Zanzibar, another prominent island, is commercially important as the base of supply and point of departure for the expeditions organized to penetrate the equatorial parts of the continent from the east coast. Speaking of it, Prof. Drummond says: "Oriental in its appearance, Mohammedan in its religion, Arabian in its morals, this cess-pool of wickedness is a fit capital for the dark continent. But Zanzibar is Zanzibar simply because it is the only apology for a town on the whole coast."1

SOUTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES.

Cape Colony. The magnitude of the wine interests of the southern extremity of Africa, or Cape regions, is well known. M. Tisserand, in 1884, estimated Cape Colony's annual vintage at 15,400,000 imperial gallons. This, however, was probably an over-estimate. The "Weltwirthshaft" for 1884 credited Cape Colony with only 4,490,890 gallons. Official returns for 1887 showed that about 5,586,608 gallons of wine and 1,390,052 gallons of brandy were produced in 1887, the exports of wine being valued at £18,928. Climate and soil are eminently adapted for the cultivation of the grape, and it is claimed that the number of gallons to the acre averages higher than in any other country. The vine was one of the first European plants introduced at the Cape. The great success of the Cape wines in the early part of this century has not been maintained; the manufacturers have offended fastidious tastes by a too free use of spirits in "fortifying their goods. Although the odium and phylloxera have crippled the vineyards, efforts are being made to revive the reputation of the Cape brands, and it is claimed that the wine interest there is only in its infancy, great tracts of rich land not having been utilized for viniculture as yet.

Natal.-In Natal the sugar-cane is widely cultivated, and in 1884 the plantations produced 18,771 tons, of which more than a third was exported to the Boers; from what remained rum was distilled, 2,200,000 gallons being obtained. By a regulation adopted in 1856 it is a penal offense to sell or give alcoholic drinks to the natives in Natal, but this law is frequently violated.

Basutoland. There is a similar prohibition (similarly violated) in force in Basutoland, situated between Natal and the Orange Free State. At first it applied only to the native chiefs, who, having to act as judges, were expected to keep perfectly sober; but now neither chiefs nor native subjects can procure liquor lawfully. Prohibition in Basutoland was established by the decree of the Chief Moshesh, Nov. 8, 1854 (repeated by him in 1859), as follows:

"Whereas, the strong drink of the whites was unknown to the progenitors of our tribe. Matie, Motlomi, up to Bo Monageng; and our father Mockachane, now advanced in years, never used anything for his drink save water and milk; and inasmuch as we are of opinion that a good chief and judge who uses anything to intoxicate him is not in a proper state to act as in duty bound; and since strong drink causes

strife and dissension and is a cause of destruction of society (the strong drink of the whites is nothing else but fire):

"Be it hereby made known to all that the introduction and sale of the said drink into the country of the Basutos is forbidden from this forward, and if anyone, white or colored, shall act in opposition to this interdict the drink will be taken from him and spilled on the ground, without apology or compensation.

And this decree shall be printed in the Basuto and Dutch languages, and be posted upon all the places of public resort, and in the villages of the Basutos.

"Given with the advice and consent of the great of our tribe, being as the Chief of the Basutos, at Thaba, Bosigo, Nov. 8 1854.

"MOSHESH, Chief."?

Bechuanaland. - A native proclamation, equally remarkable with that of Moshesh, and antedating it by 17 years, was issued by Moroka, a Chief of Bechuanaland, and published in Graham's Town Journal (Cape of Good Hope), for March 22, 1838, as follows:

of the good effects both of religious and civil government in every part where it has been allowed, and immediately caused disorder, immorality and vice, and more remarkably, poverty and distress, demoralization and destruction of life, by incessant depredations upon the property and rights of the weaker tribes of these parts: Be it hereby known that the traffic in ardent spirits in every part of the country under my government shall, from the date hereof, be illegal; and any person or persons found transgressing this my law shall be subject to the confiscation of all the spirits thus

illegally offered for sale, with all other property

of every kind belonging to the person or persons thus found transgressing that may be on the spot at the time of the seizure and in any way connected with the same.

"Given at Thaba 'nohu, this eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. The mark X of MOROKA, Chief of the Borolongs."

Kama, another Chief of Bechuanaland, said to a British official: "I fear Lo Bengula less than I fear brandy.

I

fought with Lo Bengula when he had his father's great warriors from Natal, and drove him back, and he never came again, and God, who helped me then, would help me again. Lo Bengula never gives me a sleepless night. But to fight against drink is to fight against demons, and not against men. I dread the white man's drink more than all the assegais of the Matebele, which kill men's bodies, and it is quickly over; but drink puts devils into men, and destroys both their souls and their bodies forever. Its wounds never heal."

