The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-05-21

that the conquest will ultimately be eff
fected. no one can doubt who looks over
the map of Africa and sees the spheres OF
influence exercised by the great Euro
pean nations on that continent.
Immediately south OF the vast Saharar
desert, with its shifting sands and sparse
population lies Soudan, Land of the
Blacks" a region that stretches clear
across the continent. 1t has never been
fully explored. but the accounts brought
back by travellers who have penetrated il
here and there show it to be country OF
marvellous possibilities. So far as climate
is concerned, it is one Of the hottest re-
giOns on the globe, there being many
places where the mean annual tempera
lure exceeds So degrees, but it differs from
the Sahara in an abundance of rainfall
and consequently in fertility also. The
entire region comprises an area of 1,5OO,-
600 square miles, or about half that OF
the United States, and of this great do
main from a fourth to third is forest
No one yet knows how great are the re-
sources of this country, nor how vast the
value of the exports that will flow from it
when once it has been opened to COM
merce but as it's population is estimated
at from 100000 to 100000, it will,
no doubt, prove a valuable acquisition to
the civilized States that in future will
control it.
At present it is divided among over a
hundred native African or Arab rulers,
often at war with each other-sOme semi
civilized, some decidedly barbarous, others
entirely savage, but most of the States
having a population of sufficient intelli-
gence to appreciate the benefits that
would arise to them from closer assOcia-
ton with the whites. The expedition
that has just now started from Cairo is
one move in game for supremacy be-
tween the French and English. The for
mer have long been aspiring to large pos
sessions in Africa, and when the Dark
Continent was divided among the great
powers of Europe, France managed to
add to Algeria the Western Sahara, ex-
Guiding Morocco and the land of the
Moors, so as to unite the Senegambian
coast with Algeria. In addition to this,
the French secured large section Of
country north of the Congo, and immedi-
ately began the task of extending the
French influence into the interior. 1t is
said that this work has been attended
with such success that the sphere Of
French influence now extends far to the
west of Lake Tchad, even into Darfoor,
and therefore comprises two-thirds of the
whole Soudan. The object of the French
Government is to acquire belt Of coun-
try stretching entirely across the CONT
nent. but in the Nile Valley the opposition
of the English is instantly encountered.
Forced out of the Upper Nile Valley and
the Egyptian Soudan by the growth of
the Mahdi's power, the English have new
er relinquished their nominal claim to the
country, and the British East African
Company actually occupies an enormous
area Of land on the east coast, extending
inward to Lake Victoria Nyanza and
northward to the boundaries Of the Nah
dis domain. The reconquest of the Egyp-
tan Soudan would unite Egypt with the
possessions of the British East African
Company and give England control of the
entire Nile Valley. with access to the
ocean on the east. A most effectual bar
would thus be placed to the growth of
French influence toward the east. and
England would become the dominant
power, not only in Egypt and Egyptian
N"ou"Ais Jul eiSo III the Whole lake region
Of Central Africa 1t is not. therefore. To
be wondered at that not only the French.
but other powers interested in Africa.
should look with impotence on this fresh
aggression on the part of Great Britain.
for If this plan be carried out there will
be little to prevent that power from es-
tablishing a solid line of colonies from
north to south through the heart of the
continent, uniting Cape Colony with
Egypt, and thus enabling a traveller to
pass from Cape Coast Castle to Alexan-
dria without ever stepping off British
soil 1t is a great plan, but then the Eng
fish are people who make great plans, and
carry them out with as much audacity as
they make them. 1t is quite evident that
the British Government is not going into
this Soudan enterprise merely for the fun
Of the thing. and it is quite possible that
In the considerations which have i'm
PEELED it to undertake the reconquest, the
extension Of French influence as far as
Darfoor, which is next door to the Egyp-
tian Soudan, has had prominent part.
For if the French should gain control of
the Upper Nile. it is not impossible that
they might be able to destroy the value Of