COMMERCE. Natal is as yet without manufac turing industries. Its maritime position in close proximity to the two interior colonies of Orange River and Transvaal, with which it is connected by rail, naturally gives Natal a considerable transit trade. The chief exports are wool, sugar, coal, hides and skins, and gold; principal im ports are haberdashery and articles of apparel, metals and metal products, machinery, bever ages, and textiles. The total value of the imports and exports amounted in 1901 to $45,855,920 and $23,337,512, respectively. This was somewhat above the normal.
The sea-borne trade passes entirely through Durban (q.v.). The transportation facilities are adequate. The railway lines, all owned, with one exception, by the Government and operated by it, had a total length of over 600 miles in 1901. The cost of the lines up to the end of 1900 was $38,026,012. The net earnings of the Govern ment roads exceed 4 per cent. on the capital in vested.
In accordance with the provisions of the pres ent Constitution, dating from 1893, Natal is ad ministered by a Governor, who is appointed by the Crown, and is assisted by a Cabinet of six ministers and a legislatiYe council of twelve members, appointed by the Governor for two years with the advice of the Cabinet. The Legis lative Assembly consists of thirty-nine members (including two for Zululand). elected for four years by a restricted suffrage. In 1899-1900 the revenue and the expenditures; of the colony amounted to $9,188,278 and $9.693,843, respect ively. The chief item of revenue is customs duties. The public debt amounted in 1900 to $43,923,226.
Education is neither compulsory nor free, and a considerable proportion of the European eldl dren are educated in private schools. The school attend:um•e of the European children amounts to about 96 per vent. of the total school population. In 1900 there were .186 schools for native chil dren. with a total attendance of over 10,600, and 30 schools for Indian children, with an attend ance of about 2900.
The population of the colony inereased from 361.587 in 1879 to 513.913 in 1891, and to 929,970 in 1900, the latter gain being due partly to the annexation of Zululand in 1897. The European population increased from 22,654 in 1879 to 64.951 in 1900. Capital, Piet erma ritzburg lisTonr. The coast of Natal was first sighted on Christmas Day, 1497. by Vasco da Gama, who named the country in honor of the day (Nativity). The first attempt al settlement made by the Dutch about 1720 proved unsuc cessful. In 1824 Captain Farewell and his
twenty COMpanions concluded a treaty with Clink'', King of the Amazulus, who had overrun the region during the first decade of the century, but in 1828 the English colony was broken up by Dingaan. the successor of Clot ka . In 1835 Captain Gardiner obtained a concession of land from Dingaan and established himself with a. number of missionaries at Durban. Two years later the Dutch of Cape Colony. \Ow, in disgust with British rule, had set out in 1835 on their great trek northward, entered the confines of Natal. The first band of pioneers, numbering seventy-nine men under Pieter Maurits Belief, were treacherously murdered by Dingaan, but the tide of Boer immigration continued un checked. the Zulu power was broken i» a great battle on the Blued River, December 16, 1S3S, and in 1839 the Republic of Natal was organized, comprising the districts of Pietermaritzburg, \Veenen, and Durban. Great Britain, however, continued to regard the Afrikanders as her sub jects, and annexed the Republic to Cape Colony in 1843. The greater part of the Boer population trekked westward and northward to found the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. In 1S56 Natal was made an independent colony. In 1879 w:n• was carried on against Cetewayo, King of the Zulus; his territory was overrun and occu pied; and in 1897 Zululand was annexed to Natal. In I881 the Transvaal Boers entered the extreme northwestern corner of the colony and defeated the British at Majuba Hill (q.v.). In 1599 and 1900 northern Natal was the scene of fierce fighting between the British and the Boers. .\t Elandslaag,te, Glencoe, and Ladysmith, and all along the line of the Tugela, the most obsti nate and sanguinary battles of the war occurred. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Brooks, Natal: A Ilistory and Description of the Colony (London. 1887) : Peace, Our Colony of Natal (ib., 1S84) ; Hord, The .lanals of Natal, 1405-1845 (Pietermaritzburg, 18S$) ; Slacnab, On Lchtt and Farm (London, 1897) Ingram. Natalia: History of Natal and Zululand (London, 1 897 ) ; Robinson..1 Lifetime in South. Africa (ib., 1 900 ) ; Powell. :Vain/ and the Boers (ib., 1900) ; Russell, Natal, the Land and Its Story (6th ed., ib., 1900) ; Doyle, The Oreat Bocr War (ib., 1900) ; Statistical Year Book of Natal (Pietermaritz burg) ; Kermode, Natal: Its Early ltistot•tt, Progress, and Future Prospects (London, 1882).