hey are finer stones than the Kimberley diamonds, having an average
value of L3:2:7 per carat.

Next in importance among mineral products are coal and copper. The
collieries are in the Stormberg district and are of considerable extent.
The Indwe mines are the most productive. The colonial output increased
from 23,000 tons in 1891 to 188,000 tons in 1904. The copper mines are
in Namaqualand, an average of 50,000 to 70,000 tons of ore being mined
yearly. Copper was the first metal worked by white men in the colony,
operations beginning in 1852.

Gold is obtained from mines on the Madibi Reserve, near Mafeking--the
outcrop extending about 30 m.---and, in small quantities, from mines in
the Knysna district. In the Cape and Paarl districts are valuable stone
and granite quarries. Asbestos is mined near Prieska, in which
neighbourhood there are also nitrate beds. Salt is produced in several
districts, there being large pans in the Prieska, Hopetown and Uitenhage
divisions. Tin is obtained from Kuils river, near Cape Town. Many other
minerals exist but are not put to industrial purposes.

_Trade_.--The colony has not only a large trade in its own commodities,
but owes much of its commerce to the transit of goods to and from the
Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Rhodesia. The staple exports are
diamonds, gold (from the Witwatersrand mines), wool, copper ore, ostrich
feathers, mohair, hides and skins. The export of wool, over 23,000,000
lb in 1860, had doubled by 1871, and was over 63,473,000 lb in 1905 when
the export was valued at L1,887,459. In the same year (1905) 471,024 lb
of ostrich feathers were exported valued at L1,081,187. The chief
imports are textiles, food stuffs, wines and whisky, timber, hardware
and machinery. The value of the total imports rose from L13,612,405 in
1895 to L33,761,831 in 1903, but dropped to L20,000,913 in 1905. The
exports in 1895 were valued at L16,798,137 and rose to L23,247,258 in
1899. The dislocation of trade caused by the war with the Boer Republics
brought down the exports in 1900 to L7,646,682 (in which year the value
of the gold exported was only L336,795). They rose to L10,000,000 and
L16,000,000 in 1901 and 1902 respectively, and in 1905 had reached
L33,812,210. (This figure included raw gold valued at L20,731,159.)
About 75% of the imports come from the United Kingdom or British
colonies, and nearly the whole of the exports go to the United Kingdom.
The tonnage of ships entered a