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UNIVERSITY
WITWATERSRAND
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Presented by
DR.....F.B.. KANTHACK,...C .M.G.|
ee A Vs
INTO THE
INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.
7
VOE I,
Strahan and Preston,
New-Street Square, London,
. DH a, Me: tel
Ly, a lif haw ve WO Wy (F) : : bn
2 = ae i ae J y } p> = = = a Z Ne =
al Deep sandy Vans witout Water ———— = y Of; fark a: = Sane = ‘
Ml ae 5 mee oe =
j COLONY ofthe oe APE of GOOD HOPE, mie
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References +
wor] / 3 9
Days Journies with waggons drawn by Oren « Ss ha ieehh
i v ’ . rilhouder
asl we &: Mountains with naked Summits & generally in continued ranges . Draun’
ald 3 = = Mountains or hille with covered Summits, commonty detached «
» Broken rugged Country, deep beds of Rwers, and high banks . ee
ban tr eee 4 we eenietien ni
LP. Periodical Rivers. €. Constant streams » ng of - >
LH i Fonteyn Siqnitics a Spring.Berg a mountain or hill « s
| RN eaeeatti. Valler, a Lake, Swamp or morass.
iH DS (eee as a aie ante eng
Diilpian berg Lhe line marked thus. is drayn along the limits or'the Colony . x huts) beer ih
bu ~ d Z cs catony any Pe 4
and the dotted line...along those of the Districts. yet ory.
Aa LSU Aric tust Initptarionh in he sh eats ia) ee wie He: Sf
rt Cae “ Ciiation Dy pat
as to the North Hard | ie erie ee len ! "1 tin = Ae ea
} 7 SySeevnotiin | A Cony. a A,
all Seale of Englisli Miles Isen COWS Rivers ae \ as
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title Lable mountain. — : Fontwyn
= ei 2 br’ eee =
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q g 2 os aa a ot Sofidag. Liv,
Patel plier OF a fo rexel A gon rag oF Sod Mh
gluen a gain he ee Ses Win riley fp
> 2 Matfies Bont : Ce 3
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=pere
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Paphuy iyte Tone
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a race now wr ER
ae S. Vilages ee \
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| Bis, BeTiowhock / ” ¢ 4 ae Ce eee RY ES 4 Z Seren) Doe (thy PS oe = = SY Laiy
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| Lt Tongiuude East wr "om treenwich , 2 ue
opi moa ’ = a a coy SS Ta TD
Cyt —— oes ae ae eee _—_— r apa eae raat forms at eet SRes Ram pene poe SEE RESET [aa [aay Flows [ota [oat] tata, TaD ESI ESASSSE ee ee cave i faa ee cord aimee ows Ea see
ED ea ero mas 2 ae i/o mass aa 2 eS ESS COTS SS ES aS EOE, 5 jason 75 ine 50) 3 wo 0B 0 sh a aA 1 “jay. ee ae as 5 5 oa 30
18 35 20: 3 21 i aml 7 = o_ 35 se ce 24 ais i ————— —
Tnprarcd hy S
Published Dee! 10.1805, bv Cadell &Davtes, Strand.
* Wey ELS
TNE OT
INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.
IN WHICH ARE DESCRIBED
THE CHARACTER AND THE CONDITION OF THE DUTCH COLONISTS
OF ‘.
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,
AND OF THE SEVERAL TRIBES OF NATIVES BEYOND ITS LIMITS:
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SUCH SUBJECTS AS OCCURRED IN THE ANIMAL,
MINERAL, AND VEGETABLE KINGDOMS 5
AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHERN EXTREMITY OF AFRICA.
COMPREHENDING ALSO
A TOPOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL SKETCH OF THE CAPE COLONY:
WITH AN INQUIRY INTO ITS IMPORTANCE AS A NAVAL AND MILITARY STATION
AS A COMMERCIAL EMPORIUM; AND AS A TERRITORIAL POSSESSION.
et
By JOHN BARROW, Esa. F.R.S.
AUTHOR OF ** TRAVELS IN CHINA.”
“ Africa semper aliquid novi offert.”?
ro
IN TWO VOLUMES. f.
VOL. TT
THE SECOND EDITION, WITH
YS AND ALTERATIONS, *
ILLUSTRATED WITH SE ENGRAVINGS, AND CHARTS.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.
1806.
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vi, ay
SCN HRB
CONTENTS
OF THE
Son CLO ND VOL U ME.
CHAP. IL
Page
Srarisricaz Sketch of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope ° I
CHAP. IL
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered as a Military Station 162
CHAP. I.
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered as a Naval Station 239
CHAP Vive ao).
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered in a commercial Point
of View, and as a Depot for the Southern Whale Fishery
293
VOL. Il.
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Ton py 1s
IN
SOC LT N ARTIC SR.
CHAP, L
Statistical Sketch of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
L from the southern point of the Cape peninsula, which,
however, is not the southernmost point of Africa, a straight
line be drawn in the direction of east by north, it will cut the
mouth of the Great Fish River, the Rio d’ Infante of the Por-
tuguese, which is now considered as the eastern boundary of
the colony. The length of this line is about five hundred and
eighty miles.
If from the same point a straight line be drawn in the direc-
tion of north, with a little inclination westerly, it will fall in
with the mouth of the River Koussie, the northern boundary
of the colony, at the distance of about three hundred and
fifteen miles from that point.
VOL, LI. ) B
ty
TRAVEDS TN
And, if from the mouth of the Great Fish River a line
be drawn in the direction of north-north-west, to the dis-
tance of two hundred and twenty-five miles, to a point behind
the Snowy mountains called Plettenberg’s Landmark ; and
from thence be continued in a circular sweep inwards to the
mouth of the River Koussie, upwards of five hundred miles ;
these lines will circumscribe the tract of country which con-
stitutes the colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
By reducing this irregular figure to a parallelogram, it will
be found to comprehend an area of at least one hundred and
twenty thousand square miles. And as it appears that the
whole population of whites, blacks, and Hottentots, within
this area, amounts only to about sixty thousand souls, though
it cannot boast that
“¢ Every rood of ground maintains its man,”
yet every two square miles may be said to have at least
one human creature allotted to it. If, therefore, the Dutch
at home occupy one of the most populous countries in Europe,
they possess abroad the most desert colony that is certainly to
be met with upon the face of the globe. But as this is less
owing to the natural defects of the country, than to the regu-
lations under which it has been governed, the comparative
population with the extent of surface ought not to be taken
as the test of the intrinsic value of the settlement, as the po-
pulation of any country, under a moderate climate, will, in
the natural course of things, always rise to a level with the
means of subsistence. A very great portion, however, of this
Py
r
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 4
settlement may be considered as an unprofitable waste, unfit
for any sort of culture, or even to be employed as pasture for
the support of cattle. Level plains, consisting of a hard im-
penetrable surface of clay, thinly sprinkled over with crys-
tallized sand, condemned to perpetual drought, and producing
only a few straggling tufts of acrid, saline, and succulent
plants, and chains of vast mountains that are either totally
naked, or clothed in parts with sour grasses only, or such
plants as are noxious to animal life, compose at least one half
of the colony of the Cape. ‘These chains of mountains and
the interjacent plains are extended generally in the direction
of east and west, except indeed that particular range which,
beginning at False Bay, opposite to the Cape Point, stretches
to the northward along the western coast as far as the mouth
of Olifant’s river, which is about 210 miles.
The first great chain of mountains that runs east and west
encloses, between it and the southern coast, an irregular belt
of land from twenty to sixty miles in width, indented by seve-
ral bays, covered with a deep and fertile soil, intersected by
numerous streamlets, well clothed with grass and small ar-
boreous or frutescent plants, well wooded in many parts with
forest-trees, supplied with frequent rains, and enjoying, on ac-
count of its proximity to the sea, a more mild and equable
temperature than the more remote and interior parts of the
colony.
The next great chain is the Zwarte Berg or Black Mountain.
This is considerably more lofty and rugged than the first, and
B 2
4 TRAVELS iN
consists in many places of double and sometimes treble ranges.
The belt enclosed between it and the first chain is about the
mean width of that between the first and the sea; ofa surface.
very varied, composed in some parts of barren hills, in others
of naked arid plains of clay, known to the natives, and also to
the colonists, by the name of Karoo ; and in others of choice
patches of well watered and fertile grounds. The general sur-
face of this belt has a considerable elevation above that of the
first ; the temperature is less uniform ; and from the nature of
the soil, as well as the difficulty of access over the mountains,
which are passable only in few places, this district may be
considered as much less valuable than the other...
The third range of mountains is the Nieuwveldt’s Gebergte,
which, with the second, grasps the Great Karroo or arid desert,
whichis unmhabited byahuman creature. This desert, making
the third step or terrace of Southern Africa, is greatly elevated
above the second ; is near 300 miles in length from east to
west, and eighty in breadth; is scarcely ever moistened by a
shower of rain; exhibits a surface of clay, thinly sprinkled
over with sand, out of whicha few shrivelled and parched plants
here and there meet the eye, faintly extending their half wi-
thered fibres along the ground, and struggling, as it were, to
preserve their existence against the excessive heat of one sea-
son of the year and the severe frosts of the other.
The country likewise ascends from the western coast towards
the interior in successive terraces, of which the most elevated,
called the Roggeveld, falls in with the last-mentioned chain of
mountains, the Nieuwveldt. The whole tract of country to
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 5
the northward is much more sandy, barren, and thinly inha-
-bited, than to the eastward, in which direction it seems to in-
crease in beauty and fertility with the distance from the
Cape.
None of the mountains. of the Cape settlement possess:
much of the sublime or the beautiful, but the approach to.the
bases in some parts, and the entrance of the Kloofs, are aw-
fully grand and terrific ; sometimes their naked. points. of solid
rock rise almost perpendicularly, like a wall of masonry, to:
the height of three, four, and even five thousand feet, gene-
rally in the same form as the Table Mountain on. the Cape
peninsula ; sometimes the inclination of the strata is so great
that the whole mass of mountain appears to have its centre
of gravity falling without the base, and as if it momentarily
threatened. to strew the plain with its. venerable ruins ; in other
places. where the lower fragments. have given way, they are
irregularly peaked and broken into a variety of fantastic
shapes. Such is the general outline of the territory that is
comprehended. under the name of the Cape of Good Hope..
As the best soil for vegetable growth is unquestionably pro-
duced from a decomposition of vegetable matter, it amounts
to a pleonasm to say, that the richest soil will invariably be
found where vegetation is most abundant and most luxuriant ;:
the soil and the plant acting reciprocally as cause and effect.
Henee, if climate were entirely out of the question, we should
have an infallible criterion for determining the quality of soil
in any country by the abundance or scarcity, the luxuriance:
or poverty, of the native plants. Measuring the soil of the
6 TRAVELS IN
Cape settlement by this scale, it would be pronounced among
the poorest, in the known world ; for I may safely venture to
say, that seven parts in ten of the above mentioned surface
are, for the greater part of the year, and some of them at all
times, destitute of the least appearance of verdure. ‘The up-
per regions of all the chains of mountains are naked masses
of sandstone; the valleys at their feet are clothed with grass,
with thickets, and sometimes with impenetrable forests. ‘The
inferior hills or knolls, whose surfaces are generally composed
of loose fragments of sandstone, as well as the wide sandy
plains that connect them, are thinly strewed over with heaths
and other shrubby plants, exhibiting to the eye an uniform
and dreary appearance.’ In the lowest parts of these plains,
where the waters subside and, filtering through the sand, break
out in springs upon the surface, vegetation is somewhat more
luxuriant. In such situations the farm-houses are generally
placed ; and the patches of cultivated ground contiguous to
them, like the Oases in the sandy deserts, may be considered
as so many verdant islands in the midst of a boundless waste ;
serving to make the surrounding wilderness more dreary by
comparison. Of such plains and knolls is the belt of land
composed that lies between the first chain of mountains and
the sea-coasts. |
The soils, in general, on this tract of country, are either of
stiff clay, into which there is no possibility of entering with a
plough till well soaked by heavy rains, or of a light and sandy
nature,commonly of a reddish tinge, and abounding with small
round quartzose pebbles. Seldom any free black vegetable
mould appears, except in the small patches of garden ground,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 7
vineyards, and orchards, that surround the habitations, where
long culture, manure, and the fertilizing influence of springs,
or a permanent rill of water, have so far mellowed the soil as
to admit the spade at all seasons of the year.
But those vast plains, which are known in the colony by the
Hottentot name of Karroo, and which are interposed between
the great chains of mountains, wear a still more dismal appear-
ance than the lower plains that are chequered with patches of
cultivated ground. Out of their impenetrable surfaces of clay,
glistering with small crystals of quartz, and condemned to
perpetual drought and aridity, not a blade of grass, and
scarcely a verdant twig, occurs to break the barren uni-
formity. The hills, by which the surface of these plains is
sometumes broken, are chiefly composed of fragments of blue
slate, or masses of felt-spar, and argillaceous ironstone ; and
the surfaces of these are equally denuded of plants as those of
the plains.
Yet, as I have already observed, wherever the Karroo
plains are tinged with iron, and where water can be brought
upon them, the soil is found to be extremely productive. The
same effect is observable in the neighbourhood of the Cape,
where the soil is coloured with iron; or when masses of a
brown ochraceous stone (the oxyd of iron combined with clay)
he just below the surface, where they are sometimes found in
extensive strata. In such situations the best grapes, and the
best of every sort of fruit are produced ; which may be owing,
probably, to the manganese that this kind of dark brown iron-
stone generally contains, and which modern discoveries in che-
8 TRAVELS IN
mistry have ascertained to be particularly favourable to the
health and vigour of plants.
There is neither a voleano nor a volcanic product in the
southern extremity of Africa, at least in any of those parts
where I have been, nor any substances that seem to have un-
dergone the action of fire, except masses of iron-stone found
generally among the boggy earth in the neighbourhood
of some of the hot springs, and which appear like the scoriz
of furnaces. Pieces of pumice-stone have been picked up on |
the shore of Robben Island, and on the coast near Algoa Bay,
which must have been wafted thither by the waves, as the
whole basis of this island is a hard and compact blue schistus,
with veins of quartz running through it, and that of the eastern
coast iron-stone and granite.
The climate of the Cape may be considered as not unfriendly
to vegetation ; but by reason of its situation, within the influ-
ence of a kind of Monsoon.or periodical winds, the rains are
very unequal, descending in torrents during the cold season,
whilst scarcely a shower falls to refresh the earth in the hot
summer months, when the dry south-east winds prevail.
‘hese winds blast the foliage, blossom, and fruit, of all those
trees that are not well sheltered from their baneful gusts,
which, for about six months, almost constantly blow from
that quarter. Nor is the human constitution better protected ©
against the painful sensation of the south-east winds of the
Cape than the plants. Like the south-east Sirocco of Naples
they relax and fatigue both the body and mind, rendering
fhein utterly incapable of activity or energy. During their
2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 9
continuance the town appears to be deserted. Every door
and window is closed to keep out the dust and the heat, both
of which diminish with the continuance of the gale; the air
gradually cools, and every small pebble and particle of dust in
the course of four-and-twenty hours is carried into the sea.
The necessity of protecting the fruit groves, vineyards, and
gardens from these winds, has led those colonists who dwell
on the nearer side of the first chain ef mountains, for they are
not much felt beyond them, to divide that portion of their
grounds, so employed, by oak skreens, a plant that grows here
much more rapidly than in Europe ; but their corn-lands are
entirely open. A Cape boor bestows no more labor on his
farm than is unavoidable; and as grain is mostly reaped be-
fore the south-east winds are fairly set in, the enclosure of the
arable Jand did not appear to be necessary, and was conse-
quently omitted.
The climate of the Cape is remarkably affected by local
circumstances. In the summer months there are at least from
6 to 10 degrees of Fahrenheit’s scale in the difference of tem-
perature between Cape ‘Town and Wynberg, whose distance
is only about seven or eight miles, owing to the latter being
on the windward side of the Table Mountain, and the former
to leeward of it ; from whence, also, the rays of the meridian
sun are thrown back upon the town, as from the surface of a
concave mirror. ‘The variation of climate, to which the Table
Valley is subject, led-one of the British officers to observe
that those who lived in it were either in an oven, or at the
VOL. II. C ;
to TRAVELS IN
funnel of a pair of bellows, or under a water-spout. On the
Cape side of the mountains the thermometer rarely descends
_ below 40°; but on the elevated Karroo plains, within the
mountains, it is generally, in the winter months, below the
freezing point by night, and from 70 to 80 in the middle of
the day.
I think this intense cold of the Karroo plains, beyond what
might be expected from their parallel of latitude or elevation,
may satisfactorily be accounted for from the ingenious experi-
ments of Mr. Von Humboldt, on the chemical decomposition
of the atmospherical air. He proves that fat and clayey earths
are strongly disposed to attract the oxygen from the atmo-
_ sphere, by which the azotic gas is let loose; and this gas, en-
tering again into combination with the fresh oxygen of the
superincumbent stratum, in an increased proportion, forms
nitric acid, from which saltpetre is generated. That saltpetre
is abundantly formed on those plains is an indisputable fact,
as I have fully shewn in the first chapter of the first volume;
and the consequence of such formation must necessarily be a
great diminution of temperature in those places whee the
operation is most powerfully carrying on. Hence perhaps
may be explained those columns of cold air through which
one frequently passes upon the Karroo plains.
The north-west winds of winter have a moist and cold feel
even in Cape Town, where, though the thermometer seldom de-
scends below 40°, and then only about an hour before sun-
rise, all the English inhabitants were glad to keep constant
SOUTHERN AFRICA. ce
fires during the months of July, August, and September. Even
in October it is not unusual to observe the summits of the
mountains to the eastward of the Cape isthmus buried in snow.
Though it has been usual to consider the year at the Cape
as consisting of two periods, called the good and the bad mon-
soon, yet, as these are neither regular in their returns, nor cer-
tain in their continuance, the division into four seasons, as in
Europe, would appear to be much more proper. The spring,
reckoned from the beginning of September to that of Decem-
ber, is the most agreeable season. The summer, from De-
_cember to March, is the hottest. ‘The autumn, from March
to June, is variable weather, generaily fine, and the latter
part very pleasant. And the winter, from June to Septem-
ber, though in general pleasant, is frequently very stormy,
rainy, and cold. ‘The two most powerful winds are the north-
west and south-east. ‘The first generally commences towards
the end of May, and blows occasionally till the end of Au-
gust, and sometimes through the month of September. The
south-east predominates the rest of the year, and, when the
cloud shews itself on the mountain, blows in squalls with
great violence. In the midst of one of these storms the ap-
pearance of the heavenly bodies, as observed by the Abbé de
ta Caille, is strange and terrible: “ The stars look Jarger, and
““ seem to dance; the moon has an undulating tremor; and
* the planets have a sort of beard like comets.” Effects such
as these are not confined to the Cape alone, but are, in many
parts of the world, among the terrifick accompaniments of a
storm, and are probably occasioned by looking at the objects
C2
12 TRAVELS IN:
through a medium that is loaded with vapor, and moving
along with great velocity.
The approach of winter is first observed by the south-east
winds becoming less frequent, less violent, and blowing clear,
or without the fleecy cloud upon the mountain. Dews then
begin to fall very heavy, and thick fogs hang in the mornings
about the hills. The north-west winds feel raw and cold,
and increase at length to a storm, with heavy rain, thunder,
and lightning, continuing generally for two or three days.
When the weather brightens up, the mountains on the con-
tinent appear with their tops buried in snow: the Table has
also a sprinkling of snow or hail about the summit. At such
times the thermometer, about sun-rise, stands in the town
at 40°, and will probably ascend, towards the middle of. the
day, to 70°, making a variation i temperature of 30 degrees
in the course of five or six hours. The general standard,
however, for the three winter months may be reekoned from
50° at sun-rise to 60° at noon; and in the very middle of:
summer it varies from 70° to 90°, but generally rests for days
together at 83° or 84°. It has been known to exceed 100°
in Cape Town ; but instances of so high a degree of tempera-
ture have been very rare. The heat of summer is seldom
oppressive. ‘The mornings are sometimes close and sultry,
but the nights are always cool. The south-east breeze
usually springs up towards the middle of the day, and dies
away in the evening. When these winds blow with vio-
lence, and the cloud appears on the mountain, their
greatest strength is when the sun has passed the meridian
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 13
about 80 degrees, and they continue in squalls til! mid-
night. From November to April a shower of rain scarcely
ever falls.
The barometer stands higher in the clear cold days of winter
than. in the settled serene weather of summer. The height
of the column of mercury varics, in the former season, from
29.46 to 30.35 inches, one point indicating a storm with
rain, thunder, and lightning; and the other, settled fair
weather. The changeable point is about 29.95 or 30 inches:
‘Fhe greatest range being only 89 hundred parts of an inch,
the slightest alteration in the state of the barometer is sure
to indicate a change of weather. ‘The range of the mercury,
in the summer season, is still less, being scarcely ever above
30.10, or below 29.74 inches. The south-east gales of wind
seldom occasion a change of more than 15 hundred parts of
an inch. Happy for the inhabitants of Cape Town that by
these winds a constant circulation of the air is kept up during
the summer months, without which, notwithstanding the
languor they occasion, the reflected heat from the naked
front of the Table mountain would make the town insupport-
able..
Most of the fatal diseases that prevail among the natives
would appear to proceed rather from their habits of life than
from any real unhealthiness in the climate. Nothing could
afford a stronger proof of this: conclusion than the circums
stance of there not having been one sick man in the general
military hospital for several months, and not more than a-hun-
dred in the regimental hospitals out of five thousand troops ;
14 TRAVELS IN
and these, according to the reports of the surgeons, were
complaints generally brought on by too free an use of the
wines and spirituous liquors of the country, of which their
pay enabled them to procure an excess. ‘The sudden change
of temperature, especially from heat to cold, may perhaps
be one of the causes of consumptive complaints which are
very frequent in all classes and ages. But the common dis-
ease to which those of the middle age are subject, is the
dropsy. A confined and sedentary life; eating to excess,
twice and commonly thrice a-day, of animal food swimming
in fat, or made up into high-seasoned dishes; drinking raw
ardent spirits; smoking tobacco; and, when satiated with
induiging the sensual appetite, retiring in the middle of the
day to sleep; seldom using any kind of exercise, and never
such as might require bodily exertion,—are the usual habits
in which a native of the Cape is educated. An apoplexy or
a schirrous liver are the consequences of such intemperance.
