The population fluctuates a good deal, owing, to some extent, to an immigration of natives from the east to the west coast.
As to the number of vessels, which fluctuates from month to month, little can be said that is wholly accurate at any given moment, but, very roughly, the French navy in 1909 included 25 battleships, 7 coast defence ironclads, 19 armoured cruisers, 36 protected cruisers, 22 s1oops, gunboats, &c., 45 destroyers, 319 torpedo boats, 71 submersibles and submarines and 8 auxiliary cruisers.
The actual value, of course, fluctuates greatly.
The gold value of the currency peso (75 = £1 in 1903, 70 = £I in 1904, 58 = £1 in 1905) fluctuates between limits so wide that conversion into sterling (especially for a series of years), with any pretension to accuracy, is impracticable.
The total value of the foreign trade fluctuates very greatly, and the difficulty of forming an estimate is enhanced in many years by the absence of official statistics; but imports and exports together probably amount in a normal year to about £I,000,000.
