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Show LICIITOX HIE IlAKK tO.NTIXEST 1 Liitli: is known to the general public concerning tlie interior of "lhe dark continent.' Livingstone Living-stone and Baker and Stanley have done much to enlighten the world In regard to the geography, resources re-sources aud people of Africa, and British and German traders have done their part in furnishing iufor-! iufor-! mutiou about portions of the un-' un-' known land. But it will be a sur-' sur-' prise to most Jieople to learn that i the country has so large a popula-I popula-I tion. Becenttravelers report tow ns j witdi from tsfa) to fr,iX inhablt-j inhablt-j atiU, their liuts extending ovcrlarge ' nieas, aud tlie increasing trade with I central Africa is verifying whit j were thought once to be highly col-! col-! omi statements as to the largu num-1 num-1 btr of people in that mysterious 1 country. ! It is now estimated that the rupu-I rupu-I latiou of Africa to the square mile 1 is nearly as great us that of North j America, nhile the equatorial re-I re-I giuii of the former lias n better cli-! cli-! mate, and one more adapted to a I large pojRilation, than Central : America aud other countries In the torrid zone. The reason for this lira in the altitude of tquatorial I Africa, which is chittly an elevated ! plateau and contains many millions ' cf eop;e. 1 Uaveustcin, Levasseur and other ; statisticiauSjWbo are carelul ill their estimates and do not endorse what tliey consider the exaggerations of I many travelers, place the imputation of Africa at from 1 27,00 J,OJJ to 150,-lOMjOOJ. 150,-lOMjOOJ. Nearly all of the dark ' coutiucct is habitable, even the Sahara desert canUiiulug many thousands ot )eople. I The ivory trade has been revived I of late. It wasalmost sus'-euded by I the German war with the Arabs. I But late advices speak of thousands 1 of camera Leuriug large quantities i of ivory from the Interior to tlie I coast, one disiutch statiug that Tipjioo Tib was on his way to Zanzibar Zan-zibar with TOO 1 porters carrying the precous article of commerce, the largest caravan evir known to the trade. It will not be lout; before civilization civili-zation will J net rate to the innermost inner-most recesses of the land, ilallroads uud telegraphs and modern electric appliances wiil be ued to convert tho wealth of the country to the uses of the world. Savagery will be suodutd. Tho customs religious and iwlltlcal systems of tlie Caucasian Cau-casian tace will lie introduced, western intluences will lc brought to bear upon tli'j vast hordes of turbulent tur-bulent aud untutoicd African, the dark continent will be conquered by Christendom and the way will be prepared to illuminate the land with the jiure light of gr.pe truth. |
