leted will shorten the freight haul from the copper fields to London
by three thousand miles, as compared with the present Biera itinerary.

There is every indication that the Katanga will justify the early
confidence that Williams had in it and become one of the great
copper-producing centers of the world. Experts with whom I have talked
in America believe that it can in time reach a maximum output of 150,000
tons a year. The ores are of a very high grade and since the Union
Miniere owns more than one hundred mines, of which only six or seven are
partially developed, the future seems safe.

Copper is only one phase of the Katanga mineral treasure. Coal, iron,
and tin have not only been discovered in quantity but are being mined
commercially. Oil-shale is plentiful on the Congo River near
Ponthierville and good indications of oil are recorded in other places.
The discovery of oil in Central Africa would have a great influence on
the development of transportation since it would supply fuel for
steamers, railways, and motor transport. There is already a big oil
production in Angola and there is little doubt that an important field
awaits development in the Congo.

It is not generally realized that Africa today produces the three most
valuable of all known minerals in the largest quantities, or has the
biggest potentialities. The Rand yields more than fifty per cent of the
entire gold supply and ranks as the most valuable of all gold fields.
Ninety-five per cent of the diamond output comes from the Kimberley and
associated mines, German South-West Africa, and the Congo. The Katanga
contains probably the greatest reserve of copper in existence. Now you
can see why the eye of the universe is being focused on this region.

II

When I left Elizabethville I bade farewell to the comforts of life. I
mean, for example, such things as ice, bath-tubs, and running water.
There is enough water in the Congo to satisfy the most ardent teetotaler
but unfortunately it does not come out of faucets. Most of it flows in
rivers, but very little of it gets inside the population, white or
otherwise.

Speaking of water brings to mind one of the useful results of such a
trip as mine. Isolation in the African wilds gives you a new
appreciation of what in civilization is regarded as the commonplace
things. Take the simple matter of a hair-cut. There are only two barbers
in the whole Congo. One is at Elizabethville and the other at Kinshassa