CAMEROONS, or 'CAME RUN, a German colonial possession in West Africa having originally an area of square miles, which was increased in 1911 to 295,000 square miles by France agreeing to cede Kongo territory as compensation for loss of German influence in Morocco. It is bounded by Lake Chad on the north, French Kongo on the east and south, Spanish Guinea on the south west and the Bight of Biafra and Nigeria on the west. From the sea to Lake Chad it meas ures over 700 miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west is 600. The territory re ceives its name from the Cameroon River, which enters the Bight of Biafra by an estuary nearly 20 miles wide. The swamps along the banks of the river render this district unhealthy for Europeans. Northwest of the river lies the volcanic group called the Cameroon Mountains, which rise to a height of 13,760 feet. The lower slopes of these mountains are more healthy and are covered with ebony, redwood and palm trees. More important than the Cameroon River is the much longer Mbam, entering the Bight of Biafra a little south of the former, and navigable for 40 miles inland to Idia.
Among cultivated plants are the banana, oil» palm, cocoanut, groundnut, manioc, yam, sweet potato and colocasia; of more recent introduc tion are cacao, coffee, tobacco, etc. Among the
minerals are gold and iron. There is a consid erable trade in cotton, ivory and oil. The inhabitants are almost entirely of the Bantu stock, widely diffused throughout the more southerly portion of the continent, and many of them have almost regular European fea tures. The coast of the Cameroon territory was annexed by Germany in 1884, and the in terior was afterward acquired, the whole hay a a situated We seat 3,000 feet above sea-level near the coast. At Duala there was a commodious floating dock; 150 miles of railroad had been constructed and there was wireless communication with Berlin through Togoland. The colony had never raised sufficient revenue to meet its expendi ture, the last figures of which were £882,500, with receipts £361,500, imports #1,712,000 and exports £1,165,000.
In August 1914 operations were begun by the British against the Cameroons, which cul minated in January 1916 when 14,000 native troops and 900 officers withdrew over the south western frontier into Spanish Guinea and there gave up their arms. A month later the northern garrison capitulated.