000, of whom 1128 were
whites.

_Origin of the Name._--The name Camaroes was first given by the
Portuguese discoverers of the 15th and 16th centuries to a large bay or
estuary, lying south-east of a great mountain close to the sea, met with
after passing the Niger delta. This estuary they called the Rio dos
Camaroes (the river of Prawns), from the abundance of the crustacea
found therein. The name Camaroes was also used to designate the
neighbouring mountains. The English usage until nearly the end of the
19th century was to confine the term "the Cameroons" to the mountain
range, and to speak of the estuary as the Cameroons river. Locally it
was often called "the Bay." On their acquisition of the country in 1884
the Germans extended the use of the name in its Teutonic
form--Kamerun--to the whole protectorate.

_Physical Features._--Cameroon forms the north-west corner of the great
Central African plateau. This becomes evident in its eastern section,
where are wide-spreading plains, which farther west assume an undulating
character, and gradually merge into a picturesque mountain range. This
range, running from north to south, is flanked by a parallel and lower
range in the west, with a wide valley between. In the north-west the
Upper Guinea mountains send their eastern spurs across the boundary, and
from a volcanic rift, which runs south-west to north-east, the Cameroon
peak towers up, its summit 13,370 ft. high. This mountain, whose
south-western base is washed by the Atlantic, is the highest point on
the western side of Africa, and it alone of the great mountains of the
continent lies close to the coast. From any vantage point, but
especially from the sea, it presents a magnificent spectacle, while some
30 m. westward rises Clarence peak, the culminating point of Fernando
Po. With an area, on an isolated base, of 700 to 800 sq. m., Cameroon
mountain has but two distinct peaks, Great Cameroon and Little Cameroon
(5820 ft.), which is from foot to top covered with dense forest. The
native designation of the highest peak is Mongo-ma-Loba, or the Mountain
of Thunder, and the whole upper region is usually called Mongo-mo-Ndemi,
or the Mountain of Greatness. On the principal summit there are a group
of craters. In 1909 the mountain was in eruption and huge streams of
lava were ejected. Inland the Chebchi and Mandara mountains indicate the
direction and extent of the rift.

The mountains of the plateau sweep grandly round