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diff --git a/old/66047-0.txt b/old/66047-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 37be8f7..0000000 --- a/old/66047-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1028 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Continent of the Future:, by William -Coppinger - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Continent of the Future: - Africa and Its Wonderful Development--Exploration, Gold Mining, - Trade, Missions and Elevation - -Author: William Coppinger - -Release Date: August 11, 2021 [eBook #66047] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: hekula03, Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by the Library - of Congress) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENT OF THE FUTURE: *** - - - - - 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! - -[Illustration: MAP OF AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS DOWN TO AUGUST, 1877.] - -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. - -[Illustration: MAP OF EXPLORATIONS SINCE AUGUST, 1877.] - -The population of Liberia, including Medina, may be 1,400,000. -The largest proportion of the natives are Mohammedans, perhaps -1,000,000. There are 26 Baptist churches, reporting 24 ministers and -1,928 communicants. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United -States reports one bishop and 31 others, missionaries, teachers and -assistants, 361 communicants, 597 Sunday-school scholars and 415 in -day and boarding-schools. The report of the Methodist Episcopal Church -of the United States, gives 25 ministers, 10 assistants, 4 native -preachers and 47 local preachers and teachers, 2,200 members, 1,831 -Sabbath-school scholars and 300 day scholars. The American Presbyterian -Church (North) reports 9 missionaries and assistants, 270 communicants, -and 65 pupils in schools. Total 104 ministers, assistants and teachers -reported, 4,759 communicants, 2,428 Sabbath-school scholars and 780 day -pupils. - -It is a suggestive truth that a few only of the “104 ministers, -assistants and teachers” laboring in Liberia were sent by missionary -societies, but that nearly all of them were sent or are the children -of men sent by the American Colonization Society as emigrants, and -established there with means of subsistence. This single fact teaches -that in proportion as the emigrants from this country are multiplied, -the Christian laborers are also multiplied. - -MISSIONS.――The six European missions commenced in Central Africa -since the death of Dr. Livingstone have been constantly reinforced -and strengthened, viz.: The Presbyterian stations on Lake Nyassa; the -Church Missionary Society efforts on Lake Victoria Nyanza; the London -Missionary Society operations on Lake Tanganyika; the French Bassuto -extension to the Barotse Valley, and the Baptist Mission and the -Livingstone Inland Mission, both on the Congo. The two latter named -are pushing inland from the coast; the first on the southern and the -other on the northern side of the river. The Baptists are nearing the -accomplishment of their first leading design, viz.; the establishment -of a station at Stanley Pool, to be used as a base of operations -beyond. A gentleman has given the £4,000 ($20,000) necessary to procure -a steel boat to be named the “Plymouth,” to be used upon the Congo. -The Livingstone Inland Mission (undenominational, begun in 1878,) has -founded five stations and passed some two hundred of the three hundred -miles to overcome the cataracts, where the river stretches out in -navigable waters for about one thousand miles. Here it is intended to -locate an industrial mission station, and to make the work ultimately -self-supporting and self-extending. - -An offer of £4,000 ($20,000) has been made by James Stevenson, Esq., -of Glasgow, for the construction of a road between Lakes Nyassa -and Tanganyika. The gift is based on the condition that the London -Missionary Society and the Livingstonia Mission open and maintain -stations at Mambe and Maliwanda, on the line of the proposed road, and -that the Central African Trading Company undertake to keep up regular -communication between Lakes Tanganyika and Quilimane. The distance -between the lakes is about two hundred and twenty miles. The London -Missionary Society has resolved to assume the conditions as far as it -is concerned, and the Livingstonia Mission of the Scotch Free Church -has sent a force to begin the station at Maliwanda. - -Christendom knows not any other such mission as the Niger mission -of the Church Missionary Society, begun in 1867, to evangelize that -portion of the continent by native Africans, headed by a native -African, Bishop Crowther. Large and increasing Christian congregations -exist at Bonny and Brass, and assemblies of varying sizes at Onitsha, -Asumare and Lokoja. Sixteen hundred worshippers attended religious -services at Bonny last Christmas. Kings and chieftains are erecting -churches for themselves and their subjects. A cathedral is to be built -at Bonny at a cost of £2,000, ($10,000.) - -The appointment of a Secretary by the American Board of Commissioners -for Foreign Missions to superintend its operations in Africa, -indicates an earnest purpose with respect to that land. Three pioneer -missionaries have been cordially received by the King of