malarious; it is the climate of tropical Africa, not of the Sahara.

546. MOUNTAINS. The watershed runs not far from the coast, and nearly parallel with it, separating the headwaters of the Senegal and Gambia from those of the Niger. The southern portion of the watershed is much the higher, called the Mountains of Kong. The Cameroons, reaching 13,000 feet opposite Fernando Po, may be viewed as a continuation of this range, through which the Niger bursts.

547. RIVERS. The Niger: at its northernmost point not far from the Sahara is Timbuctoo, a large Negro village. Its delta is very unhealthy.

The Senegal and Gambia flow parallel to each other directly to the west coast; and the district Senegambia obtains its name by fusing the two words.

548. DIVISIONS. The whole of this coast is traded with by Europeans, one chief article of export being the "palmoil," the kind of butter so largely used for greasing railway axles, and as the foundation of soap, which is the product of a Guinea palm. The French have a station at Senegal ; the English have stations at Bathurst on the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, and several other places. But the best trading stations are Bonny and Brass, where there is no magistrate, and the English trader from his ship in the river lands armed to the teeth to "transact" with the natives.

(2) Liberia is a state of liberated native slaves from America; but many African negroes have placed themselves also under the protection of this state. Liberia was founded in 1848, and possesses already 720,000 inhabitants, of whom 19,000 are negroes from America, many of them welleducated men.

(3) The native Negro States of the interior are celebrated chiefly for the atrocities their Chiefs perpetrate. At the celebrations of the customs of Dahomey, a sufficient number of innocent individuals is slaughtered that the king may sit in a boat that floats in their blood. Ashantee is little better. The negroes hereabout are typical negroes, shining black with very woolly hair.

XXXVIII.] ABYSSINIA, ZANZIBAR, MOZAMBIQUE. 219

Sect. XXXVII. ANGOLA, &c.

549. Angola, with Loango on the north, Benguela on the south, is claimed by the Portuguese, who have a few trading stations on the coast, with very small European populations, and still fewer and smaller posts pushed a few miles up the country along the principal routes. The Portuguese have

been here since the discovery of the coast at the close of the fifteenth century; but their empire has been declining for the last 250 years, and it is said there are scarcely a thousand Portuguese now on the whole coast. These states largely supplied slaves for transport to America, and the Portuguese carried on this African slave trade longer than any other nation. These countries are in a miserable condition, trade in slaves still continuing in the interior.

The principal ascent from the coast to the interior plateau is (along the whole extent of this coast) not far inland. The Congo descends this slope by a cataract in a gorge which has prevented all boats ascending the river. This configuration of the country has largely contributed to keep the geography of the interior of equatorial Africa in darkness.

Sect. XXXVIII. ABYSSINIA, ZANZIBAR,
MOZAMBIQUE.

550. The eastern coast of equatorial Africa greatly resembles the western, being moist, hot, and unhealthy; and having a range of mountains parallel with the coast, and at no great distance from it. This western range, however, is at (or near) the principal watershed of Africa, and attains the snow-line in the interior of Zanzibar; and is therefore probably not less than 20,000 feet above the sea.

Abyssinia is a country at a high level, much of it above 5,000 feet, and very precipitous in character, but healthy and fruitful. Since the English defeated and slew Emperor Theodore there has existed no Abyssinian empire.

Zanzibar is ruled by a Muhammadan Arab Sultan. Along this coast the Arabs rule the Negroes, while in the interior warlike races from Abyssinia (supposed partly at least of Shemitic descent) prevail over the Negroes.

Mozambique is a Portuguese settlement, of which the history and present state are nearly the same as of Angola.

Sect. XXXIX. THE SOUTH CENTRE OF AFRICA.

551. This area is supposed to include the whole of the great interior basin of Africa, from the tropic of Capricorn to Lake Tchad. Nothing whatever was known concerning this region forty years ago. Since that date numerous explorers have travelled within the area, among whom stand pre-eminent Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley.

