CAPE TOWN 



1171 



CAPILLARIES 



capable of absorbing a great proportion of the 

 surplus population of European countries. 



Other Facts of Interest. No final estimate 

 of the cost is yet possible. In some parts the 

 cost of actual construction is very slight, while 

 in others it is abnormally heavy. All material 

 has to be conveyed great distances. To feed 

 the workmen is a task of tremendous diffi- 

 culty, and cost of medical attention is also one 

 of the large items of expense. In Rhodesia the 

 cost of construction was about $22,500 per 

 mile; north of the Zambesi it was in many 

 places considerably more. Just after the bridge 

 over the Zambesi was completed $40,000,000 

 had been expended on the southern portion; 

 a similar sum had probably been expended on 

 the northern end up to 1914, when the War of 

 the Nations brought work to a halt, largely 

 because of the demand for money in Europe. 

 The time taken for completion of the railroad 

 is considerably in excess of that first esti- 

 mated, but it is practically assured that by the 

 year 1925 the Cape of Good Hope will be 

 connected with the Mediterranean Sea by rail. 



The trunk line and most of the branches are 

 now in the hands of the governments of Egypt 

 and the Union of South Africa. A portion of 

 the route is now covered by water and there 

 remains only a gap of 600 miles not connected 

 by combined rail and water travel. The all- 

 rail route is intended entirely to eliminate 

 water transportation, with its necessary trans- 

 shipments. F.ST.A. 



CAPE TOWN, the capital of the Cape of 

 Good Hope Province, in the Union of South 

 Africa. It is beautifully situated on the lower 

 slopes of Table Mountain, overlooking Table 

 Bay, on the South Atlantic Ocean, less than a 

 hundred miles northwest of Cape Agulhas, the 

 southernmost point of the African continent. 

 It is a city of many attractions; the houses 

 and public buildings are in modern European 

 style, with the exception of a few typical old 

 Dutch dwellings, reminders of the days before 

 the great "trek," when the Dutch emigrated 

 farther north to establish themselves inde- 

 pendently. The streets are gay with a mass 

 of color, Malays, Hindus, Zulus, Kaffirs and 

 whites mingling in the crowded thoroughfares. 

 The city is well illuminated, has electric street 

 cars, telegraph and telephone service and good 

 railroad connections with the other provinces 

 of the Union. The harbor is excellent and is 

 protected by a breakwater over 4,000 feet 

 long, and the docks cover an area of over six- 

 teen acres. Its commerce is very extensive, as 



it is one of the principal gateways to South 

 Africa and is the depot of supplies for a vast 

 territory. 



The city has numerous parks and gardens 

 noted for their beautiful flowers and trees and 

 many fine buildings, among which are the 

 Houses of Parliament, the Supreme Court, the 

 Museum and a cathedral and some remarkable 

 mosques. The Cape Observatory, one of the 

 most important astronomical institutions in 

 the world, is situated here. The climate is 

 healthful, though dust storms are frequent and 

 sometimes serious. The suburbs are noted 

 for their beauty, and the surrounding country 

 is fertile and rich in natural resources. Popu- 

 lation, excluding suburbs, about 67,000, of 

 whom 29,933 are Europeans. 



CAPE VERDE, vurd, ISLANDS, a group of 

 ten volcanic islands and four islets in the At- 

 lantic Ocean, west of Africa, belonging to 

 Portugal. They are named after Cape Verde, 

 or Green Cape, on the African coast, 300 miles 

 distant. Their area is 1,480 square miles. The 

 islands produce rice, maize, coffee, tobacco, 

 sugar cane, nuts and various fruits. Most of 

 the inhabitants are negroes or of mixed race. 

 The chief town is Praia, a seaport on Sao 

 Thiago, or Santiago, the largest island. Porto 

 Grande, on Sao Vicente, is a coaling station 

 for steamers and has the best harbor in the 

 group. Until 1854 slavery was a settled insti- 

 tution in the islands, and it was not until 

 1876 that all slaves were declared free. Pop- 

 ulation in 1910, 150,000. 



CAPILLARIES, kap'ilariz. When you 

 prick through your skin with the point of even 

 the finest needle, blood oozes out. This is 

 because the needle has entered a minute blood 

 vessel. These small blood vessels are the cap- 

 illaries, and they connect the arteries with the 

 veins. Some of them are so small that only 

 one blood corpuscle at a time can pass through. 

 They are largest in the marrow of the bones 

 and smallest in the brain. The capillaries are 

 distributed all through the body and are so 

 numerous in the skin that they form a com- 

 plete network; you cannot penetrate the skin 

 anywhere without opening a capillary. 



The walls of the capillaries are very thin, 

 and the nutritive material in the blood passes 

 through them into the tissues. The waste 

 matter is also absorbed through them into the 

 blood. In the capillaries of the lungs the 

 blood receives oxygen and gives off carbonic 

 acid gas. See BLOOD; CIRCULATION OF THE 

 BLOOD; ARTERIES; VEINS. W.A.B. 



