The St. Johns herald., 1891-12-24
UNEMPLOYED AFRICA.
A Portion Of tho Dark Continent
 Yet Unknown.
Inappropriate Parts or the Country the Objective Point Of Exploring Par tics from Various
 Nations.

Nations.
 Therc is yet an unexplorcd and rn- appropriated Scction of AfrIca cXtcnG- inr from the scene CT Stanlev'a cxplCra- tions on tho Congo nortllward to Lake rcbad. says the Springfield Glass; Republican. It lies cast of the cqra- torial province and south of the new line of the French sphere from the Niger to Lake Tchad; 1t is a rich and fertile country. and said to be one of the most desirable possessions in the dark continent. The London Times gives an interesting survey of the man covering oD the part of Francas Ger many and England for possession oE this. territory. which touches the spheres of ail these 1ations.
 The French scheme is tho most ann nitious. aEsf it includes a'railroad from Rrazzavillc on tue Congo-in that part nfIowcr 8uinca given ta the French by flsd conference th3tF fixed the boun- 6aries of the Free State of the Congo -uorsbward through twenty-five de- grces of latitude to Algiers For five hsndrcd or six hundred miles north ward the road would pass through this unappropriatcd strip. then would come disputed ground, not intended to be in- cluded in the French sphere, and which can ouly be annexed after prolonged controversy with Germany and Eng land. Tue valley of the Shari. includ- ing the province of Bagirmi and parts
 1.o h Nf Lake Tchad. and are in the territory under the eye of the Royal British Niger Company. which would formally resist their annexation to France. Nor would Germany consent to this addl- tion to the French sphere If she had no other reason for opposing this railroad. The doctrine of hinterland, however, comes in play here.
 Germany's sphere in the Cameroons extends eastward to the fifteenth degree of east longitude. and behind this sphere lies territory appropriated by France reaching to the Mobangi. which is the property of the Congo Free State. This French appropriation is contrary fo the German English agreement and cuts Germany off from port ion of her hntcrland. as the appropriation of ter ritory along the line of this proposed railroad would form the remainder. German parties are now pressing east ward from the Camcroons to take pos session of this hintcrland-a strong one under the governor working steadily toward the northeast; another under Lieut.. Morgen making its way to the sources of the Rinuc, while third is on its way to establish a base of opera tinns in the Bali country, on the bor- Gcrs of Adamawa.
 French exploring parties are pene- traiing this region from the north as well as the south. From the sou tn they have followed the Mobangi river and its branches --one party following the Sanga to about four degrees north lati- tmdc; another the Mobangi to the Bon e,ra rapids. whence it Is proposed to push across country tn the Shari and through to Lake Tchad. From Algeria md from Scuegambia expeditions are trying to reach the upper Niger and thence along to Lake Tchad.
 In the meantime the Royal Niger Company arc looking after their con- ncctions with the central Soudan and trying to keep hold of the countries not granted to France to the sonth and east of Lake Tchad. The Shari valley, Ba- girrni and Wadai they will keep in their sphere if they can: the British East Af- rican Company will hold on to Darfur, and will work its way as far to the south and west of that country as it is ahlc. Whatever France and Germany may claim when the time comes for the new partition of this unappropriated part of Central Africa by international agreement, as it must before long, Eng land will probably manage to secure the larger part if not the whole of the Central Soudan for herself.