The values of the leading imports and exports are shown below in £'s (Egyptian):

The trade with the principal countries is shown as follows, in £'s (Egyptian):)

The trade of Egypt (and Tripoli) with the United States is shown as follows, for the years ending

June 30:

In 1896, the principal imports into the United States were: Cotton, unmanufactured, $5,129,256; sugar, $2,657.425.

The arrivals and clearances of commercial vessels at Alexandria have been as follows:

The Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal is 87 miles long (66 actual canal and 21 miles lakes), connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea; opened for navigation November 17, 1869.

The net tonnage for the year 1897 shows a decrease of 660,910 tons as compared with that of 1896, and of 549,010 tons as compared with that of 1895.

The amount of dues has fallen proportionately from 79,569,994 francs in 1896 to 72,830,545 francs in 1897, being a decrease of 6,739,449 francs.

The number of vessels which passed through the canal was 3,434 in 1895, 3,409 in 1896, and 2,986 in 1897, of which 2,318 in 1895, 2,162 in 1896, and 1,905 in 1897 carried the British flag.

The tonnage as well as the number of British vessels has decreased, having fallen from 6,062,587 in 1895 and 5,817,768 in 1896 to 5,319,136 tons in 1897; while for the same period the tonnage of German vessels has increased from 693,645 tons in 1895 to 806,279 in 1896 and 858,685 tons in 1897.

The percentage of British vessels and their tonnage in 1897 was 63.8 and 68 respectively, as against 63.4 and 68 in 1896. There has been a slight increase in the percentage of German, French, Dutch, and Norwegian vessels.

In the ten years 1886-95 the annual net tonnage ranged from 5,767,655 tons to 8,448,383 tons, and the transit receipts from 56,527,390 francs to 78,103,717 francs; the average of the net tonnage was 7,254,222 tons, and of the transit receipts 69,279,605 franes; while in 1897 the net tonnage amounted to 7,899,373 tons, and the transit receipts to 72,830,545 francs. The mean net tonnage per vessel also rose from 1,860 tons in 1886 to 2,645 tons in 1897, being 134 tons per vessel in excess of 1896 and 185 tons more than in 1895.

The mean duration of passage for all vessels navigating the canal shows a decrease from 18 hours 38 minutes in 1896 to 17 hours 44 minutes in 1897. In 1897, the percentage of vessels navigating by night was 95 per cent., as against 94 per cent. in 1896.

The percentage of vessels drawing less than 23 feet declined from 62.80 in 1896 to 59.7 in 1897, while vessels drawing more than 23 feet increased from 37.20 in 1896 to 40.3 in 1897.

The maximum draught allowed for vessels passing through the canal is 25 feet 7 inches, and 391 vessels drawing more than 24 feet 7 inches used the canal, as compared with 360 in 1896, 228 in 1895, and 172 in 1894, representing a percentage of 5.1 in 1894, 6.7 in 1895, 10.6 in 1896, and 12.1 in 1897.

There has been a very considerable decrease in the number of troops carried through the canal, owing chiefly to the cessation of French and Italian military operations in Madagascar and Abyssinia respectively. The returns show 92,639 military passengers in 1897, as against 198,520 in 1896.

In the year 1870, 26,758 passengers were carried through the canal; in 1880, the number had risen to 98,900, in 1890 to 161,352, and in 1897 to 191,224.

Other particulars will be found in Volume III, pages 95 and 96, of the "Commercial Year Book.'

Post-Office, Railroads, Telegraphs. (See Index.)

MONEY.-For gold and silver coins, see Index.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Area and Population.

The Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Colony, is a possession of Great Britain, having an area of 221,311 square miles.

According to the census of 1891, the total population was 1,527,224, of which 876,987 were European and 1,150,237 were native and colored. The population per square mile was 6.9.

Pondoland was annexed in 1894, with an estimated population of 200,000. Bechuanaland was annexed in 1895, with an area of 51,574 square miles and a population of 72,736.

In 1896, 4,464 titles were issued, alienating 3,174,408 acres of land. Up to December 31, 1896, the total area disposed of was 126,145,704 acres, 50,858,616 remaining. There are 537 square miles under forest.

Regarding the area under cultivation, there are no recent statistics. In 1875 the total was 580,000 acres, of which 18,000 were under vines.

The chief agricultural products for the year ending May 31, 1897, were: Wheat, 1,954,373 bushels; oats, 878,373 bushels; barley, 753,048 bushels; mealies, 1,002,327 bushels; Kaffir corn, 303,483 bushels; rye, 233.407 bushels; oat hay, 38,650,235 bundles of 51⁄2 lbs.; tobacco, 6,146.055 lbs. There were 84,592,579 vine stocks, yielding 4,219,952 gallons of wine, 1,397,880 gallons of brandy, and 2,019,251 lbs. raisins. There were 3,615,700 fruit trees. The chief pastoral products were: Wool, 43,311,884 lbs.; mohair, 8,193,756 lbs.; ostrich feathers, 258,768 lbs.; butter, 3,055,036 lbs.; cheese, 99,265 lbs. There were 2,231,370 head of cattle, 357,960 horses, 75,112 mules and asses, 14,049,076 sheep, 5,033,183 Angora and other goats, and 237,900 ostriches.

