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EAST

AFRICA,

for 1897-98 amounted to £43,481 ; for 1898-99, to £69,400 ; and for 1899-1900 was estimated at from £75,000 to £80,000. The capital of the protectorate is Mombasa, which is also the largest town (population, 27,000). It has two excellent harbours, one on each side of the island of Mvita or Mombasa, on the eastern side of which the town is placed. The harbour on the south-west side is known as Port Kilindini, and here, on the west side of the island, is the terminus of the Uganda Railway, with a pier and other works. On the mainland, nearly opposite Mombasa town, is the settlement of treed slaves called Preretown, after Sir Bartle Frere. The second largest town is Lamu, on the island of the same name, besides which the most important are Melindi, Patta, Kipini, Port Durnford, and Kismayu. Much has been done to open up the country by means of roads, including a trunk road from Mombasa by Kibwezi in the upper Sabaki basin and Lake Naivasha to Berkeley Bay on Victoria Nyanza. But the most important work taken in hand is the construction of a railway from Mombasa to that lake, for which a survey was executed in 1892, and on which work was commenced in 1896. The line chosen roughly coincides with that of the road just mentioned, until the equator is reached, after which it will strike by a more direct route across the Mau plateau to Lake Victoria, which it will reach at Port Florence on Kavirondo Bay ; total length, 582 miles. The most serious difficulty has been the descent of the escarpment of Kikuyu to the rift-valley, which has necessitated the most skilful engineering. The total length of the line constructed up to April 1901 was 488 miles. Resources and Commerce.—The resources of British East Africa are still little developed. The coast-lands, however, contain much fertile soil suitable for the cultivation of cotton, jute, the cocoanut, oil-seeds, fibres, &c., while the jungle products include rubber, copal, orchilla, &c. The grassy uplands of the interior are eminently suited for cattle-rearing, and at the higher elevations European crops might be grown with success. The comparative healthiness of these plateaux might possibly allow of their settlement by white men. The imports, which in 1897-98 reached a total of about 4^ million rupees, and in 1898-99 about 7 millions, were valued at 6,642,000 rupees in 1899-1900 ; the exports, which in the former two years were little over 1 million rupees, in 1899-1900 rose to 1,825,000. The chief articles imported are piece and trade goods, rice, grain, and flour, while the exports consist principally of ivory (which showed a large increase in 1899-1900), rubber, hides and horns, and grains. Shipping entered, in 1897-98, to the extent of 196,630 tons ; in 1898-99, 321,440 tons ; in 1899-1900, 332,882 tons. See also Uganda, Zanzibar. Authorities.—Besides the annual reports and other publications of the Foreign Office :—Thomson. Through Masailand. London, 1886.—Von Hohnel. Zum Rudolf- und Stefanie-See. Vienna, 1892. Eng. trans., London, 1894.—Lugard. The Rise of our East African Empire. London, 1893. — Keltie. The Partition of Africa. 1895.—M‘Dermott. British East Africa. London, 1895.—Gregory. The Great Rift-Valley. London, 1896.—Scott-Elliot. A Naturalist in Mid-Africa. London, 1896.—Macdonald. Soldiering and Surveying in British East Africa. London, 1897.—Donaldson - Smith. Through Unknown African Countries. London, 1897.—Neumann. ElephantHunting in East Equatorial Africa. London, 1898. —Fitzgerald. Travels in the Coastlands of British East Africa. London, 1898.— Johnston. The Colonization of Africa, 1899.—Smith. “RoadMaking and Surveying in British East Africa,” Geographical Journal, September 1899.—Mackinder. “A Journey to the Summit of Mount Kenya,” Geographical Journal, May 1900. (e. He.) East Africa, German, occupying the east centre of the African continent, was acquired for Germany by treaties which Dr Peters, Graf Pfeil, and Dr Jiihlke concluded with a number of chiefs in November and December 1887. An imperial charter was granted on the 27th of February 1885, and on the 28th of October 1890 the sultan of Zanzibar ceded his suzerainty over the coast and the island of Mafia to the German emperor. The protectorate extends from 1° S. lat. to 11° S. lat. and 30° to 40° E. long. On the E. it is bounded by the Indian Ocean, on the N.E. and N. by British East Africa. The boundary line runs from the mouth of the Umbe river to Lake Jipe and Mount Kilimanjaro, including both in the protectorate, and thence to Victoria Nyanza, crossing it on 1° S. lat., which parallel it follows till it reaches 30° E. long. On the 1st of July 1890 it was stipulated that this line should be subject to an alteration in case it included Mount Mfumbiro, which was to fall into the

