of that approaching day of Christ's kingdom, when "princes shall come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God?"

The decline of Ethiopia and the long political and social degradation of Africa, should no more surprise us than the decline of Egypt, of Greece, of Rome, and the long degradation of nations once the leaders of the civilized world. Race and climate cannot be the exclusive cause upon the continent of Africa, of a phenomenon of history common to the continents of Asia and Europe. That once powerful and commanding Arab race, which in the seventh century spread its romantic civilization around the Mediterranean and over the African continent westward to the Atlantic, and southward to Mozambique, has now lost not only its military prestige and political empire, but its very civilization, except in the tradition of its learning, commerce, and arts, and in the literature of its religion. Nor can we forget that at the Roman conquest our British ancestors lived on acorns and the raw flesh of animals killed in the chase; that they wore the skins of beasts for clothing, and fought with the ferocity of tigers; that they too had sacrifices of human blood; that in the time of Constantine, Britain was a name of "mysterious horror" to the elite of his capital; that the sight of her slaves at Rome moved Gregory to send missionaries to the pagan "Angles." It is not for the Anglo-Saxon to boast of blood and race, but to be grateful for the elevating power of a pure and free Christianity.

"It is the misfortune of Africa," says a fine writer, "that only the most degraded portion of its population have been its representatives before the world. The enslaved and thereby imbruted negro is the only specimen from which the civilized world obtains its ideas, and draws its conclusions, as to the dignity and capabilities of the tropical man. What would be thought of a generalization in respect to the native traits and capacities of the whole Celtic stock-of the entire blood of polished France, and eloquent Ireland, and the gallant Scotch Highlands,-that should be deduced from the brutish descendants of those Irish who were driven out of

Ulster and South Down in the time of Cromwell; men now of the most repulsive characteristics, with open, projecting mouths, prominent and exposed gums, advancing cheek bones, depressed noses; hight, five feet two inches, on an average; bow-legged, abortively featured; their clothing, a wisp of rags; spectres of a people that were once well-grown, able-bodied, and comely? But such a judgment would be of equal value with that narrow estimate of the natural traits and characteristics of the inhabitants of one entire quarter of the globe, which rests upon an acquaintance with a small portion of them, a mere infinitesimal of them, carried into a foreign land and reduced to slavery.'

There is then nothing in history, in the characteristics of race, in physical geography, or in climate, to forbid the development in Africa of a civilization, which, though having a continental type, will be second to none upon the face of the glode. The providence of God most clearly indicates that the time has come for enlightened, liberal, systematic, earnest measures for civilizing Africa. During the past ten years, geographical research, the instinct of curiosity, the love of adventure, the enterprise of commerce, political ambition, and missionary zeal,-all these various and powerful motives have prompted the exploration of the African continent; and as a result of this, we have an amount of knowledge touching Africa, its physical geography, its natural resources, its population, its commercial advantages, which enables us to map out that continent with a proximate accuracy, and to form definite plans for its development. Confining our view to that section of the continent which lies within the tropics,-the line of Cancer running just south of Egypt and Fezzan and across the great Sahara, the line of Capricorn running north of the Cape-colonies and their dependencies-we may divide this great intertropical region into four general sections as explored by recent travelers.† 1. The region of Central Africa toward the west-as ex

* Prof. Shedd, in the Bib. Sac., July, 1857.

For a clear understanding of the physical geography of Africa, the reader is advised to have before him Sydow's excellent wall-map, published by Perthes.

plored by Dr. Barth and his companions from the north, and by May, Bakie and others, by way of the Niger. Starting from Tripoli, Dr. Barth's personal explorations extended nearly due south to Yola, on the Bénuwé, in 9° north latitude, and westward to Timbuktu, in latitude 18° north, longitude 5° west, i. e. 24 degrees from north to south, and 20 degrees from east to west; but his researches and inquiries, chiefly through native sources, cover the region westward to the coast from Senegal to Morocco, southward to the mouths of the Niger, and eastward nearly to the Nile. This tract of country exhibits the most marked physical contrasts. Along the north are vast deserts of frightful desolation; but beyond these, "fertile lands irrigated by large navigable rivers and extensive central lakes, ornamented with the finest timber, and producing various species of grain, rice, sesamum, ground nuts, in unlimited abundance, the sugar cane, &c., together with cotton and indigo, the most valuable commodities of trade. The whole of Central Africa from Baginui to Timbuctu, abounds in these products. The natives of these regions not only weave their own cotton, but dye their homemade shirts with their own indigo." Here are found well-organized communities, giving promise of an advancing civilization, as commerce shall be regulated and protected; and great commercial centers, such as Timbuctu and Kano, whose trade spreads over the whole of western Africa. Here the products of the earth are cared for and husbanded, and the natives understand the resources of their country, and show an aptitude to develop them. One traveler describes the region drained by the Niger as "a country fresh from the hand of God." Into this inviting region, the Bénuwé, the eastern branch of the Niger, is navigable without interruption for more than six hundred miles; while, by arrangements for passing the rapids, the western branch may be ascended for more than a thousand miles. In the Yoruba country, which commands the mouths of the Niger, the natives are generally quiet, orderly, industrious, thrifty. Already under the stimulus of a regulated commerce with Britain, from the port of Lagos, the native city and district of Abeokorota, in the interior, is growing

