Egypt is nominally a vassal of Turkey, paying to the Sultan a yearly tribute of $3,600,000. Great Britain's is the real controlling hand, because the Suez Canal is Great Britain's gateway to India. By a purchase of the stock held by a former Khedive, Great Britain secured financial control of the canal, a necessary step from the fact that more than half the trade carried through the canal is British commerce. The country is deficient in the resources that make most nations powerful. There is neither coal, iron, nor timber available, and these must be imported. Great Britain supplies the first, and Norway the last. Some traffic is carried on the Nile, but railways have been built through the crop-lands. One of these threads the Nile Valley and will become a part of the "Cape to Cairo" route. _Alexandria_ is the port at which most of the Egyptian commerce lands. _Cairo_, the largest city of Africa, derives its importance from its position at the head of the Nile delta. It is a favorite winter-resort. _Port Said_ and _Suez_ are the terminal ports of the Suez Canal; their commerce is mainly the transit trade of the canal. =Other Independent States.=--Most of the independent states of Africa are in a condition of barbarism and have but little importance to the rest of the world. Abyssinia has the natural advantages of gold, iron, pasture-lands, and forestry, and the possibilities of cotton cultivation. Valuable mining concessions have been granted to foreign companies. Ivory, coffee, and gold are shipped to India in exchange for textiles. A railway from the coast is under construction, but all the traffic is carried by mule-trains, mainly to _Harrar_. Morocco has an admirable strategic position at the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar, and is most likely, in time, to become a possession of Spain. There are exported, mainly to Great Britain, beans, almonds, goat-skins, and wool. The goat-skins are sumac-tanned and are still used in making the best book-binding leather. Only a small part of the so-called Morocco leather of commerce is genuine. There are no railways; caravan routes from the Sahara cross the country. _Tangier_ and one or two other ports are open to foreign trade. Coal-oil is the only import from the United States. The state of Liberia was established for the benefit of freed slaves from the United States. The products are those of tropical Africa, including caoutchouc. Coffee cultivation is extensively carried on, and coffee is the leading export. _Monrovia_ is the chief centre of trade.