GERMAN

British sphere of influence. In the west it is separated from the Congo Free Statens follows, according to the agreement of 1st to 25th August 1885. From the point of intersection of 1° S. lat. and 30° E. long., nearly straight to the north end of Lake Tanganyika, along the middle line of the lake to where this is intersected by the south boundary line of the Congo Free State in about 8° 30' S. lat. In November 1900 a disputed boundary on Lake Kivu was decided by the King of the Belgians in favour of Germany. The agreement of 30th July 1890 arranged the boundary between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa as follows. From Tanganyika along the river Kilamba to the junction of its two arms; thence in a line which is not fixed with absolute precision to the point where 35° E. long, intersects the river Songwe, which it follows to the lake. Bound the northern end it follows the shore of the lake, which it leaves on that degree of S. lat. on which the river Msinge enters the Rovuma; joining these two points, it follows the latter river to the Indian Ocean, according to the agreement between Portugal and Germany of 30th December 1886. These boundaries include an area of about 385,000 square miles, with a population roughly estimated at 3,000,000 to 8,000,000. Physical Features.—The coast of German East Africa is chiefly composed of coral, and is generally low, partly sandy, partly covered with bush or mangroves. Only where the Arabs have established settlements the cocoapalm and mango tree introduced by them give character to the vegetation. The coast, though little indented, has several good harbours, amongst them Tanga (5000), Dar-es-Salaam (13,000), Kilwa (10,000), Kisiwani, Lindi, Mikindani, Bagamoyo (13,000). The littoral plain is from 10 to 30 miles wide and 620 miles long; it is bordered on the wrest by the precipitous eastern side of the interior plateau of Central Africa. As a whole this plateau, considerably tilted from its horizontal position, attains its highest elevation north of Lake Nyasa, where several peaks rise to 8000 feet, one to 9000, while its mean altitude is about 3000 to 4000 feet. From this region the country slopes gently towards the north-west, and is not distinguished by any considerable mountain ranges. A deep narrow gorge, the so-called “ rift-valley,” traverses the middle of the plateau in a meridional direction. In the northern part of the country it spreads into several side valleys, from one of which rises the extinct volcano Mount Kilimanjaro (19,200 feet), the highest mountain in all Africa. Its glacier sends down a thousand rills which combine to form the Pangani river. East of Mount Kilimanjaro are the Pare Mountains, separated from the coast only by a comparatively narrow strip of plain. The Pangani is navigable for 12 to 18 miles, the Bufiji for more than 60 miles from the coast, and its tributary, the Ulanga, for a much greater distance. The Wami and Kingani spring from the plateau border and the mountains fringing it; only the latter river has been ascended by a steam launch. The Rovuma, though broader than the other rivers, is very shallow, so that all attempts at navigation have proved failures. West of the rift-valley the plateau sends its water through the Malagarazi to Lake Tanganyika and thence to the Atlantic, through the Kagera and other smaller rivers to Lake Victoria and the Nile. Lake Nyasa in the southern part of the country and Lake Tanganyika fill the deepest part of the Central African rift-valley. Several smaller lakes occur in parts of the eastern rift. Lake Rikwa is presumably only the remnant of a huge swTamp, the extent of which varies with the rainfall of each year. Lake Victoria, the largest of all African lakes, is the reservoir which gives rise to the Nile. Meteorology.—The climate derives its chief characteristic from the monsoons. On the coast the south-east monsoon sets in in April,