Part 1

The Continent of the Future.

HAMPTON, VA.: _Normal School Steam Press._ 1881.

THE CONTINENT OF THE FUTURE.

AFRICA AND ITS WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT――EXPLORATION, GOLD MINING, TRADE, MISSIONS AND ELEVATION.

The tide of modern civilization and religious development is sweeping round the globe. With the rapid advance of India, the unparalleled strides of Japan, and the steady progress of China to the new era, Africa is about to reveal its long-kept secrets and its possibilities of contributing to the elevation of its inhabitants and the welfare of the world. Commerce, capital, science, philanthropy, and religion have joined hands to penetrate the mysterious land and cast light on its gloomiest portions. Africa is very nearly everywhere regarded as the continent of the future.

GOVERNMENTAL.――France seems about to absorb Tunis and Tripoli, and to unite Algeria to her Senegal possessions. The Chambers have voted eight millions of francs ($1,600,000) for two railroads: (1) from Algiers to Timbuctoo, across the Sahara, and (2) from Saint Louis, Senegal, to Bamaka and Sego. Two millions of francs ($400,000) have also been appropriated for the construction of a telegraph line from Dakar to Saint Vincent, to place Senegal in telegraphic connection with Europe. A loan is proposed of forty-five millions of francs ($9,000,000) for the formation of three hundred villages and the introduction of two hundred thousand colonists into Algeria. This expanding colony is just fifty years old. In 1830, the total exports and imports did not amount to two million francs, ($400,000.) They have now reached three hundred and sixty-five million francs, ($63,100,000.)

M. Soleillet and M. Doponchel give the result of their long and thorough reconnoissance as highly favorable to the project of crossing the Sahara by steam, and they describe the desert as far more fertile than is commonly believed. The latter says: “What is being so successfully accomplished by England in India, by the United States in North America, and by Russia in Central Asia, that should we try to do in emulation of their example――seek a continent whereon to extend our beneficent influence, and find, by the employment of our idle capital, at once a new market for the products of our industries and manufactures, and a vast centre of agricultural production, able to supply us, at small cost, with the raw materials not indigenous to our soil, which we now only obtain with difficulty from foreign sources.”

The expedition under Gallieni is stated to have reached Saint Louis from Timbuctoo, having completed a survey for a railroad between those points, which is pronounced to be entirely feasible. He met with a friendly reception, and formed treaties with numerous tribes, whereby France is granted a right of way, and may establish ambassadorial or military representatives at the proposed principal stations. M. Matheis has been commissioned by the French Government to explore the country from the bend of the Niger to Lake Tchad. M. L. Vassian, an attache of the French Department for Foreign Affairs, is to reside for a time at Khartoum, to study the nature of the commercial relations to be formed with Soudan.

At a conference at Paris in relation to the territories between Sierra Leone and the Gambia, it is understood that the decision reached was that the French are to retain the Mellacouri and the English the Scarcies. The newly appointed Governor of Sierra Leone, Arthur Elibank Havelock, Esq., was one of the representatives of the British Government at the conference.

Portugal is actively caring for her extensive African domain. The Governor-General of Angola has been directed to organize a system of colonization in that province, by selecting a region best adapted for its salubrity, fertility of soil, abundance of water, and facility of communication, and to prepare accommodations for one hundred colonists and their families, an emigration having begun from Madeira. Lorenzo Marquez, the port of Delagoa Bay, has been ceded to Great Britain. It is the best harbor on the south-eastern coast, while its geographical relation to Natal, Zululand and the Transvaal makes its possession of importance to England. The latter guarantees to Portugal the exclusive right to the territory between the Ambriz and Congo rivers. The concession made by the Portuguese Government to the Andrada Land Company, extending from the Shire to the Kafrio, at Nyampanga Island, about seven hundred miles, is in course of examination by a party of French mining engineers. The Commercial Association of Lisbon is raising funds by subscription to be offered to the Government to co-operate with it in the foundation of civilizing stations in the Portuguese African colonies.

