Cape Town Baptisms 1695-1712
This is the second register of the Dutch Reformed Congregation in Cape Town following the first register which covered the baptisms, marriages and memberships for the period 1665-1695.
This register has two numbering systems, one by page number, the other by folio number. For folio numbers, only the right hand page is numbered, increasing by one every second page. The left hand page is the 'verso' page of the previous folio number. The first readable folio number is fo. 9 on page 13. After that the numbering of the folios follow each other as expected. However, the number of folios in the first 13 pages should have been 7 and not 9 suggesting that 2 folios are missing. This suggestion is supported by the fact that the last entry on page 8 is dated 17 Nov 1697 and the first entry on page 9 is 5 Oct 1698, jumping almost a full year without any baptisms. In this part of the register, one year represented about 4 pages or 2 folios. Further-on in the register from page 74 to page 75, the folio numbers jump from fo. 40 to fo. 45.
This seems to suggest that the register was originally numbered only by folio, and at some later time rebound, and renumbered by page. Another possiblity is that some folios were removed before it was renumbered by page. Whatever the case may be, it seems evident that this register is not complete.