The sheep farms of the colony are often of very great extent, from 3,000 to 15,000 acres and upwards; those in tillage are comparatively small. The grazers are, for the most part, proprietors of the farms which they occupy. In 1875 the total number of holdings was 16,166, comprising 83,900,000 acres; of these, 10,766, comprising upwards of 60,000,000 acres, were held on quit-rent.

At the census of 1891 there were 2,230 industrial establishments employing, altogether, 32.735 persons, having machinery and plant valued at £1,564,897 and annually producing articles worth 29.238,870. Among these establishments were flour mills, breweries, tobacco factories, tanneries, and diamond, gold, copper, and coal mines.

Foreign Commerce.

Of the total imports in 1894, the value of £2,049,972 (including £289,451 specie) was duty-free, while the value of £9,538,124 was subject to duty. The customs revenue amounted to £1,479,244, or about 16 per cent. of the imports subject to duty.

The values of the total imports and exports, including specie, of Cape Colony and dependencies, for the years named, were as follows:

The total value (partly estimated) of diamonds exported from 1868 to 1897 was £83,307,087. The gold given among exports is really imported from the Transvaal, though not included among imports. The principal imports are textile fabrics, dress, etc., £4,962,210, and food, drinks, etc., £3,545,881

in 1896.

Railroads, Post-Office, and Telegraphs. (See Index.)

Banking.

The following are the statistics of the banks under trust laws in the colony:

NATAL.

This colony of Great Britain has an estimated area of 20,460 square miles. The total population as officially reported was, in 1879, Europeans, 22,654; Indians, 16,999; Kathirs, 319,934; total, 359,587. In 1891, Europeans, 46,788; Indians, 41,142; Kathirs, 455,983; total, 543,913.

The revenue and expenditure of the colony, exclusive of loan funds, in the years ended June 30, were as follows:

Revenue...

Expenditure...

1890.
£1,507,788
1,444,964

1892.
£1,392,455

1,280,964

The public debt on June 30, 1896, was $8,054,343.

Of the total area of the colony, 2,250,000 acres have been set apart for native occupation, 7,514,315 acres have been acquired by grant from the Crown by Europeans, 1,158,138 acres have been sold on deferred payments, and about 1,000,000 acres remain unalienated from the Crown. Of the total area in 1896, 220,393 acres were under cultivation by Europeans, the leading crop for export being sugar (produce, 1806, 110,839 cwt.), though large quantities of maize, wheat, oats, and other cereal and green crops are grown. Tea planting has recently been introduced, 2,302 acres being under tea in 1896, the yield for the year ended June 30, 1896, being about 793,100 pounds. Estimated total number of acres under cultivation by natives, 533,926.

The coal fields of the colony, which are of large extent, are now in direct communication with the seaport of Durban. The output for the year 1894 was 151,520 tons; 1895, 160,115 tons; in 1896, 216,106 tons.

The annual value of the maritime imports and exports has been as follows:

About 70 per cent. of the imports are from, and 50 per cent. of the exports to, Great Britain. The principal imports in 1896 were: Apparel and slops, £353,514; haberdashery, £413,716; flour, grain, £527,204; leather goods, etc., £273,988; iron and goods, £570,218; cottons, £132,412; woolens, £101,859: machinery, £367,870; wines, spirits, ales, £165,856.

The principal exports were: Angora hair, £24,925; hides and skins, £42,730; sugar, £22,376; coal, £88,334; wool, £590,605; gold, bar, etc., £102,624; bark, £16,450.

ALGERIA.

The estimated area of this French colony is officially stated at 184,474 square miles, although some of the territory is claimed by the nomad tribes. The following table gives the area of each of the three departments of Algeria, according to the census of 1896:

Of the total population in 1891, there were 271,101 French, 47,564 Jews, 3,554,067 French indigenous subjects, 18,617 Moroccans and Tunisians, besides Spaniards, Italians, Anglo-Maltese, and Germans; 3,301,795 persons were dependent on agriculture, 494,435 on trade, industries, and carriage by sea and land, 56,075 on the public service, 33.893 on liberal professions, 72,759 lived on their means, 56,374 were without profession or means, and 94,319 were of unknown or unclassed occupation.

The estimated revenue and expenditure, not including public debt, war and marine, for 1896 were: Revenue, 52,147,194, and expenditure, 71,219,959 francs. For 1898, revenue, 52,037,152 francs, and expenditure, 71,147,857 francs.

A great part of the land is held undivided by Arab tribes. Most of the State lands have been appropriated to colonists. The population engaged in agriculture in 1895 was 3,482,356,205,642 being Europeans. About 20,000,000 hectares are occupied by the agricultural population.