The Nile drains the northern part of the region, the Congo the centre, the Zambesi the south. Not only have the great lakes of Victoria Nyanza, Albert Nyanza, Tanganyika, and Nyassa been found, but it appears that in this equatorial moist region of Africa large tracts of country are flooded in the rainy season; and it is believed that at this season the headwaters of the Zambesi and Congo communicate. The whole of this area, which is treated here so shortly, is, so far as known, fertile, not unhealthy for a tropical country, and capable of producing the most valued fruits and corn and of supporting a large population. The north-west portion, i.e. the country immediately south from Lake Tchad, is still quite unknown.

The inhabitants are Negroes; they are allied to the Kaffirs and Hottentots, and speak a class of languages called the Bantu, which differs materially from the Negro languages of the Niger: these Bantus are a better kind of people than the Niger Negroes: but they have been demoralized by the Portuguese slave traders from Angola and Mozambique, and by Arab slave traders from the north-east. Wherever the slave trade has penetrated, it has destroyed all other trade,

has introduced war and cruelty, has entirely loosened the fabric of society, and rendered the population miserable.

The first penetration of these African dark places was by Dr. Livingstone, who, 1852-56, surveyed the Zambesi and discovered the Victoria Falls. Lieut. Speke discovered the Victoria Nyanza in 1862, and has been followed by several others. Mr. Stanley has followed the Congo from near Lake Tanganyika to its mouth in 1877.

Sect. XL. CAPE COLONY.

552. EXTENT. The political boundary of Cape Colony is the Orange River on the North; the Kei River on the East; the Sea on the South and West.

Natal is a much smaller colony, extending from the east coast back to the Drakenberg range.

Griqualand West is a district on the Upper Orange Rivers. The Transvaal lies west of the Drakenberg, north of Griqualand, on the Upper Orange and the Limpopo. These four states constitute the present British Colony; with Basuto-land, a small tract on the west of the Drakenberg, taken under British protection. They constitute an area considerably exceeding France. But a large part of it lying on the Lower Orange (on its left bank) is quite unoccupied.

On the other hand, several other territories are mixed up with the Cape Colonies. Such are (1) Kaffraria, which lies on the east coast between Natal and Cape Colony; (2) Zulu-land, which lies on the east coast immediately north of Natal.

553. CLIMATE. Cape Colony possesses a very fine and healthy climate, warm-temperate, but dry. The western and northern parts of Cape Colony itself suffer from drought; but the climate of Natal is nearly "perfect."

554. MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS. The range of mountains which runs parallel and near the east coast from Cape Town to the tropic of Capricorn is part of the main watershed of Africa. This range is in many places 5,000

feet high, its highest point attaining 10,250 feet. It has its steep face to the east. On the west it is backed by a plateau 3,500 feet above sea-level, which slopes gradually westward till near the sea coast, where the steep descent westward takes place.

Table Mountain, close to Table Bay, is 3,582 feet high, with a flat summit, a prominent object to all ships visiting Cape Town.

555. RIVER. The Orange, which follows the general slope of the country westwards. The lower basin of the Orange is very dry, and large tracts are deserts. The Orange descends from the plateau to the west lowland, by high falls, and is of little use for navigation.

556. COMMUNICATIONS. Two short railways have been opened close to Cape Town. The ordinary way of travelling in the colony is in a heavy wagon drawn by numerous bullocks, through the bush, the streams, and all other obstacles.

557. RACES OF MEN. There are two main Negro races met with, viz. (1) the Kaffers, who are superior Negroes, dark-brown in colour, moderately intelligent; and (2) the Hottentots, who are very inferior Negroes, shorter in stature, and dirty. The Zulus are a tribe of Kaffirs. The Bushmen are some of the lowest Negroes known.

558. HISTORIC SKETCH. The Dutch planted a colony at Cape Town in 1650. The English captured the colony in 1795, restored it at the peace of 1803; captured it again in 1806, and have kept it ever since.

While in Dutch hands, the settlers were mainly Dutch ; and from these are descended the Dutch boers or colonist farmers, who form a large part of the European population at the Cape of Good Hope. Since the English have held the colony the immigrants into it have been mainly English, partly Germans. The colony has been one of the least, progressive of all English colonies. The boers have never approved the policy of the English Government: the Orange Free State and the Transvaal were States formed by boers leaving the English territory in order to obtain independence