Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-12-21
THE C.AMEROONS
Il Country That Is Giving Ger
many Much Trouble.
An African Territory About Which the
English Government I. vitality Com
ceSned Dispute About
lite lBoundarica.


Battle in thu Eamernou~." says re-
cent cable. VIA. a;i where are thu
'amrr"rI~' 1A.~ from the New York
herald y III r,ur.da;r a little:
Tie tam"ra";i> = 4 territory on the
Eich, Il Eiatra. West Africa. one
lu;Dir,-. and tt'y th"u~and SQUARE
In..r> IN extent. ami with an estimated
r"rulAt!"u "f two millions. II has y
coast line II one hundred and twenty
mics between the campo river and the
H., del Ecy. j. t,"undrd on the north.
east ty Il treaty line running north.
east To thu east If lula. on the upper
Brnuc. and on the south 10y 4 line run
ming inland, due east from the mouth
of the Campo river, Ia about the me-
ridian of lonCitud" fifteen degrees east,
which may he regarded as the eastern
or inland limit of the so-called pro
tectorate."
In 1892 there we're one hundred and
SiXty-SiX whites. OF whom me hundred
and nine were German an thirty -onc
English. 1t became German pro-
tect"rate in 1851, and is .accd under
an imperial governor, assisted by a
chancellor, two secretaries and a local
council of three representative mer-
chants. The country is fertile. and
numerous valuable African vegetable
productions grow in profusion. Plan
tations Of cacao and tobacco have been
farmed by company, and numerous
factories carry on an active trade in
ivory and palm oil. On January l.,
ises, an import duty was imposed on
European goods, and from this the
revenue is mainly derived. The chief
town is Cameroons, and in the South
BAHAMA, Bimbia and Bakundu Town
are other important trading stations.
and Aqua Town and Bell Town are the
principal native settlements. The i'm
ports and exports are quite large.
In April last. Mr. Henry NJ. Stanley
wrote to the peace association a letter
in which he attributed the increase Of
trade in 1892 at African ports under
German administration to the growing
practice among German merchants of
ammunition. These materials of war,
he said, were sold to the slave traders
and do inestimablc damage. Mr.. Stan
ley inculpatcd also the Portuguese in
his charges. He appealed to the Euro
pean nations to suppress the traffic in
arms carried on by the Germans and
Portuguese. Unless this step be taken,
he added, all efforts to stop the slave
trade would be useless.
In February a German expedition.
which was under the command of
Freiherr Won Stetten, proceeded from
the CanierOons coast up the river San
maya to Balinga, whence it travelled to
the thickly populated district Of Tikar
and reached Ngaudere and Yola.
Treaties were concluded with the ma
tive tribes in the districts passed
through. This temperance on the
coast, the Kreuz Zeitung pointed out.
was peculiar in view of the statement
made by members of the expedition
that Lake Tchad was their goal. 1t is
fact, though at present an inexplica-
Bile one, that German expeditions fail
to reach the more easterly portions Of
the Hinterland of the CamerOons. The
expedition returned in September.
England and Germany had a long
dispute about the boundaries of the
Cameroons, which was settled in Nav
last. The third section of the agree
ment reads: 1.-The German colonial
administration engages not to allow
any trade settlements to exist or be
erected on the right bank of the Rio
del Rey Creek or waterway. In like
manner the administration of the Oil
rivers protectorate engages not to al
low any trade settlements to exist or
to be erected on the western bank of
the Bakassy peninsula from the first
creek below Arsibon's village to the
sea and eastward from this bank to
the Rio del Rey waterway"
According to the German view the
new agreement is purely fiscal one,
intended to enable the British and
German administrations to cope with
the widespread smuggling, which was
especially detrimental to the Gamer
oons. There had been no question of
altering the frontier laid down by the
provisional agreement of 1890, which,
in consequence of disagreement be-
tween the two governments. left the
Rio del Rey out of count and settled
the frontier as a straight line running
from the upper end of the waterway
to the rapids of the Cross river. But
this indefinite upper end" has now
been fixed as above set forth. Much
satisfaction was expressed in Berlin at
the pledge given by the English gov
eminent not to allow trade settlements
on the Bakassy peninsula, which other
wise would have afforded an excellent
base for contraband operations.