St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-15
POPULATION OF AFRICA.

Speculation as to the Number of
People in the Dark Continent.
In letter from Emin Pasha, written
at Mpwapwa while on his way to the
great lakes, he said the trade route
from Zanzibar to Tanganyiks, after be-
ing closed for two years by the war be-
tween the Germans and the Arabs, was
open again. He was meeting thousands
OF carriers collected in large caravans,
who were bearing great quantity of
ivory to the coast. The other day dis
patch announced that TippoO 'riU had
started for Zanzibar with 1000 porters
loaded with ivory. This is undOubt-
edly the largest caravan that has ever
travelled to the sea in the equatorial re-
gions. For years Tippoo Tbs caravans
have been the largest on the road be-
tween Central Africa and the coast, but
his present expedition is at least twice
as large as any he has hitherto ais
patched from his collecting grounds.
The British trader. Mr.. Stokes. a while
ago piloted a caravan of over 1900 car
riers to the coast. The increasing trade
between Central Africa and Zanzibar is
clearly shown by the fact that such ear
ayanS as these were unknown until
within the last few years.
Now and then we are surprised by
new testimony regarding the density of
population III some parts of Africa, says
the New York Sun. Capt. King, who
has been exploring the country behind
the German prOte ctOrate of Togo, on the
coast of the Gulf of Guinea, has Just re-
ported his visit to Jerrapa. hitherto
unknown town. Suddenly coming with
III sight of it as he assembled a hill, he
says he was astGn:Shed to see the hutS
stretching away in straight lines as far
as the eye could reach. During his stay
he aScertained that the town contained
at least 1000 large hutS, representing
probably population of $4,000 people.
In two or three days steaming up the
Tchuapa river Grenfell and Won Fran
co.'s counted in that remarkable region,
which they were the first to visit. about
1900 huts, scattered thickly over the
hillsides and along the banks of the
river. On the MObangi river, north of
the Congo, along the east and west
routes farther south which Wissmann
and Wolf followed, and in not few
other localities, equally remarkable re-
ports of the density of population have
been made.
Very wild estimates have been given
by some explorers of the population of
Africa. In the opinion of such COLI
SefVatlVe writers as Mr.. RavenSteln,
who does not accept the figures given
by some travellers. the continent must
contain at least 127.000, COO inhabitants
Strange as it seems, the population of
Africa to the square mile is nearly as
great as that of North America, and
Levasseur, the French statiStician,
makes it even greater. Nearly the half
of our continent is practically uninhab-
liable, while almost the whole of Africa,
which is much larger than North Amer
lea, is inhabited, even the Sahara desert
having many thousands of residents.
Owing to the intertribal wars and the
slave chase, it is believed the population
of Africa is increasing very slowly, if
at all.
The fact that equatorial Africa is, for
a torrid country, quite thickly peopled,
seems to bear out the statement of many
travelerS-that its climate is more en-
durable than that of most equatorial re-.
giOnS. The millions vino live there are
in striking contrast with the exceeding
ly sparse population of the great ANA
ION valley. The reason of this larger
population is undoubtedly the fact that
equatorial Africa is for the most part
all elevated plateau, while the Amazon
valley lies only few hundred feet
above the level of the sea, until the
foothills of the COrdilleras are reached.