The former is seldom attended with immediate dissolution on
account of the languid state of the constitution ; but it gene-
rally terminates in a dropsy, which shortly proves fatal. ‘The
diseases to which children are most subject are eruptions of
different kinds, and sore throats. Neither the small-pox nor
the measles are endemic ; the former has made its appearance
but twice or thrice since the establishment of the Colony, but
the latter has found its way much more frequently. Great
caution has always been used by the government against
their being introduced by foreign ships calling at the Cape.
Instances of longevity are very rare, few exceeding the period
of sixty years. The mortality in Cape Town, taken on the
average in the last eight years, has been about two and a
SOUTHERN AFRICA. rg
half in a hundred among the white inhabitants, and under
three in a hundred among the slaves. ‘Those in the latter
condition, who live in the town, are in general well fed, well
clothed, not much exposed to the weather, nor put to hard
labor. Others in the country, whose principal food consists
of black sandy bread, and the offals of butchers’ meat, who
labor from morning to night in the field, and those also who
follow the arduous and daily task of gathering wood on the
exposed sides of the mountains, or in the hot sands, are sub-
ject to bilious fevers of which they seldom recover.
The ‘scarcity of water in summer is much more unfavor-
able to an extended cultivation than either the soil or climate.
The ‘torrents of rain that descend for about four months in
the year, deluging the whole country, disappear suddenly,
leaving the deep sunken beds of the rivers nearly dry, or so
far exhausted as to be rendered incapable of supplying the
purposes of irrigation. The periodical rivulets, and the
streams that issue from the mountain springs, are either ab-
sorbed or evaporated before they arrive at any great distance
from their sources. In the whole compass of this extensive
coleny, one can scarcely say that there is a single navigable
river. The beds indeed of all the rivers in the colony are
sunk, in a remarkable manner, to a very great depth below
the general surface of the country; so that whenever the
heavy rains descend, the waters subside into these deep
channels, which, on account of their narrowness, almost
instantaneously become filled to the very brink. ‘The im-
petuosity with which such torrents rush towards the sea is
irresistible.
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=
@
‘Whether the deep excavations, that form the beds of these
rivers, may be satisfactorily explained by supposing the tex-
ture of the adjacent materials to have been of a loose and
incoherent nature; or, whether a greater antiquity than to
many parts of the globe may not be assigned to the conti- -
nent of South Africa, on the whole surface of which there
appears to be a-remarkable similarity, is a question on the
merits of which one would hesitate to give a prompt decision.
But, on comparing the great quantity of rain that annually
falls at the Cape, a quantity far exceeding that in most parts
of Europe, with the general scarcity of springs, the invention
is naturally exercised in endeavouring to account for a phe-
nomenon so unusual. The following observations may per-
haps assist in explaining it.
All the continued chains of mountains in Southern Africa
are composed of sandstone resting upon a base of granite.
This granite base is sometimes elevated considerably above
the general surface of the country, and sometimes its upper
partis sunk as farbeneath it. In situations where the former
happens to be the case, numerous springs are sure to be
found, as in the instance of Table mountain, where, on every
side, copious streams of pure lnmpid water, filtered through
the immense mass of superincumbent sandstone, glide over
the impenetrable surface of granite, furnishing an ample sup-
ply to the whole town, the gardens, and the adjacent farms.
But in all those places where the sandstone continues to de-
scend below the surface, and the upper part of the granite base
is sunk beneath the general level of the country, the springs
that make their appearance are few and scanty.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 17
The reasoning that suggests itself on these facts will lead
to the following conclusion:—that the cisterns or cavities in
the sandstone mountains, being corroded and fretted away, in
the lapse of ages, to a greater depth than the openings or
conduits which might, perhaps, at one time, have given their
waters vent, the springs can no longer find their way upon the
surface, but, cozing imperceptibly between the granite and
the sandstone, below the general level of the country, glide
in subterraneous streams to the sea,
I am the more inclined to this opinion from the experience
of several facts. When Admiral Sir Roger Curtis directed a
space of ground, between the Admiralty-house and the shore
of Table Bay, to be enclosed as a naval yard, the workmen
met with great impediment from the copious springs of pure
fresh water that rushed out of the holes, which they found
necessary to sink in the sand, for receiving the upright posts.
It is a well known fact, that on almost every part of the
isthmus that connects the mountainous peninsula of the Cape
to the continent, fresh water may be procured at the depth
of ten or twelve feet below the sandy surface. Even in the
side of the Tyger Hills, at an elevation of twenty feet, at
least, above the general surface of the isthmus, when the
workmen were driving a level in search of coal, a copious
stream of water was collected within it, in the month of
February, which is the very dryest season of the year.
And on boring, for the same purpose, on Wynberg, they
came to a rill of water at the depth of twenty feet below
the surface.
VOL. II. D
“18 TRAVELS IN
T have already noticed, in my journey to the Namaaqua
country, that clear subterraneous streams were every where
to be found, in that district, under the sandy beds of the
rivers. Water in abundance has always been found by dig-
ging wells in Cape Town. Indeed it would be an absurdity
to suppose that, in a country where mountains abound, and
those mountains for more than two-thirds of the year hid
in dense clouds, there could be any scarcity of water. Pe-
culiar circumstances, relating to situation or surface, may
conceal that water, but it will always be discovered at or
near the sea-coast.
When the late Admiral Sir Hugh Christian ordered a well
to be sunk at Saldanha Bay, by directing his attention rather
to the convenience of conveying the water to the shipping,
than to the certainty of obtaining it, he was led into an error
in fixing upon the spot for the experiment, which was so
high above the level of the bay, and where the ground was
one solid mass of compact granite, that, after boring and
blowing up with gunpowder, for several months, with little
or no prospect of success, the operation was obliged to be
abandoned. On the opposite side of the bay, where the
shore is little elevated above the high water mark, several
springs have spontaneously burst out of the earth; but for
want of being properly opened, so that the water may run
off freely, they are suffered to stagnate, and become, as
might be expected from the soil and climate, a little brackish,
All circumstances here are fully as favorable as at Madras,
where the purest and best water is found close to the sea shore.
6
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 19
These considerations are so obvious, that I should have
thought it unnecessary to have dwelt a moment upon the
subject, were I not persuaded that a very general opinion
prevails with regard to the difficulty, if not the impossi-
bility, of supplying the several bays of the colony with fresh
water. I shall only suggest, as another conclusion that may
be drawn from what has been said, that the great depth of
the commencement of the granite base below the surface
may, perhaps, better account for the most considerable rivers
of Northern Africa losing themselves in the sand, before they
reach the sea, than by supposing the interior parts of this
continent to be lower than the level of the ocean; a con-
jecture that has been held, but which strongly militates
against the general order observed throughout the universe.
The two principal rivers, on the western coast, are the
Berg or Mountain river, which takes its rise in the mountains
that enclose the Vale of Drakenstein, and falls into Saint
Helena Bay ; and the Oliphant or Elephant’s River, which,
after collecting the streamlets of the first chain of mountains
in its northerly course along their feet, empties itself into the
Southern Atlantic in 31° 30’ south. ‘Though both these rivers
have permanent streams of water, sufficiently deep to be
navigable by small craft, to the distance of about twenty
miles up the country, yet the mouth of the former is choaked
up with a bed of sand, and across the latter is a reef of
rocks.
On the south coast of the colony the permanent rivers of
any magnitude are, the Broad River, the Gauritz River, the
D2
20 TRAVELS IN
Knysna, the Keurboom River, the Camtoos River, the Zwart
kops River, the Sunday River, and the Great Fish River; the
last of which terminates the colony to the eastward.
The Broad River is diseharged into Saint Sebastian’s Bay,
which the Dutch consider as a dangerous navigation, though
there have*been instances of their ships taking shelter there
in the north-west monsoon at no great distance from the
mouth of the river, which is here a sheet of water more than
a mile in width; but, like every other river on this coast, ex-
cept the Knysna, it is crossed by a bar of sand. Within this
bar it might be navigated by small craft about thirty miles
up the country; an extent, however, in which there are
scarcely half a dozen farm-houses.
The Gauritz River is a collection of water from the Great
Karroo plains, the Black Mountains, and the chain that runs
parallel, and nearest, to the sea-coast. ‘The branches to the
northward of this chain are periodical, but it flows, to the
southward, throughout the year, though, in the summer
months, with a very weak current. In the rainy season it is
considered as the most rapid and dangerous river in the whole
colony. Its mouth opens into the sea, where the coast is
straight, and it is crossed by a bar of sand which, in summer,
is generally dry.
The Knysna, being altogether different from the other
~ rivers in the colony, will be particularly noticed, and a sketch
of it given, in a future chapter, to which I must beg leave to
refer. the reader.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 21
The Keurboom River, like the Knysna, runs up into the
midst of tall forests, and might be navigated by boats toa
considerable distance, but its mouth, in Plettenberg’s Bay,
is completely sanded up by the almost perpetual rolling
swell of the sea, from the south-eastward upon the sandy
beach.
The Camtoos River is a collection of waters from the same
parts of the country as, but more easterly than, the Gauritz
River. It falls into a wide bay of the same name, in which
the only secure anchorage is opposite the mouth of a small
stream called the Kromme or Crooked River. Though Cam-
toos River, just within the mouth, is a wide bason deep
enough to float a ship of the line, yet the bar of sand across
the mouth is fordable upon the beach at high water, and fre-
quently dry at low water.
The Zwart Kops River is a clear permanent stream of wa-
ter flowing down one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys
in the colony; and is among the very few of those that, by
damming, may be turned upon the contiguous grounds.
Lieutenant Rice, whom I have had occasion to mention,
succeeded by a great deal of perseverance in getting a boat
over the bar, and sailed about eight miles up this valley,
to which distance only the tide flows. The whole country
in the vicinity of the river, and the bay of the same name, in-
to which it falls, is among the most fertile parts of the colony.
The Sunday River, likewise, falls into Algoa or Zwart Kops
Bay, opposite to the islands of Saint Croix. It rises in the
22 SIT RAVELSHIN
midst of the Snowy Mountains, and continues a permanently
flowing stream, broad and shallow in the middle part of its
course, and narrow and deep towards the mouth, which, like
the rest, is choaked with a bed of sand.
The Great Fish River takes its rise beyond the Snowy
Mountains, and, in its long course, collects a multitude of
streamlets, most of which are constantly supphed with water.
On each side of its mouth is a wild, rocky, and open shore,
but the projecting cheeks form a small cove or creek, which,
it seems, was frequented by the Portugueze shortly after
their discovery of the Cape; though, from the boisterous ap-
pearance of the sea, upon the bar that evidently crosses the
entrance of the river, it is difficult to conceive how they dared
to trust their ships in such an exposed situation, unless, in-
deed, they were so small as to be able, at high water, to cross
the bar, in which case they might lie, at all seasons, in per-
fect security.
All these rivers are well stocked with perch, eels, and small
turtle, and, to a certain distance from the sea-coast, they
abound with almost every kind of sea-fish peculiar to this
part of the world.
Beside the rivers here enumerated, the whole slip of land,
stretching along the sea-coast, between the entrance of False
Bay and the Great Fish river, is intersected by streamlets
whose waters are neither absorbed nor evaporated ; but they
generally run in such deep chasms as to be of little use towards
the promotion of agriculture by the aid of irrigation.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 23
DIVISION, POPULATION, AND PRODUCE.
