The principal imports are textile fabrics, dress, &c., 4,598,6821.; and food, drinks, &c., 3,817,8287. in 1897.

The trade of the Cape (excluding specie) was distributed as follows during the last four years :

The value of the imports (of merchandise) and exports (colonial), excluding diamonds sent through by post office, at the leading ports has been as follows:

The value of the trade (excluding diamonds, bullion, and specie) with the United Kingdom, during five years is returned by the Board of Trade as follows:

produce to Colony 7,249,530 6,978, 128 9,016,997 10,687,173' 9,976,849

In the last five years the imports of wool-sheep and goats'-into the United Kingdom from Cape Colony were as follows :

Among the minor imports into Great Britain from the colony in 1897 were copper ore, of the value of 314,4187.; feathers, chiefly ostrich, of the value of 569,5387.; and skins and hides, of the value of 743,7907. The

exports of British produce to the colony comprised mainly apparel and haberdashery, of the value of 1,579,3497.; cotton manufactures, of the value of 797,9257.; iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 1,262,7271.; leather and saddlery, 630,4907. ; machinery and mill work, 808,0997.

Shipping and Navigation.

The number of vessels which entered inwards in 1897 was 1,093, of 2,694,370 tons (743, of 2,350,064 tons British), and coastwise 1,278, of 3,725,831 tons; the number cleared outwards was 1,089, of 2,709,795 tons (761 of 2,390,798 tons British), and coastwise 1,278, of 3,723,409 tons. Total registered shipping of colony, January 1, 1898 :-Steamers, 24, of 3,112 tons; sailing, 7, of 528 tons; total, 31, of 3,640 tons.

Internal Communications.

There are over 8,000 miles of road in the colony proper. There were lines of Government railway of a total length of 1,901 miles in the colony inDec. 1897, and 89 under construction. There are also 359 miles of private railways in the colony, and considerable lengths of private electric tramways in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Kimberley. From Kimberley the railway is carried northward to Mafeking, and thence to Buluwayo by a private company. The line from Vryburg to Mafeking (96 miles) was constructed by the British South Africa Company, and is worked by the Government of the Colony at the cost of the Company. Several extensions have been contracted for, and others are under survey. The capital expended on Government railways to the end of 1897 has been 19,323,1557., showing a cost per mile of 10,1657. The gross earnings in 1897 were 3,070,8977., and expenses 1,898,3167. The number of passengers conveyed in 1897 was 9,223,676, and tonnage of goods, 1,340,414 (of 2,000 lbs.).

The number of post offices in the colony at the end of 1897 was 934; the revenue in 1897 amounting to 481,1177., and the expenditure on whole postal telegraph service to 429,8447. The total number of letters posted in 1897 was 19,484,524, newspapers 9,168,960, post cards 633,796, books and sample packets 1,991,520, parcels 513,720.

The telegraphs in the colony comprised 6,609 miles of line, with 426 offices, at the end of 1897. The number of messages sent was 2,392,503 in 1897. The telegraphs were constructed at the expense of the Government, 781 miles of line having been taken over from the company in 1873. The revenue in 1897 was 148,5581. (exclusive of 137,565l., the value of Govern. ment messages), and expenditure 132,5867.

Banks.

The following are the statistics of the banks under trust laws in the colony :

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The coins in circulation within the colony are exclusively British. All accounts are kept in pounds, shillings, and pence.

The standard weights and measures are British, but the following old Dutch measures are still used:-Liquid Measure: Leaguer = about 128 imperial gallons; half aum = 15 imperial gallons; anker = 7 imperial gallons. Capacity: Muid = 3 bushels.

The general surface measure is the old Amsterdam Morgen, reckoned equal to 2.11654 acres; 1,000 Cape lineal feet are equal to 1,033 British imperial feet.

Agent-General of Cape Colony in Great Britain.-The Hon. Sir David Tennant, K.C.M.G.

Secretary.-Spenser Brydges Todd, C.M.G.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning the Cape Colony.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions. Imp. 4. London.

Blue-book on Native Affairs. Annual. Cape Town.

The various Blue-books and Correspondence relating to the Cape and South Africa generally, published at intervals by the Home Government.

Cape of Good Hope Statistical Register. Annual. Cape Town.

The Cape of Good Hope Civil Service List, edited by E. F. Kilpin. Annual. Cape Town. Results of Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1891. Cape Town, 1892.

Colonial Office List. Annual. London.

Financial Statement for 1898-99. Cape Town, 1898.

