526 F K A N C E [cOLONI ES. foreigners, and 567,036 Mussulmans. Finally, 32 com munes are still directly managed by native chiefs, although their authority is subordinate to that of French officials!; the number of inhabitants is 1,219,285, 1747 of whom are French, 93 Jews, 649 foreigners, and 1,216,796 Mussulmans. The European colonists who have settled in Algeria number about 117,175. They have received from the state (1875) 565,000 hectares (2181 square miles); they have bought from the natives 260,000 hectares (1004 sq. m.), and 130,000 hectares (502 sq. m.) have been conceded to the Societe Generate Algerienne and to the Societe Genevoise. The budget of Algeria in 1876 amounted to about 27 millions of francs, of which two-thirds was devoted to public works or works of general interest. In 1869 the surface of ground under tillage was 1,684,000 hectares (6502 sq. m.), which produced 10,676,500 quintals (1,051,871 tons) of grain. In 1874, 2,950,000 hectares (11,390 sq. m.) gave a harvest of 16,676,290 quintals (1,642,984 tons), more than two millions of which were exported, representing a value of about 40 millions of francs. Vineyards occupied a surface of 11,360 hectares (28,072 acres), without taking into account the plantations made by tlie natives, and yielded 230,000 hectolitres (5,062,236 gallons) of wine; in 1866 this crop did not give more than 99,000 hectolitres (2,178,957 gallons). The importance of the cultivation of flax has doubled during the last five years, this plant covering now about 9000 hectares (22,240 acres) of ground. The same progress is to be noticed everywhere ; thus the last census (1874) showed that there were in Algeria about 4,500,000 head of cattle and 10 millions of sheep, double the numbers returned in 1869. Algeria contains mines of iron, copper, lead, and zinc, which give a produce of about 600,000 metric tons, of a value of 7 millions of francs at least, that is, a fifth part of the production of those mentals in France. Alfa (a plant which gives excellent material for the manufacture of paper) and tobacco are the other pro ducts of importance. Alfa was exported in 1874 to the extent of 45,000 metric tons, 72 per cent, of this being sent to England. About 9000 planters are engaged in the cultivation of tobacco, which gave in 1875 a crop of more than 4,300,000 kilogrammes (84,629 cwt), represent ing a value of about 3,300,000 francs. See ALGERIA. Other The other colonies of France are in Asia, Pondiche ry., ies. Karikal, Mahe", Yanaon, Chandernagor and Surate, and the French Cochin-China; in Africa, Senegal, with the island of Goree, the island of Reunion or Bourbon, the islands of Sainte-Marie de Madagascar, Mayotte, and Nossi-Be"; in America, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Barthe lemy, French Guiana, and the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon ; in Oceania, the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, and New Caledonia. Among these settlements, Martinique, Guadeloupe, La R6- union, and Guiana are, properly speaking, the only colonies, the rest being rather mercantile stations, except perhaps the French possessions near Madagascar and in the Pacific Ocean, which have better prospects, and one of which, New Caledonia, now contains the principal penitentiary establish ments maintained abroad by France. All these colonies submitted., till 1861, to what was called the colonial pact, which bound them to France so closely and jealously that they could trade with no other nation than the mother country. This state of affairs has been greatly changed, chiefly for Martinique, Guadaloupe, and La Rdunion ; and but for some privileges of navigation and some special taxes, trade with the colonies is almost as free as trade with France itself. Produce An account of the colonies of France will be found under and trade the particular headings. It is only necessary here to give colonies some statistical information about their produce and trade, so far as it concerns the general state and interests of French commerce. The island of Martinique specially produces sugar canes ; they were cultivated in 1874 on a surface of 19,314 hectares (47,727 acres), more than a third of the entire area of the island, and yielded a return of 38,653,000 francs. Cocoa trees came next, covering 262,000 hectares of ground (047,539 acres), and giving a crop of 284,000 francs ; then coffee, planted on 210,000 hectares (518,940 acres), representing a yearly income of 203,000 francs; and lastly, cotton, which occupies only 42,000 hectares (103,788 acres), and does not bring more than 34,000 francs. The foreign trade amounts (1874) to 61,810,481 francs, 28,398,309 francs for imports, and 33,412,172 francs for exports. In