The climate is very healthy and generally pleasant, though in summer the heat is great in some parts. The mean temperature for the year at Cape Town is about 62°. The climate of the dry and elevated inland districts is con sidered remarkably suitable for persons of con sumptive tendency, and many have been at tracted to the colony on this account.
Except along the coast line, especially the southeast coast district, where there are exten sive forests, timber is scarce. There are up ward of a hundred different kinds of woods, however; many of them extensively employed for such purposes as house-building, wagon making and furniture- and cabinet-work. With irrigation, trees can be grown anywhere. The aloe and the myrtle attain a great size.
The quadrupeds of the province comprise the African elephant, still found in the forests of the south coast region; the buffalo, equally restricted in locality; the leopard, jackal, hyena, numerous antelopes, baboon, aardvark, etc. Lions, at one time numerous, are not now to be met with in the colony, nor is the giraffe. The birds include vultures, eagles and other Rap tares (the most remarkable of which is the serpent-eater), pelicans, flamingoes, and most important of all, the ostrich, now bred as a do mestic animal for the sake of its feathers, those plucked from an adult bird in a season being sometimes worth from $50 to $90. Other na tive animals are large snakes, the venomous cobra di capello and scorpion. Along the coast whales and seals abound, and salt- and fresh-water fish are plentiful.
The province is better adapted for pasturage than for agriculture, but wheat, maize and other cereals can be grown almost everywhere, the only drawback to their cultivation being the want of moisture in certain localities and in certain seasons. In some years a surplus of grain is left for exportation; in others grain has to be imported. All kinds of European vegetables and pot-herbs, and all the fruits of temperate climates, such as apples, pears, plums, peaches, melons, apricots, walnuts, almonds, oranges, limes, etc., thrive excellently, and fruits, dried and preserved, are exported. The vine is cultivated and some excellent wines (notably those of Constantia) are made. The colony is said to be particularly well suited for grape-culture, and the vines produce heavier crops than are known almost anywhere else. Viticulture, it is believed, is yet only in its in fancy, though there are 67,000,000 vine-stocks. The colonial government had up to the end of 1911 alienated 140,000,000 acres.
Sheep-raising is the most important indus try, and wool the chief export (although sur passed in value by diamonds). The amount of this article exported to the United Kingdom in 1913 was 92,813,330 pounds. Most attention is now devoted to the breeding of pure merinoes, the consequence being a great improvement in the wool. Goats are also bred, both the na tive and the Angora, and the export of goats' wool or hair to Great Britain was valued at $4,600,000 (1913). Cattle-breeding is carried on to some extent, especially along the coasts and in the eastern and northern districts.
There are no manufactures of any import ance, and consequently the imports consist largely of manufactured goods, chiefly from Great Britain. The exports to the United Kingdom (1913) totaled $47,000,0000, and the imports (British and foreign) to nearly $60, 000,000. The export of diamonds in the same year was over $60,000;000. This industry suf
fered great disorganization during the European War. The other exports of importance be sides wool, are ostrich feathers, copper ore, skins and hides. There are 3,813 miles of rail way in operation. Lighthouses have been built round the coast and harbor works constructed.
The coinage is that of Great Britain, as are also the weights and measures, except that for land, the morgen=2.116 acres is employed.
On 31 May 1910 the colony, under the name of the province of the Cape of Good Hope, was merged in the Union of South Africa (q.v.).
The European population consists in part of English, Scottish and Irish settlers and their descendants, but the majority is of Dutch origin (see Bosas), with a considerable number of German origin. The colored people are chiefly Hottentots, Kaffirs, Bechuanas, Basutos, Griquas, Malays and a mixed race, the off-. spring of black women and white fathers. The laborers are chiefly Hottentots and Kaffirs. The prejudices and ill feeling once subsisting between the different nationalities of which the population is made up are now fast disappear ing. Education is advancing, though it is not compulsory. The returns show a steady in crease in the numbers of children of all classes receiving instruction. For the higher education there are seven colleges, besides a university (at Cape Town) incorporated in 1873. The colleges have each a staff of instructors in classics, mathematics, science, etc., but the uni versity is merely an examining and degree conferring institution. The religious bodies in the colony with the greatest number of adher ents are the Dutch Reformed Church, the Church of England, the Methodist Independ ents and Presbyterians, in the order here given. There is no Established Church.
The chief towns of the colony ranking after Cape Town are Port Elizabeth and Kimberley (q v.).
The Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1486, and rounded by Vasco da Gama in 1497, but was first colonized by the Dutch under Van Riebeek in 1652. Re ducing the Hottentot inhabitants to slavery, or driving them beyond the mountains, they ex tended the Cape settlement over a pretty large area. But the colony was under the rule of the Dutch East India Company, and owing to their restrictive regulations, made very slow progress. It was captured by the British in 1795, restored at the Peace of Amiens (1802), and again taken in 1806, Sir David Baird being sent at the head of an expedition to take pos session of it, and so prevent it from falling into the hands of the French. From this time it has remained in the possession of the British, to whom it was formally assigned in 1815, along with Dutch Guiana, Holland receiving in return £6,000,000. It now began to advance in prosperity, but the progress of the colony was greatly retarded by the Kaffir wars of 1834, 1846 and 1851-53. Subsequently the area of the colony was greatly enlarged by the succes sive annexations. The most important of these annexations were: British Kaffraria (1866); Griqualand West (1876); Kaffraria proper, or the Transkeian districts (Transkei proper, Griqualand East and Tembuland), including nearly the whole of the region between the Kei and the Natal border (1875-80); Pondoland (1894)), and part of Bechuanaland (1915). Pop. (1911) 2,564,965, of which 582,377 were Europeans. See SOUTH AFRICA, UNION OF,