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geography ol the Upper Congo basin has been completely changed, as a result of the Belgian campaign against the Arabs. It used to be a common saying in this part of Africa that all roads lead to Nyangwe. This town, visited by Livingstone, Stanley, and Cameron, until lately one of the greatest markets in Africa, has ceased to exist, and its site, when I last saw it, was occupied by a single house. Kasongo, a more recent though still larger centre, with perhaps 60,000 inhabitants, has also been swept away, and is now represented by a station of the Free State nine miles away on the river bank. In harmony with this political change the trade routes have been completely altered, and the traffic which used to follow the wellbeaten track from Nyangwe and the Lualaba across Tanganyika to Ujiji, or round the lake to Zanzibar, now goes down the Congo to Stanley Pool and the Atlantic.” These results had been attained largely by the aid of native levies and allies, and a number of the men who had taken part in the Arab campaign were enlisted as permanent soldiers by the Belgians. Among these were some Batetelas, who in 1895 revolted in the Lulua and Lomami districts. The mutineers were eventually defeated; but in 1897, while Baron Dhanis was making his way with a large expedition towards the Nile, the Batetelas again revolted, murdered several of their white officers, and took possession of a large area of the eastern portions of the state. Although defeated on several occasions by the Free State forces, the mutineers were not finally dispersed until near the end of 1900, when the last remnants were reported to have crossed into German territory and surrendered their arms. The international position of the Free State is a somewhat anomalous one. It is an independent state administered as if it were a colony. By his will dated the 2nd August 1889, King Leopold bequeathed to Belgium “ all our sovereign rights over the Independent State of the Congo, as they are recognized by the declarainterna- tions, conventions, and treaties concluded since position. 1884 between the foreign Powers on the one side, the International Association of the Congo and the Independent State of the Congo on the other, as well as all the benefits, rights, and advantages attached to that sovereignty.” It was subsequent to the execution of this will that the Belgian State in July 1890 acquired the right, already referred to, of annexing the Free State in ten years and six months from that date. In the year 1895, owing to its financial difficulties, the Free State was obliged to ask the consent of the Belgian Government to a project for raising a further loan. The Belgian Ministry of that time believed the occasion opportune for advancing the date of the annexation of the Free State as a Belgian colony. A Bill was introduced with this object into the Belgian Legislature, but after long delays and a violent Press campaign the Ministry fell, the Bill was withdrawn, and the Chambers voted a further loan to the Free State to enable it to tide over its immediate difficulties. However, either on the decease of the sovereign, or at some earlier date, the Belgians must come to a decision whether or not they will accept the responsibility for King Leopold’s African kingdom. In the event of their refusal, the right of pre-emption given to France by the International Association in 1884 might give rise to questions of a somewhat complicated and serious character. Except for its short coast-line on the Atlantic, and for a small area on its north-eastern frontier, the Free State lies wholly Ph ! 1 the geographical basin of the Congo. It may features rou ghly be west divided into Crystal three zones—(1) small coast zone of the Mountains,thethrough which the Congo breaks in a succession of rapids to the Atlantic ; (2) the great central zone bounded on the north by the Congo and
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the Mobangi river, on the east by the Mitumba range of mountains, and on the south by the Congo-Zambezi watershed and the Portuguese frontier ; and (3) the smaller zone east of the Mitumba range, including the upper courses of some of the Congo tributaries which have forced their way through the mountains, and west of Lake Mweru and the upper course of the Luapula, as well as a small area which belongs geographically to the Nile valley. The Crystal Mountains form the western edge of the Great Central African plateau and run, roughly, parallel to the coast. The Mitumba range extends from Mount Kaomba, on the southern frontier of the Free State, in a north-easterly direction to Lake Tanganyika, and then strikes northwards along the western shore of that lake, past Lakes Kivu and Albert Edward to Albert Lake, forming the western edge of the Great Central African rift valley. This immense mountain chain has numerous subsidiary local names. It varies in altitude from 5000 to 10,000 feet. Baumann estimates its height where it forms the western limit of the Rusisi valley at the latter figure, while to the west of Lake Kivu von Gbtzen calculates it at 9000 feet. The eastern escarpment is precipitous, but on its western face it slopes more gently into the Congo basin. North of the Lukuga river the main chain throws out into the Central zone, in a north-westerly direction, a secondary range, known as the Bambara Mountains, which forms one of the boundaries of the Manyema country. The interior, or Lake, zone is a high plateau with an average elevation of 3000 feet above sea-level. The Central zone dips with a westerly inclination from the Mitumba Mountains towards the western edge of the plateau. It is described by Wauters as “a country of alluvial plains, without any marked mountain features, very well watered, covered with forests and wooded savannahs.” The Coast zone is small in area, dipping down from the Crystal Mountains to the Atlantic, where the Free State frontier is reduced to some 20 miles of coast-line. The Congo and its tributary streams form, both from the point of view of the physical geography and the commercial development of the Congo Free State, its most important feature ; but next in importance are the immense forests which clothe the banks of the rivers, the remains of the great forest which appears at one time to have covered the whole of the centre of the continent. The wooded savannahs, where it is anticipated that in the course of time numerous herds of cattle may be reared, are mostly situated on the higher lands of the Central zone, where the land dips down from the Mitumba Mountains to the Congo. Climate.—Situated on the Equator, between about 5° N. and 11° S. lat., the Congo Free State shows only a slight variation of temperature all the year round. From July to August the heat increases slightly, with a more rapid rise to November. During December the thermometer remains stationary, and in January begins to rise again, reaching its maximum in February. March is also a month of great heat; in April there is a steady decline into May, with a more rapid decline in June, the minimum being reached again in July. There is a marked distinction between the wet and dry seasons in the western districts on the Lower Congo, where rains fall regularly from October to May, the dry season being from June to September. But nearer the centre of the continent the seasons are less clearly marked by the amount of precipitation, rain falling more or less regularly at all times of the year. The seasons of greatest heat and of the heavy rains are thus coincident on the lower river, where fever is much more prevalent than on the higher plateau lands nearer the centre of the continent. The amount of the rainfall shows great variations in different years, the records at Banana showing a total fall of 16 inches in 1890-91 and of 38 inches in 1893-94. Even in the rainy season on the lower river the rain does not fall continuously for a long period, the storms rarely lasting more than a few hours, but frequently attaining great violence. The greatest fall registered as occurring during a single tornado was 6 inches at Bolobo. In July grass fires are of common occurrence, and frequently sweep over a great expanse of country. Mons. A. Lancaster, the Belgian meteorologist, has formulated, as the result of a study of all the available data, the following rule :—That the rainfall increases in the Congo basin (1) in proportion as one nears the Equator from the south, (2) as one passes from the coast to the interior. On the Lower Cengo the prevailing winds are from the west and the south-west, but this prevalence becomes less and less marked towards the interior, until on the upper river they come from the south-east. The wind, however, rarely attains any exceptional velocity. Storms of extreme violence, accompanied by torrential rain, and in rare instances by hailstones, are of not uncommon occurrence. On the coast and along the course of the lower river fogs are very rare, but in the interior early morning fogs are far from uncommon. Europeans are subject to the usual tropical diseases, and the country is not suited for European colonization. Area and Population.—The area is roughly estimated at 900,000 square miles, and the native population is variously estimated at from 30,000,000 (Stanley) to 14,000,000 (Saint Martin). The
