408
The Berlin rightly guided it, and whose moral courage bravely
Conference. . . .
sustained it amid varying vicissitudes to a happy and
a successful issue, will long live to behold his Free
State expand and flourish to be a fruitful blessing to
a region that was until lately as dark as its own deep
sunless forest shades.
FINIS CORONAT OPUS.
A P P E N D IX .
T he Commercial B asin of th e Congo,"as described by the A uthor
BEFORE THE BERLIN CONFERENCE.
To define the geographical basin of the Congo, whether explored The Berlin
or unexplored, is a very easy matter, since every schoolboy knows Conference,
that a river basin—geographically speaking—-includes all th a t
territory drained by the river and its affluents, large and small.
The Congo, unlike many other large rivers, has no fluvial delta ; it
issues into the Atlantic Ocean in one united stream between
Shark’s Point on the south and Banana Point on the north, with a
breadth of seven miles and an unknown d e p th ; soundings having
been obtained over 1300 feet deep. The Niger has a fluvial
delta extending over 180 miles of coast-line; the Nile and the
Mississippi have deltas extending over a considerable breadth of
coast-line. But when you ask me as to what I should consider as
the commercial basin of the Congo, I am bound to answer you
th a t the main river and its most important affluents running into
it from the north and south and from the north-east and northwest,
east and west, south-east and south-west, constitute means
by which trade ascending the river and its affluents can influence
a much larger amount of territory than is comprised within the
geographical basin.
Por all practical purposes the geographical basin of the Congo
might be permitted to stand for the commercial basin of the
Congo as well. When, however, we begin to consider the commercial
outlets from this basin of the Congo, we must bear in
mind th a t they extend, as a commercial delta to a commercial
basin, from St. Paul de Loanda to the south of the mouth of the
Congo, as far north and including the Ogowai River. Whereas