COMMERCE OF AFRICA.

(In two divisions, Northern and Southern.)

NORTHERN DIVISION.

Beginning at the Canary Islands and ending at the Gulf of Aden, the northern division of Africa embraces Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt.

The total foreign trade of this division, according to the latest available statistics, is as follows: Imports, $100,945,000; exports, $102,328,000; imports and exports, $203,273,000, divided among the following countries and possessions:

COMMERCE OF THE CANARY ISLANDS.

The trade returns of the Canary Islands, as above given, imports $2,500,000, exports $2,850,000, are based on old reports from the consul at Teneriffe, no report from thence showing the foreign trade of these possessions having been received for some years. From analyses of the trade of the several countries with the islands, these estimates may be relied upon as very close approximations.

The British consular reports for the year 1879 show a rather depressed condition of the foreign trade of the islands, the imports for that year barely holding their own, while the exports show a decrease as compared with the preceding year. The official statistics of British trade for the year 1880, however, show a comparatively large increase in the imports from and exports to the Canaries. In fact, British trade with the Canaries for the last five years shows a steady increase, viz: Imports from the Canaries in 1876, $1,346,000; in 1880, $2,280,000; exports to the Canaries in 1876, $773,000; in 1880, $1,253,000. It is hard to reconcile this showing with the British cousular report for 1879, unless we are to assume that a large decrease took place in the commerce of the Canaries with other countries, something which is not very likely to have occurred. It may be very well assumed, therefore, that the figures given above, showing the total trade of the islands, are, if any thing, underestimates.

According to the returns of the Bureau of Statistics for the year ending June 30, 1881, our direct trade with the Canaries was as follows: Imports therefrom, $162,000; exports thereto, $218,000. In 1876 our imports from the island amounted to $133,000, and our exports thereto to $89,000; this shows, comparatively, even a larger gain than the British trade during the same years. The trade of France with the Canaries is not specified in the French official publications, so there is no available method of arriving at any approximation thereof. If the French marine calling thereat be any criterion by which to judge of French trade therewith, it must be considerable, as will be seen further on.

The great bulk of the import trade of the Canary Islands is divided between England, France, and the United States-England having the lion's share thereof. The principal articles which enter into the import trade are cotton goods, linens, metals, hardware and cutlery, apparel and haberdashery, oil, spirits, sugar, cocoa, coffee, coal, leather, grain, flour, guano, timber, petroleum, wine, &c.

The principal exports from the United Kingdom to the islands during the year 1880 were as follows in round numbers: Cotton goods, $500,000; manures, $55,000; metals wrought and unwrought, $55,000; apparel and haberdashery, $45,000; linens, $35,000; coal, $30,000; hardware and cutlery, $30,000; earthen and China ware, $11,000.

The principal exports from the United States to the islands during the year ending June 30, 1881, were breadstuffs and provisions, petroleum, distilled spirits, leaf tobacco, wood and manufactures of, together with small lots of cotton goods, drugs and medicines, naval stores, paper and stationery, fish, starch, refined sugar, agricultural implements, and other manufactures.

It will thus be seen that while our export trade with the Canaries is yearly increasing in volume and variety, and that while, in the language of the British consul at Teneriffe, "the United States is each year elbowing for itself a larger space in the importation line" in the islands, our share in the principal manufactures which are consumed therein is very small when compared to that of Great Britain. The trade of the Canary Islands is principally with England and France, because of their direct and frequent steam communication therewith, and the further fact of their having agencies or branch houses upon the islands for the introducti n and enlargement of their trade.

During the year 1880, there entered at the port of Las Palmas alone, according to the report of the British consul at that port, 127 British steamers, of 188,917 tons. Of these 99 belonged to the lines trading between Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa, 27 between London and the Canaries, and 1 of the line running between Southampton and the Cape.

The British consul at Teneriffe, in a report dated May 21, 1881, gives the following interesting information concerning the total steam communication with the Canaries:

The British steam vessels, of which there are four lines frequenting the ports of the islands, two starting from London and two from Liverpool, run the two first between London and these islands, via Madeira, and home via Morocco, Gibraltar, and Lisbon. The Liverpool steamers carrying the mails all run down the West Coast of Africa to Fernando Po, and these lines have lately extended their operations to Hamburg. The French steamers frequenting the islands belong to the Compagnie Transatlantique and the Chargeurs Réunis lines, several of each calling at this port every month, but they come for little else than the passenger, or, more correctly speaking, the emigrant traffic to the West Indies and South America, which is not unimportant. But the facilities thus afforded for quitting the islands may be questioned as a doubtful boon. Those of the Compagnie Transatlantique start from Havre, touching at Cadiz, then to Santa Cruz, and on to Havana, Vera Cruz, and New Orleans, and from Mar

seilles via Barcelona hither, and then onward to Puerto Rico, La Guaira, and Costa Rica. The Chargeurs Réunis boats sail between Havre, London, Hamburg, Bremen, and South America (Brazil and the River Plate), calling here. There is, besides, a third line belonging to M. Paquet, which trade between Marseilles and these islands up and down the coast of Morocco, calling at Gibraltar. The vessels of war, especially the French, cause a considerable business here in replenishing with fresh provisions and coaling.

The total number of steamers entered at the several ports of the islands during the year 1880 was 335. It is scarcely necessary to add that the American flag had no representation therein.

The direct trade between the United States and the islands is carried on wholly in sailing vessels; hence, to a large extent, we only sell thereto what cannot be well supplied by other countries.

COMMERCE OF ALGERIA.

According to the very interesting report from Consul Jourdan, of Algiers, the foreign trade of Algeria during the year 1880 was as follows: Imports, $60,687,000; exports, $33,767,000; imports of gold and silver, $1,429,000.

According to the same report, this trade was divided among the several countries as follows-gold and silver being included in the imports:

In the foregoing table it will be seen that the consul credits France with $50,551,000 of the total imports. According to the French official customs returns the exports from France to Algeria-which were the imports at Algeria given to the consul-were valued at $37,294,000 for the general exports, and only $31,232,000 for the special or French exports proper. Unless the Algerian customs officials placed an unusual increased valuation upon the imports from France it is difficult to account for this great difference.

The consular returns also show that the imports from Great Britain amounted to $3,296,000, while the British official returns for the same year show that the exports to Algeria amounted to only $1,456,000, being considerably less than one-half the former. In the matter of exports from Algeria and their valuation by the French customs as imports, both returns substantially agree, the consular valuation being $23,111,000, and the French valuation $24,482,000, a difference of only $1,371,000, which can be very well accounted for by the increase in value from the time of export until the goods were entered as imports in France.

Applying the European scale of valuation to the whole commerce of Algeria, it is safe to say that the imports for the year 1880 did not amount to more than $50,000,000, while the exports as given by the consul are comparatively correct.

The rule which applies to nearly all colonial trade, that the greater portion thereof is with the mother country, applies in a marked manner to the trade of Algeria. The volume and variety of the trade between France and this her greatest colony, will be seen by the tables of imports into and exports from France (from and to Algeria), translated from French official returns and reduced to American dollars.

The principal articles of import and export into and from Algeria, according to Consul Jourdan's returns, were as follows:

According to French official returns, the following is the direct trade between France and Algeria: