The Berlin
Conference.
mucli of the littoral through which the commercial delta de-
bouches is already occupied, we find th a t the hreadth of what may
be considered as the free commercial delta of the commercial basin
of the Congo extends along the coast-line from 1° 25' S. lat. to
near 7° 50' S. lat., 385 geographical miles. For the following
reason : a t Stanley Pool, 325 miles up the Congo from the sea, we
encounter fleets of trading canoes which have descended the main
river from as far up as the Equator from the affluents Mohindu or
Black Eiver, and the Kwango or Kwa, who wait patiently months
a t a time for the caravans from Loango, the Kwilu, Landana,
Kabinda, Zombo, Eunta, Kinzao, Kinsembo, Ambrizette, and other
places on the coast, which b rin g European goods from the coast to
Stanley Pool to exchange for the produce of the Upper Congo,
notably ivory, rubber, and camwood powder; and after a time,
having exchanged their goods, march back with such produce
of- the Upper Congo as will repay transport, to the European
traders settled along the free coast-line of 385 geographical miles
ju st mentioned. These various channels of trade, formed by uninstructed
barbarism, may then well be compared to a commercial
delta. To define the commercial basin of the Congo by boundaries
is very simple after the above remarks, and I will describe them
as follows: Commencing from the Atlantic Ocean, I should follow
the line of 1° 25' S. lat. east as far as 13° 13' Ion. east of Greenwich,
and along th a t meridian north until the watershed of the
Niger-Binue is reached, thence easterly along the watershed
separating th e waters flowing into the Congo from those flowing
into the Shari, and continuing east along the water-parting
between the waters of th e Congo and those of the Nile, and
southerly and easterly along the watershed between the waters
flowing into the Tanganika and those flowing into the affluents of
Lake Yictoria, and still clinging to the watershed to the east of
the Tanganika southerly until the water-parting between the
waters flowing into the Zambesi and those flowing into the Congo
is reached ; thence along th a t watershed westerly until the head
waters of the main trib u ta ry of the Kwango, or Kwa, is reached,
whence the line shown runs along the left bank of the river
Kwango, or Kwa, to 7° 50' S. l a t .; thence straight to the Loge
Biver, and thence along the left bank of tha t river westerly to the
Atlantic Ocean. By this delimitation you will have comprised the
geographical or commercial basin and its present commercial
delta.
Baron, de Courcel asked what might the value of the trade in
the Congo basin be estimated at, to which Mr. Stanley replied :
“ The Lower Congo and the immediate free littoral make a shoreline
388 English miles in length. This mileage produces a
present trade of £2,800,000 annually. The Upper Congo is much
more fertile, and, as i t has a river shore of 10,000 miles, it
ought to produce, if equally developed, a trade worth £70,000,000
annually. Or, if we reckon it in this manner, from the river
Gambia to Loanda, along a coast-line of 2,900 miles in length,
there are employed forty-five steamers and eighty sailing vessels
every year. The Congo basin, with river banks over three times
longer, ought to employ, if equally developed and equally exploited,
three times th a t number, or say 135 steamers, and 240
sailing vessels.”
The Hon. Mr. Kasson, Minister for the United States, asked
Mr. Stanley if he would be good enough to explain to their
Excellencies if a further extension of the free commercial territory
to the eastward would not be advantageous to commerce, to which
Mr. Stanley replied: I journeyed in the years 1874, 1875, 1876,
and 1877, across Africa from east to west—th a t is to say from
Bagamoyo, opposite Zanzibar, to Lake Yictoria. I circumnavigated
th a t lake, and thence proceeded west and discovered Muta-
Nzige. Betracing my steps to Lake Yictoria, I journeyed to Lake
Tanganika, which lake I also circumnavigated, and then proceeded
to Nyangwe and down the Congo Biver to the Atlantic
Ocean. This journey was made across 25° of longitude and up
and down 11° of latitude ; and I declare solemnly to you that, from
a distance of ten miles from Bagamoyo, my starting-place on the
east coast of Africa, until I sighted an English flag a t the masthead
of a merchant river-steamer on the Congo, along a journey of
7600 miles, I never saw a flag, or an emblem, or symbol, flagstaff,
erection of wood, stone, or iron, to indicate th a t I had
come across civilised, or semi-civilised, power or au th o rity ; the
authority I encountered everywhere being the authority of independent
native chiefs, exacting tribute on the eastern half, and
opposing violence on the western half. At Ujiji and Nyangwe I
did meet a trading community of Arabs settled a t each place. But
they were isolated and cut off by want of connection from their
parent state a t Zanzibar, and all coiners hither had been compelled
to submit to pay tribute to the Wagogo, the Wahha, the Wavinza,
and the Wakaranga, independent native tribes who demanded the
tribute in recognition of their rights to the soil over which the
caravans passed.. Therefore, this being the case, I would propose
The Berlin.
Conference*