In the trade of Delagoa Bay brandy is a chief article of import, and in the southern part of Delagoa the traders rely upon spirits more than any other commercial medium in their transactions

with the natives, from whom they receive hides, caoutchouc, beeswax, etc., in exchange for the vilest rum.

THE CONGO FREE STATE.

No part of Africa has attracted so much attention in recent years as the vast region called the Congo Free State. It has an area of 780,000 square miles, contains a population of 43,000,000 people and embraces about one-half the entire basin of the Congo river. The most enterprising efforts have been and are being made to develop its commercial resources. The interests of civilization within its limits were the subject of careful and prolonged consideration by an International Conference, which met in

Berlin, Nov. 15, 1884, at the invitation of Prince Bismarck. Representatives from 14 nations were present, and regulations for the government of the Congo Free State were established. These included a rigid prohibition of the slave trade, but the traffic in intoxicating liquors was in no way disturbed. Yet it was known to everybody that this traffic meant enslavement and speedy death to millions of Africans. The horrors

wrought by the deadly liquor of the whites had been vividly described. Henry M. Stanley had said in "The Congo" (vol. 2, p. 252):

"With us on the Congo, where we must work and bodily movement is compulsory, the very atmosphere seems to be fatally hostile to the physique of men who pin their faith to whiskey, gin and brandy. They invariably succumb, and are a constant source of expense. Even if they are not finally buried out of sight and out of memory, they are so utterly helpless, diseases germinate with such frightful rapidity, symptoms of insanity are numerous; and, with mind vacant and body semi-paralyzed, they are hurried homeward to make room for more valuable substitutes."

The failure of the Berlin Congress to legislate against the liquor traffic in the Congo Free State is the theme of a most interesting and powerful book by W. T. Hornaday, entitled "Free Rum on the Congo" (New York, 1887). We quote as follows from Mr. Hornaday:

"In the whole of this high and mighty Act [the General Act of the Conference), there is not the slightest mention of any restriction on the trade in intoxicating liquors, or the promotion of temperance, or of any method or system whatsoever by which the condition of the people should be benefited in any way. So far as the improvement of the African

people was concerned, or the interests of the

Free State furthered, the Conference might just as well have never been held. Judged by the result, we may thruthfully say that it was a Conference for trade only. and it is simply disgraceful that the spirit of trade. gain, pecuniary advantage and international greed should have so completely monopolized the deliberations of the Conference and the declarations of the Act. But. it may be replied the Government of the Congo Free State can itself pass laws for the protection of the people. Let me tell you it can do no such

thing in regard to the traffic in liquor. The importation and sale of brandy, rum, gin. whiskey and alcohol is 'trade.' and the Great Powers (great in greediness) have decreed in the strongest terms that trade shall be absolutely free in that region. Rum has the right of way by international edict, and the International Association cannot stop the sale of a single bottle of it without the consent of the Powers. If the opium growers of India want to send opium to the Congo and teach all the natives to use it, they can do so." (Pp. 63-65.) brought us from Hamburg had on board 10,000 casks of rum (each holding 50 to 60 gallons, 11 cases of gin, 460 tons of gunpowder, and 14 missionaries-all on their way to Africa to convert the heathen. The German line has nine

And again, in the introduction to his little book, Mr. Hornaday's arraignment is even more severe:

"It is amazing that the representatives of any enlightened nation could insist upon regulations allowing the exportation of poisonous brandy of all duty. The result of the Berlin West African Conference, when stripped of its diplomatic drapery, was simply this: the trading nations gave themselves a free entry into the country; by their accursed free trade enactments they utterly pauperized the Government of the Congo Free State (as a reward for the efforts of the International African Association in opening up the country !), and they fastened the free rum traffic upon the people for twenty years." (Pp. 5 and 6.)

to Africa in an unlimited quantity,

Again:

Nearly all the savage tribes accept the vir tues of civilization at retail and the vices at wholesale. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, his [the savage's] first news of the Christian world is brought by a trader, who also brings him fire-water and gunpowder. Our civilization, as it stands at present, is a wholesale extermination of savage races. They are killed off by intemperance and modern diseases of various kinds, which are introduced among them by unprincipled Europeans, aided by other causes, less reprehensible but no less deadly, which spring from the same source.

"Africa is being opened up from all sides, but to what? To Portuguese slave-traders for one thing, and also to New England rum, Holland gin, poisonous brandy from Hamburg, Portuguese aguardiente, and deadly alcohol from France, and God only knows where else." (P. 37.)

"By reason of the total absence of restrain

ing laws heretofore, and the special privilege granted by the General Act of the Berlin Conference, the traders of Holland, Germany, Portugal, the United States, France and England are pouring cheap and deadly liquors into Africa by the shipload. The natives have developed an appetite for it almost beyond the power of belief, and it is used for currency in

stead of money. In fact, gin is the lever by

which Africa is being 'opened up.'" (P. 71.)

The Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal are the principals engaged in the production of liquors for the Congo traffic. The exportation of spirits from the Netherlands to the west coast of Africa, upon the authority of Mr. Hornaday, who gives statistics derived from official sources, amounted in 1883 to 848,578 gallons, in 1884 to 1,223,914 gallons and in 1885 to 1,087,562 gallons. Great Britain's exports of spirituous liquors to West Africa for 1885 aggregated 224,

873 gallons. France's contribution for 1885 was 405,944 gallons. Germany's liquor exports to the Congo and other parts of Africa during 1885 reached the enormous quantity of 7,823,042 gallons. From the port of Boston, United States, during the five months of July and October, 1885, and January, February and June, 1886, 737,650 gallons of rum were exported to Africa.

W. P. Tisdel, a special United States agent sent to the Congo to examine the country and its inhabitants, in his report published in the Consular reports for 1885 (p. 334), says of the Congo gin business:

"The gin comes mainly from Holland and is manufactured expressly for the trade. The

Holland article comprises about 90 per cent. of all the gin imported. The remaining 10 per cent. may be distributed amongst other coun

tries."

When Mr. Hornaday wrote his book he made this prediction: "Ten years from now it will be too late to offer the Africans any protection from the evils that are now being sown amongst them." Four years have passed, but at the time this is written there is no certainty of a change of policy. Earnest and persevering efforts have been made by philanthropists and temperance people to arouse the governments to action, and the Brussels Conference of 1890 took favorable steps, prohibiting the traffic in distilled spirits throughout a broad zone; but the opposition of Holland has been interposed to prevent ratification. (See foot-note, p. 498.)

LIBERIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE WEST COAST.

The other countries of the west coast of Africa are also deluged with European and American spirits. In the Republic of Liberia, which is regarded with peculiar interest by Americans, the regulation of the drink traffic by license laws has been attempted. John H. Smith, United States Consul-General to Liberia, in 1885,

reported that "no spirits have been brought into the Republic during the year on account of the opposition to the license law." Rev. B. F. Kephart, an American missionary to Liberia, wrote in

1889:

seamers that ply monthly between Germany and Africa. They always have the same kind of a load, with the exception of the missionaries. I learned that much of this rum came from Boston. 1

Joseph Thomson, the African traveler, in an article entitled "Up the Niger," printed in Good Words for January, 1886, speaks thus of the enormous quantities of liquors poured into the coast ports and destined for the natives of the Niger Valley:

"At each port of call one becomes bewildered in watching the discharge of thousands of cases of gin, hundreds of demijohns of rum, box upon box of guns, untold kegs of gunpowder and myriads of clay pipes, while it seems as if only by accident a stray bale of cloth went over the side."

"The Earth and Its Inhabitants" (vol. 3, p. 127) contrasts the suppression of slavery in Senegambia with the continuance of the liquor traffic, and says:

"If men are no longer directly purchased. the European dealers continue the work of moral degradation. While reproaching the Negro populations with cruelty, they incite them to war; while complaining of their intemperate, depraved, or indolent habits, they persist in supplying them with fiery alcoholic drinks."

In Angola, just south of the Congo river, although there are some 32 distinct varieties of the grape, not wine-production but spirit-distillation is a leading industry. Spirits are made by the Portuguese from the sugar-cane. In Benguela, Mossamedes and nearly the whole of the Portuguese territory of West Africa, distilling is systematically carried on, the atrocious product being used in trade with the natives of the interior. The United States special agent to the Congo, W. P. Tisdel, from whom we have already quoted, declares in the Consular Reports for 1885 (p. 336), that "in St. Paul de Loando, Benguela, and Mossamedes there are no manufactories in the country, excepting for rum; consequently everything but the commonest articles of food is required from abroad."

African Methodist Episcopal Church. The General Conference, representing 2,000 ministers and over 400,

"RESOLVED 5, That it shall be a crime for any minister or member of the A. M. E. Church to fight against temperance, and if convicted of this crime he shall lose his place in the Conference and church."

The Committee on Temperance recommended (1) that unfermented wine be used at the Lord's Supper, and (2) that no habitual user of tobacco or whiskey be appointed a traveling preacher. The Bishops said in their address:

"We should allow no minister or member

who votes, writes, lectures or preaches to uphold the rum trade to retain his membership, either in the Conference or the church. And those who are addicted to strong drink. either ministers or laymen, should have no place among us. Visit our station-houses, bridewells, jails almshouses and penitentiaries, and you will there witness the effects of this horror of horrors. Rum has dug the grave of the American Indian so deep that he will never be resurrected. If we would escape the same fate as a church and a race we must be temperate.

