134 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



ket, and the development of this great wheat- 

 growing country would be greatly accelerated 

 if it could be shown that the construction of a 

 railway from Manitoba to Fort York, and the 

 establishment of a line of steamers from Fort 

 York to Liverpool, were practicable. Last 

 year the Neptune left observing parties at six 

 stations : one on the north side of the entrance 

 to the strait, one on either side half-way 

 through, one on either side of the western end 

 of the strait, and one on the northern part of 

 the Labrador coast. The Alert found that one 

 of the stations had been deserted the day be- 

 fore her arrival. The officer in charge of the 

 station had left a note saying that his fuel and 

 provisions we.re running short, that game had 

 been scarce, the Esquimaux in the district were 

 dying of starvation, and he and his two men, 

 to save their own lives, had left in an open 

 boat for Fort (Shimo, in Niagara Bay. The 

 party were under the impression that the re- 

 lief expedition had met with some accident. 

 It was subsequently learned that the three men 

 had been picked up at Fort Chimo by the Hud- 

 son Bay Company's steamer Labrador. The 

 other stations were relieved, and from these 

 it was learned that on the north side of the 

 straits the ice moves continuously westward, 

 while on the south side a warmer current with 

 considerable open water moves eastward. The 

 straits apparently are never entirely frozen 

 over. The average length of the season of 

 possible navigation is still a matter of great 

 uncertainty and wide difference of opinion. 

 Dr. Bell, the geologist, naturalist, and medical 

 officer of the expedition, estimates the average 

 at between four and five months. Captain 

 Gordon, of the Alert, thinks the average much 

 shorter. The length of the season of open 

 water varies greatly from year to year, and so 

 too does the time of opening. Without signal- 

 stations and a telegraph system, the season of 

 navigation, always short, would be still further 

 shortened by uncertainty as to the dates of 

 its opening and closing. There was more ice 

 in the strait than usual this year. If there is 

 an average of anything like four or five months' 

 navigation, the railway at Fort York, for which 

 surveys are now being made, will doubtless be 

 built. 



APE OF GOOD HOPE, a British colony in 

 South Africa. The executive power is vested 

 in a Governor and an Executive Council ; the 

 legislative authority in a Legislative Council of 

 22 members, elected for seven years, and a 

 House of Assembly of 74 members, elected for 

 five years. Suffrage is limited by a property 

 qualification. By a law of 1882 both English 

 and Dutch can be read in the Parliament, in- 

 stead of English alone as heretofore. The 

 Governor is Sir Hercules G. R. Pvobinson, pre- 

 viously Governor of New South Wales and aft- 

 erward of New Zealand, whence he was trans- 

 ferred to the Cape in 1880. The office is com- 

 bined with that of High Commissioner for 

 South Africa. The Attorney-General and Pre- 



mier is Mr. Upington. The Agent-General in 

 London is Capt. Mills. 



Area and Population. The area of Cape Colo- 

 ny proper is 199,950 square miles. The popu- 

 lation in 1875 was 720,984, comprising 369,628 

 males and 351,356 females. The population 

 was divided in respect to race as follows: 

 whites, 236,783; Malays, 10,817; Hottentots, 

 98,561 ; Fingo, 73,506 ; Caffres, 214,133 ; mixed 

 and other, 87,184. The dependency of Griqua- 

 land West has an area of 12,065 square miles, 

 and had a population, in 1877, of 45,277. The 

 Frankeian districts, or Caffreland proper, have 

 an area of 12,065 square miles; population in 



1882, 260,907. Directly under imperial juris- 

 diction are Basutoland (see BASTTTOLAND), with 

 an area of 10,290 square miles and a popula- 

 tion of 128,000 souls ; Bechuanaland, includ- 

 ing Stellaland (see BECHIJANALAND) ; the pro- 

 tectorate of Pondoland ; and the port of Wai- 

 fish Bay, on the coast of Namaqualand, with 

 rayon of ten to sixteen miles. 



The majority of the white population of 

 South Africa are descendants of the original 

 Dutch, French, and German settlers for the 

 most part pastoral farmers. Agriculture is 

 pursued only incidentally. Most of the gra- 

 ziers own their farms, which are often from 

 3,000 to 15,000 acres in extent. 



Wine is largely produced ; the yield in the 

 census year was 4,484,665 gallons. The pro- 

 portion of English to Afrikanders or Cape 

 Dutch in Cape Colony is nine to eleven, in 

 Natal one to one, in the two Dutch republics 

 one to eight, in all South Africa three to five. 

 The Dutch land-owners have not been prosper- 

 ous, and most of their farms are heavily mort- 

 gaged. The mercantile and capitalist class is 

 composed of Englishmen and other Europeans. 

 The lucrative industries of diamond-digging, 

 copper-mining, and ostrich-farming are in the 

 hands of the English. 



Commerce. The values of the principal ex- 

 ports in 1883 were as follow : Wool, 1,603,- 

 140; ostrich-feathers, 931,380; grease-wool, 

 389,605 ; hides and skins, 436,050; copper- 

 ore, 454,113; Angora goat-hair, 271,804. 

 The total exports amounted to 4,408,898; 

 total imports, 6,470,391. The export of 

 diamonds, which is returned separately, was 

 in 1883 2,742,470. The total value since 

 1867 was 28,965,247. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. There are three 

 systems of railroads: the western, starting from 

 Cape Town ; the midland, starting from Port 

 Elizabeth ; and the eastern, starting from East 

 London. The total length completed in the 

 beginning of 1884 was 1,213 miles; the capital 

 outlay, 10,487,417; the gross earnings in 



1883, 915,274; the net earnings, 265,725. 

 The eastern system was completed to its ter- 

 minus at Aliwal North in August, 1885. The 

 only remaining portion of the lines authorized 

 by Parliament was the extension of the west- 

 ern line to the Diamond Fields. While the 

 Bechuanaland expedition was in the field, the 