Bailunda, and -others are on their way to found a station at Bihe, which lies behind -Benguela, some 250 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, an elevated region, -inhabited by large and compact tribes. - -The American Missionary Association has sent two commissioners to -select a site for a station near the headwaters of the Nile, in -aid of which Robert Arthington, Esq., of Leeds, has contributed -£3,000, ($15,000,) and English Christians have given a like sum. Two -missionaries are under appointment to occupy this field. The American -Baptist Missionary Union is considering the Soudan as a theatre of -labor, stimulated by an offer from Mr. Arthington of £7,000 ($35,000) -toward a mission on an extensive scale in that populous district. No -man in this age has done so much to stimulate missionary enterprise -as Mr. Arthington. The Southern Presbyterian Board of Missions is -contemplating the opening of a station at Kabenda, preparatory to an -advance on the centre of the Kingdom of Loango. - -AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.――This association is quietly prosecuting -its work of boundless scope and thrilling issues. An impartial observer -of its progress in the United States, and who has personally seen its -fruit on the coast of Africa, lately declares: “This was the first and -remains the _only_ Society ever organized for the explicit purpose -of giving the Negro perfect freedom, of promoting his education for -his own good, of making him independent, of giving him a country he -can call his own, and of elevating his race to the standard of a -Christian nation. * * * * * Liberia’s flag is now honored by all -Christian nations, and none more deserves honor, for the cause over -which it floats is the grandest and holiest which ever gave birth to a -nation――the redemption of a whole race of mankind from heathenism and -slavery.” - -The number of persons provided passage to and homes in Liberia by the -Society in 1880 exceeded that in any one year since 1872. One of its -recent proteges, Rev. James O. Hayes, a graduate of Shaw University, -writes: “I have met many of the prominent citizens and others, all of -whom have extended to me the warm hand of fellowship and welcome. Hon. -Beverly P. Yates, who has resided in this Republic fifty-two years, -remarked to me that he would prefer Liberia to America, even if he were -made President of the United States. I have two brothers and their -families, with numerous friends residing at Brewerville, and they are -prospering finely. The conviction is strengthened by all I see that -persons who improve the advantages afforded immigrants here could not -be induced to exchange countries.” The Society looks hopefully for that -increase in gifts which the broadening work imperatively demands. - -CLIMATE.――Africa continues to be guarded by her malarious seaboard -and poisonous fevers, and alien travelers, explorers, miners and -missionaries still there find early graves. Statistics show the -difference in the effects of the climate upon the white, the mulatto -and the black man. In the recent Ashantee campaign, out of the heavy -death list of forty-two English officers only six died of wounds. -Four scientific explorers are known to have fallen in the last few -months, including the hardy Popelin, the leader of the second Belgian -expedition. Each of the three first stations of the Livingstone Inland -Mission has been consecrated by the call of one of its founders to -higher spheres and grander activities. The Presbytery of West Africa -has had during the past twenty-five years eleven members. Four were -pure Negroes, the others mulattoes and quadroons. Of the mixed men -six are dead, all comparatively young. Of the Negroes two are dead, -both over sixty. Of the two who survive, one is nearly seventy and the -other is fifty years of age. The Niger mission of the Church Missionary -Society is manned wholly by native Africans, among whom the deaths in -twenty-three years have been but eight, and that in a section which is -mostly swampy and under water several months in the year. The Negro is -the man of God’s right hand in Africa. - -[Illustration: MAP OF PROTESTANT MISSION STATIONS IN AFRICA.] - -WORKMEN.――A convention of colored delegates from twelve Southern -States, held at Montgomery, Ala., organized the Baptist Foreign Mission -Convention, the object of which “is to give the gospel to the people of -Africa.” Three ministers have expressed their readiness to enter upon -labors in “fatherland.” The African Civil and Evangelical Association -has for its purpose “the sending and supporting of missionaries and -school teachers in Western and interior Africa, a duty we owe as -descendants of that continent to our kinsmen there.” The Presbyterian -Synod of the Atlantic, composed largely of Freedmen, has inaugurated -a movement looking to missionary efforts in the country of their -ancestors. - -There is a bright and cheering history of African enlightenment to be -written. The six millions of reserve force now drilling in America -for the final victory are to be called out. They are now on the move. -Thousands have already developed many of the proper qualifications for -the work, and are waiting the means to go forward. And this mighty -country has peculiar facilities for the introduction and extension of -civilization. Europe has no population available. Entering on the West -Coast, the people and Government of the United States may stretch a -chain of settlements of her own citizens through the whole length of -Soudan, from the Niger to the Nile――from the Atlantic to the Indian -Ocean. - -COLONIES.