Some of the loftiest intellects have been

blasted and blighted by this terrible curse. The use of wine at weddings should never be encouraged by our ministers; it is often the beginning ng of a blasted life."

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. - The General Conference, at its quadrennial session, held at New Berne, N. C., May, 1888, composed of ministers and laymen representing all the Annual Conferences of 29 different States, and a membership of 300,000, declared, in part:

"This General Conference re-affirms its stand against intemperance and the use of intoxicat ing liquors in any form as a beverage. We favor every means that can be brought to bear for the destruction of the traffic in all intoxi

cating drinks as a beverage in State and nation. We also heartily recommend that unfermented wine be used in the sacramental service as far as possible."

Alabama. - See INDEX.
Alaska. See INDEX.

Alcohol. "The intoxicating ingredient in all spirituous liquors, including under this term wines, porter, ale, beer, cider and every other liquid which has undergone the vinous fermentation."

Its production depends exclusively upon the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter: so far as is known it is impossible to obtain alcohol without decomposition. The strength of any intoxicating beverage is determined by the percentage of alcohol contained in it. Pure alcohol can be procured only by the processes of distillation and rectification. In its natural state it is a colorless, transparent liquid, closely resembling water in appearance. Chemically it is composed of 52.67 parts of carbon, 12.90 parts of hydrogen and 32.43 parts of oxygen; and the chemical formula for it is C. H. O. This is the ordinary alcohol forming the basis of genuine liquors, called ethylic alcohol, which has a specific gravity of 0.794 at 60° F. and boils at 173.1° F. But other alcohols are obtained by distillation, especially methyl alcohol (CHO), which is derived from wood, is less intoxicating than the ordinary article but disagreeable to the taste, and is very extensively used in the arts and manufactures, because of its comparative cheapness. The remaining alcohols are the propylic (C3H8O), butylic (C1 H., O), amylic (C, H, O), etc. These are all heavier than the ethylic, and a higher heat is required to generate them from the grain or other substance distilled: they are far more intoxicating than the ordinary alcohol and of deadly nature, and a conscientious distiller will use the utmost pains to prevent their presence in his liquors; but considerable quantities of them are produced even by the most carefully-managed processes, and thorough treatment is required to eliminate them. (For further information concerning the heavier alcohols, see DISTILLATION.)

The chemists of the Middle Ages, who first distilled alcohol-for to them its discovery is attributed by historical documents, although there is ground for believing that the Chinese understood the art long before-called the fluid by various names: aqua ardens, aqua fortis, vinum ardens, vinum adustum, spiritus ardens, aqua vitæ, etc. The name "aqua vite" (water of life) was considered especially appropriate by those who believ

ed in its wondrous virtues. The word "alcohol" is said by some students to have been derived from the Arabic al ("the") and kohl ("fine," or "exceedingly fine and subtle"). Others assert that because of its evil effects upon men it was called al ghole (Arabic for "the evil, ghost or spirit"). According to others, alcohol is corrupted from the Arabic al ghûl ("destruction," "calamity"). At first the production and use of distilled spirits were confined to the laboratory; but by degrees the knowledge of their highly intoxicating properties and the credulous belief in their medicinal qualities created the wide-spread demand for them that has prevailed for more than three centuries.

2

Legitimate Uses. -Alcohol in its concentrated form is not used as a beverage, except occasionally by the most desperate drinkers, who will eagerly swallow any decoction to gratify their burning thirst. Its legitimate uses are numerous and important. Large quantities, chiefly of methylated alcohol (i. e., the ordinary ethyl alcohol mixed with methyl alcohol or wood spirits), are employed by the manufacturers of varnishes, India rubber, candles, collodion and other articles. Alcohol is also of great value as a solvent, and is extensively used to dissolve fatty substances, essential oils, organic acids, etc. Ethers are formed by distilling mixtures of alcohol and acids; chloral and chloroform are produced by distilling, respectively, chlorine and chloride of lime with alcohol-and thus alcohol is an important agent in the manufacture of anæsthetic preparations. Vinegar is made by exposing fermented fruit juices to the air, the oxygen changing the alcohol to acetic acid, which constitutes from 2 to 4 per cent. of ordinary vinegar. The inflammability of alcohol and the intense heat resulting from its combustion make it very serviceable in mechanical and other operations where concentrated heat is required. Its resistance to cold is so great that it has never been obtained in a solid state, and at the very lowest temperatures it retains the fluid form though becoming viscid; hence it is substituted for mercury in thermometers used for indicating temperatures below the freezing point of mercury (-39° F.). Alcohol is