When the Dutch East India Company perceived their
settlement extending far beyond the bounds they had orig?
nally prescribed, they found it expedient to divide the coun-
try into districts, and to place over each a civil magistrate
with the title of Zandrost, who, with his council called Hem-
raaden, was authorized to settle petty disputes among the
farmers, or between them and the native Hottentots, levy
fines within a certain sum, collect and apply the parochial
assessments, and enforce the orders and regulations of Go-
vernment. His district was distributed into a number of
subdivisions, over each of which was appointed a Feldtwagt-
meester or country overseer, whose duty was to take cogni-
zance of any abuses committed within his division, and
report the same to the Landrost, to adjust disputes about
springs or water-courses, and to forward the orders of Go-
vernment.
Little as the authority was which Government had thus
delegated to the Landrost and his assistants, that little was
subject sometimes to abuse, sometimes to neglect, and very
often to contempt. —
In fact, all systems of provincial judicature seem liable
to the same objections. If too much power be confided
in the hands of the magistrates, the temptation to corruption
is proportionally great, and to attempt to execute the law
without the power would seem a mockery of justice. ‘The
wm TRAVELS IN
latter was very much the case in the distant parts of the
Cape colony.
For want of such a power the laws have certainly, in most
cases, proved unavailing. The Landrost had only the shadow
of authority. The council and the country overseers were
composed of farmers, who were always more ready to skreen
and protect their brother boors, accused of crimes, than to
assist in bringing them to justice. The poor Hottentot had
little chance of obtaining redress for the wrongs he suffered
from the boors. However willing the Landrost might be to
receive his complaints, he possessed not the means of remov-
ing the grievance. ‘To espouse the cause of the Hottentot
was a sure way to lose his popularity. And the distance
from the eapital was a sufficient obstacle to the preferring of
complaints before the Court of Justice at the Cape. When-
ever this has happened, the orders of the Court of Justice met
with as little respect, at the distance of five or six hundred
miles, as the orders of the Landrost and his council. If a
man, after being summoned, did not chuse to appear, there
was no force in the country to compel him ; and they knew
it would be fruitless to dispatch such a force from
the Cape. Hence murders and the most atrocious crimes
were committed with impunity; and the only punishment
was a sentence of outlawry for contempt of Court ; a sentence
that was attended with little inconvenience to the criminal,
who still continued to maintain his ground in society, as if
no such sentence was hanging over him. It debarred him,
it is true, from making his usual visits to the capital, but he
found no difficulty in getting his business done by. proxy.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 25
Numberless instances of this kind occurred, yet the system
remained the same. Perhaps, indeed, it would be difficult
to suggest a better, till a greater degree of population shall
compel the inhabitants to dwell in villages, or the limits of
the colony be contracted into a narrower compass.
This extensive settlement, whose dimensions have been
given above, is divided into four districts, namely,
1. The district of the Cape.
2, —— — of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein.
3. ——_———_— of Zwellendam.
4, ——-—_——-— of Graaff Reynet.
‘CAPE DISTRICT.
Of these the Cape district is by much the smallest, but the
most populous. It may be considered as divided into two
parts; one consisting of the peninsula on which the Town is
situated, the other of the slip of land extending from the shore
of Table Bay to the mouth of the Berg River in Saint Helena
Bay, and separated from Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, on the
east, by the Little Salt River, Deep River, and Mossel Bank
River, being about eighty miles from north to south, and
twenty-five from east to west ; containing, therefore, about two
thousand square miles. The Cape peninsula isabout thirty miles
in length and eight in breadth, or two hundred and forty square
miles. According to an account of the stock, produce, and
Jand under cultivation, which every man is obliged annually
VOL. Il. E
26 TRAVELS IN
to give in to the police officers, and which is called the Op-
gaaf list; it appears that, notwithstanding the comparative
short distance of every part of the Cape district from a market,
not one fifteenth part of the surface is under any kind of
tillage. As by the Cape cf Good Hope is usually meant
the Southern peninsula of South Africa, on which Cape
Town is situated, I shall be more particular in the descrip-
tion of this district than of the rest.
Cape Town is built with great regularity, the streets being
all laid out with aline. Itis the only assemblage of houses in
the Colony that deserves the name of a town; they are gene-
rally white-washed, and the doors and windows painted green ;
are mostly two stories in height, flat-roofed, with an ornament
in the centre of the front, or a kind of pediment; a raised
platform before the door with a seat at cach end. It consists
of 1145 dwelling-houses, inhabited by about five thousand
five hundred whites and people of color, and ten thousand
blacks. It is surrounded with remarkable mountains on every
side, except the North, on which it is washed by a spacious
bay.
Many of the streets are open and airy, with canals of wa-
ter running through them, walled in, and planted on each side
with oaks; others are narrow and ill paved. Three or four
squares give an openness to the town. In one is held the
public market ; another is the common resort of the peasantry
with their waggons from the remote districts of the colony ;
and.a.third, near the shore.of the bay, and between the town
i
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 27
and the castle, serves as a parade for exercising the troops.
This is an open, airy, and extensive plain, perfectly level, com-
posed of a bed of firm clay, covered with small hard gravel.
It is surrounded by canals, or ditches, that receive the waters
of the town and conycy them into the bay. Two of its sides
are completely built up with large and handsome houses.
The barracks, originally intended for an hospital, for corn
magazines, and wine cellars, is a large, well-designed, regular
building, which, with its two wings, occupies part of one of the
sides of the great square. ‘The upper part of this building is
sufficiently spacious to contain three or four thousand men.
The castle affords barracks for 1000 men, and lodgings sufti-
cient for all the officers of a complete regiment ; magazines for
artillery stores and ammunition ; and most of the public offices
of government are within its walls. The other public build-
ings are a Calvinist and a Lutheran church: a guard-house,
in which the Burgher Senate, or the council of burghers, meet
for transacting business relative to the interior police of the
town, a large building, in which the government slaves, to the
number of 330, are lodged : the court of justice, where civil
and criminal causes are heard and determined: the Lombard
bank, and the Chamber of Orphans, both of which are within
the walls of the Castle.
Between the town and Table Mountain are scattered over
the plain a number of neat houses surrounded by plantations
and gardens. Of these the largest and nearest to the town is
that in which the government house is erected. It is in
length near 1000 yards, and contains about forty acres of rich
CAG
a; al ‘
28 TRAVELS IN
land divided into almost as many squares by oak hedges. The
public walk runs up the middle, is well shaded by au avenue
of oak trees, and enclosed on each side by a hedge of cut
myrtles. ‘The Dutch of late years had entirely neglected
this excellent piece of ground; but the spirit of improvement
that has always actuated the minds of the English in all their
possessions abroad, will no doubt shew itself at this place,
and convert the public garden into a place not only orna-
mental to the town but useful to the country. A part of it,
in fact, has already been appropriated, by order of the
Earl of Macartney, for the reception of scarce and curious
native plants, and for the trial of such Asiatic and Euro-
pean productions as may seem most likely to be cultivated
with benefit to the colony.
Of native plants, that which is the most cultivated, in the ©
vicinity of the town, is the Protea argentea, the Witteboom,
or silver tree of the Dutch. Whole woods of it stretch
along the feet of the eastern side of the Table Moun-
tain, planted solely for fuel. ‘The Conocarpa, another
species of Protea, the Kreupel boom of the Dutch, is
also planted along the sides of the hills: its bark is employed
in tanning leather, and the branches for fire wood. ‘The
grandiflora, speciosa et mellifera, different species of the same
genus, grow every where in wild luxuriance, and are collected
for fuel, as are also the larger kinds of Ericas or heaths, phyl-
licas, Brunias, polygalas, the Olea Capensis, Euclea racemosa,
Sophora, and many other arboreous plants that grow in great
abundance both on the hills of the peninsula, and on the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 29
sandy isthmus that connects it with the continent. The arti-
cle of fuel is so scarce that a small cart load of these plants
brought to the town costs from five to seven dollars, or twenty
to eight-and-twenty shillings. In most families a slave is kept
expressly for collecting fire wood. He goes out in the morning,
ascends the steep mountains of the peninsula, where waggons
cannot approach, and returns at night with two small bundles
of faggots, the produce of six or eight hours hard labor,
swinging at the two ends of a bamboo carried across the
shoulder. Some families have two and even three slaves,
whose sole employment consists in climbing the mountains |
in search of fuel. The expence of a few faggots, whether
thus collected or purchased by the load, for preparing victuals
only, as the kitchen alone has any fire place, amounts, in a
moderate family, to forty or fifty pounds a-year.
The addition to the inhabitants of five thousand troops, and |
a large fleet stationed at the Cape, has increased the demand .
for fuel to such a degree, that serious apprehensions have been
entertained of some deficiency shortly happening in the sup-
ply of this necessary article. Under this idea the atten-
tion of the English was particularly directed towards find-
ing out a substitute for wood. The appearance of all the
mountains in Southern Africa, being particularly favorable to
the supposition that fossil coal might be found in the bowels
of most of those inferior hills connected with, and interposed
between, them and the sea, His-Excellency the Earl of Ma-
cartney, well knowing how valuable an acquisition such a dis~
covery would prove to the colony, directed a search to be
made. Boring rods were prepared, and men from the regi-
30 TRAVELS IN
ments, who had laboured in the collieries of England, were
selected to make the experiment. Wynberg, a tongue of land
projecting from the Table Mountain, was the spot fixed on,
and the rods were put down there through hard clay, pipe-
clay, iron-stone, and sand-stone, in successive strata, to the
depth of twenty-three feet. The operation of boring was then
discontinued by the discovery of actual coal coming out, as
miners express it, to day, along the banks of a deep rivulet
flowing out of the Tygerberg, a hill: that terminates the
isthmus to the eastward. The stratum of coaly matter ap-
peared to lie nearly horizontal. Immediately above it were
pipe-clay and white sand-stone ; and it rested on.a bed of in-
durated clay. It ran from ten inches to two feet in thickness ;
differed in its nature in different parts: in some places were
dug out large ligneous blocks, in which the traces of the bark,
knots and grain were distinctly visible ; and in the very mid-
dle of these were imbedded pieces of iron pyrites, running
through them in crooked veins, or lying in irregular lumps.
Other parts of the stratum consisted of laminated coal of the
nature of turf, such as by naturalists would be called Lithan-
thrax, and pieces occurred that seemed to differ in nothing
from that species known in England by the name of Bovey
coal. The ligneous part burned with a clear flame, without
much smell, and left a residuum of light white ashes like those
of dried wood. ‘The more compact earthy and stoney parts
burned less clear, gave out a sulphureous smell, and left be-
hind a slaty caulk, that soon contracted on the surface a deep
brown ochraceous crust. The borer being put down in seve-
ral places in hopes of meeting with the main bed of coal, the
general result was as follows :
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 3h
In the bed of the rivulet :
Coal - 2 =
Blue soapy rock - 2 5
White soapy rock - é 4 92
Grey sand-stone with clay ‘ 91
Sand-stone of chocolate brown - ns 5 14
Bluish soapy clay - > . 31
Striated sand, red and white, containing clay - 83
Here the operation was discontinued for the present.
Most of the European, and several of the tropical, fruits
have already been introduced into the colony, and cultivated
with success. In every month of the year the table may be
supplied with at least ten different sorts of fruit, green and
dry. Oranges of two kinds, the common China and the small
Mandarin; figs, grapes, and guavas, are all very good; peaches
and apricots not bad. These, when in season, are sold at the
rate of one shilling the hundred. Apples, pears, pomegranates,
quinces, and medlars, thrive well and bear plentifully, but are
not very good. Few indeed are at the pains even of grafting
the trees, but suffer them to grow up from the seed. The
plums and cherries that are produced in the colony are of an
indifferent quality. Gooseberries and currants are said to
have been tried, but without success. The nectarine has not
yet been introduced. Raspberries are tolerably good, but’
scarce ; and strawberries are brought to market every month
of the year. There are no filberts nor common hazel nuts,
32 TRAVELS IN
but almonds, walnuts, and chesnuts, all of good quality, are
plentiful, as are also mulberries of a large size and excellent
flavor.