Spain is meditating a protectorate of Morocco. Messrs. Bolliglia, Mamoli and Pastori, of the “Italian Society for Promoting Commercial Exploration in Africa,” have left Tripoli to examine the elevated plain of Barka and to found trading posts at Bengasi, Derna and Tebreck, and afterwards others on the oasis bordering the road to Uadai and Bornu. The Italian Government has contributed generously to outfit the expedition. The same Society has dispatched M. Demeitri and M. Michieli from Khartoum for the Red Sea, with a caravan of seven hundred camels laden with various kinds of merchandise for trade. The Egyptian Government has sent the learned Rohlfs to the King of Abyssinia to arrange mutual relations on a friendly basis. The Sultan of Zanzibar has engaged the intrepid Thomson to conduct a geographical investigation of the Rovouma.

THE SLAVE TRADE.――It is estimated that fifty thousand natives are annually conveyed to the Turkish and Egyptian ports of the Red Sea, where they are disposed of to dealers. The Sultan of Zanzibar has dispatched an armed force of five hundred men, commanded by an officer detailed from the British Army, in the direction of Lake Tanganyika, and the British Government is to establish consuls at Suakin and Khartoum, with authority to travel in Egypt and on the Red Sea, “to heal the open sore of the world.” The French Government is to make earnest efforts and to co-operate with England in all measures having in view the same humane object. The Khedive has appointed Comte Della Salla to the special office of repressing the slave traffic in lower Egypt. It is to be regretted that at the Berlin Congress in 1878, which afforded an excellent opportunity for concerting a treaty on slavery between the Powers of Europe, this good result was rendered impossible by the action of the English representatives.

EXPLORATIONS.――In the exploration of Africa the Germans keep the lead, of which almost nothing is known until they appear after an absence of a few years, with a fund of knowledge that is astonishing. Witness, for instance, the apparition of Lenz from a journey from Morocco to Timbuctoo, and thence to Medina and St. Louis. This famous traveler reports passing through towns of from ten to thirty thousand inhabitants, and of having made discoveries which explode the theory of converting the Sahara into an ocean. He states that the most depressed portion of El Juff, the body of the desert, is some five hundred feet above the level of the sea, and that there exist in several oases points which promise to be of great utility for the proposed Sahara railway.

Dr. Pogge is penetrating the country inland from St. Paul de Loando, the German Government having asked for him the protection of the Portuguese Government in its African jurisdiction. Dr. Holub, who has made interesting researches on the Zambesi, intends to cross the continent from south to north. Starting from the Cape of Good Hope he is to strike the Zambesi, thence the watershed district between that river and the Congo, and on to Egypt through Darfur.

Dr. Stocker is exploring Lake Toana. M. Piaggia is traversing Soudan, south of Khartoum, between the Blue and White Nile, M. Lombard, corresponding secretary of the Normandy Society of Geography, has entered on a scientific mission to Abyssinia. M. J. Chouver, a Hollander of fortune and experience as a traveler, has reached the Galla country on his way to the Cape of Good Hope. Capt. Ferreira, Governor of Benguela, and several officers of the army, have offered their services to the Geographical Society of Lisbon for a Portuguese expedition across Africa, starting from the West Coast. M. Antusa is organizing a commercial station at Zomba, where he is to be joined by workmen whom the Portuguese Government has promised to furnish to erect buildings. The learned Dr. Schweinfurth has returned from a visit to the Island of Socotra, off the coast of Aden, and affirms that it is very fertile, with a splendid and varied vegetation. One-fourth of its plants are peculiar to the locality.

M. Moustier, who in 1879, with M. Zweifel, discovered the source of the Niger, is again to start from Freetown on a trading venture and to fix the exact geographical position of “the rise of the mysterious river.” Lieut. Dumbleton and Surgeon Browning, R. A., are in charge of an expedition to penetrate, by the Gambia, into the valley of the Niger to Timbuctoo. Dr. Gouldsbury lately led an exploring party from the river Gambia, via Timbo and Port Lokko, to Sierra Leone, the outlay for which from the colonial treasury was £2,400, ($12,000.)

