Sharp County record., 1891-01-08
AFRICA'S POPULATION.
Estimated Number of Inhabitants in the
Dark Continent.

Estimated Number OF Inhabitants 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 Tanganyika, after
boing closed for two years by the war
between the Germans and the Arabs,
was open again. He was meeting thou
sands Of carriers collected in large car
avans, who were bearing great guam
tity of ivory to the coast The other
day dispatch announced that Tippoo
Tib had started for Zanzibar with 1000
porters loaded with ivory. This is un-
doubtedly the largest caravan that has
ever travelled to the sea in the equator
ial regions. For years Tippoo Tbs
caravans have been the largest on the
road between Central Africa and the
coast, but his present expedition is at
least twice as large as any he has
hitherto dispatched from his ivory col
lecting grounds. The British trader,
Mr.. Stokes, awhile ago piloted a cara
van of over 900 carriers to the coast.
The increasing trade between Central
Africa and Zanzibar is clearly shown
by the fact that such caravans as these
were unknown until within the last few
years.
Now and then we are surprised by
new testimony regarding the density OF
population in some parts OF Africa.
Captain King, who has been exploring
the country behind the German pro1
tectorate of Togo on the coast OF the
Gulf of Guinea, has just reported his
visit to Jerrapa, hitherto unknown
town. Suddenly coming within sight
of it as he ascended hill he says he
was astonlshed to see the huts stretch,
ing away in straight lines as far as the
oye 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
5000 huts, scattered thickly over the
hilsides and along the banks Of the
river. On the Mobangl 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 res
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 con-
servative writer's as Mr. Ravenstein,
who does not accept the figures given
by some travellers, the continent must
contain at least 127 OOO 900 inhabitants
Strange as it seems, the population Of
Africa to the square mile is nearly as
greatuas that of North America, and
Levasseur, the French statisticYan,
makes it even greater Nearly half Of
our continent is practically uninhab,t-
able, while almost the whole Of Africa,
which is much larger than North Amer
ica, isinhabited, even the Sahara desert
having many thousands of residents
Owing to intertribal wars and the slave
chase, it is believed the population Of
Africa is increasing worry slowly, If at
nll
The fact that Equatorial Africa is,
for torrId country quite thickly peo-
pied, seems to bear out the statements
of many travellers that its climate is
moro endurable than that of most
equator al regions The millions who
live there are in striking contrast with
tho exceedingly sparse population of
the great Amazon valley The reason
of this larger population is undoubted-
ly the fact that Equatorial Africa is for
the most part an elevated plateau,
while tho Amazon valley lies only a
few hundred feet above tho level OF the
sea, until the foothills Of the Cordil'
leras are reached. N Y. Sun,