The market is likewise tolerably well supplied with most of
the European vegetables for the table, from the farms that lie
scattered along the eastern side of the peninsula, in number
about forty or fifty. On some of these farms are vineyards
also of considerable extent, producing, besides a supply for
the market of green and ripe grapes and prepared raisins,
about seven hundred leaguers or pipes of wine a-year, each
containing 154 gallons. Of these from fifty to a hundred con-
sist of a sweet luscious wine, well known in England by the
name of Constantia, the produce of two farms lying close un-
der the mountains about mid-way between the two bays.
The grape is the Muscatel, and the rich quality of the wine
is in part owing to the situation and soil, and partly to the
care taken in the manufacture. No fruit but such as is full
ripe, no stalks are suffered to go under the press, precautions
that are rarely taken ‘by the other farmers of the Cape.
The vineyards, gardens, and fruiteries are divided into small
squares, and inclosed by cut hedges of oaks, quince trees, or
myrtles, to break off the south-east winds of summer, which,
from their strength and dryness, are found to be deleterious to
vegetation ; but the grain is raised on open grounds. The pro-
duce of this article on the peninsula is confined chiefly to barley, _
which, in this country, is preferred to oats for the feeding of
horses. None of the common flat-eared barley has yet been
introdueed, but that hexangular kind only is known, which in
some parts of ‘Iingland is called beer, and in others dig. Corn
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 33
is generally cultivated beyond the isthmus and along: the
western coast, within the great north and south chain of
mountains. ‘Ihe remote districts beyond these furnish a sup-
ply of horses, sheep, and horned cattle.
The natural productions of the Cape Peninsula, in the vege-
table kingdom, are perhaps more numerous, varied, and ele-
gant, than on any other spot of equal extent in the whole
world. Of these, by the indefatigable labors of Mr. Masson,
his Majesty’s botanic garden at Kew exhibits a choice col-
lection; but many are still wanting to complete it. Few
countries can boast of so great a variety of the bulbous rooted”
plants as Southern Africa. In the month of September, at
the close of the rainy season, the plains at the feet of the
Table Mountain and on the west shore of 'l'able Bay, called
now the Green Point, exhibit a beautiful appearance. As in
England the humble daisy, in the spring of the year, deco-
rates the green sod, so at the Cape, in the same season, the
whole surface 1s enlivened with the large Othonna, so like the
daisy as to be distinguished only by a Botanist, springing up
in myriads out of a verdant carpet, not however of grass, but
composed generally of the low creeping Trifolium melilotos.
The Oxzalis cernua, and others of the same genus, varying
through every tint of color from brilliant red, purple, violet;
yellow, down to snowy whiteness, and the Hypozis stellata or
star flower with its regular radiated corolla, some of golden
yellow, some of a clear unsullicd white, and others contain-
ing in each flower, white, violet, and deep green, are equally
numerous, and infinitely more beautiful. Whilst these are in-
volving the petals of their shewy flowrets at the setting of the
VOL. II. E
34 ' TRAVELS IN
sun, the modest I[zza Cinnamomea, of which are two varieties,
one called here the Cinnamon, and the other the evening,
flower, that has remained closed up in its brown calyx,
and invisible durmg the day, now expands its small white
blossoms, and scents the air, throughout the night, with its
fragrant odour. ‘The tribe of Jzzas are numerous and ex-
tremely elegant; but none more singular than that species
which bears a long upright spike of pale green flowers. The
Tris, the Morea, Antholiza, and Gladiolus, each furnish a great
variety of species not less elegant nor graceful than the [via.
That species of Gladiolus, which is here called Africaner, is un-
commonly beautiful with its tall waving spike of striped flowers,.
and has also a fragrant smell; that species of a deep crimson
is still more elegant. A small yellow Iris furnishes a root for the
table, in size and taste not unlike a chesnut. These small
roots are called Uyntjes by the colonists, and that ef the Apo-
negeton distachion, which is also eaten, water uyntjes. Of those
genera which botanists have distinguished by the name of the
liliaceous class, many are exceedingly grand and -beautiful,
particularly the Amaryllis, of which there are several species,
The sides of the hills are finely scented with the family of ge-
raniums ; the different species of which, exhibiting such va-
riety of foliage, once started an idea that this tribe of plants
alone might imitate in their leaves every genus of the vegeta-
ble world.
The frutescent, or shrubby plants, that grow in wild luxu-
riance, some on the hills, others in the deep chasms of the
mountains, and others on the sandy isthmus, farnish an endless.
variety for the labors of the botanist. Ofthe numbers of this
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 35
class of naturalists, who have visited the Cape, none have re-
turned to Europe without having added to his collection
plants that were neither described nor known. ‘The eye of a
stranger is immediately caught by the extensive plantations of
the Protea Argentea, whose silver colored leaves, of the soft tex-
ture of satin, give it a distinguished appearance among the
deep foliage of the oak, and. still deeper hue of the stone
pine. It is singular enough that although the numerous species
of Protea be indiscriminately produced on almost every hill
of the colony, the silver tree should be confined to the feet of
the Table Mountain alone, a circumstance that led to the
supposition of its not being indigenous to the Cape; it has
never yet. however, been discovered in any other part of the
world: The tribe of heaths are uncommonly elegant and
beautiful: they are met with equally numerous and flourish-
ing on the stony hills and sandy plains; yet, unless raised
from seed, are with difficulty transplanted into gardens.
Doctor Ronburgh found at least 130 distinct species between
the Cape and the first range of mountains. Little inferior to
the heaths are the several species of the genera to which
botanists have given the names of Polygala, Brunia, Diosma,
Borbonia, Cliffortia, and Asparagus ; to which might be added
a vast variety of others, to be enumerated only in a work
professedly written on the subject.
The peninsula of the Cape affords but a narrow field for the
inquiries of the Zoologist. ‘The wooded kloofs or clefts in the
mountains still give shelter to the few remaining troops of
wolves and hyenas that not many years ago were very trouble-
some to the town. The latter, indeed, generally shuns the
habitations of men; but the former, even yet, sometimes ex-
F2
36 TRAVELS IN
tends his. nightly prowl to the very skirts of the town,. enticed
by the dead cattle and offals from slaughter-houses that are
shamefully suffered to be left or thrown even at the sides of
the public roads. In the caverns of the Table Mountain, and
indeed in almost every mountain of the colony, is found in
considerable number a small dusky-colored animal about the
size of arabbit, with short ears and no tail,. called here the
Das, and described in the Systema Nature of Linneus under
the name of Hyrax Capensis, and by Pennant under that. of
Cape Cavy. The flesh is used for the table, but is. black,
drv, and of an indifferent flavor. ‘The Steenbok, once the most
numerous of the antelope tribe that inhabited the peninsula, is
now nearly exterminated out of this part of Africa, though
equally abundant with the other two beyond the isthmus.
This animal is the Antelope Grimmea of Pallas, and the Guinea
antelope of Pennant. The horses of the Cape are not indi-
genous, but were first introduced from: Java, and sinee that,
at various times, from different parts of the world. The -
grizzled and the black Spaniard first brought hither, about
twenty years ago, from South America, where the breed now
runs wild over that extensive country, are the horses that are
most esteemed for their beauty, their gentleness, and service.
Though small, and often very ill-fed, they are capable of sus-
taining a great degree of hard labor. Heavy waggons, how-
ever, are chiefly drawn by oxen. ‘These are all indigenous,
except the breed from a few European cattle that have lately
been introduced. The Cape ox is distinguished, by its long
legs, high shoulders, and large horns.
The larger kinds of birds that hover round the summit of
the Table Mountain are vultures, eagics, kites, and crows,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 37
that assist the wolves in cleansing the outskirts of the town
of a nuisance that is tacitly permitted by the police. Ducks,
teals, and snipes, are met with in the winter season about the
pools and periodical lakes on the isthmus. Turtie doves, a
thrush called the Sprew, and the Fiscal bird, the Lanius Col-
laris, frequent the gardens near the town.
The market is constantly supplied with a variety of sea-fish
that are caught in the bay, and every where along the coast.
‘Fhe Roman, a deep rose-colored perch, is considered as the
best fish in the colony, but is never caught except in False-
bay, and on the coast to the eastward of it. It has one back
fin with twelve spines, and divided tail; a silver band along
each side of the back fin, turning down to the belly, and a
blue arched line over the upper mandible connecting the two
eyes. Next to the Roman are the red and the white Steen-
brassems, or Stone-breams, two species, or perhaps varieties
only,.of perches. ‘They are caught from one to thirty pounds
in weight. Of the same genus there are several other species,
and all of them tolerably good.. One of these called the
Cabeljau, with the root of the pectoral fins black, tail un-
divided, and: one back fin, grows. to the weight of forty
pounds: another, called the Hottentot’s fish, from its dirty
brown color, with one back fin,.and tail bifid, commonly runs
about four pounds: another perch, called the Silver-fish, has
one back fin, and tail bifid ;: ground of a: rose-colored tinge,
with five longitudinal silver bands on each side, described
probably as the perca striata: and a fourth species, called the
Stompneus, with one back fin and tail bifid, is. distinguished
by six transverse bands of black and white spots down cach.
38 TRAVELS IN
‘side. The Harder, a species of Clupea, not unlike the com-
‘mon herring, is considered as a good fish; and the Klip or
rock-fish, the Blennius viviparus, makes no bad fry. Another
Blennius, called the King Rock-fish, is sometimes caught
with the former, to which, from its shape and resemblance to
the Murena of the ancients, naturalists have given the specific
name of Murenoides. The Eift, the Scomber trachurus, schad
or horse mackerel, has a good flavor, but is reckoned to be
unwholesome food, and on that account seldom eaten. The
Scomber Scomber, common mackerel, sometimes makes its ap-
pearance after bad weather in large shoals in the bay. The
Springer is esteemed for the thick fat coating that lines the
cavity of the abdomen. The Speering, a species of Antherina,
is a small transparent fish with a broad band, resembling a
plate of silver, on each side. The Knorhaen, a species of
Trigla, or Gurnard, with two strong spincs on the fore part
of each eye, and two on the cover of the gills, is not a bad
fish ; nor is the common Sole inferior here to that in Europe.
Dolphins are sometimes caught in the bay after a gale of wind.
That singular species of Ray fish, the electrical torpedo, is
well known to the fishermen by the frequent strokes they re-
ceive from treading on the small young ones that are often
thrown upon the beach in the winter season. Another species
is used for the table and eaten by the English under the name
of Skate. There is also in some of the rivers of the country
an electrical Svlurus, but it is not eaten; and the Bagre, a
second species of Siduwrus, commonly caught in the bay, is
considered as poisonous. The Scorpena Capensis, called here
Jacob Evertson, is a firm, dry fish, but not very commonly
used. A species of cray-fish and different sorts of crabs are
S
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 39
plentiful and tolerably good. Muscles of various kinds, and
oysters, abound on the sea-coast ; the former of a high, strong
flavor, but the latter fully as good as those of Europe; they
are, however, not to be procured in quantities near the Cape.
