Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/600

 lower reaches between the Yellala Falls and the mouth of the estuary. The territory is doubtless of vast extent, with a population equal to that of many powerful European states; but the whites have scarcely yet secured a firm footing in the land.

At the close of the year 1886 the Europeans numbered altogether only two hundred and fifty-four, and on this handful of pioneers, scattered over an immense space and enfeebled or even decimated at times by the murderous climate.

devolves all the work of geographical and commercial exploration, the foundation, maintenance, and defence of the military stations, the organisation of the transport service by land and water, the equipment of troops, the pacification and government of the natives. The preliminary work of general survey has been successfully accomplished for the greater part of the navigable waters, and the splendid results obtained in the domain of geographical research since 1875 may well cause surprise. But all the other work of the general administration has necessarily hitherto been