North of the English possessions, the coast to the Red Sea is barren and inhospitable: it has little rain and no harbors, and is so worthless that it has not been claimed by any European nation. North of this region is Abyssinia on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea,--a mountainous country with deep valleys, rich and fertile, but very unhealthy. Three or four thousand feet above the level of the sea, is a healthier country, inhabited by a race of rugged mountaineers, whom it has been impossible to dispossess of their lands. North of Abyssinia, on the Red Sea, Italy has a small colony at Massaua, and England a camp at Suakin. The only parts of the coast not claimed by Europeans are inhospitable, without population or cultivation of any kind. The Belgians have spent many millions in the exploration of the Kongo and its tributaries. They have eighteen small steamers making trips from Leopoldville up the river to Stanley Falls, and up its branches, supplying the main stations in the basin of the Kongo. The Kongo Free State, unlike all other African colonies, is free to all. Merchants of any nation can establish factories, carry on trade, and enjoy the same privileges and equal facilities with the Belgians. The valley of the Kongo, and the plateau of the great lakes, have a similar climate and soil; but the Kongo is easier of access, provisions are cheaper, more readily obtained, and the natives are less warlike. The Kongo Free State will therefore be more rapidly settled than any other part of Africa excepting Cape Colony. The trade with these countries is carried on by European companies under royal charter, with quasi-sovereign powers for ruling the country and governing the natives, as well as for trading with them. England, Germany, and Portugal subsidize steamship companies which make regular trips along the western coast, stopping at the different stations. From this statement it will be seen that England occupies the healthiest portion of Africa (Cape Colony), the most fertile valleys (the Nile and the Niger), the richest gold-fields (Gold Coast and Transvaal); that Portugal comes next, claiming the most desirable portion of equatorial Africa north of Cape Colony and south of the Kongo, but that it is unable to colonize this country, which will inevitably fall under the control of England; that the French claim Algiers and Senegambia, and are contending with England for the trade of Timbuctu and the upper valley of the Niger; that Germany, after vain attempts to penetrate the interior from Kamerun and Angra Pequena, has planted her flag at Zanzibar, and has determined to contest with England the lake region and the great plateaus of Central Africa; while Italy, imitating the other states, tries in vain to obtain a footing on the Red Sea, worthless if obtained. POPULATION.