A species of Asterias or Star-fish, and the paper Nautilus, are
sometimes sent from hence to Europe to be placed in the
cabinets of the curious; as is also that singular little animal
called by naturalists. the Syngnathus Hippocampus, and some-.
times. sea-horse.
Few shells or marine productions are met with on this part
of the coast of Africa that would be considered as rare by the
naturalist. Small corallines, madrepores, sponges, and other
productions of marine animals, are frequently thrown up on
the shores of the bays, but. such only as are commonly known.
The shells. that mostly abound are of the univalve tribe. The
patella genus is the most plentiful ; and that large, beautiful,
pearly shell, the Haliotis Mide, is very common. Cyprea,
Volutes, and Cones, are also abundant. All these are collected
on the coast near the Cape, and burnt into lime, there being
no limestone on the whole peninsula, and none worth the la-
bor of getting, and the expenditure of fuel necessary for burn-
ing it, in any part of the colony.
During the winter season whales are very plentiful in all
the bays of Southern Africa, and give to the fishermen a much
easier opportunity of taking them than in the open sea. —
They are smaller and less. valuable than those of the same
kind in the northern seas, but sufficiently so to have engaged.
the attention of a Company lately established here for carry
40 TRAVELS IN
ing on a fishery in Table Bay. They run in general from
fifty to sixty feet in length, and produce from six to ten tons
ef oil each. The bone of such small fish is not very valuable.
It is remarked that all those which have yet been caught
were females ; and it is supposed that they resort to the bays
as places of shelter to deposit their young. Seals were once
plentiful on the rocky islands of False bay, as is still that.
curious animal the penguin, forming the link of connection
between the feathered and the finny tribe.
Insects of almost every description abound in the summer
months, and particularly a species of locust which infests the
gardens, devouring, if not kept under, every green thing that
comes in its way. Musquitoes are less troublesome here than
in most warm climates, nor does:their bite cause much in-
flammation ; but a small sand fly, so minute as scarcely to be
visible, is a great torment to those who may have occasion
to cross among the shrubbery of the sandy isthmus. Lizards
of various kinds, among which is the cameleon, are-very
abundant; and small land-turtles are every where crawling
about in the high roads and on the naked plains. Scorpions,
scolopendras, and large black spiders, are among the noxious
insects of the Cape ; and almost all the snakes of the country
are venomous.
The first appearance of so stupendous a mass of naked
rock as the Table Mountain cannot fail to arrest, for a time,
the attention of the most indifferent observer of nature from
all inferior objects, and must particularly interest that of
the mineralogist. As a description of this mountain will,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 4X
with few variations, answer to that of almost all the great
ranges in Southern Africa, I may not perhaps be thought too
tedious in entering into a detail of its form, dimensions, and
constituent parts.
The name of Table Land is given by seamen to every hill
or mountain whose summit presents to the eye of the ob-
server a line parallel to the horizon. The north front of the
Table Mountain, directly facing the town, is a horizontal line,
or very nearly so, of about two miles in length. ‘The bold
face, that rises almost at right angles to meet this line, is sup-
ported, as it were, by a number of projecting buttresses that
rise out of the plain, and fall in with the front a little higher
than midway from the base. ‘These, with the division of the
front, by two great chasms, into three parts, a curtain flanked
by two bastions, the first retiring and the others projecting,
give to it the appearance of the ruined walls of some gigantic
fortress. ‘These walls rise above the level of Table Bay to
the height of 3582 feet, as determined by Captain Bridges of
the royal engineers, from a measured base and angles taken
with a good theodolite. The east side, which runs off at
right angles to the front, is still bolder, and has one point
higher by several feet. The west side, along the sea-shore, is
rent into deep chasms, and worn away into a number of
pointed masses. In advancing to the southward about four
miles, the mountain descends in steps or terraces, the lowest
of which communicates by gorges with the chain that extends
the whole length of the peninsula. The two wings of the
front, one the Devil’s Mountain, and the other the Lion’s
Head, make in fact, with the Table, but one mountain. The
VOL, II. G
42 TRAV ELSIIN ©
depredations of time and the force of torrents having carried
away the looser‘and less compact parts, have disunited their
summits, but they are still joined at a very considerable ele-
vation above the common base. The height of the first. 1s.
3315, and of the latter 2160 feet. The Devil’s Mountain is
broken into irregular points; but the upper part of the Lion’s
Head is ‘a solid mass of stone, rounded and fashioned like a
work of art, and resembling very much, from some points
of view, the dome of St. Paul’s placed upon a high cone-
shaped hill.
‘These three mountains are composed of a multitude of
rocky strata piled on each other in large tabular masses.
Their exact horizontal position denotes the origin of the mass
to. be neptunian and not volcanic; and that since its first
formation no copvulsion of the earth has happened in this
part of Africa sufficient to have disturbed the nice arrange-
anent of its parts. The strata of these postdiluvian ruins,
not being placed in the order of their specific gravity, might
lead to the conclusion that they were deposited in successive
periods of time, were it not for the circumstance of their
lying close upon each other without any intermediate veins
of earthy or other extraneous materials. The stratification of
the Cape peninsula, and indeed of the whole colony, is ar-
ranged in the following order :
The shores of Table Bay, and the substratum of the plain
on which the town is built, compose a bed of a blue compact
schistus, generally placed in parallel ridges in the direction of
north-west and south-east, but frequently interrupted by large
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 44
masses of a hard flinty rock of the same color, belonging to
that class of aggregated stones proposed by Mr. Kirwan to
be called granitelles. Fine blue flags, with whitish streaks,
are procured from Robben Island, in the mouth of Table Bay,
which are used for steps, and for paving the terraces in front
of most of the houses.
Upon the Schistu8 lies a body of strong clay colored with
iron from a pale yellow to deep red, and abounding with
brown foliated mica. Embedded in the clay are immense
blocks of granite, the component parts of which are so loosely
cemented together as easily to be separated by the hand. 'The
mica, the sand, and indeed the whole bed of clay, seem to have
been formed from the decomposition of the granite. Be-
tween the Lion’s Head and the sea are vast masses of these
ageregated stones entirely exposed. Most of them are rent
and, falling asunder by their own weight: others are com-
pletely hollowed out so as to be nothing more than a crust or
shell; and they have almost invariably a small aperture on
that side of the stone which faces the bottom of the hill or
the sea-shore. Such excavated blocks of coarse granite are
very common on the hills of Africa, and are frequently in-
habited by runaway slaves. .
Resting on the granite and clay is the first horizontal stra-
‘tum of the Table Mountain, commencing at about five hun-
dred feet above the level of the sea. It is siliceous sand-stone
of a dirty yellow color. Above this is a deep .brown sand-
stone, containing calciform ores of iron, and veins of hematite
G 2
” TRAVELS IN
running through the solid rock. Upon this rests a mass, of
about a thousand feet in height, of a whitish-grey shining
granular quartz, mouldering away in many places by exposure
to the weather, and in others passing into sand-stone. The
summit of the mountain has entirely undergone the transition
into sand-stone; and the skeletons of the rocks, that have
hitherto resisted the ravages of time, are surrounded by
myriads of oval-shaped and rounded pebbles of semitrans-
parent quartz that were once embedded in them. Those
pebbles having acquired their rounded form by friction when
the matrix, in which they are still found buried, had not as-
sumed the form and consistence of stone; and the situation
of this stratified matrix on blocks of primzeval granite, clearly
point out a grand revolution to have taken place on the sur-
face of the globe we inhabit. No organized remains, how-
ever, of the Old World, such as shells buried in the rock,
petrifactions of fishes, or impressions of plants, appear on that
side of the Table Mountain next the ‘Town; but I have seen
some few arborizations in the Schistus on the south side of
the Mountain.
To those whom mere curiosity, or the more laudable desire
of acquiring information, may tempt to make a visit to the.
summit of the Table Mountain, the best and readiest access
will be found directly up the face next to the town. The
ascent lies through a deep chasm that divides the curtain from
the left bastion. The length of this ravine is about three-
fourths of a mile; the perpendicular cheeks at the foot more
than a thousand feet high, and the angle of ascent about forty-
: 2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 45
five degrees. The entrance into this deep chasm is grand
and awful. The two sides, distant at the lower part about
eighty yards from each other, converge to the width of a few
feet only at the portal, which opens upon the summit, forming
two lines of natural perspective. On passing this portal, a
plain of very considerable extent spreads out, exhibiting a
dreary waste and an insipid tameness, after quitting the bold
and romantic scenery of the chasm. And the adventurer
may perhaps feel strongly disposed to ask himself if such be
all the gratification he is to receive for having undergone so
great a fatigue in the ascent? The mind, however, will soon
be relieved at the recollection of the great command given
by the elevation; and the eye, leaving the immediate
scenery, will wander with delight round the whole circum-
ference of the horizon. On approaching the verge of the
mountain—
* How fearful
«« And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low !
* * * * *
«© The fishermen that walk upon the beach
«© Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark
«“ Diminish’d to her cock. * * *
* * * «© The murmuring surge
« That on the unnumber’d idle pebbles chafes,
« Cannot be heard so high.”
All the objects on the plain below are, in fact, dwindled
away to the eye of the spectator into littleness and insignifi-
cance. /The flat-roofed houses of Cape Town, disposed into
formal clumps, appear like those paper fabrics which chil-
46 TRAVELS IN
dren are accustomed to make with cards. ‘The shrubbery on
the sandy isthmus looks like dots, and the farms and their
enclosures as so many lines, and the more-finished parts of a
plan drawn on paper. 3
On the swampy parts of the flat summit, between the
masses of rock, are growing several sorts of handsome shrubs.
The Penea mucronata, a tall, elegant, fratescent plant, is pe-
culiar to this situation ; as is also that species of heath called
the Physodes, which, with its clusters of white flowers glazed
with a glutinous coating, exhibits in the sunshine a very
beautiful appearance. Many other heaths, common also on
the plains, seemed to thrive equally well on this. elevated
situation as in a milder temperature. The air on the sum-
mit, in the clear weather of winter, and in the shade, is gene-
rally about fifteen: degrees of Fahrenheit’s scale lower than
in Cape Town.. In the summer season the difference is much
greater, when that well-known appearance of the fleecy cloud,
not inaptly called the Table Cloth, envelopes the summit of
the mountain.
A single glance at the topography of the Cape and the ad-
jacent country. will be sufficient to explain the cause of this.
phenomenon which has so much the appearance of singularity.
‘The mountainous peninsula is connected with a still more
mountainous continent, on which the great ranges run parallel
to, and at no great distance from, the sea-coast. In the heat
of the summer season, when the south-east moonsoon blows
strong at sea, the water taken up by evaporation is borne in
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 47
the air to the continental mountains, where, being condensed,
it rests on their summits in the form of a thick cloud. This
cloud, and a low dense bank of fog on the sea, are the pre-
cursors of a similar, but lighter, fleece on the Table Moun-
tain, and of a strong gale of wind in Cape Town from the
south-east. These effects may be thus accounted for: The
condensed air on the summit of the mountains of the con-
tinent rushes, by its superior gravity, towards the more rari-
fied atmosphere over the isthmus, and the vapor it contains
is there taken up and held invisible or in transparent solu-
tion. From hence it is carried by the south-east wind to-
wards the Table and its neighbouring mountains, where, by
condensation from decreased temperature and concussion,
the air is no longer capable of holding the vapor with which
it was loaded, but is obliged to let it go. ‘The atmosphere
on the summit of the mountain becomes turbid, the cloud is
shortly formed, and, hurried by the wind over the verge of
the precipice in large fleecy volumes, rolls down the steep
sides towards the plain, threatening momentarily to deluge
the town. No sooner, however, does it arrive, in its descent,
at the point of temperature equal to that of the atmosphere
in which it has floated over the isthmus, than it is once more
taken up and “ vanishes into air—to thin air.” Every other
part of the hemisphere shews a clear blue sky undisturbed by
a single vapor. ,
The produce of the Cape peninsula is grapes, with all the
European and many of the tropical fruits, vegetables of every
description, barley for the use of horses, and a small quantity
48 TRAVELS IN
of choice wine. Of the other parts of the Cape district,
wheat, barley, pulse, and wine.
