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ous or ferruginous cement, sometimes so loosely that they are easily separated by a slight blow from a hammer.

CONGO FREE STATE, recognized by the European powers assembled at the conference of Berlin in 1885 (see AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION), has the following boundaries: The northern bank from the mouth of the Congo, with a strip of territory averaging about 60 m. in width, as far as Manyanga, situated about 240 m. from Banana, the entrance port of the river. At Manyanga the French territory commences and continues along the n. bank, passing Stanley pool as far as the Mobangi. The territory of the C. F. S. recommences at this river, and the boundary line runs along the left bank as far as the 4th parallel of n. lat., which then becomes the northern boundary of the central portion of the state. The southern boundary line commences on the river Congo at Wango-Wango, about 100 m. from its mouth; from thence it runs along the parallel of Nokki till it meets the river Kwa, after which it follows the 6th parallel of s. lat. Its eastern boundary is supposed to follow the water-shed of the Nile and Congo to the n.e., and to comprise, on the s.e., the basin of the Congo, where it does not conflict with previous interests.

The climate is purely tropical, the average temperature ranging between 78° and 82°. Malarial fevers, especially on the coast, are not infrequent. The interior is more healthy than the coast region. The principal products are ivory, palm-oil, palm kernels, indiarubber, various gums, ground-nuts, camwood, beeswax, orchilla, etc. No minerals of importance have been discovered. Wild coffee, tobacco, hill rice, and various kinds of maize and sorghum are cultivated on the upper river. Bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and other tropical fruits abound.

The inhabitants of the Congo basin belong to what is called the Bantu race. They are a happy, inoffensive people, not so dark as the Fan or Ethiopian, are split up into numberless tribal communities, and as they are born traders, they take very readily to commerce. The population is variously estimated at from 20-40,000,000. Their numerous dialects appear to have a common origin (see BANTU). Even the Swaheli language, spoken by the natives of Zanzibar, has much in common with the Kishi-Congo language of the w. coast. Of this typical member of the Bantu family, the rev. W. Holman Bentley has furnished a Dictionary and Grammar (Lond., 1888). The religion is mainly fetishism. Domestic slavery exists everywhere, but must not be confounded with the slave trade of the Arabs. The C. F. S. is governed by an administrative bureau at Brussels, consisting of three secretariats-control, finance, and foreign affairs-under the direct supervision of the king of the Belgians; also by an administrator on the Congo, who has his headquarters at Boma, 60 m. from the sea. The state has stations at Banana, Boma, Vivi, and Matadi on the lower Congo; at Lukungu, Issangila, Manyanga, Lutete on the middle Congo; and at Leopoldville, Kinshassa, Kwamouth, Lukolela, Equator, Bangala, and Stanley falls on the upper Congo. Also, there are stations on the Kasai, Luebo, and Luluaberg. All imports are free, and only such export duties are levied as are necessary to carry on the work of administration. The state has a coinage and postal service, and belongs to the postal union. A road has been surveyed between Matadi and Leopoldville, to be followed by a railway. The present income is derived from an endowment of $200,000 a year bestowed upon it by the king of the Belgians, and from the sums produced by export dues. The total value of exports to Gt. Britain in 1887 was about $1,929,690.

See AFRICA; also Stanley's The Congo (1885); Bentley's Life on the Congo (1887); Coquilhat's Sur le Haut Congo (1888). See illus., AFRICA, vol. Î., p. 140, fig. 12.

CONGO, the great river of equatorial Africa and the second largest river in the world, rises in lake Bangweolo, noticed by Lacerda in 1795 and other earlier Portuguese explorers, of which the Chambezi, traced by Livingstone, is the largest feeder, and into which also flow numerous streams from the Lokinga mountains on the s., is the reservoir from which this river issues under the name of the Luapula. Flowing in a northerly direction, it expands into lake Moero, on leaving which it is called, as far as Nyangwe, the Lualaba; from Nyangwe to Stanley falls (Arab, Zingatini) it is called the Livingstone; and from Stanley falls to its mouth it is called the C. Its length is estimated at over 3000 m., and the area drained at more than 1,300,000 sq.m. Its force and power are so great that no delta exists at its mouth, and during the rainy season discolored water and débris are carried more than 300 m. from land. Its largest tributaries are the Kassai, Kwa or Kwango, Juapa, Bosira, Ikelemba, Lulongo, and Lumami rivers on the s or left bank, and the Mobangi or Welle, Aruwimi, Mbura, Loika, Ngala, Lokinga Nkundji, etc., on the n. or right bank. Ocean steamers drawing not more than 18 ft. ascend to the foot of the first rapids, 110 m.; in the middle or cataract region, extending from Vivi to Stanley pool, 235 m., about 70 m. are navigable for small steamers or iron whale boats; the upper region, from Stanley pool to Stanley falls, has an extent of 1068 m. navigable by steamers drawing 4 ft. The length of navigable tributaries which enter in this section of the river has been calculated at over 3000 m. See AFRICA.

CONGOON', or KONGUN, a t. of Persia, on the gulf, 130 m. s. of Shiraz. Pop. 6000. CONGO SNAKE. See AMPHIUMA.

CONGREGATION (Lat con, together; grer, a flock), an assembly, generally a religious assembly; in its most ordinary use, an assembly of Christians met in one place for worIV.-8a.

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