Various

“ Greece owes its civilization to Egypt: its beautiful orders of architecture came from the land of the Nile. The civilization of Egypt had grown old, and was in its decay, when Rome was born. Think what a vast abyss of time separates us from the days of Romulus and Remus! And yet the pyramids of Egypt were then older by a thousand years than all the centuries that have passed since then. ”

“ The Negro has never developed any high degree of civilization; and even if, when brought into contact with civilization, he has made considerable progress, when that contact ceased he has deteriorated into barbarism. But, on the other hand, he has never faded away and disappeared, like the Indian of America and the natives of the Southern Archipelago.
Nature has spread a bountiful and never-ending harvest before the Negro, and given to him a climate where neither labor of body or mind, neither clothing nor a house, is essential to his comfort. All nature invites to an idle life ”

“ For ages upon ages, Africa has refused to reveal its secrets to civilized man, and, though explorers have penetrated it from every side, it remains to-day the dark continent. This isolation of Africa is due to its position and formation. It is a vast, ill-formed triangle, with few good harbors, without navigable rivers for ocean-vessels, lying mainly in the torrid zone. A fringe of low scorched land, reeking with malaria, extends in unbroken monotony all along the coast, threatening death to the adventurous explorer. ”

“ In the East Indies and among the islands of the Pacific there is still work for the Geographer of the most interesting character, and, indeed, for the explorer too. Those who depend upon charts of the great ocean realize too frequently the imperfect determination of the positions of many of these isolated landmarks, and the dangers surrounding them. This is more properly work for governments than for individuals, and we may hope the day is not far distant when American officers may again roam the seas in Geographic research, and bring fresh laurels to crown the enterprise of our people. ”

“ But the march of civilization is not to be thwarted by the semi-barbarous; they may yet impede it, as they have in the past, but it can be only for a time; the impulse is sure to come, when the thirst for knowledge and power by the antagonistic races will sweep all barriers before it, however strong. The contemplated railway across the continent to Vladivostock may be the culminating step in overcoming these refractory peoples and opening their territories to the march of progress. ”

“ We may recall Carthage and Alexandria, and all the wonders of ancient Egypt that live to the confusion of our own day, while those who patterned them have been lost beyond the bounds of even the most ancient history: and look with trembling awe upon the degradation that has followed, the boundless dissipation of the learning of ages, until we are left only such remnants that our most cultivated imaginations can scarce build a superstructure worthy to raise upon the ruins. ”

“ Atmospheric disturbances are so vast, and their action is so rapid, that it requires the attentive care of thousands of observers before one can well hope to draw the roughest figure of a passing storm. To note changes in the force and direction of the wind, to note the depth of the rain, the increase and decrease of temperature and the varying changes of aqueous vapor, either in visible or invisible form, requires millions of careful, systematic observations, and then when these are made, the task of collating, elaborating and discussing them seems almost too great for any man. ”

“ In Africa a contest is going on between civilization and barbarism, Christianity and Mohammedanism, freedom and slavery, such as the world has never seen. Who can fail to be interested in the results of this conflict? We know that Africa is capable of the very highest civilization, for it was the birthplace of all civilization. To it we are indebted for the origin of all our arts and sciences, and it possesses to-day the most wonderful works of man. ”

“ And yet within half a century explorers have traversed nearly every square mile, science has discovered in it treasures of knowledge that have taught the world: and instead of a vast region of wandering tribes, we find a civilization, energetic, progressive, and still pressing on to reclaim even that which has been considered waste. Indeed, so rapidly have the choice areas been occupied, that it may be but a few years when none will be left, and the question of over-population may press upon us as to-day it presses upon older nations. ”

“ If we turn to the adjoining continent of Asia, there is still open a large field for Geographic research. Peopled as it has been, largely by semi-civilized races for many centuries, we might have expected that the book of nature that might be opened would long since have been spread before us; but the exclusiveness of this semi-civilization has been a stumbling-block, until it may be said that the wise men of her nations have lived only that the masses should not learn. ”

“ In presenting to the National Geographic Society this first annual summary of work accomplished in the domain of the Geography of the Sea, I find it impossible satisfactorily to limit the range of subjects that may be assigned to it. The great ocean is so large a factor in the operations of Nature, that the attempt to describe one of its features speedily involves the consideration of others lying more or less in that shadowy region which may be claimed with equal force by other sections of the Society. ”

“ Nature may be against them when the facts are fully learned, the profit may not warrant the outlay, and political considerations may keep in abeyance that which otherwise may be admitted to be good. Thus the grand scheme to make an inland sea of the Desert of Sahara is impossible of execution from the fact that the desert is many hundreds of feet higher than the ocean. The long talked of project to cut the Isthmus of Corinth, now accomplished, was a theme of discussion for twenty centuries or more. ”