rapidly in population and in productive labor. This semicivilized community upon the very borders of Dahomey, must at length suppress the slave-trade even in that seat of its abominations.

2. Equatorial Africa upon the West. Our knowledge of this region is yet very imperfect, being derived mainly from Du Chaillu, who claims to have explored a region extending fifteen degrees upon each side of the line. Du Chaillu appears, however, more in the character of a romantic adventurer than of a scientific explorer, and his statements may be too highly colored for geographical sobriety. He affirms that "there is good reason to believe that an important mountain range divides the continent of Africa nearly along the line of the equator, starting on the West from the range which runs along the coast north and south, and ending in the east, probably in the southern mountains of Abysinnia, or, perhaps, terminating abruptly to the north of the great lake (Tanjanyika) discovered by Capt. Burton." He regards this chain as the feeder in part of the Nile, the Niger, and Lake Tchad upon the north, and of the Ngowyai, the Congo, the Zambesi, and the great lakes upon the south. The inhabitants of the western equatorial region are generally low in the scale of humanity, fierce in war, addicted to the slave-trade, and some of them to cannibalism. Yet they are not without skill in manufactures, especially of iron, which here abounds. The iron and steel manufactured by the Fan tribes is said to be superior to any known in Europe or America. Ebony, barwood, india-rubber, palm-oil, bees-wax, and ivory abound; and the soil is capable of high cultivation. The missionaries at the Gaboon have never penetrated far into the interior, and therefore have but little personal knowledge of the mountain country or its tribes. This whole region has been sorely cursed by the slave-trade; but the opening of a lawful and remunerative commerce, to which its products invite the civilized nations, would speedily check this iniquitous traffic. The quasi slave-trade, conducted by the French government, under the fiction of emigration, drew its chief supplies from the Fans, but by a recent treaty with the British government, this

is now to be exchanged for the Coolie trade. A principal river of this region is the Agobay, which Du Chaillu found to be navigable for a distance of three hundred and fifty miles. A few degrees south of the equator we reach the Portuguese settlements on the western coast.

3. Eastern Africa from Nubia to Zanzibar, covering the explorations of Beke, Rebmann, Krapf, Burton, Speke, and others, a region of highlands and mountains running coastwise,-Ghauts, about six thousand feet high,-with vast interior plains or elevated plateaus, watered and verdant, and with a great system of lakes and tributary streams. It is inhabited for the most part by tribes of comparative intelligence and morality. Captains Burton and Speke describe the negroes of the interior as on the whole peaceable; "they manufacture iron, cotton fabrics, have abundance of cows and goats, and live in comparative comfort." The trade of this region lies mainly in imported domestics, plain cotton cloths, beads, brass-wire, hardware; and the export of copal, ivory, skins, cereals, timber. Burton reports that "Cotton is indigenous to the more fertile regions of Eastern as well as of Western Africa. At Port Natal and Angola, it promises, with careful cultivation, to rival in fineness, firmness, and weight, the medium staple culture of the New World. On the line between Zanzibar and the Tanganyika lake, the shrub grows almost wild. Cotton flourishes luxuriantly in the black earths fat with decayed vegetation, and on the rich red clays of the coast regions of Usumbaru, Usajaru, and Ujiji, where water underlies the surface. These almost virgin soils are peculiarly fitted by atmospheric and geologic conditions for the development of the shrub. At present the cultivation is nowhere encouraged, and it is limited by the impossibility of exportation to the scanty domestic requirements of the people." Steam navigation on the rivers, tramroads, and the protecting presence of a civilized power, overawing the jealousies of native tribes, would soon develop a large cotton trade. This section of Africa is attracting much attention from European explorers, upon both commercial and geographical grounds. The problem of the source of the Nile is well nigh solved;