EXTENT OF THE COLONY. 
39 
these several divisions have not only been, as 
described, subdivided into the more numerous 
districts that now exist, but its boundaries have 
also been extended, at various times, to their 
present locality. 
Under the Dutch, the old Colony was, in 
extent, about 600 miles in length, by 320 in 
breadth ; and its inhabitants were reckoned at 
60,000, of whom 22,000 were Europeans, and 
the rest natives. 
It now encloses, within its extended boun- 
daries, upwards of 190,000 square miles of 
country, and in this territory the population 
according to the last parliamentary returns 
published, amounts, at the present, to 285,279 
souls ; of this number, two thirds are said to be 
coloured, still leaving the Europeans to number 
95,093. 
Of the present population of the Colony, how- 
ever, rather less than half are Europeans, but 
principally of Dutch extraction. The whole in- 
crease of numbers, since it has become a British 
colony, has been from 60,000 to 220,000 ; and, 
among these, the disproportionate growth of Eu- 
ropeans, from 22,000 to upwards of 100,000, 
has required, of necessity, the extended terri- 
tory before named. This has been obtained by 
gradual, but progressive enlargements, until 
the limits were fixed as now they exist. 