THE CONGO.――The illustrious Stanley has reached his second station on the Congo, Isangila, about 30 miles above Vivi, which point was gained only after faithful but weary toil, and against every kind of difficulty. He was obliged to throw bridges across the streams, open, hatchet in hand, a route across dense forests, blow up rocks; leading the way with a group of pioneers, and after advancing a little, to make a halt, pitch a camp, then go back to bring by instalments the rest of the convoy, till all were united. Count de Brazza has ascended the Ogowe to its headwaters, reaching thereby the sources of several of the affluents of the Congo. Descending one of these, the Alima, partly along the shore and partly by boats, he struck the Congo below Stanley Pool, and coming down the river he met Stanley. It is suggested that a more practicable route to the interior than that by the lower Congo may be opened by the Ogowe and the streams which rise near its source. The Count is again to descend the Alima, this time in a transportable steam launch, and then to make a thorough examination of the valley of the Congo――the area of which is estimated to be four times that of France.

TELEGRAPHIC.――Telegraphic communication has been established between Elmina and Cape Coast. The Portuguese Commissioner of Public Works has constructed in Angola a telegraphic line from St. Paul de Loando to Dondo and Calcullo. Preparations are making for its extension. The French Government proposes to connect Tunis with Corsica by cable. A third cable has been laid from Marseilles to Algiers. A second telegraphic line is in operation between Algeria and Tunis.

GOLD MINES.――Six companies are working on the Gold Coast with encouraging prospects. Improved machinery has been shipped by the African Company, and its mine is reported to be one of extraordinary richness. The success of the Gold Coast Company places it in the highest rank of gold mine enterprise. At meetings of the Effuenta Company (July 7 and 21) resolutions were adopted to create an additional two thousand shares of £5 each, ($25,) to be distributed among the existing shareholders proportional to their present holding. The number of shares applied for was more than double the amount to be issued. The Akankoo Gold Coast Company――a new organization――has acquired territory on the borders of the river Ancobra, and the celebrated Cameron has been engaged to open up the property. The British authorities have placed a civil commandant with a police force at Tacquah. Much of the delay experienced in the production of the precious metal is attributed in some cases to error of management, perhaps unavoidable, and in all to the many difficulties encountered in an almost unknown region, with the additional disadvantages of a very unhealthy climate for Europeans.

FINANCIAL.――A prospectus has appeared for the establishment of “The Bank of West Africa,” capital £500,000, ($2,500,000,) in fifty thousand shares of £10 each, ($50.) The chief office is to be in London, with branches at Sierra Leone and Lagos. The shares of the Standard Bank of South Africa, £25, ($125,) paid, are quoted at 57, and the dividends paid for the last two years have been sixteen per cent. Postal money order offices have been opened between Sierra Leone and the Gambia, at the rate of three shillings (75 cents) per £10, ($50.)

COMMERCIAL.――Africa contains resources upon which large portions of the enlightened world will in no very remote future be dependent, and it possesses the very highest capacity for the consumption of many of the productions of civilization. One of the marked developments is the numerous orders for utensils and simple machinery of various kinds, to be worked by hand or with light power, and for mechanical tools and agricultural implements. The business is already extensive and is likely to be of immense magnitude. Dr. Holub describes Prince Sechele, chief of the Bechuanas, as living in a grand abode, which he had erected in European style, at a cost of $15,000. Khartoum is making astonishing progress. Magnificent stores have been built within the last three years, and everything in modern civilization can now be had there. The Northwest Company is extending commerce at Cape Juby. The security afforded since the “annexation” by England of Lagos has powerfully helped it to become the “Liverpool of Africa.” The declared value of its exports in 1878 was £577,346, ($2,886,730.) The number, tonnage, &c., of steam vessels which entered Lagos in the same year is thus given:

Nationality. Steamers. Tonnage. Crews.

