By these articles, and the good feeling that has since prevailed between the French and the Belgians, all matters likely to have caused dispute have been settled. A well-defined boundary has been laid down between the French possessions and the Congo State from the Atlantic to the Nile. If the King of the Belgians surrendered to France what others would have retained, it was so dealt with because of that wise political foresight which has characterised his Majesty’s diplomacy in other respects. The friendly relations between France and the Congo State, the settlement of northern boundaries along the Mbomu, and the lease of the Bahr-el-Ghazal from Great Britain, have dispelled much Belgian anxiety. The question which now appears to forebode difficulty is what the Belgians believe to be Great Britain’s scheme for a pretext to break the lease of the Enclave of Lado, a rich and prosperous territory in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, where the Belgians have established posts along the Nile as far north as Lado. As to Great Britain’s purpose in this connection there have been many recent signs. [Illustration: The Old Covered Market at Boma.] CHAPTER XIX THE BAHR-EL-GHAZAL AND THE NILE In addition to the territories of the Congo Free State proper, the sovereignty of which is vested in Leopold II., King of the Belgians, and his successors, King Leopold holds on lease from Great Britain the Bahr-el-Ghazal up to 10° N. A treaty entered into between the Congo Free State and Great Britain on 12th May, 1894, determines the duration of this lease, and the extent of the territory to which it applies. The conditions are somewhat complicated, partaking in a measure of the nature of an exchange, the Congo Free State, by Article III., leasing to Great Britain a strip of territory between the lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward. To be more precise: In 1890 the Congo Free State despatched several missions to its frontiers, some of which penetrated the Nile region and made various political arrangements with the ruling chiefs there. It happened also at that period (July, 1890) that Germany and Great Britain entered into an agreement whereby Germany acknowledged the paramount influence of Great Britain in the Nile Basin. This agreement was no sooner concluded than Great Britain opened negotiations with the Congo Free State, offering to grant thereto, on lease, certain territories situated west of the Basin of the Nile, if the Congo Free State would accord to Great Britain’s presence in the Nile Basin recognition similar to that which it had just obtained from Germany. Out of this overture grew the treaty of 12th May, 1894, between the Congo Free State and Great Britain, to which allusion has already been made.