――A protracted experience convinces us that it may be laid -down as a principle demonstrated by numerous examples, that if -Western and Central Africa is ever to advance in civilization; if its -inhabitants are ever to become not Europeanized, but intelligent, -competent and productive Africans; if they are ever to be brought into -commercial relations mutually beneficial with Europe and America, it -must be by establishing and fostering such colonies as Liberia. If -it is the desire of Christians to abolish polygamy, to put a stop to -domestic slavery, to encompass and vivify the people by civilizing -influences, to elevate their thought, ennoble their action, and -regenerate the continent, these things must be done by planting -colonies of Christian and civilized Negroes along that coast and in the -interior. - - “Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us! - The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks - Shout to each other, and the mountain tops - From distant mountains catch the flying joy: - Till, nation after nation taught the strain, - Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round.” - - - - -[_Editorial from_ THE SUN, _of Baltimore, October 25, 1881_.] - - -THE CONTINENT OF THE FUTURE.――The Supplement of “The Sun” to-day -contains an article by Mr. William Coppinger, Secretary of the American -Colonization Society, upon Africa, its condition from various points of -view, its trade, mines, agricultural products and increased closeness -of relation with the civilized world, which cannot fail to prove of -interest to all persons concerned in the future of the mysterious “dark -continent.” Americans can hardly conceive the importance attached by -Europeans at present to the matters with which Mr. Coppinger so fully -and entertainingly deals. The continental powers of Europe, perceiving -the immense advantage possessed by England in having her Indian -Empire and her colonies as outlets for her manufactures and excess of -population, are seeking to imitate her example by founding claims to -such territories yet unoccupied by Europeans as are unable to protect -themselves from aggression backed by Krupp guns. After the pickings -of Russia, England and France, there is little of Asia, besides, -perhaps, the Corean peninsula, left to appropriate. The jealousy of -the United States has deterred the nations of the Eastern hemisphere -from attempts, like that of Maximilian in Mexico, to found claims upon -territories in either North or South America. Africa remains, and is at -their doors. Having an area of 9,858,000 square miles, and an estimated -population, mostly barbarous, of about 201,787,000 souls, it offers, -despite its unfavorable climate, great advantages to the European -people who shall first appropriate its fertile interior, its trade -in mineral and agricultural products, and open these up to European -commerce by means of lines of steamboat and railway communications. -Africa will perhaps at no distant day become to Europe what North and -South America have been for the last two hundred years, the recipient -of their overflow of population and their chief producer of food. Its -capabilities are untried, but we know they are enormous. Explorers -within recent years have traversed the continent in every direction, -and have brought back reports generally favorable. The Sahara is shown -to be by no means the barren waste it has been represented, and the -Soudan has had its vast capabilities exploited. Behind the explorer -comes the military post and European civilization. As was shown in -“The Sun” some time ago, France has since 1854 been extending her -acquisitions from St. Louis, on the West Coast, along the Senegal and -Gambia rivers, eastwardly into the Soudan, until she now possesses -a large area of country, and exerts a predominant influence over a -territory comparable, it is said, in extent with that of England in -India. It is to consolidate and strengthen her acquisitions that she -proposes to add Tunis to Algeria, and it would be doing scant justice -to her policy to suppose that the seizure of Tunis is a detached and -insignificant incident. Mr. Coppinger narrates in detail the measures -being taken to confirm her position in Africa, as against her various -European competitors. A notable fact in connection with the Islamic -movement, of which so much is said, is the large hold the Mohammedan -religion already has in Africa. There are 51,170,000 of this faith -to 145,225,000 heathen, 350,000 Jews and 4,535,000 Coptic and other -Christians. Even in Liberia, out of a total population estimated by -Mr. Coppinger at 1,400,000, fully 1,000,000 are Mohammedans, and of an -aggressive character. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes: - - ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). - - ――Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. - - ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENT OF THE FUTURE: *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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