British 144 141,590 5,746 German 72 4,251 1,177 ――― ――――――― ――――― Totals 216 145,841 6,293

“The Lagos Warehouse and Commission Company,” capital £50,000, ($250,000) in £5 ($25) shares, has been formed, for the purpose of founding a wholesale warehouse at Lagos, and, when desirable, at other important points on the West Coast. Thus a native merchant will be put in possession of two thirds of the net value of his consignment immediately the Company is in possession of his produce, and he will be enabled to have all his produce realized in the home market.

STEAMERS.――Twenty-five years ago it took a passenger from the United States one hundred and thirty days to reach Corisco; now a trip via Liverpool of about a month, in a palace compared with the pent-up quarters of a sailing ship, and tables furnish with luxuries instead of ringing the changes of salt beef and hard bread from day to day. Twenty-eight steamships afford weekly communication between Liverpool and the West Coast. The vessels of “the African Steamship Company” are named as follows: Africa, Akassa, Ambriz, Benin, Biafra, Ethiopia, Landana, Mayumba, Nubia, Opobo, Whydah and Winnebah, and those of “the British and African Steam Navigation Company” bear the following names: Benguela, Bonny, Cameroon, Congo, Corisco, Dodo, Forcades, Formoso, Gaboon, Kinsembo, Loando, Lualaba, Ramos, Roquelle, Senegal and Volta. “The West African Steam Navigation Company” also employ a number of steamships in the West African trade. Messrs. Rubattino & Co. announce their intention to put on several steamers between Genoa and Bengasi. Not a steamer from the United States to Africa!

A company has been formed in New York for “the establishment of a line of steamships for passengers, mail and freight, between New York, Madeira, St. Thomas and Teneriffe, Cape de Verde, the Western Islands, the Canary Islands, and the ports of the West Coast of Africa.” The capital stock is $100,000; and may be increased to $4,000,000; shares $100. Such a line would open cheap and rapid communication between the Liberian Republic and our own, furnishing facilities for the thousands of people of color who desire to obtain an expansive field for their energies, and bringing to our market the valuable staples of its productive soil. In relation to this important project an experienced missionary writes: “Often, during these twenty years, I have been surprised at the apparent indifference of American capitalists and ship owners to the share that they might have obtained in the profits of the African trade, other than slaves. I have seen two English lines of steamers (the South and the West, having their termini respectively at the Cape of Good Hope and the mouth of the Niger) develop by rich opposition to five, and the termini of three of them extended from the Niger down to the Congo-Livingstone, and literally every nation of Europe engaged in their profits, while America has scarcely a showing.” A subsidy or liberal legislation by Congress is counted upon before additional steps in this enterprise are taken. And among other public action tending to success is the creation and appointment of consuls at the Gold Coast, Lagos and Bonny; and vice-consuls at smaller points between Monrovia and the Niger, to be under the supervision of the Minister Resident to Liberia.

RAILROAD SURVEY.――While the United States flagship Ticonderoga, Commodore Shufeldt, was on the West African coast, two of her officers, Lieut. Drake and Master Vreeland, assisted by eleven men from the ship and twenty-seven natives furnished by the Liberian Government, made a survey of the St. Paul’s river, and ran a line of levels along its northern bank and some distance inland, to determine the feasibility of constructing a railroad to connect Monrovia with the Soudan Valley, via Boporo. This reconnoissance proved that the engineering difficulties would be comparatively trifling. There is no doubt that Monrovia would be the most available point for the starting of such a road, as it would pass through an entirely virgin country and penetrate to a salubrious region, whose resources for trade, known to be prodigious, are as yet untouched. Such a connection with the interior, with the various appliances of civilization which must follow it, would be one of the most effective agencies for promoting a vigorous colonization of the immigrants, who would at once reach a healthy and fertile district, and it would prove a great practical power in the advancement of missionary work, and immediately become an important auxiliary in developing and controlling an immense and valuable commerce.

