ing
Mahommedanism, religion rather than race is their bond of union. They
add greatly by their picturesque dress to the gaiety of the street
scenes. They are generally small traders, but many are wealthy. There
are also a number of Indians in the colony. English is the language of
the towns; elsewhere, except in the eastern provinces, the _taal_ or
vernacular Dutch is the tongue of the majority of the whites, as it is
of the natives in the western provinces.

The first census was taken in 1865 when the population of the colony,
which then had an area of 195,000 sq. m., and did not include the
comparatively densely-populated Native Territories, was 566,158. Of
these the Europeans numbered 187,400 or about 33% of the whole. Of the
coloured races the Hottentots and Bushmen were estimated at 82,000,
whilst the Kaffirs formed about 50% of the population. Since 1865
censuses have been taken--in 1875, 1891 and 1904. In 1875 Basutoland
formed part of the colony; in 1891 Transkei, Tembuland, Griqualand East,
Griqualand West and Walfish Bay had been incorporated, and Basutoland
had been disannexed; and in 1904 Pondoland and British Bechuanaland had
been added. The following table gives the area and population at each of
the three periods.

+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+
| 1875. | 1891. | 1904. |
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| Area. | Pop. | Area. | Pop. | Area. | Pop. |
| sq. m. | | sq. m. | | sq. m. | |
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| 201,136 | 849,160 | 260,918 |1,527,224| 276,995 |2,409,804|
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

The 1875 census gave the population of the colony proper at 720,984, and
that of Basutoland at 128,176. The colony is officially divided into
nine provinces, but is more conveniently treated as consisting of three
regions, to which may be added the detached area of Walfish Bay and the
islands along the coast of Namaqualand. The table on the next page shows
the distribution of population in the various areas.

The white population, which as stated was 187,400 in 1865 and 579,741 in
1904, was at the intermediate censuses 236,783 in 1875 and 376,987 in
1891. The proportion of Dutch descended whites to those of British
origin is about 3 to 2. No exact comparison can be made showing the
incr