“ The modern explorations of Africa commenced one hundred years ago, when Mungo Park crossed the Desert of Sahara, and lost his life in descending the Niger. From that time to the present, travelers in ever-increasing numbers have entered Africa from every side. Some who have entered from the Atlantic or Pacific coasts have been lost in its wilds, and two or three years after have emerged on the opposite coast; others have passed from the coast, and have never been heard from. Zanzibar has been a favorite starting-point for the lake region of Central Africa. ”

“ It is impossible to prophesy the future of any country, much less that of Africa, where the physical features have left so marked an impression upon its inhabitants, and where the animal life is so different from that of the other continents. It is rather by differentiating Africa from other countries that we obtain any data from which to form an opinion of its future. ”

“ The great American continent, the New World as it is called, presents an example of progress of which history affords us none similar—a marked instance of the power of intelligent perseverance to conquer in new fields and bring under man's dominion for his use and welfare even some of the elements themselves. ”

“ Slavery is also a punishment for certain offences, while in some tribes men frequently sell themselves. These slaves are of the same race and civilization as their masters. They are usually well treated, regarded as members of the family, to whom a son or daughter may be given in marriage, the master often preferring to keep his daughter in the family to marrying her to a stranger. This slavery is a national institution of native growth. It is said one half of the inhabitants are slaves to the other half. The horrors of the slave-trade are unknown in this kind of slavery. ”

“ The territory claimed will, I believe, prove to be the most valuable in Africa. It is well watered by numerous tributaries of the Kongo and by the Zambezi and its branches. It is higher than the Kongo valley, and is therefore more healthy. Several Portuguese, English, and German travelers have crossed and recrossed this part of the continent, and the Portuguese have some small settlements on the coast and in the interior. The Portuguese of the present generation have not the enterprise and trading spirit of their forefathers, and are doing very little for the settlement of the country. ”

“ The term 'Geography of Life' applied without limitation or qualification to one of the five departments of the Society is not only comprehensive, but is susceptible of different if not diverse interpretations. Indeed, without great violence it might be construed to comprehend nearly the whole domain of systematic botany, zoology, and anthropology. As a matter of fact, I believe it was intended to include everything relating directly to the distribution of life on the earth. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is a matter of common observation that different groups of animals and plants inhabit different regions, even in the same latitude; that some forms are almost world wide in distribution; that others are restricted to very limited areas; that the ranges of very dissimilar species are often geographically coincident; and that, as a rule, animals inhabiting contiguous areas are more nearly related than those inhabiting remote areas. The recognition of these facts early led to the attempt to divide the surface of the earth, according to its animal life, into 'faunal' districts. ”

“ As mountain-ranges determine the course of rivers, influence the rainfall, and temper the climate, we must understand the mountain system of Africa before we can understand the continent as a whole.
Standing on the citadel at Cairo, and looking south, you see a sandstone ridge which gradually grows in altitude and width of base as it runs far away to the south, even to the Cape of Good Hope at the other end of Africa. Successive ranges of mountains follow the coast, sometimes near, at others two or three hundred miles inland ”

“ Its missionaries are of a race nearly allied to the Negro. They live among them, adopting their customs, and often intermarrying with them. They teach of one God, whom all must worship and obey, and of a future life whose rewards the Negro can comprehend. They forbid the sacrifice of human victims to appease the wrath of an offended deity. They forbid drunkenness. They give freedom to the slave who becomes a Moslem, and thus elevate and civilize those among whom they dwell. The Christian missionary is of a race too far above him. He is a white man, his lord and master. ”

“ It has been the great curse of Africa, and for its existence the nations of Europe have been, and are, largely responsible. The temper and disposition of the Negro make him a most useful slave. He can endure continuous hard labor, live on little, has a cheerful disposition, and rarely rises against his master. ”

“ Often the natives not only refuse food to the famished travelers, but oppose them with such arms as they have; and then it is necessary, in self-defence, to fire upon them.
The greatest difficulty the explorer meets comes either directly or indirectly from the opposition of the slave-trader. Formerly the slave-trader was not found in equatorial Africa; but, since the explorer has opened the way, the slave-trader has penetrated far into the interior, and is throwing obstacles in the way of the entry of Europeans into Africa. ”

“ In the eastern center of Africa, in the equatorial region, is an elevated plateau in which is the lake region, then there is a sudden rise, and a gradual descent towards the Atlantic. There are few continuous ranges of mountains on the western coast; but at Kamerun there is a cluster of mountains reaching an elevation of 13,100 feet; and south of Morocco some of the peaks of the Atlas Mountains reach an elevation of 12,000 to 13,000 feet, but they have little if any influence on the rainfall or temperature of the country. ”