Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/645

 AIVEA AND POPULATION. 609

made an attempt at a settlement. It was at first but a very small patch of ground, between the Liesbeek River and Table Mountain, but when it was taken by" the English, in 179G, it had extended east to the Great Fish River, and north along the great mountain range of the Roggeveld to the Sneeuwberg and Bamboosberg. In 1803, at the peace of Amiens, it was given up by the English, who occupied it again in 180G. Since that time the boundary has been extended north to the Orange River, and east to the grea.t Kei and Indwe, an area of about 201,000 square miles. The present boundaries of the colony are : The Orange River on the north and north-east, which divides it from Great Namaqualand, Griqualand, and the Free State Republic ; on the east and north-east, the 'Tees, a small tributary of the Orange River, to its source, thence along the Stormbergen mountains, the Indwe and Great Kei Rivers, to the sea, which divide it from the Basuto territory and Kafirland ; on the south, it is bounded by the Indian Ocean ; on the west by the Atlantic. The colony is generally considered as forming two sec- tions, the Western and Eastern Provinces, each divided into 16 elec- toral divisions, which are again subdivided for fiscal and magisterial purposes.

The first regular census of the colony was taken in March 18 05, and gave the following result as to the numbers of the popula- tion : —

"White or European 181,592 :

Hottentot 81,598 '

Kaffir 100,536

Other coloured 132,655 i

Total 496,381

Since the census, the annexation of British Kaffraria added, ac- cording to returns dated Dec. 31, 1865 : —

White or European. . . . . . . 5,847

Coloured 63,930

Total 69,777

Total population of Cape Colony 566,158

The European inhabitants consist in part of the English authorities and English settlers ; but the majority are of Dutch, German, and French origin, mostly descendants of the original settlers. The coloured people are chiefly Hottentots and Kaffirs ; the remaining portion of the population consists of Malays, and so-called Africanders, the latter the offspring of black women and Dutch fathers. Very little communication takes place between the Kaffirs, Africanders, and Malays, each race holding the others in contempt.

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