By a regulation of the Dutch Government, every house-
holder was obliged annually to give in the number of his family,
the amount of his live stock, and the produce of his farm. As
this had been done in a loose and slovenly manner, and as the
augmentation of ten thousand souls to its former population
rendered it important to ascertain the means afforded by the
colony for their subsistence, Lord Macartney required that, for
the future, every man should give in his statement upon oath.
When this new regulation was made, the Opgaaff, for that
year, had already been taken in the usual way, but, on being
repeated, the numbers, in some articles, were found to
exceed those in the former account in a threefold pro-
portion. |
The following is an abstract of the Opgaaf’ for the Cape
district in the year 1797, when it was first required to be
given in on oath.
Population.
Men - ~ 1566
Women - - 1354:
Sons - - 1451
Daughters - - 1058
Servants - - 939
—Christians 6261
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 49
Brought forward, Christians 6261
Men slaves b. és 6673
Women slaves "i 26600
Slave children : 2558
Slaves 11,891
‘Total population of the Cape district 18,152
Of the above number of Christians or free people, 718 are
persons of color, and one thousand, nearly, are Europeans.
Stock and Produce.
Horses (his Majesty’s cavalry not included) 8334
Horned cattle - iby - 20,957
Sheep and goats - = - 61,575
Hogs - - = - 758
Vine plants - . - 1,560,109
Leggers of wine made (each 160 gallons) 7864
Muids of wheat sown in 1796, 3464—
reaped - = = - 32,962
Muids of barley sown in 1796, 887—
reaped - - - - 18,819
Muids of rye sown in 1796, 3S9—
reaped - - - - 529
Quantity of land employed in
vineyards and gardens - 580 morgen
In grain S - - 3089 ditto
a
Total | 3669 morgen or 7338 acres.
VOL, II. H
50 TRAVELS IN
The quantity of land occupied, as given in, amounts to
8018 morgen, or 16,036.acres ; but as land measuring is very
little understood or attended to, this part of the Opgaaf’ may
be considered as incorrect. ‘
The consumption of Cape Town in the same year was,
Muids of |Muids of
Head of | Head of | Leggers
Cattle. Sheep. |of Wine.| Wheat. | Barley.
Army. 4562 | 22,812 | 2000 {10,000 |19,460 |.
Navy 1810 9044 | 1000 | 6,000
Inhabitants 5000 | 130,000 | 3000 116,900 |10,000
-_————$———_— |! —______.——_
Total BoncuenOnienh S72 | 161,856 | 6000 32,900 29,460
The following table shews the number of marriages, christen-
ings, and burials in Cape Town for eight years.
Years. | Marriages. |Christenings.}| Burials.
1790} 130 350 186
1791 97 354 146
1792) 174 360 144
1793] 158 288 116
1794, 211 308 111
1795} 213 308 145
1796} 249 257 168
LOW ae 364 157
{In 8 years} 1449 ~
2589 1173
Making 1416 the excess of christenings above burials in
eight years. As all marriages must be performed in Cape
SOUTHERN AFRICA. gr
‘Lown, the column of marriages are those in the whole colony.
By comparing the average number of deaths with the popu-
lation, it will appear that the mortality in the Cape district
is about 2,%% in the hundred. Of the slaves the mortality 1s
rather more, but less, perhaps, than in any other country
where slavery is tolerated. The number, as we have seen, in
the Cape district, is 11,891 ; and the number of deaths, on
an average of eight years, was 350, which is after the rate of
three in the hundred.
With respect to the natural produce of the Cape district,
what has yet been discovered is of little or no importance,
except its fisheries. ‘The wax-plant grows abundantly upon
the sandy isthmus, but the berries are not considered to be
worth the labour of gathering. ‘The collecting of shells to
burn into lime, and of heaths and other shrubby plants for
' fuel, furnish constant employment for about one thousand
slaves. ‘The great destruction of the frutescent plants on the
Cape peninsula and the isthmus will be very severely felt in the
course of a few years. The plantations of the silver-tree, on
that brow of Table Mountain which is next to the isthmus,
are experiencing the same destruction for the sake of a tem-
porary profit; and so thoughtless, or so indolent, are the pro-
prietors of the land, that little pains are bestowed to keep up
a succession of young trees. No further trials have yet been
made for coal.
H 2
52 TRAVELS IN
DISTRICT OF STELLENBOSCH AND DRAKENSTEIN.
Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, though one district under
the jurisdiction of one Landrost, have distinct Hemraaden or °
Councils. After deducting the small district of the Cape,
Stellenbosch and Drakenstein include the whole extent of
country from Cape L’Aguillas, the southernmost point of
Africa, to the River Koussie, the northern boundary of the
colony ; a line of 580 miles in length ; and the mean breadth
from east to west is about 150 miles, comprehending an area,
after subtracting that of the Cape district, equal to fifty-five
thousand square, miles. ‘Twelve hundred families are in pos-
session of this extensive district, so that each family, on an
average, has forty-six square miles of land, a quantity more
than five times that which the Dutch Government thought to
be extensive enough to keep the settlers asunder, and suffi-
cient to allow the houses to stand at more than twice the
regulated distance of three miles from each other. The
greater part, however, of this extensive surface may be con-
sidered as of little value, consisting of naked mountains,
sandy hills, and Karroo plains. But a portion of the re-
mainder composes the most valuable possessions of the whole
colony ; whether they be considered as to the fertility of the
soil, the temperature of the climate, or their proximity to the
Cape, which, at present, is the only market in the colony
where the farmer has an opportunity to dispose of his pro-
duce. The parts of the district to which I allude, are those
divisions beginning at False Bay and stretching along the
feet of the great chain of mountains, on the Cape side,
t>
loud
SOUTHERN AFRICA.
as far as the mouth of the Olifant’s River. ‘These divisio
are,
1. The Drosdy of Stellenbosch.
2. Jonker’s Hoeck.
3. Bange Hoeck.
A. Klapmutz.
5. Bottelary’s Gebergté.
6. Savenberg’s Gebergté.
7. Eerste River.
8. Hottentot’s Holland.
9. Moddergat.
10. Drakenstein and its environs, consisting of
a. Little Drakenstein.
b. Fransche Hoeck.
c. Paarl Village.
d. Dall Josephat.
e. Waagen Maaker’s Valley.
f. Groeneberg.
11. Pardeberg.
12. Riebeek’s Casteel.
13. East Zwartland.
14. Four-and-twenty Rivers.
15. Piquetberg.
16. Olifant’s River.
The transmontane divisions are,
17. The Biedouw.
18. Onder Bokkeveld.
19. Hantum.
ry ¢
aia
54 TRAVELS IN
20. Khamiesberg.
21. Roggeveld, consisting 36 ip pe Middle, and Little Rog-
geveld.
22. Neiuwveld and the Ghowp.
93. Bokkeveld, warm and cold.
94. Hex River.
25. Breede River.
26. Ghoudinee and Brandt Valley.
27. Roode Sand or IWaveren.
28. Bot River.
29. Zwarteberg.
80. Drooge Ruggens.
31. River Zonder End.
$2. Uyl Kraal.
33. Soetendal’s Valley.
1. The drosdy of Stellenbosch, or the residence of the Lan-
drost, is a very handsome village, consisting of an assemblage
of about seventy habitations, to most of which are attached
offices, out-houses, and gardens, so that it occupies a very con-
siderable space of ground. It is laid out into several streets
or open spaces, planted with oaks that have here attained a
greater growth than in any other part of the colony, many of
them not being inferior in size to the largest elms in Hyde
Park. Yet, a few years ago, the most beautiful of these trees
were rooted out in order to raise a paltry sum of money to-
wards the exigencies of the parish ; and paltry, indeed, it was,
the very finest tree being sold at the low price of 20 rix dollars,
or four pounds currency, and most of them for not a fourth
part of thissum. For such a barbarous act the villagers, in
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 55
some countries, would have been apt to have hung both the
Landrost and Hemraaden upon their branches. How far
they were suffered to proceed I cannot say, but | saw at least
half a hundred of these venerabie ruins lying in the streets.
The village is delightfully situated at the feet of lofty moun-_
tains, on the banks of the Eerste or First River, at the distance
of twenty-six miles from Cape Town. In it is a small and
neat church, to which is annexed a parsonage house with a
good garden and a very extensive vineyard. The clergyman
has a salary from Government of 1201. a year, with this house,
garden, and vineyard, free of all rent and taxes, in lieu of other
emoluments received by the clergy of Cape ‘Town. ‘The con-
dition, therefore, of the country clergy is at least equal and per-
haps preferable to that of those who reside in the town. Pro-
visions of every kind are much cheaper; they have the
advantage of keeping their own cattle; sowing their own
grain; planting vineyards and making their own wine; and,
in a word, they possess the means. of raising within them-
selves almost all the necessaries of fe. In addition to these
advantages, if the clergyman should have the good for-
tune to be popular in his district, which, however, is no
,easy matter to accomplish, he is sure to be loaden with
presents from day to day. Nothing, in such case, is thought
too good for the minister. Game of all kinds, fat lambs,
fruit, wine, and other “ good things of this life,’ are con-
tinually pouring in upon him. His outgoings are chiefly
confined to the expence of clothing his family, and a little
tea and sugar. : ,
56 TRAVELS IN *
The establishment of the Landrost is still more sumptuous.
He has the enjoyment ofa salary‘-and emoluments that seldom
fall short of 15002. a year; a most excellent house to live in;
pleasantly situated on a plain at the head of the village, before
which are a couple of venerable oaks, scarcely exceeded in
England ; and an extensive garden and orchard, well planted
with every kind of fruit, and a vineyard. 7
Most of the grounds in or near the village are what
they call Eigendoms or freeholds, though they are held by
a small recognizance to Government, but they are totally
different from loan-farms, which are the usual kind of tenure
in the colony, and of which we shall have occasion to speak
hereafter.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Jonker’s Hoeck, Bange Hoeck, Klapmutz,
Bottelary’s Gebergté, Saxenberg’s Gebergté, Eerste River, Hot-
tentot’s Holland, and Moddergat, are small divisions surround-
ing the drosdy, and.lying between it and False Bay. They
consist chiefly of freehold estates, and produce wine, brandy,
fruit, fresh butter, poultry, and a variety of articles for the Cape
market, and for the supply of shipping whilst they continue to
lie in Simon’s Bay. They yield, also, a small quantity of corn,
but. this article without manure, or a better system of tillage,
is scarcely worth the labour of cultivating so near the Cape,
where they can employ the land to better advantage. The
best farm at Klapmutz was granted in Joan to Mr. Duckett,
the English agriculturist, for the purpose of making his expe;
ments, for the instruction of the African boors.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 57
10. Drakenstein and its environs consist of a fertile tract of
country, situate at the feet of the great chain of mountains,
at the distance of 30 to 40 miles from the Cape. The whole
extensive valley of Drakenstein is well watered by the Berg
River and its numerous branches; the soil is richer than in
most parts of the colony, and the sheltered and warm situa-
tion is particularly favourable to the growth of the vine and
different kinds of fruit.
a. This subdivision of Little Drakenstein occupies the mid-
dle of the valley, and contains many substantial farms, most
of them freehold property ; in fact, the two Drakensteins and
the next subdivision supply two-thirds of the wine that is
brought to the Cape market.
