DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA.
All there was of civilization in the world was found at one time in
Africa. Art and science had their home there, while now as a whole it is
regarded as the most benighted and barbarous portion of the earth and
is, not inaptly, called "the dark continent." With a breadth at the
equator of four thousand five hundred miles, with the exception of thin
lines of sea-coast on each side, this vast space has been as much
unknown as the surface of a distant planet. The Barbary States and Egypt
on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, some Portuguese settlements on the
Indian Ocean, the English and Dutch colonies of South Africa, a few
trading ports and the English and American colonies in Guinea,
constituted Africa, so far as the knowledge of the civilized world went.
And yet within these outer rims lay real Africa, and there lived its
immense population.
The vast Desert of Sahara on the north, stretching down to the equator,
presented an impenetrable barrier to explorers entering from that
direction, while along the eastern and western coasts they were beaten
back by savage tribes or fell victims to the diseases of the country.
Matted forests, wild beasts and venomous reptiles were added to the
other obstacles that beset their path, so that only now and then an
adventurous explorer penetrated the continent itself.
The Nile, piercing to the equator, seemed the most natural avenue by
which to enter this region, but the slave hunters by their cruelty, and
the petty wars they had engendered among the various tribes, made the
presence of a white man in their midst the occasion of hostile
demonstrations. The lofty mountains and broad rivers that came out of
this vast unknown region added to the mysterious interest that enveloped
it. Though certain death awaited the daring traveler who endeavored to
penetrate far into the interior, fresh victims were found ready to peril
their lives in the effort to solve the mystery of Central Africa. The
paths of these travelers, when traced on the map, appears like mere
punctures of the great continent. Missionary effort could only effect a
lodgment along the coast, while colonies remained stationary on the spot
where they were first planted.
Although holding the entire southern portion the English colony could
make but little headway against the tribes that confronted them on the
north. The most adventurous men urged not by curiosity or desire of
knowledge, but cupidity, penetrated the farthest into the interior, but,
instead of throwing light on those dark places, they made them seem
more dark and terrible by the miserable naked and half-starved wretches
they brought out to civilization, to become more wretched still by the
life of slavery to which they were doomed.
Hence it could not be otherwise than that the name of white man should
be associated with everything revolting and cruel, and that his presence
among these wild barbarians should awaken feelings of vengeance. A white
man, to those inland tribes, represented wrong and cruelty alone. The
very word meant separation of wives, and husbands, and families, and
carrying away to a doom whose mystery only enhanced its actual horrors.
Hence the white man's rapacity and cruelty put an effectual bar to his
curiosity and enterprise. The love of knowledge and physical science was
thwarted by the love of sin and wrong, and the civilized world, instead
of wondering at the ignorance and barbarity that kept back all research
and all benevolent effort, should wonder that any one bearing the
slightest relationship to the so-called outside civilized world, should
have been allowed to exist for a day where these wronged, outraged
savages bore sway.
It is not a little singular that the first real encroachment of these
forbidden regions was not made by daring explorers either for adventure
or geographical knowledge, or to extend commerce, but by a poor
missionary, whose sole object was to get the Gospel introduced among
these uncounted millions of heathen. Livingstone really broke the spell
that hung over tropical Africa, and set on foot movements that are to
work a change in the continent more important and momentous than the
imagination of man can at present conceive.
It is the tropical region of Africa that gives birth to its largest
rivers, is covered by its most magnificent forests, is crossed by its
loftiest mountains, and where dwell its teeming millions. And this is
the unknown part of the continent and the central point toward which all
explorers press.
This tropical Africa extends from about ten degrees above to ten degrees
below the equator, and from ten to thirty-five east longitude, or in
round numbers, nearly a thousand miles above and below the equator, to
two thousand or more east and west between these parallels of latitudes.
With an ordinary map before him, and with Zanzibar on the east and Congo
on the west as great landmarks, the reader will get a very clear idea of
the ground aimed at and touched, or pierced and crossed by the more
recent explorers, and the thorough final explorations of which will
unlock the hidden mystery of Africa, and open all there is of interest
to both the Christian and commercial world. That to the former there is
a field to be occupied that will tax the self-sacrifice and benevolence
of the Christian world, there can be no doubt; while to the commercial
world a field of equal magnitude and importance will be laid open.
From the mere punctures into the borders of this unknown land, and the
two slight trails recently made across it, there remains no doubt that
from sixty to one hundred millions of men are here living in the lowest
and most degraded condition of heathenism, while the country is burdened
with those articles which the commercial world needs and can make of
vast benefit to man.
A glance at the map will reveal what a vast territory remains to be
explored and what a mighty population exists there, yet to come into
contact with the civilized world. It is probable that that unexplored
region between the equator and the great Desert of Sahara will reveal
even greater wonders than have yet been discovered.
It is a little strange that the enterprise and the curiosity of man
should urge him to make repeated costly and vain attempts to reach the
north pole, where there are neither inhabitants nor articles of
commerce, while one of the largest continents on our globe, crowded with
people and rich in the very products most needed by man, should be
allowed to remain so long a sealed book.
What little of Africa has been traversed reveals untold wealth waiting
the enterprising hand of commerce to bring it forth to civilization. A
partial list of the products of this rich country will show what a mine
of wealth it is destined to be. Sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, oil palm,
tobacco, spices, timber, rice, wheat, Indian corn, India rubber, copal,
hemp, ivory, iron, copper, silver, gold and various other articles of
immense value are found here, and some of them in the greatest
profusion.
Thus it will be seen that this vast continent, which from creation
seemed destined only to be the abode of wild beasts and reptiles, and of
man as wild and savage as the animals amid which he dwelt, and who when
brought into contact with civilization becomes more debased, if
possible, by the bondage in which he is kept, contains almost everything
that civilization needs, and in a future which now seems near, it will
be traversed by railroads and steamboats, and the solitudes that have
echoed for thousands of years to the howl of wild beasts and the yells
of equally wild men, will resound with the hum of peaceful industry and
the rush and roar of commerce. The miserable hut will give way to
commodious habitations, and the disgusting rites of heathenism to the
worship of the true God. Reaching to the temperate zones, north and
south, it presents every variety of climate and yields every variety of
vegetation. What effect the great revolution awaiting this continent
will have on the destiny of the world, none can tell. He would have been
considered a mad prophet who would have predicted one-half of the
changes that the discovery of the American continent, less than four
hundred years ago, has wrought. None can doubt that the Creator of
these continents had some design in letting this one, which constitutes
nearly a fourth part of our planet, remain in darkness and mystery and
savage debasement so long, and now, by the effort of one missionary,
cause it to be thrown open to the world.