Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/919

 SENEGAL, ETC. ^63

i'e|)reseiited by one deputy. At high water the Senegal is navigable for srnall vessels into the interior. In 1898 there were 246 miles of railway, 574 miles of telegraph line, 1,022 miles of wire, and 21 telegraph offices. Ground-nuts (arachides), gums, india-rubber, palm nuts and oil, hides and horns, mats and gold are the chief ex])ort8 ; tobacco, beads, cutlery, made-up clothing and calicoes are the chief imports. The total imports in 1897 were estimated at 25,000,000 francs, and the exports of produce at 12,000,000 francs, According to French statistics, the imports into France from Senegal in 1897 were :— General, 13,555,969 francs ; special, 13,532,087 francs. Exports from France to Senegal :— General, 23,524,534 francs; special, 14,242,351 francs. At Dakar, Rufisque, Goree, and St. Louis in 1897 there entered and cleared 505 vessels of 662,000 tons. Local budget for 1898, 3,929,367 francs ; expenditure of France (budget for 1899), 6,106,942 francs; debt, 517,657 francs.

The French Sudan includes the Upper Senegal, and all the countries on the Upper and iNIiddle Niger, and the states which extend inland from Senegal and the Rivieres du Sud. It is divided into annexed territories and protec- torates. The annexed territories, mostly in the Upper Senegal, embrace an area of 54,000 si^uare miles, and a population of 360,000 ; the protectorates wereesti- niated to have an area of 300,000 sc^uare miles, and a population of 24 millions. The administration of the French Sudan is intrusted to a Superior Military Commandant, who resides at Kayes, in the Senegal, under the authority of the Governor of Senegal. There is a regiment of native riflemen, a squadron of Sudan Spahis, and a battery of marine artillery. There is a railway from Kayes to Bafoulabe, 94 miles, which it was originally intended to carry on to the Niger. The produce consists of gum, rubber, earth-nuts, rice, &c. Iron is found over wide regions, and gold in some districts. The foreign trade in 1897 amounted to 8,551,805 francs for imports and 4,777,282 francs for exports. The imports are .General European merchandise, and the exports mostly earth-nuts. The local' budget for 1897 showed revenue and expen- diture of 2,725,500 francs. According to the budget for 1899, the annual expenditure of France on the Sudan is 6,873,000 francs.

French Guinea.— On January 1, 1890, the territory on the coast from ll'' to nearly 9° N. (except the Los Islands, which belong to Great Britain), and inland along and between the rivers as far as the Fouta Djallon, was detached from Senegal and formed into a separate colony under the name of Rivieres du Sud (a name not now officially used), with Conakry, on the isle of Tombo, for its capital. The population of the colony proper (the coast region) is given as 47,541.

The French colony of the Ivory Coast extends from Liberia eastwards to the British Gold Coast colony, and inland towards the bend of the Niger. The Governor of the Ivory Coast controls the state of Kong and other terri- tories on the north-east, but Samory's kingdom and Tieba's kingdom are under the Governor of the French Sudan. The settlements on the coast comprise Grand-Bassam, Assinie, Grand-Lahou, and Jackeville.

Dahomey stretches from the coast between German Togoland and the British Lagos and Niger territories to a distance inland not yet finally deter- mined. The agreement between the French and British Governments, dated June 14, 1898, has not yet been ratified, the time for ratification having been extended to June 14, 1899. The colony on the coast and the pro- tectorate inland comprise an area of about 14,000 square miles, with a population of about 550,000. The chief trading centres are Porto-Novo, Kotonu, Grand Popo, and Whydah. Abomey, the capital, is about 70 miles inland. The natives, who are of pure Negro stock and fetish -worshippers, belong to the Fon branch of the Ewe family, but have called themselves

o 2