THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the pagans. Kumassi, the former capital of Ashantiland, is now connected with the coast by a railway 16S miles long; and light steamers are used on the Volt a River. An artificial harbor is being constructed at Sekondi, the coast terminal of the railway. The Bible has been translated into Akra (1S44-65) and Otshi (1870). The New Testament has been translated into Fanti (1884) and Ew6 (1872). Progress has been made toward completing the Bible in both of these dialects.
Ivory Coast: A French territory included in the great administrative region known as French West Africa. It has its coast-line between Liberia and the British Gold Coast Colony, and extends inland to the territory of Senegambia and the Niger. The French first obtained possessions on this coast in 1843. Area 200,000 sq. miles; population about 3,000,000, of whom 300 are Europeans. In religion about 200,000 are Mohammedans; about 1,000, Roman Catholics; and the rest, pagans. The capital is Bingerville. A railway is being constructed inland from Bassam, of which 110 miles are nearly finished. The only missions in the country are carried on by the Lyons Seminary for Missions in Africa (Roman Catholic). There are said to be 16 priests, who have 7 schools and some orphanages.
Kamerun: A protectorate and colonial possession of Germany, occupying the west coast of Africa between French Kongo and Nigeria. Inland it extends in a northeasterly direction to Lake Chad. Area about 191,000 sq. miles; population (estimated) 3,500,000, of whom (in 1904) 710 were whites. The native population is largely of the Bantu race, with tribes of Sudan negroes inland. Capital, Buea. The German annexation took place in 1884. Roman Catholic missions have been active in this region since 1889, and are in charge of the Pallotin Missionary Society of Limburg. They report 7 stations, 34 missionaries, 20 nuns, 2,418 pupils in their schools, and 3,780 Roman Catholic Christians. Protestant missions were commenced by Alfred Saker of the Baptist Missionary Society (England) in 1844, he having been expelled from Fernando Po by the Spanish government. With the German colonization of Kamerun (1880-82) difficulties arose, and the Baptist mission was turned over to the Basel Missionary Society, T. J. Comber and G. Grenfell of the Baptist mission going south to found a mission on the Kongo. A considerable body of the native Baptists declined to accept the transfer, and the German Baptists of Berlin sent missionaries to care for them. The German Baptist mission reports 14 missionaries, 1,400 pupils, and 2,170 professed Christians. The Basel Society's mission, established in 1885, has extended inland, and reports (1905) 64 missionaries, 163 native workers, 6,452 pupils, and 6,422 professed Christians. The eagerness of the natives to learn to read is remarkable. The American Presbyterians (North) opened a mission in the southern part of the country in 1885-93, which has 30 missionaries, 27 stations and outstations, 15 schools, a hospital, and about 3,000 professing Christians. The entire Bible was translated into Dualla by the Baptists in 1868, and a version of
the New Testament in the same language, which others than Baptists can use, was issued in 1902. The Benga Bible, used in the Rio Muni colony, is circulated to some extent in the south of Kamerun, and parts of the Bible have been translated into Isuba and Bala.
Kongo Independent State: A region occupying in general the basin of the Kongo River and its tributaries in West Central Africa. It touches the seacoast by a narrow neck that extends along the right bank of the river to its mouth. The left bank is held by Portugal. By international agreement in 1885 the state was placed under the sovereignty of King Leopold II. of Belgium. H. M. Stanley, who first explored the region, was its first administrator. International resolutions declare the navigation of the Kongo and its branches free to all, and proclaim the suppression of the slave-trade and the protection of the native inhabitants. The region has highlands well adapted to the residence of Europeans, and its natural wealth, although but slightly developed, is probably very great. The state appears to be administered upon the ancient colonial theory of deriving revenue from it at all hazards. Great tracts of its territory have been passed over to trading companies, the first condition of whose concessions is an obligation to pay the king of Belgium from 40 to 45 per cent, of their gains. The result has been abuses. The trading companies are charged with forcing the natives to work, treating them in fact as slaves, flogging and killing or mutilating them when they fail to obey orders. Missionaries made facts of this nature known, and King Leopold appointed a commission to examine the situation, with the result that many terrible outrages were found to be habitually committed by the armed guards organized by the trading companies. The commission, while inclined to justify severe measures, as necessary to lead the natives to work, recommended that the trading companies be forbidden to use armed guards or to require forced labor from the people of the districts which they administer. There is some hope of an amelioration of conditions in consequence. The capital is Boma, at the mouth of the Kongo River.
The area of the state is estimated at about 900,- 000 sq. miles; population estimated at from 15,- 000,000 to 30,000,000. The white people number 2,483. For the most part the people of the Kongo are of the Bantu race. Every tribe has its own dialect, so that the number of dialects is considerable. Roman Catholic missions were established in the Kongo region in the latter part of the fifteenth century. It should be remembered, however, that these early missions were almost entirely in what is now still Portuguese territory. Nothing seems to have been undertaken at that time in the interior of what is now Kongo State. At the present time the Roman Catholic missions extend along the river and in the Ubangi district. They have founded a number of stations also in the Tanganyika region. Schools, industrial work, and agricultural operations are carried on with considerable success. Some of the natives have been trained by the missionaries in Europe as physicians, and render good