Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/17

 ■mUABT 2, 188.1.1

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��to their ti'Avelliiig through the couotiy. prefer- ting to hold b\\ the trade of the interior in their hands. Tbe natives in the interior are generallr well disjfosed to the white man. and .reailj for trade.

Which of the grcnl powera shall control this ilrade.ia a ijuestion iion- agitating the civilized Woridr The Portuguese first discovered the western coast of Africa. They claim the t«rri- torj-from latitude .j" 12' south to 11*° .')' south, including the moutli of the Kongo Iliver. run- ning trom the coast indcfinitelv into the interior. Their northern bound- arr-linc crosses the Kongo at Isan- gilln. about one hundred and lidy loiles from the month. By the right discovery they claim juriadiction 'sver the mouth of the Kongo and all toommerce passing out of its mouth. [The English einim lai-ge iwrtions of the coa^it from about U" or A" north to IS' north, including the mouths of the Niger, and the whole country e Verde, the River Senegal (14° to 17° north). Cape I^pez, and the Gaboon from about 4° or 5° north of the equa- tor to as many degrees south. The Germans, within two years past, at tbe suggestion of Bismarck, have taiien possession of Lagos on the Bight of Benin, of Cameroon between the Eng- lish and the French claims (about a" north), and a vast country near Augra Pequena. commencing at 23° south, and running to Ca|>e Colony, about 29" south, inland to Transvaal, — a territory said to he aa large as Ger- many, Belgium, and Holland united. They have established over forty fac- tories on the coast.

Almost all the western coast of Africa is now claimed by these fonr great powers. Portugal clKJms the exclusive control of the iiavigaliou of the Kongo: England, exclusive control of the Niger. A year ago Portugal proposed to mak« a treaty with England by which the re- spective rights of these [X>wers to each of ''^ese rivers should be recognized. Great op- _ Hition was made, both in England and on the continent, to this alliance, and it has been abandoned.

The International association of Africa was formed in 1^77 in Belgium, about the time of return of Mr. Stanley from the * dark intinent.' Itt Ueadtjuarters niv in Brusseh,

��The object of the association is to acquire, by treaties with the natives, territory for the use and benefit of free states established under the cai-c and super\-i8ion of the association. For this purpose it is declared that no custom-bouse duties are to be levied upon goods or merchan- dise brought into the territorj-, and that no greater rights will be granted to the citizens of one nation than to those of every other; that the Kongo, the gieat highway into cen- tral Africa, shall remain an international

���river, opeu to all civilizing influences, and to the legitimate commerce of every land. It is established to promote the public good, not private gain. It has made treaties with many different tribes, and founded thirty stations on the river. At these stations factories are established, and trade carried on by mer- chants with the natives. This association is unlike any other ever oi^auized. The United States was the firet to recognize its nation- ality, in April, 1884. Since then it has been recognized by several other European na- tions.

At the invitation of Bismarck, a confer- ence of the leading nations of the world is

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