242 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
able progress, but the distance from Europe is a great 
handicap and only 130 immigrants have taken up farms in 
the last three years.! The Rhodesian railway system, in- 
cluding the Beira Railway, totals 2500 miles; but the coun- 
try needs a short route to the West Coast of Africa. Its 
northern border is 2149 miles from Cape Town. Until the 
Benguella Railway is completed, and probably for many 
years beyond that date, the country will depend for its 
wealth upon its mines rather than upon its farms. The 
total output of gold to the end of 1923 was £57,500,000. 
For 1923, the values of the chief minerals were: gold £2,- 
900,000, asbestos £578,000, chrome ore £303,000, coal £225,- 
000, copper £201,000; and smaller values in silver, mica, 
arsenic and other minerals were produced. The imports 
were £17,300,000, and the exports £25,800,000. 
Northern Rhodesia lies in the tropics and part of it at a 
much lower level than that of Southern Rhodesia. The dif- 
[erence is noticeable as soon as one crosses the Zambesi. 
Large areas will always have to be left to the black man and 
the tsetse fly; but there remains considerable territory for 
the use of the white man. At present the whites have 
scarcely explored the territory, and the 3600 residents are 
practically confined to the few towns and mines along the 
railroad. The native population is estimated to exceed 
900,000. The imports in 1922 were £500,000, and the ex- 
ports £616,000, of which lead constituted £354,000, copper 
£24,500, and animals £62,000. 
The progress of Nyasaland has not been rapid. The 
population in 1922 was 1500 Europeans, 660 Asiatics, and 
1,186,000 natives. The imports in 1922-23 were £522,000 
and the exports £442,000. The country is characteristically 
one of white plantations. The chief crops are tobacco, 
coffee, tea, and cotton. The British Cotton Growers’ Asso- 
1 The Times (London), Julv 8, 1924.