Untitled

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 302, 5 December 1884, Page 2

Some idea of the trade of the Congo country, in discussing which a conference of European powers has been sitting for some time, maybe gleaned from the following description by Mr. Stanley, wherein he .says:—For fifty miles on either side of' a length of 235 miles, which may be called the cataract region, you have people who are engaged in local trade, representatives of whom frequently visit the coast and our river stations, and are more or less influenced by us and our movements. They all have something to barter that is needed in Europe, especially rubber and copper, besides nuts, kernels, and oil. It is needless to tell you that, on account of the small value of most of these articles by the pound, they will not pay to-be transported by man-carriage. A fixed and permanent way is needed, which is not liable to be choked by the insufficiency of transport powers. This district embraces an area of 24,000 square miles, and is peopled by tribes who are semicivilised. It is equal in productiveness equal in the readiness, industry, and capacity of the natives for trade to that lower area, which trades to the extent of Z’2,807,000 annually. It is superior in salubrity and population to the maritime districts. Beyond Leopoldville to Stanley Falls we have a clear broad river-stretch 1060 English miles in length; the large affluents flowing into Congo give another navigable length of 2,000 miles, by' which we have 3,000 miles of river-way penetrating in all directions, into an area of 300,000 square miles. Whatever influence exerts itself on this upper river must permeate for good or evil—whether commercial, religious, or political—this area, equal to that of France and Germany combined. The lands traversed by this noble stream and its affluents contain the richest soil in Africa. At -present, however, the produce is limited to a few tons of ivory, rubber, copal, and cam-wood. Transport cannot be obtained. A fixed and permanent way, which would be such a benefit to the cataract region just described, would be of still greater benefit to the Upper Congo and its plainlike lands, and to the keen, enterprising, high spirited peoples who occupy them. Even now many a flotilla descends the great river 500 miles, down to Stanley Pool, to wait patiently for months before their goods can be disposed of to the Lower Congo caravans. About thirty caravans, or say about 1000 men per week, are required even now to convey what is purchasable at Stanley Pool. The position then—■ so far as regards commerce—is this :— | Along 110 miles of the Lower Congo 1

arc settled dozens of sharp, enterprising traders, who possess factories open to all natives who have the courage to visit them. Above the highest spot to which their ships or boats can ascend, there are two lengths of unnavigable water, fifty and seventy-seven miles respectively, separated by a tolerably safe stretch of river eighty-eight miles long. Beyond these is a commercial watercourse 3,000 miles in length, on the banks of which there are one and a half million of dark-skinned traders who are waiting patiently for the good time they hope to -be coming, when their necessities can also be supplied with the same ease and facility as their brothers on the Lower Congo. There 1,500,000 natural born traders are waiting to act as the medium of commerce between their brothers inland and European merchants who may in the future reside on the river banks. The white, traders from the ports of the Atlantic Ocean have ventured eastward and up-river as far as the present means will allow. The dark traders from the Upper Congo have ventured westward and down-river as far as they dare go ; but a distance of 535 miles separates these sympathetic people as effectually as though there were many thousands of miles between them.