AFEICA. 



Europe during the latter part of August, took 

 out diamonds valued at more than 10,000 

 sterling. The arrivals at the fields have con- 

 tinually increased ever since, the new-comers 

 averaging about 1,000 per week. A regularly 

 organized community of diggers has been 

 formed at a short distance from the mission 

 station at Pniel. A set of regulations has been 

 drawn up, and is enforced by a vigilance com- 

 mittee elected by the white community located 

 there. It is believed diamonds to the value 

 of 500,000 sterling were found during Sep- 

 tember and October.* The diggers were all 

 well-armed, and although some extensive Kaf- 

 fre raids had been threatened, nothing of any 

 serious consequence had transpired up to the 

 latest dates. 



Official papers, respecting the establishment 

 of a responsible government for the Cape 

 Colony and the withdrawal of troops from the 

 colony, were issued in London on June 13th. 

 Earl Granville,. in reply to an address from the 

 House of Assembly sent to him by Sir Philip 

 "Wodehouse, holds out no hope that the English 

 Government will sanction any further delay in 

 the removal of the troops beyond that already 

 determined upon, and he earnestly hopes that 

 the Cape Parliament will address itself seri- 

 ously to the task of placing the finances on a 

 proper footing, and making further provision 

 for the defence of the colony. 



Several attempts at insurrection were made 

 in the French possessions in Algeria, as well as 

 in the Senegal settlements ; but all of them were 

 quelled without difficulty. 



The King of Combo entered a formal protest 

 against the proposed transfer of the Gambia 

 by England to the French, urging that the land 

 does not belong to the English Government, 

 but to himself, and that it was only rented to 

 the English Government by his ancestors. 



Simultaneous with this protest, numerous 

 and earnest manifestations of the dislike of 

 the English colonists to a transfer 'to the 

 French reached the home Government, and a 

 petition was sent to Lord Granville, embody- 

 ing the views of the prominent settlers in the 

 country. It appears that some fifty years ago 

 the English Government commenced to send 

 discharged soldiers from the West-India regi- 

 ments to the Island of St. Mary, and to that 

 part of the main-land known as British Combo. 

 These people, living under English laws and 

 protection, have brought up their families in 

 feelings of loyalty to England and liking for 

 her institutions. By their quiet habits and 

 steady industry they have set an example to 

 the surrounding natives, which has not been 



* Late advices from England and Holland, it is but just 

 to state, throw considerable doubt on the genuineness of 

 these diamonds. Some of the most eminent experts pro- 

 nounce them quartz crystals, of remarkable perfection 

 and beauty, but still only quartz. The fact probably is, 

 that a few genuine diamonds have been found, though for 

 the most part not of the first water, but that the greater 

 part of the supposed gems were in reality only quartz 

 crystals, which are often found iu the vicinity of diamond 

 deposits. 



lost on them; they have thus directly and in- 

 directly contributed to the present prosperity 

 of the settlement. They are unacquainted with 

 French institutions, and would submit to al- 

 most any taxation in order to remain under 

 the British flag. 



The population of Morocco is variously esti- 

 mated at from two and a half to five millions. 

 According to the French consul in Mogador, 

 M. A. Baumier, it is from four to five millions. 

 M. Baumier is satisfied that the country is 

 very thinly populated. During a six-days' jour- 

 ney on the main road connecting the principal 

 seaport with the capital of the country, he did 

 not meet over two hundred people. In Alge- 

 ria, by an imperial decree of December 10, 1868, 

 thirty -nine districts of the province of Constan- 

 tine, which had been previously separated from 

 the same and incorporated with the military 

 district, were reunited with the province, in- 

 creasing its area to 2,074 English square miles, 

 with a population of 150,056, of which 55,056 

 were Europeans and 95,000 natives. The Cath- 

 olic missionaries, in their " Annals of the Propa- 

 gation of the Christian Faith," compute the pop- 

 ulation of Tunis at 15,553 Eoman, and 300 

 Greek Catholics, 25 Protestants, 400,000 Jews, 

 and 2,000,000 Mohammedans, making a total 

 of 2,415,878. It is evident however, that the 

 figures concerning the Jews and Mohammedans 

 are vague estimates. Mr. Amos Perry, consul 

 of the United States at Tunis until September, 



1867, is of opinion that the population is not 

 below 1,500,000 and not above 2,000,000. The 

 population of Egypt proper was stated by the 

 Sanitary Commission, on April 21, 1868, to be 

 4,976,230. The Year-Book of Senegal and its 

 dependencies for 1869 states the population of 

 the French possessions in Senegambia at 201,- 

 012, exclusive of 45,000 inhabitants in two 

 provinces under French protection, and of the 

 population of Bandon, Kamera and a part of 

 Casamance, which, although not exactly under 

 French rule, are governed by native chiefs se- 

 lected by the French Government. The popu- 

 lation of the Portuguese possessions, actually 

 under Portuguese rule, is officially reported 

 in 1870 at. 8,500. The Journal of the Statis- 

 tical Society of London (March, 1869) reports 

 the population of Natal at 250,808, of whom 

 17,971 were whites, and 232,837 colored; the 

 colored population comprised 6,298 Indian coo- 

 lies. Since 1855 no census has been taken in 

 the Orange Free State. The Friend of the Free 

 State and Bloemfontein Gazette of August 14, 



1868, estimates the white population at 37,000, 

 of which 2,000 are British subjects, while the 

 remainder consist of Boers, Germans, and 

 Dutch. 



According to the GcograpTiisches JaTirbucJi 

 Of Behm (vol. iii., Gotha, 1870), a standard 

 work on geography and statistics, the popula- 

 tion and area of the divisions and subdivisions 

 of Africa* were in 1869 as follows: 



* The indented names indicate subdivisions. 



