"Railroad development in Africa has been rapid in the past few years and seems but the beginning of a great system which must contribute to the rapid development, civilization, and enlightenment of the Dark Continent. Already railroads run northwardly from Cape Colony about 1,400 miles, and southwardly from Cairo about 1,100 miles, thus making 2,500 miles of the 'Cape to Cairo' railroad complete, while the intermediate distance is about 3,000 miles. Mr. Rhodes, whose recent visit to England and Germany in the interest of the proposed through line from the Cape to Cairo is a matter of record, and whose visit to Germany was made necessary by the fact that in order to pass from the southern chain of British territory to the northern chain he must cross German or Belgian territory, is reported as confident that the through line will be completed by the year 1910. Certainly it may reasonably be assumed that a continuous railway line will be in operation from the southern to the northern end of Africa in the early years of the twentieth century. Toward this line, present and prospective, which is to stretch through the eastern part of the continent, lateral lines from either coast are beginning to make their way. A line has already been constructed from Natal on the southeast coast: another from Lourenço Marquez in Portuguese territory and the gold and diamond fields: another from Beira, also in Portuguese territory, but considerably farther north, and destined to extend to Salisbury in Rhodesia, where it will form a junction with the 'Cape to Cairo' road; still another is projected from Zanzibar to Lake Victoria Nyanza, to connect, probably, at Tabora, with the transcontinental line; another line is under actual construction westward from Pangani just north of Zanzibar, both of these being in German East Africa; another line is being constructed northwestwardly from Mombasa, in British territory, toward Lake Victoria Nyanza, and is completed more than half the distance, while at the entrance to the Red Sea a road is projected westwardly into Abyssinia, and is expected to pass farther toward the west and connect with the main line. At Suakim, fronting on the Red Sea, a road is projected to Berber, the present terminus of the line running southwardly from Cairo. On the west of Africa lines have begun to penetrate inward, a short line in the French Sudan running from the head of navigation on the Senegal eastwardly toward the head of navigation on the Niger, with the ultimate purpose of connecting navigation on these two streams. In the Kongo Free State a railway connects the Upper Kongo with the Lower Kongo around Livingstone Falls; in Portuguese Angola a road extends eastwardly from Loanda, the capital, a considerable distance, and others are projected