Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-22

ern boundary would roughly correspond | with the Mexican border. and tho south | eastern corner would fall at the south | ern point of Texas. Forming a very rough square, it's northeastern corner l would lie at Des Moines and its north | western corner in Yellowstone Park. But though this comparison gives good idea of Congo's great size, its lati- | tude and climate are far different from 1 those of the states covered If it were shifted to the Western Hemisphere in | it's true latitude it would lie astride the
 Amazon and would cover most of the
 Guianas and large slice of northern and central Brazil.
 trwhat is now the Belgian Congo has
 had an unusual history. Livingstone and
 Stanley put the country on the map
 Soon afterward, in 1882, an information al committee organized a government, called it Congo Free State, and selected :! King Leopold Of Belgium to be its ruler Many Irregularities in the adninistra- tion of the region were alleged to have
 resulted from this personal rule, and in 1908 Leopold ceded the territory to Bel
 gium. year later King Albert came
 to the Belgian throne,, reforms were pushed in the Congo and a new con-
 structive era began.
 II Measured in dollars and effort ex- pended, much has been done to open up . the Belgian Congo. Fleets of govern ment as well as private steamers ply
 the several navigable stretches of the Congo and the lakes. Railroads have been built around the various regions of 7 rapids and falls, and are being push . ed into the interior, and laid to connect ) with British and Portuguese lines at the borders. Scores of radio stations , have been set up and now fling their messages where in the past savage drum , signals alone were heard. The Belgians i even have a trans-Coneo aeroplane mail
 across the country twice month on the T arrival of steamers at the Atlantic port
 of Donna, Ut the mouth of the Congo.
 But with all this activity, the sur face of the Belgian Congos possibilities I has barely been scratched. Enormous | tropical jungles like those of the Amaz-
 on valley await proper forestry. In the
 southeast are extensive rolling prairie1
 teeming with game, that. with the so- f Hutton of the tsetse-fy problem, would make excellent cattle ranges. And chance discoveries have shown that the min : eral stores of the country care seeming l ly unlimited. Copper, tin. gold, and dia. s rnonds to the value of many millions oi 6 dollars have 5zsa extrzcGed. Some coal , and iron is mined and 1t is believed that t much more exists. Now, when science g i is finding epoch-naaking uses for radio : active substances, the opening up Of r what is believed to be the worlds rich. n est radium ores caps Congo's mineral f climax.
 a Congo is not entirely a torrid land In the extreme east around Lake Xxi. r vu-itse1f 5000 feet above the sea-rist . mountains as high as Pike's Peak IT :. this upland region the weather Is delight S. ful and the slopes and valleys are de . scribed by travellers as among thu world beauty spots. Nearby the nigh
 sky is lighted by the boiling cauldron o
 Africa's Kilauea.
 This Eden is the home of large mum II bers of mans closest non-human rela
 tives, gorfllas. The Belgian sovernmen
 is considering the setting aside of Iarg
 area in this region as a gorilla refug
 where the creatures can be preserve,