80 (No. 99 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS should not be a flourishing native industry, as in the Gold Coast.

Coco -nut. — Though this palm will flourish as far inland as Stanleyville, it usually grows best near the sea. Hitherto its cultivation has been neglected . The Mayumbe district should be very suitable. The demand for coir and copra is always brisk.

Coffee. - Several species grow wild in the Welle and northern parts of the Congo, as well as in the Kasai Sankuru region . Robusta coffee ( Coffea robusta ), one of the most successful and widely cultivated species in tropical Africa, is a native of the Congo. It has been very successful in Java, where it now occupies thousands of acres, largely interplanted with Pará rubber. It is said to have been less successful in Ceylon. It will grow from sea-level up to 2,000 ft. It is being successfully experimented with in several parts of the Congo, where unsuccessful State planta tions of Funtumia are being interplanted with it, the rubber trees being utilized for shade for the young coffee-plants. There is some likelihood of the Congo becoming an important coffee-producing centre .

Cotton . — The cultivation of cotton is at present almost unknown in the Congo. Many experiments have recently been carried out by the Administration , and it would appear that the Manyema, upper Kasai , and Lomami districts and the central Welle basin are the most suitable areas. The cultivation of cotton in these districts should in time become one of the most flourishing of native industries, provided that educa tional methods are successful and railway facilities improve.

Dura or durrah ( Sorghum ), known also as Guinea corn, Kaffir -corn , millet, &c. , is grown extensively only in the northern and north -eastern Welle regions, where it is used for local consumption.