Report of Director

Illustrated Official Handbook. History, Productions, and Resources of the Cape of Good Hope and South Africa. By J. Noble. London and Cape Town, 1893. Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope: Journal, 1699-1732.

H C. V. Leibbrandt. Cape Town, 1897.

Edited by

Reports of the various Government Departments for 1897. Cape Town, 1898. Statistical Abstract for the several Colonies and other Possessions of the United Kingdom. Annual. London.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Argus Annual and South African Directory for 1896. Cape Town, 1895.

Brown (A. S. and G. G.), Guide to South Africa. London, 1897.

Bryce (J.), Impressions of South Africa. London, 1897.

Bryden (H. A.), The Victorian Era in South Africa. London, 1897.

Campbell (C. T.), British South Africa: A History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1795-1825. London, 1897.

Chalmers (R.), A History of Currency in the British Colonies. London, 1893.

Ferryman (A. F. Mockler), Imperial Africa. Vol. III. British South Africa. London,

1898.

Fritsch (Dr. Gust), Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika's ethnographisch und anatomisch beschrieben. 4. Breslau, 1872.

Froude (J. A.), Oceana. London, 1886.

Greswell (W.), Our South African Empire. 2 vols. London, 1885.

Holub (Dr. Emil), Seven Years in South Africa. London, 1881.

Johnston (Sir Harry), The Colonisation of Africa. Cambridge, 1599.

Keane (A. H.), Africa, Vol. II. South Africa. London, 1895.

Kinsky (Count C.), The Diplomatist's Handbook for Africa. London, 1898.

MacNab (F.), On Velt and Farm in Cape Colony, Bechuanaland, Natal and the Tran vaal. London, 1897.

Mackenzie (John), Austral Africa; Losing it or Ruling it. 2 vols. London, 1887.
Martineau (John), Life of Sir Bartle Frere. 2 vols. London, 1895
Nicholson (G.), Fifty Years in South Africa. London, 1898.

Noble (John), The Cape and South Africa. Cape Town, 1878.

Ortroz (F. Van), Conventions Internationales Concervant L'Afrique. Brussels. 1898.
Rees (W. L.), Life of Sir George Grey, K.C.B. 2 vols. 8. London, 1893.
Reunert (Th.), Diamonds and Gold in South Africa. 8. London, 1893.

Silver (S. W.), Handbook to South Africa, including the Cape Colony, Natal, the Diamond Fields, &c. S. London, 1880.

Statham (F. R.), Blacks, Boers, and British. London, 1881.

Theal (G. M.), History of South Africa 1486-1872. 5 vols. 8. London, 1888-93.

Trollope (Anthony), South Africa. 2 vols. 8. London, 1878.

Wallace (R.), Farming Industries of Cape Colony. 8. London, 1896.

Wilmot (A) The Story of the Expansion of South Africa. 2nd edition. London, 1897.-Book of South African Industries. Cape Town, 1892.-History of our own Times in South Africa. 2 vols. London, 1898.

Worsfold (W. B.), The Story of South Africa. London, 1898.
Younghusband (F.), South Africa of To-day. London, 1898.

CENTRAL AFRICA (BRITISH).

(NORTHERN RHODESIA.)

British Central Africa comprises the territory north of the Zambezi, bounded on the east and west by the Portuguese possessions, and on the north by German East Africa and the Congo Independent State. The whole of this tract of country, with the exception of the Central Africa Protectorate to the south and west of Lake Nyasa, is (under the name of Northern Rhodesia) included in the field of operations of the British South Africa Company. [For boundaries see STATESMAN'S YEAR-BOOK for 1898.] Its area is about 251,000 square miles with a population of about 650,000. There are about 350 Europeans, nearly all being British subjects. The region lying between the Lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika, Mweru, and Bangweolo, is divided into five districts: Chambezi, Tanganyika, Mweru, Luapula, and Loangwa. The administrative headquarters have hitherto been at Blantyre, in the Protectorate, but are about to be transferred to a central position on the Tanganyika plateau The most important centres are Fife, the station of the African Lakes Corporation, and Abercorn, both on the Stevenson road; but each of the districts contains one or more stations for collectors and police, where arms and ammunition are kept. By an arrangement with the Imperial Government, police work in Northern Rhodesia will be undertaken by the armed forces of the British Central Africa Protectorate.

The northern plateau is stated to be healthy. It is open and wellwatered and suitable for cattle. Wheat and European fruits are grown, and the fibre plants which abound in the region provide material for a new industry which promises satisfactory results. Land has been taken up for experiments in coffee growing, and success, as in the Protectorate, is confidently expected. Gold has been found in the south of this region, and coal on the shore of Lake Nyasa on land belonging to the Company, though beyond its sphere of administration.

