Scattered over Central Africa

mainly in the forest regions, are pigmy tribes, who are generally supposed to be the remains of an aboriginal population. The bulk of the inhabitants of Madagascar are of Malay affinities. The total population is estimated at about 175,000,000. ~ As regards religion, a great proportion of the inhabitants are heathens of the lowest ae Mobammedanism po e es a large number of adherents in Northern Africa and is rapidly spreading in the Sudan. Christianity _ chiefly among the Copts of Egypt, the Aby in i ans, and the natives of Madagascar, the latter having been converted in recent times. Elsewhere the labors of the mi ionaries have also been attended with promising succe , Over a great part of the continent, however, civilization is at a low ebb, and in the Kongo region cannibalism is extensively prevalent. Yet in various regions the natives who have not come in contact with a higher civilization show considerable skill in agriculture and various mechanical arts, as in weaving and metal working. Among articles exported from Africa are gold and diamonds, palm oil, ivory, wool, ostrich feathers, esparto, cotton, ca« -outchoue, ete. The total annual trade -has been estimated at $500,000,000, Political Divisions—— By recent arrangements, mainly gince 1884, great areas in Africa have been allotted to Great Britain, France, Germany, Por- ‘tugal, Belgium, and Italy, as coming. within their respective spheres of influence, in addition to colonial po e ions proper. The areas claimed by the European powers are estimated as follows: France, 4,000,000 square miles; Great Britain, 2,700,000; Italy, 200,000; Spain, 80,000. In 1910 the former British colonies of Cape Col- ‘ony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River were federated as provinces in a Union of South Africa, with Gen. Louis Botha as the first premier, and the seat of the executive government at Pretor i a and the legislative at Cape Town. Other British colonies are Lagos, Gold Coast, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Mauritius. Although Egypt, like Tripoli, is nominally under the Turkish rule, it is actually ‘under British suzerainty. The Kongo Free State now belongs to Belgium. Aby in i a and Morocco are the chief native African independent States. Commercial Conditions.—The annual commerce of Africa amounts to over $700,000,000, of which $429,000,- ‘000 represents the value of the imports. Nece arily in so large an area ‘with so many tribes and peoples who keep no records of their transactions, a considerable amount of commerce Must pa without being recorded in q@py way. Railroad development in Africa has been rapid in the past few years and seems but the beginning of a great — which must contribute to the apid development, civilization, and enlightenment of the “ Dark Continent.” Already railroads run N. from Cape Colony about 1,590 miles and S. from Cairo about 1,200 miles, thus completing 2,700 miles of the proposed “Cape to Cairo” railroad, while the ‘intermediate distance is about 3,000 miles, At the N. numerous lines skirt the Mediterranean coast, especially in the French territory of Algeria and in Tunis, aggregating about 2,500 miles; while the Egyptian railroads are, including those under construction, about 1,500 miles in length. Those of Cape Colony are over 3,000 miles in length, and those of Portuguese East Africa and the Transvaal are another 1,000 miles in length. Including all of the railroads constructed or under actual construction, the total length of African railways is nearly 12,500 miles, or half the distance around the earth. A large proportion of the railways thus far constructed are owned by the several colonies or states which they traverse, about 2,000 miles of the Cape Colony system and nearly all of that of Egypt belonging to the state. ‘ That the gold and diamond mines of South Africa have been and still are wonderfully profitable is beyond question. The Kim berley diamond mines, about 600 miles from Cape Town, now supply 98 per cent. of the diamonds of commerce, though their existence was unknown prior to 1867, and the mines have thus been in op- ‘eration but about 30 years. It is estimated that $350,000,000 worth of rough diamonds, worth double that sum after cutting, have been produced from the Kim berley mines since their opening in 1868-1869, and this enormous production would have been greatly increased but for the fact that the owners of the various mines there Sera gm qgreement to limit the output so as not to materially exceed the world’s annual consumption. Dqually wonderful and promising are the gt Wit waters rand gold fields of South Africa, better known as the Johannes burg mines. Gold was discovered there in 1883, and in 1898 before the Boer War, which temporarily suspended work, the annual yield had reached over $55,000,- 000. Since the opening of the 20th century, the development.of the principal European colonies has progre ed more rapidly than previously, not with stand¢ng the Herreros war in German S. W. Africa, and the maladministration of the Congo Free State. The projection of railro@s into the interior from seaboard towns, many to eventually connect with the Cape to Cairo route, is a powerful factor in internal development. On that line, at the great Victoria Falls of the Zambesi River, a cantilever bridge, 560 ft. long, built acro the gorge by the American Cleveland Bridge Co., was opened in 1905.