The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-03-04

butter. hides camwood, and indigo of
uurivaled quality. Some Of the imports
would. be various kinds Of cloth blank.
cts. felt hats. coral beads. and other or
nsmeDts, tobacco-which is used by ev-
erybodv. male and fema!c-gnus aud
gunpowder. All the millions Of Central
Africa desire to buy something, and all,
by one means or another, could pay
for it. ..-.....-.-...
At prescn. the principal foreign trade
Of the countries beyond the Niger is car
ried on across the great desert by means
Of camcls. (See McCullohs CONNER.
cial Dictionary. and other similar author.
tiles Moorish and Arabian merchants
penetrate to every part of the country.
and sometimes remain for years until
they have grown wealthy. saw per.
sons of this class at 1orrn, who profess.
ed to have been at Constantinople and
Alexandra. One Of them told me be
had seen the flag Of my country in the
Mediterranean.
The people of western Sudan trade
principally to the coast of Guinea. Be.
ing afraid to risk themselves among the
sayages along the coast, they meet them
at such intermediate points as Kumas
and COMA. and exchange the produc-
tions of Sudan for the manufactures Of
the civilized nations As the barbarians
OF Guinea derive great profit from this
trade, they are anxious to preserve it,
not ouly by keeping the Sudauose away
from the coast, but by preventing white
men from entering Sudan. When | at
tempted to reach The interior from Ii.
IBERIA, in 1850 | met with much trouble
from this jealousy, and was finally CON-
PEELED to return, after penetrating the
country to distance of ninety miles
This double fraud upon commerce in
jures both the Central African and the
white man, while it is really no advan-
tage to the Guinea man, whose debauch-
cries and barbarism increase with the
increase Of his wealth. i.
We may hope that before many years
the commerce of Central Africa will be
diverted from the paths Of the coast and
the forests Of Guinea 10 its apparently
natural outlet, the Niger. If this, or
something analogous, cannot be done,
one Of the finest countries within the
tropics must still remain cut off from
the civilized world without development
of its great natural resources.
1t is still problem, however, whether
the Niger can be made available for this
purpose. Perhaps its navigation may
be rendered impossible by rapids or the
In ha f,f al
the people might rob and murder our
traders; or the productions Of the conn
try may not be worth the cost of getting
at them All these are questions which
nothing but facts eau decide Seven
wears ago the project of establishing
Christian missions in Central Africa was
pronounced chimericll. Nearly four
years were consumed 10 esrleration.-
Our line Of ststious. commenced three
years ago now extends tn the flr'be
borders Of Yomh, the f 81 division If
Sudan TIE problem has bean solved.
and our hopes NOR than rcalized
Ooo Of the steamers in laird and Oh
fields eXpeltion, a>cendaJ the y ter 90
Raha IL N1ie With them sxulsratioo
WAS secondary object. aud thei made
10 attempt To proceed further If their
design had been To explore the river t.
the head Of navlgntion they might per
haps have muored their boat a, Seeo or
X ba. two thousand miles from the sea-
aud have returned in triumph But
now their EXPEDITION stands recorded rs
paralyziDg failure.
The only place at which we have rea
son TO fear obstruction is near Busa-
Unfortunately, she Landers made but
few useful observations but we learn
from them that the river here is not so
rapid but that the natives are IN the con.
slant habit of padding up it in their ca.
noes. Lander himself went in a canoe
from Busa to Yami, and descended thence
20 the sea According TO Caille. the
Niger above Timbuctoo is still several
hundred yards in width, and affords good
navigation Park descended from above
Timbuctoo in a vessel which he calls a
schooner, aud lost bis life at Busa.
through the mistake of firing on the in.
habitaDts, who are known to be harm
less, we'll disposed race It very prob.
able that little draught steamer could
ascend the Niger to Sego, more than ff.
teen hundred miles from the sea, at al.
most any season.
The Delta Of the Niger is very sick.
ly, but a steamer can soon pass through
the swamps to an open or rocky country
similar TO that which we now occupy in
Yomba. Laird and Old6eld, intent ON
buying ivory, remained far too long in
the low country, and tho mortality Of
these men is plainly attributable to other
causes besides malaria. The Cbadda
expedition, 10 1854, returned to the
coast without the loss of single man by
disease or accident.
There might be some danger Of an at.
tack from the Moors at Timbaotoo, but
very little powder and ball would prob.
ably bring them to terms At the worst
there can be no real danger to the stea-
mer and judging from tho spirit of the
Noors whom have seen in Africa those
of Timbuctoo would hail the arrival Of
the steamer with joy There is nothing
to fear from the blacks 4 live omon.