Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/62

50 retains the features given to it by the earlier settlers, the houses being of brick faced with stucco, with flat roofs and cornices and raised platforms called &quot; stoeps &quot; in front ; but these are rapidly giving place to edifices of more modern design. Be sides the castle, which is now useless in a military point of view, being com manded by the sur rounding heights, the public buildings in clude the Govern ment House (a mod ernized Dutch build ing), the supreme courts, the art gal lery, the exchange, the post-office, and the public library (with upwards of 40,000 volumes) and museum, inaugur ated in 1860, perhaps the finest edifice in the city. New par liament houses are being built on a magnificent scale, the legislature having voted a large sum for this purpose. Cape Town is the Beat of bishops of the Anglican and Eoman churches. Among its ecclesias tical buildings the Roman Catholic cathedral, a Gothic structure, is the most conspicuous. A university has been erected, and there are several educational institutions. The botanical gardens, in the centre of the town, serve the purposes of a park, and have been of great value in the introduction to the colony of many trees, flowering plants, and fruits. Cape of Good Hope. The town is a municipality governed by a mayor and council. Its population, amounting in 1875 to. nearly 33,000, is formed of many races ; people of Dutch descent are still more numerous than British, but all European nations are represented. The &quot; coolie &quot; or labouring popu lation comprises the descendants of negro slaves, and half- bred Hottentots and Kaffres; the Malays form a numerous class. Cape Town is the starting-point of the Great Western Railway, which at present reaches Wellington, and is being extended towards Beaufort; and from the town communica tions are maintained by post, cart, or waggon, with all chief points in the interior. Besides being a market for home produce, Cape Town imports manufactured articles for the greater part of the western provinces, and has a large export trade in copper, wool, wine, fish, and fruit ; the construction of a breakwater and docks in Table Bay having rendered shipping more secure and facilitated traffic. Several lines of steamers maintain regular com munication with Cape Town both from Europe and from India, passing along the eastern and western sides of the continent. The scenery round the head of Table Bay is very striking. Table Mountain, with its branches the Devil s Peak and Lion s Head, rises in a massive wall immediately at the back of Cape Town. During the prevalence of south-east winds it is covered by a dense whitish cloud, partially overlapping its side like a table-cloth. Along the base of this mountain, where lie the suburban villages of Ron- debosch, Claremont, Wynberg, and Constantia, the land is covered with luxuriant vegetation, including oaks and firs, with gardens of flowers and shrubs (especially of heaths) and vineyards, and is studded with villas. The Royal Observatory of the Cape, established in 1820 one of the most valuable of those supported by the British Government is three miles east of Cape Town.

1em.  

 CAPE HAYTIEN, or, a town on the north coast of the island of San Domingo in the republic of Hayti, about 19 46 N. lat. and 72 14 W. long. Its original Indian name was Guarico ; and it has also been known at various times as Cabo Santo, Cap Francois, and Cape Henry, while it is familiarly designated as simply Le Cap. It is situated at the foot of a fine range of mountains on a small bay, and possesses a secure and commodious harbour. Its trade is principally with the United States. It has declined considerably from the flourishing condition to which it attained during the French supremacy, when it was the seat of an archbishop, and possessed a university and academies of music and painting, but it is still one of the chief towns of the republic, and is the seat of a civil and criminal court and a tribunal of commerce. It was originally founded by Spaniards from the island of Tortuga, and possesses an eventful history. In 1695 it was burnt by the English; and shortly after the revocation of edict of Nantes it received a French colony. In 1791 it was captured and burnt by Toussaint L Ouverture ; and in almost all the revolutions of the island since that date it has suffered severely. In 1842 it was almost destroyed by an earth quake. The troops of Salnave, who were in possession in 1865, having insulted the British flag, Captain Wake bombarded the town and blew up the arsenal. In 1869 the followers of Saget made themselves masters of the place. The population at present is estimated at 12,000 ; but in last century it is said to have exceeded 38,000.  CAPE VERD ISLANDS. This group, situated in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, between the parallels of 14 20 and 17 20 N. lat., and 22 20 and 25 30 W. long., consists of ten islands, viz. : Sant Antao (commonly miswritten St Antonio), Sao Vicente, Santa Luzia, Sao Nicolao, Sal, Boa Vista, Maio, San Thiago (the St Jago of the English), Fogo, and Brava, besides a few uninhabited islets. They form a sort of broken crescent, with the con cavity towards the west. The last four constitute the leeward (Sotovento) group and the other six the windward (Barlavento). The distance between the coast of Africa and the nearest island (Boa Vista) is about 200 miles. Their total area is estimated at 1240 square geographical miles. They belong to Portugal, and derive their name (Ilhas do Cabo Verde), frequently but erroneously written Cape de Verd Islands, from the African promontory off which they lie, known as Cape Verd, or the Green Cape. The archipelago was partially discovered in 1441 by an expedi tion fitted out by Dom Henrique of Portugal, under Antonio and Bartolomeo di Nolli ; but no settlement was made on the islands till after the voyage of Cada Mosto in 1456. 