The New York herald., 1875-10-25
The Commercial Value or Equatorial
Africa.

America was at one time wholly unknown
to Europe; the vast plains and rich valleys
that are now occupied by the white race and
yield of their abundance toward the worlds
support were, before the arrival of Columbus,
occupied by but very small portion of the
human family and contributed only to the
wants of the immediate occupants. Hun
dreds of years elapsed before the discovery
Of gold silver coal and iron on this Conti-
nent, and yet these precious minerals lay
there from the beginning of time. The giant
growths of timber that are now entering into
the manufactures and structures Of civiliza-
ton fourished unobserved and unvalued
before the white man came. So with many
other important productions, such as cotton,
rice, sugar and that popular root, the potato,
which is recognized in almost every country
as a staple article of food. Compared with
the productions of America may not those Of
Africa prove infinitely superior? 1t is GER
tain that the interior of the Continent is
thicbly populated, and that alone in
dicates its capacity to support life.
The discovery of the great lake sys-
tenn of Central Africa and its connec-
ton with navigable rivers is Of the highest
importance. They will bear the same rela-
ton in the future to the commercial prosper
ity Of the community that occupies the coun-
try as our own great lakes and rivers do to
that Of the United States, and there is no
reason to doubt that the African of the future
will visit his cities by these inland seas as
the American of to-day travels to Buffalo or
Chicago. The vast plains will reproduce the
wheat for which Egypt was 50 famous in
ancient times and the river bottoms and low
lands will give forth crops that will rival the
best in the Mississippi Valley. The desert
lands Of the Upper Nile in Egypt are barren
because the soil never receives the vitalizing
and fructifying supplies of water that fertil-
ize other lands.
1t has long been n mystery where and in
what manner the Nile was supplied with its
waters; if the source of that river was as
barren as the last fifteen hundred miles Of
its course and if fertile, to what extent2
Spoke, Grant, Livingstone and Stanley have
been successfully and successfully unveiling
this mystery and opening up, as it were,
new ucpaTllnenb Vi udLuIG JTebSuTy inc
benefit Of all mankind. Our ears are as yet
unaccustomed to the uncouth names Of the
African districts, but we think they can be
surpassed for harshness and difficulty of
pronunciation by many names quite familiar
to US. Apart from all other considerations
science demands the solution Of numerous
problems in geology, botany and meteor
ology, which can only be investigated by an
extension Of our geographical knowledge
We have seen the face Of continent changed
by the discovery of useful minerals COM
merce and manufactures grow with tho corn
stalk and the cotton plant. We are now
posting sentinels along our coasts to warn Us
Of approaching storms, and we need the
fullest information on all the phenomena az
sociated with their generation and move
ment. What wealth Of such knowledge
may not Henry NJ. Stanley bring back to us
from Equatorial Africa-the mysterious land
Of gold and ivory, the home Of the elephant
the rhinoceros and the fifteenth amend
ment