the east of the mountains. The southern boundary is formed by 49° N. and the strait separating Vancouver Island from the state of Washington. The northern boundary is 60° N., the western the Pacific Ocean, upon which the province fronts for about 600 m., and the coast strip of Alaska for a further distance of 400 m. Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as the smaller islands lying off the western coast of Canada, belong to the province of British Columbia.

_Physical Features._--British Columbia is essentially a mountainous country, for the Rocky Mountains which in the United States lie to the east of the Great Basin, on running to the north bear toward the west and approach the ranges which border the Pacific coast. Thus British Columbia comprises practically the entire width of what has been termed the Cordillera or Cordilleran belt of North America, between the parallels of latitude above indicated. There are two ruling mountain systems in this belt--the Rocky Mountains proper on the north-east side, and the Coast Range on the south-west or Pacific side. Between these are subordinate ranges to which various local names have been given, as well as the "Interior Plateau"--an elevated tract of hilly country, the hill summits having an accordant altitude, which lies to the east of the Coast Range. The several ranges, having been produced by successive foldings of the earth's crust in a direction parallel to the border of the Pacific Ocean, have a common trend which is south-east and north-west. Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands are remnants of still another mountain range, which runs parallel to the coast but is now almost entirely submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific. The province might be said to consist of a series of parallel mountain ranges with long narrow valleys lying between them.

The Rocky Mountains are composed chiefly of palaeozoic sediments ranging in age from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous, with subordinate infolded areas of Cretaceous which hold coal. The average height of the range along the United States boundary is 8000 ft., but the range culminates between the latitudes of 51° and 53°, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies being Mount Robson, 13,700 [v.04 p.0598] ft., although the highest peak in British Columbia is Mount Fairweather on the International Boundary, which rises to 15,287 ft. Other high peaks in the Rocky Mountains of Canada are Columbia, 12,740 ft.; Forbes, 12,075; Assiniboine, 11,860; Bryce. 11,686; Temple, 11,626; Lyell, 11,463. There are a number of passes over the Rocky Mountains, among which may be mentioned, beginning from the south, the South Kootenay or Boundary Pass, 7100 ft.; the Crow's Nest Pass, 5500 (this is traversed by the southern branch of the Canadian Pacific railway and crosses great coal fields); the Kicking Horse or Wapta Pass, 5300 (which is traversed by the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway); the Athabasca Pass, 6025; the Yellow Head Pass, 3733 (which will probably be used by the Grand Trunk Pacific railway); the Pine River Pass, 2850; and the Peace River Pass, 2000, through which the Peace river flows.

The Coast Range, sometimes called the Cascade Range, borders the Pacific coast for 900 m. and gives to it its remarkable character. To its partially submerged transverse valleys are due the excellent harbours on the coast, the deep sounds and inlets which penetrate far inland at many points, as well as the profound and gloomy fjords and the stupendous precipices which render the coast line an exaggerated reproduction of that of Norway. The coast is, in fact, one of the most remarkable in the world, measuring with all its indentations 7000 m. in the aggregate, and being fringed with an archipelago of innumerable islands, of which Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands are the largest.

Along the south-western side of the Rocky Mountains is a very remarkable valley of considerable geological antiquity, in which some seven of the great rivers of the Pacific slope, among them the Kootenay, Columbia, Fraser and Finlay, flow for portions of their upper courses. This valley, which is from 1 to 6 m. in width, can be traced continuously for a length of at least 800 m. One of the most important rivers of the province is the Fraser, which, rising in the Rocky Mountains, flows for a long distance to the north-west, and then turning south eventually crosses the Coast Range by a deep canton-like valley and empties into the Strait of Georgia, a few miles south of the city of Vancouver. The Columbia, which rises farther south in the same range, flows north for about 150 m., crossing the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway at Donald, and then bending abruptly back upon its former course, flows south, recrossing the Canadian Pacific railway at Revelstoke, and on through the Arrow Lakes in the Kootenay country into the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Astoria in the state of Oregon. These lakes, as well as the other large lakes in southern British Columbia, remain open throughout the winter. In the north-western part of the province the Skeena flows south-west into the Pacific, and still farther to the north the Stikine rises in British Columbia, but before entering the Pacific crosses the coast strip of Alaska. The Liard, rising in the same district, flows east and falls into the Mackenzie, which empties into the Arctic Ocean. The headwaters of the Yukon are also situated in the northern part of the province. All these rivers are swift and are frequently interrupted by rapids, so that, as means of communication for commercial purposes, they are of indifferent value. Wherever lines of railway are constructed, they lose whatever importance they may have held in this respect previously.

At an early stage in the Glacial period British Columbia was covered by the Cordilleran glacier, which moved south-eastwards and north-westwards, in correspondence with the ruling features of the country, from a gathering-ground situated in the vicinity of the 57th parallel. Ice from this glacier poured through passes in the coast ranges, and to a lesser extent debouched upon the edge of the great plains, beyond the Rocky Mountain range. The great valley between the coast ranges and Vancouver Island was also occupied by a glacier that moved in both directions from a central point in the vicinity of Valdez Island. The effects of this glacial action and of the long periods of erosion preceding it and of other physiographic changes connected with its passing away, have most important bearings on the distribution and character of the gold-bearing alluviums of the province.

_Climate._--The subjoined figures relating to temperature and precipitation are from a table prepared by Mr R.F. Stupart, director of the meteorological service. The station at Victoria may be taken as representing the conditions of the southern part of the coast of British Columbia, although the rainfall is much greater on exposed parts of the outer coast. Agassiz represents the Fraser delta and Kamloops the southern interior district. The mean temperature naturally decreases to the northward of these selected stations, both along the coast and in the interior, while the precipitation increases. The figures given for Port Simpson are of interest, as the Pacific terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway will be in this vicinity.

+----------------+-----------------------------+----------------+ | | | Absolute | | | Mean Temp., Fahr. | Temperature. | +----------------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+ | | Coldest | Warmest |Average|Highest.|Lowest.| | | Month. | Month. |Annual.| | | +----------------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+ | Victoria[1] |Jan. 37.5°|July 60.3°| 48.8° | 90° | -1° | | Agassiz[2] |Jan. 33.0°|Aug. 64.7°| 48.9° | 97° | -13° | | Kamloops[3] |Jan. 24.2°|Aug. 68.5°| 47.1° | 101° | -27° | | Port Simpson[4]|Jan. 34.9°|Aug. 56.9°| 45.1° | 88° | -10° | +----------------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+

+--------------+-----------------------------+ | | | | | Rainfall--Inches. | +--------------+----------+----------+-------+ | | Wettest | Driest |Average| | | Month. | Month. |Annual.| +--------------+----------+----------+-------+ | Victoria |Dec. 7.98|July .4 | 37.77 | | Agassiz |Dec. 9.43|July 1.55| 66.85 | | Kamloops |July 1.61|April .37| 11.46 | | Port Simpson |Oct. 12.42|June 4.37| 94.63 | +--------------+----------+----------+-------+

[1] 48° 24' N., 123° 19' W., height 85 ft.

[2] 49° 14' N., 121° 31' W., height 52 ft.

[3] 50° 41' N., 120° 29' W., height 1193 ft.