these totals the trade with France amounts to 36,700,560 francs. The large island of Guadeloupe, with its dependencies La Desi- rade, Les Saintes, and the French part of St Martin, imported in 1874 goods to the value of 24,526,212 francs, and exported 22,470,302 francs value, making a total of 46,996,414 francs, to which trade with France contributed 27,825,183 francs. The value of the natural produce is as follows : sugar canes. (20,686 hectares, or 51,100 acres), 40,775,732 francs; coffee, 676,846 francs; cotton, 35,470 francs; cocoa trees, 120,300 francs. Cod fishing is the principal industry of the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon. The imports amount to 8,285,416 francs, the exports to 10,825,336 francs, and the trade with France to 9,913,532 francs. French Guiana (Cayenne), which also contains penitentiary esta blishments, produces the same articles of trade as Guadeloupe, as follows : coffee to the value of 48,028 francs; sugar canes, 243,984 francs; cocoa trees, 52,430 francs; cotton, 1,750. Its trade with France amounts to 4,914,002 francs; its imports to 6,571,067 francs, and its exports to 681,211 francs. La Reunion or the island of Bourbon produces sugar canes to the value of 34,474,825 francs; coffee, 294,850 francs; tobacco, 494,100 francs; cocoa trees, 43,959 francs. The imports amount to 24,819,421 francs, and the exports to 30,219,829 francs. The trade with France is 34,869,267 francs. The imports of Senegal (St Louis and Goree) amount to 12,134,631 francs, the exports to 16,628,069 francs, and the trade with France to 16,346,032 francs. The chief articles of trade are gum, gold powder, wax, ivory, a kind of vegetable oil, and valuable woods. For Mayotte, Nossi-Be, and Sainte-Maric-de-Madagascar the value of the imports is 4,080,229 francs, and of the exports, 3,773,280 francs. The trade with France amounts to 2,973,941 francs. The principal productions are sugar (5,088,750 francs), rice (1,799,008 francs), rum (334,480 francs), and coffee (11,275 francs). For the French establishments in India (Pondiche ry, Karikal, Yanaon, Mahe, Chandernagor, Surat) the imports are 6,675,583 francs; the exports, 17,671,100 francs; and the trade with France, 7,600,116 francs. Pondiche ry and Karikal are the most important centres of cultivation, the former having 19,835 hectares under cul ture, which produce 1,494,714 francs, and the latter 9114 hectares yielding 1,122,525 francs. The imports of French Cochin-China amount to the value of 67,044,022 francs, and the exports to 88,011,123 francs. This settlement comprises extensive cultivated grounds, distributed thus: rice, 279,703 hectares; fruit trees, 32,989; vegetables, 30,938; sugar canes, 8052; water palm trees, 5,640. In Oceania, the returns for the Society Islands, Tahiti and Mourea, are imports, 3,458,735 francs; exports, 3,112,989 francs; and trade with France, 562,369 francs. For New Caledonia the returns are imports, 12,561,577 francs; and exports, 880,970 francs. This large island might afford an extensive and profitable field to the enterprise of colonists, but it has hitherto been too much neglected by the Government, which considers it almost exclusively as a penal settlement, and has not even taken the necessary steps to secure the few plantations around the town of Noumea against the inroads of the native tribes, who still possess the greatest part of the country. France has lately acquired from Sweden the island of St Bar- thelemy, in the Antilles. It is an islet of 25 kilometres (16 miles) in circumference, without drinkable water. This acquisition was made, it is reported, with the view of founding there a new penal settlement less distant from the mother country. Bibliographical Sources. Annalcs and Annuaircs de Tad- B > ministration francaise; Bulletin dcs Ms; publications of thegr y. Bureau de la Statistique de la France ; Dufrenoy and Elie de Beau mont s Carte geologique ; Elise e Reclus, Foui-dlc Geographic univer- sclle; la France, Paris, 1877, 4to; M. Block, Statistique de la France comparts avcc Us divers pays de V Europe, 2d ed., Pans, 1875, 2 vols. 8vo; M. Block, Annuaire del Economic Politiqueetde la Statistique, Paris, 1877, 24mo; l(.,Dictionnaircde T administration francaise; F. Germain, Dictionnaire du Budget, exercice 1877, Pans, 1877, 8vo; L. de Laverguc, L 1 Agriculture et la Population, Paris, 1875 12mo; L. de Lavergne, Economic rurale de la France depuis 1789^ Paris, 1877, 12mo; Annuaire de Tarmec, Paris, 1877, 8vp; L Annee maritime, Paris, 1877, 12mo ; Moreau de Jonnes, Statis tique de T Industrie de la France, Paris, 1856, 12mo; T. Duval, L Algerie et Ies Colonies f ran/raises, Paris, 1877, Svo. (H. GA.)
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