This reconnoissance was the first made in that quarter, and it has done much toward bringing the interior tribes into commercial and friendly relations with the Liberians. Other surveys were conducted by the same bold and public-spirited officers, including that of the Sugaree and Marfa rivers. The presence of the Ticonderoga and Commodore Shufeldt will long be pleasantly remembered, and good continue to result. This accomplished officer, in a letter dated April 6, 1881, remarks: “In view of the many failures which have been recorded in every age of the world, Liberia may be regarded as a success. * * * This, the first effort of the African race to establish a free government upon its own soil, merits and should receive the sympathy and encouragement of every man, woman and child in America.”

LIBERIA COFFEE.――The species of coffee which is indigenous to Liberia promises to have an important influence on the industry of those countries in which the coffee blight has almost extinguished the Arabian coffee plant. In Dominica, W. I., the Liberia coffee, from seedlings planted in 1874, has proved impervious to the ravages of the blight, and its productiveness is a matter of astonishment. The stranger is described as “much larger than that of Arabia, being, indeed, in its native state a small tree, its leaves much larger; the berries are twice the size of the ordinary coffee bean, and the flavor is excellent.” The Liberia coffee seed has been introduced into Ceylon, and Liberian coffee from that isle commands a much higher price than the Ceylon, (Arabian) coffee. The bark Elverton took from Liberia to Rio de Janeiro some one hundred thousand coffee plants and fifty thousand pounds of coffee seed, and returning to Monrovia, readily obtained a similar cargo for the same parties in Brazil. A German trading firm is extending the coffee culture a short distance inland, near the Gaboon, with scions procured in Liberia. The Republic is in its infancy with regard to the cultivation of the far-famed berry. The crop last year is said to have reached a half million of pounds.

MOHAMMEDANISM.――Enthusiastic propagandists of Islam, without commission or compensation of any kind, but trusting wholly to that hospitality which is the pride of the Oriental, pass from village to village reading the Koran and giving instructions to wondering groups of natives. Whole tribes are stated to be converted to the Mohammedan faith. The eminent scholar and writer, Rev. Dr. Blyden,[*] says: “Africans are continually going to and fro between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. I have met in Liberia and in its eastern frontiers, Mohammedan Negroes born in Mecca, the holy city of Arabia, who thought they were telling of nothing extraordinary when they were detailing the incidents of their journey, and of the journey of their friends, from the banks of the Niger――from the neighborhood of Sierra Leone and Liberia――across the continent to Egypt, Arabia and Jerusalem. I saw in Cairo and Jerusalem, some years ago, West Africans who had come on business and on religious pilgrimage from their distant homes in Senegambia.” The promoters of Christianity are using these native travelers and missionaries of the false prophet. Copies of the Holy Scriptures in Arabic, printed at Beyrout, are sent to Egypt and for circulation in the Delta and along the valley of the Nile, and to Liberia, whence they are distributed among the inhabitants of vast outstretching realms whose vernacular is the Arabic.

[*] Liberal use has been made of the writings of this gifted Negro, and of the pages of the Missionary Herald, of Boston, Foreign Missionary, of New York, African Times, of London, and L’Afrique, of Geneva.

POPULATION.――The population of Africa, exclusive of its Islands, is estimated by Dr. Behm, in Peterman’s “Mittheilungen,” at 201,787,000. Of these the number of Protestant communicants in the various colonial and mission churches was reported in 1880 as 122,700; the number composing the communities connected with these churches 506,966; the number of Jews, 350,000; of Coptic, Abyssinian and similar Christians, 4,535,000; of Mohammedans, 51,170,000; of heathen, 145,225,000.

To carry the gospel to these millions, sixty four societies are at work. In South Africa and the colonies and Sierra Leone and Liberia there are connected with colonial churches 468 ministers, evangelists and teachers, of whom 54 are natives. The other white missionaries and teachers on the continent, are reported as 662, with 1095 natives, making 1757 mission workers proper, and 2,255 ministers, missionaries and teachers of all kinds, engaged in religious labors.