Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/107

SOUTH AFBICA AND ALGERIA CONTRASTED. 79 Europe, ofPerinj> a climate differing little from that of the mother country, a soil on which they cun cultivate the same plants und graze the same herds, and preserve the same habits and customs in another hemisphere many thousands of miles distant from their native land. No doubt the population of European origin developed very slowly in their new environment ; nevertheless the expan- sion was sufficient to enable them gradually to spread over the land. Aided by a regular stream of immigration, they steadily encroached from all directions on the domain of the aboriginal inhabitants, and they now rule supreme throughout the whole of the Austral regions from the Cape to the Limpopo. As a centre of colonisation and of higher culture, the EurojHan colony of the Cape, with its natural dependencies of ^'atal and the Dutch republics, already exercises an independent influence, apart altogether from the support it derives from its relations with the metropolis. The Cape is the natural centre for the organisation and equipment of expeditions for the exploration of the whole of South Africa. The capital, almost as much as Europe itself, has given the first impulse to the scientitic labours and industrial development of the surrounding regions ; jointly with the neighbouring districts and all the conterminous maritime /one, it forms, as it were, a detached section of Europe gradually enlarging its borders and supplanting northwards the primitive African world. Cape Colony has often been compared to Algeria, which is situate exactly at the other extremity of the continent, and which has also become an outlying portion of Europe in its industries, its social and political life. In many respects the advantage lies with Algeria. Although far less extensive than the complexity of the European States in the Austral hemisphere, it is more thickly peopled, the white element alone being somewhat in excess of the entire South African population of the same stock. It also receives a larger annual contribution of immigrants from Europe, and although possessing neither gold nor diamonds, it has already developed a larger export trade. All this is (-asily explained by its vastly superior geographical position. Algeria is essentially a Mediterranean land, lying over against France, Spain and Italy, and a few hours' passage suffices to reach the south European seaboard from any of its ports. Nevertheless, Algeria labours under the disadvantage of being completely isolated and cut off from the rest of the continent by the almost trackless wastes of the Sahara. The Austral colonies are very differently situated in this respect ; for although they are also conterminous with an extensive wilderness, the Kalahari Desert does not obstruct all communications, while the surrounding populations are able to maintain mutual relations both by land and by water.* On the other hand, the Cape of Good Hope projects southwards into a stonny sea, which merges in th»! • Compiintive ureas and populiition» of Algeria iiuJ the Europt-an Stntei* in South Africn : — Alalia. South Afrioiu Area 192,000 square miles . 450,000 square miles. European population . 600,000 . . 480,000 Native population .... 3,320,000 . 2,650,000 Population to the square mile 16 . . . Sea-borne trade . £22,000,000(1882) . £11,000,000 ('88«>