amers--chiefly British and German--maintain regular communication
with Europe, the British mail boats taking sixteen days on the journey.
By its railway connexions Cape Town affords the quickest means of
reaching, from western Europe, every other town in South Africa. In the
import trade Cape Town is closely rivalled by Port Elizabeth, but its
export trade, which includes diamonds and bar gold, is fully 70% of that
of the entire colony. In 1898, the year before the beginning of the
Anglo-Boer war, the volume of trade was:--Imports L5,128,292, exports
L15,881,952. In 1904, two years after the conclusion of the war the
figures were:--imports L9,070,757; exports L17,471,760. In 1907 during a
period of severe and prolonged trade depression the imports had fallen
to L5,263,930, but the exports owing entirely to the increased output of
gold from the Rand mines had increased to L37,994,658; gold and diamonds
represented over L37,000,000 of this total. The tonnage of ships
entering the harbour in 1887 was 801,033. In 1904 it had risen to
4,846,012 and in 1907 was 4,671,146. The trade of the port in tons was
1,276,350 in 1899 and 1,413,471 in 1904. In 1907 it had fallen to
658,721.

_Defence._--Cape Town, being in the event of the closing of the Suez
Canal on the main route of ships from Europe to the East, is of
considerable strategic importance. It is defended by several batteries
armed with modern heavy guns. It is garrisoned by Imperial and local
troops, and is connected by railway with the naval station at Simon's
Town on the east of the Cape Peninsula.

_Population._--The Cape electoral division, which includes Cape Town,
had in 1865 a population of 50,064, in 1875 57,319, in 1891 97,238, and
in 1904 213,167, of whom 120,475 were whites. Cape Town itself had a
population in 1875 of 33,000, in 1891 of 51,251 and in 1904 of 77,668.
Inclusive of the nearer suburbs the population was 78,866 in 1891 and
170,083 in 1904. Of the inhabitants of the city proper 44,203 were
white (1904). Of the coloured inhabitants 6561 were Malays; the
remainder being chiefly of mixed blood. The most populous suburbs in
1904 were Woodstock with 28,990 inhabitants, and Wynberg with 18,477.

_History and Local Government_.--Cape Town was founded in 1652 by
settlers sent from Holland by the Netherlands East India Co., under Jan
van Riebeek. It came definitely into the possession of Great Britain in
1806. Its political history is indistinguishable fr