The Stevenson road for a distance of 140 miles between Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika has recently been re-made. External communication is mainly by steamers on Lake Nyasa, and the telegraph line which has been continued from Zomba in the Protectorate to the north end of the Lake whence it is being carried to Lake Tanganyika, along the western shore of which it will be continued.

On the west side of British Central Africa on the Upper Zambezi is Barotseland, a populous, well-watered region, adapted for pasture, or for the cultivation of rice, wheat, oats, coffee, or rubber. At Lialui, the king's kraal, the Company has a Resident-Commissioner (Major R. T. Coryndon), and a monthly postal service by foot-runners between Lialui and Bulawayo has been organised. There are five French Protestant Mission stations in Barotseland, the liquor traffic is interdicted, and the slave trade has been suppressed. Representative of the British South Africa Company in the eastern part of Northern Rhodesia.-Robert E. Codrington.

CENTRAL AFRICA PROTECTORATE (BRITISH). The British Central Africa Protectorate, constituted as such on May 14, 1891, lies along the southern and western shores of Lake Nyasa, and extends towards the Zambezi. It is administered under the Foregn Office by H.M. Commissioner, the cost of administration being met by a grant in aid from the Imperial Government supplemented by the local revenue. The area of the Protectorate is 42,217 square miles, divided into twelve districts, in each of which are two or more administrative officials. In 1897 the population consisted of 300 Europeans (260 British), 263 Indians, and 844,995 natives, the native population being estimated from the number of huts according to the collectors' returns, three persons being counted to each hut. The chief town is Blantyre, in the Shiré Highlands, with a population of about 100 Europeans and 6,000 natives. In the same region, or on the Shiré river, are Zomba (the seat of the Administration), Chiromo, Port Herald, Chikwawa, Katunga, Fort Anderson, Fort Lister, Mpimbi, Liwonde, Fort Sharpe, and other settlements; on Lake Nyasa are Fort Johnston, Fort Maguire, Livingstonia, Rifu, Kotakota, Bandawe, Nkata, Likoma, Deep Bay, and Karonga. The Shiré province contains most of the European population of the Protectorate. Good roads are being made in all directions, and life and property are safe. Six missionary societies are at work. The climate, though not salubrious for European settlers in general, is healthier than the greater part of tropical Africa. Within the Shiré province coffee planting has been greatly extended within the last few years, about 2,000 acres having been cleared and planted in the year 1896-97. The crop for 1897 is estimated at over 400 tons. Rice is grown to perfection, and the cultivation of wheat, recently introduced, promises to be successful. Oats and barley thrive on the uplands, where Merino sheep and Natal ponies seem also likely to prosper. The trade ports are Port Herald and Chiromo (Lower Shiré), and Kotakota (Lake Nyasa). The trade for the year ended March 31, 1897, was: Imports, 78,6557.; exports, 23,2997.; 1898, imports, 86, 4287.; exports, 27, 4377. The chief imports were cotton goods, machinery, provisions, hardware, and agricultural implements; the chief exports, ivory and coffee (22,4027.). The revenue for 1897-98 amounted to 24,5387. (8,9667. from customs); the expenditure to 65,7157.

The armed force necessary to maintain order and to check the slave trade consists of a corps of 185 Sikhs from the Indian Army, and 800 native trained troops. There are also 200 district police. This force has English officers and Sikh and native non-commissioned officers. An armament of artillery, with mountain guns, has been supplied by the Imperial Government. There is also a naval force on the rivers Zambezi and Shiré and on Lake Nyasa, consisting of the five gunboats with English officers and seamen. There are five naval posts at intervals from Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi, to Deep Bay on the northwest coast of Lake Nyasa.

Communication with the coast is by H.M. gunboats and by the river steamers of the African Lakes Company, Sharrer's Zambezi Traffic Company, and the African International Flotilla Company. These vessels meet at Chinde the ocean-going steamers of various British, German, and Portuguese Companies. Chinde is situated on the only navigable mouth of the Zambezi, and at this port the Portuguese Government has granted a small piece of land, called the British Concession,' where goods in transit for British Central Africa may be landed and re-shipped free of customs duty, and in addition a large area for residential purposes styled 'the Extra Concession.'

A joint Anglo-German Delimitation Commission assembled on Lake Nyasa in June, 1898, and proceeded to definitely mark out the boundary