6. Fransche Hoeck, or the French Corner, is situated in the
south-east angle of the valley among the mountains, and took
its name from the French refugees having settled there, when
they fled to this country after the revocation of the edict of
Nantz. To these people the colony is indebted for the intro-
duction of the vine. The estates here are mostly freehold pro-
perty, and produce little else than wine and fruits.
_c. The village of the Paarl is situated at the foot of a hill
that shuts in the Valley of Drakenstein on the west side. It
consists of about thirty habitations disposed in a line, but so
far detached from each other, with intermediate orchards,
gardens, and vineyards, as to form a street from half a mile to
a mile in length. About the middle of this street, on the east
side, stands the church, a neat octagonal building covered
VOL. II. I
58 TRAVELS IN
with thatch ; and at the upper end is a parsonage-house, with
garden, vineyard, and fruit-groves ; and a large tract of very
fine land. No attention seems to have been omitted by Go-
vernment in providing comfortably for the country clergy.
The blocks of granite, the Paarl and the Diamond, that over-
hang this village, I have particularly noticed in the first chap-
ter of the first volume.
d. e. Dall Josephat and Waagen-maaker’s Valley are two
small dales enclosed between the hilly projections that branch
out towards the north or upper end of the valley of Draken-
stein; the best oranges, aswell as the best peaches, and other
fruit, are said to be produced in these dales ; and the wines
are among the first in quality.
f. Groeneberg is the largest of these projecting hills that run
across the northern extremity of the valley, and the soil is pro-
ductive in fruit, wine, and corn,
The whole valley, comprehending the above subdivisions,
is comparatively so well inhabited, that few animals, in a
state of nature, are now to be found upon it. Of hares,
however, there is no scarcity ; and two species of bustards,
the red-winged and the common partridge, and quails are in
great plenty. The Kiip-springer antelope, and the reebok are
plentiful in the mountains, and duykers, griesboks, and steen-
boks not very scarce among the hills towards the northern .ex-
tremity of the valley. The inhabitants are also annoyed with
wolves, hyenas, and jackalls, which descend in the nights
from the neighbouring mountains.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 59
11. Paardeberg, or the Horse Mountain, so called from the
number of wild horses or zebras that formerly frequented
it, is a continuation of the Paarl Mountain to the northward.
The produce of the farms is chiefly confined to wheat, which,
with a sprinkling of manure, or a couple of years rest, or by
fallowing, will yield from fifteen to twenty fold. They culti-
vate, also, barley and pulse, but have few horses or cattle
beyond what are necessary for the purposes of husbandry.
12. Riebeck’s Casteel, or the Castle of Van Riebeck, may
be considered as a prolongation of the Paardeberg, terminat-
ing to the northward in a high rocky summit. It took its
name from the founder of the colony having travelled to this
distance from the Cape, which is about sixty miles, and
which, in that early period of the settlement, was as far as it
was considered safe to proceed, on account of the numerous
natives, whose race has now almost disappeared from the face
of the earth. The produce is the same as that of the farms
of the last divifion, in both of which there are as many loan-
farms as freehold estates.
13, 14. East Zwartland, and Twenty-four Rivers. These
two divisions consist of extensive plains, stretching, in width,
from the Berg River to the great chain of mountains; and
as far as the Picquet Berg, in length, to the northward. They
are considered as the granaries of the colony. The crops,
however, in Zwartland, are as uncertain as the rains, on
which, indeed, their fertility almost entirely depends. In the
Four-and-twenty Rivers the grounds are capable of being
irrigated by the numberless streamlets that issue from the
42,
60 FRAVELS IN
great chain of mountains, in their course to the Berg River.
Many of these, in their progress over the plain, form large
tracts of swampy ground that have been found to produce
very fine rice. Wheat, barley, and pulse are the principal
articles that are cultivated in these two divisions, but they
have plenty of fruit, and make a little wine for their own fa-
mily use. Should the Bay of Saldanha, at any future period,
become the general rendezvous of shipping, these two divi-
sions will be more valuable than all the rest of the colony.
15. The Picquet Berg terminates the plains of the Four-and-
twenty Rivers to the northward. Here, besides corn and
fruit, the inhabitants rear horses, horned cattle, and sheep.
And from hence, also, is sent to the Cape market a consider-
able quantity of tobacco, which has the reputation of being
of the best quality that Southern Africa produces.
16. Olifant’s River is a fine clear stream, flowing through a
narrow valley, hemmed in between the great chain of moun-
tains and an inferior ridge called the Cardouw. This valley,
being intersected by numerous rills of water from the moun-
tains on each side, is extremely rich and fertile ; but the great
distance from the Cape, and the bad roads over the Cardouw, ©
hold out little encouragement for the fagmer to extend the
cultivation of grain, fruit, or wine, beyond the necessary
supply of his own family. Dried fruit is the principal article
they send to market, after the supplies, which they furnish,
of horses, horned cattle, and sheep. The country on each
side of the lower part of the river is dry and barren, and for
many miles from the mouth entirely uninhabited. A chaly-
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 6y
beate spring of hot water, of the temperature of 108° of
Fahrenheit’s scale, flows in a very considerable stream out of
the Cardouw Mountain into the Olifant’s Liver. And a
bathing-house is erected over the spring.
All the smaller kinds of antelopes, jackals, hares, and-par-
tridges, are very abundant in the four last-mentioned di-
-Visions.
These divisions of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, above enu-
merated, lie on the west or Cape side of the great chain of
mountains, and comprehend the most valuable portion of the
colony. The transmontane divisions of Stellenbosch are,
17. The Biedouw, which is the slanting side of the great
mountains behind the Olifant’s River, a cold, elevated, rug-
ged tract.of country, covered with coppice wood, and very
thinly inhabited. The stock of the farmers consists of sheep
and horned cattle.
18. Onder Bokkeveld is the elevated flat surface of a Table
Mountain, whose sides on the west and north are high and al-
most perpendicular rocks, piled on each other in horizontal
strata like those of Table Mountain at the Cape; but it de-
scends with a gentle slope to the eastward, and terminates in
Karroo plains. ‘The grasses on the summit are short but
sweet, and the small shrubby plants are excellent food for
sheep and goats. The horses, also, of this division, are among
the best which the colony produces, and the cattle, as is the
case in all the mountainous situations, thrive very well. In
62 TRAVELS IN
some of the valleys, where the grounds will admit of irrigation,
the common returns of wheat are forty, and of barley sixty,
for one, without any rest for twenty years, without fallowing,
and without manure. In such situations the soil is deeply
tinged with iron, and abounds with masses of the same kind
of iron-stone which I have already mentioned.
The Spring-bok, or the springing antelope, once so abundant
in this division, as to have been the cause of its name, is now
but an occasional visitor, and seen only in small herds of a few
hundreds. Séeenboks and orbies and griesboks are still plentiful
and large. The korhanes or bustards, of three species, and,
hares are so plentiful that they were continually among the
horses feet in riding over the country. On the Karroo plains,
close behind the Bokkeveld, are found the two large species
of antelope, the eland and the gemsbok, but their numbers are
rapidly diminishing in consequence of the frequent excursions
of the farmers on purpose to shoot them ; not so much for the
sake of their flesh, which, however, is excellent, but for their
skins alone.
19. The Hantam is a Table Mountain, rising from the sur-
face of the Bokkeveld Mountain, on its eastern extremity, and
is surrounded by a number of farms that receive a supply of
water from rills issuing out of the base of the mountain.
Worses and cattle are the produce of the Hantam, and the
former have been found to escape a very fatal disease that is
prevalent over the whole colony, by being sent upon the sum-
mit of the Hantam Mountain. ‘The inhabitants of this di-
vision are lable to the depredations of the Bosjesman Hot-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 63
“
tentots, against whom they make regular expeditions in the
same manner as from the Sneuwberg.
20. The Khamies Berg is a cluster of mountains situated in
the middle of the country that formerly was inhabited by the
Namaaqua Hottentots, at the distance of five days’ journey
north-west from the Hantam, over a dry sandy desert almost
destitute of water. This cluster of mountains being the best,
and, indeed, almost the only habitable part of the Namaaqua
country, has been taken possession of by the wandering pea-
santry, who, to the advantage of a good grazing country, had
the additional inducement of settling there from the easy means
of increasing their stock of sheep from the herds of the native
Hottentots, who, indeed, are now so reduced and scattered
among the Dutch farms as scarcely to be considered as a di-
stinct tribe of people.
The copper mountains commence where the Khamiesberg
ends, the whole surface of which is said to be covered with
malachite, or the carbonate of copper, and cupreous pyrites.
But the ores of these mountains, however abundant, and how-
ever rich, are of no great value on account of the total want
of every kind of fucl to smelt them, as well as of their very
great distance from the Cape, and from there being neither
bay nor river where they could be put on board of coasting
vessels. In the Khamieshberg is also found, in large blocks,
that beautiful species of stone to which mineralogists have
given the name of Prehnite.
21. Upper, Middle, and Little Roggevelds, or rye-grass coun-
tries, are the summit of a long extended Table Mountain,
64 TRAVELS IN
whose western front rises out of the Karroo plains behind the
Bokkeveld, almost perpendicularly tothe height of two or three
thousand feet. Stretching tothe east ward this summit becomes
more broken into inequalities of surface, and rises at length
into the mountains of Nieuweld, the Camdeboo, and: the
Sneuwberg, which may be considered as one extended chain.
The great elevation of the Roggeveld, and its being sur-
rounded by Karroo plains, make the temperature in winter so
cold, that for four months in the year the inhabitants are un-
der the necessity of descending to the feet of the mountains
with their horses, cattle, and sheep. The strongest and largest
breed of horses in the whole colony is that of the Rogge-
veld.
22. Nieuwveld and the Ghoup are continuations of the Rog-
geveld Mountain, and join the divisions bearing the same
name in the district of Graaff Reynet. They have lately
been deserted on account of the number of Bosjesman Hot-
tentots dwelling close behind them.
23, 24. Warm and Cold Bokkeveld and Hex River, are a chain
of valleys lying close behind the great mountains, consisting of
meadow-land abundantly supplied with water, and appear as
if they had once been lakes. They are thinly inhabited, and
every kind of cultivation almost totally neglected.
25. Breede River is to the southward of the Hex River, and
extends to the borders of the Zwellendam district. It is pro-
ductive in corn, and the part called Bosjesveld, or the heathy
“country, is favourable for sheep and cattle.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 65
26. Ghoudinie and Brandt Valley are two small valleys close
behind the Fransche Hoeck, extremely rich, and well wa-
tered. Through the Brandt Valley runs a stream of hot
water, whose temperature at the spring is 150° of Fahrenheit’s
Scale. With this stream several thousand acres of meadow-
ground are capable of being flooded.
27. Roode Sand or WVaveren is an extensive division behind
the mountains of Drakenstein, and producestabundance of
grain, pulse, fruits, and wine, The pass of Roode Sand is the
only waggon-road into this division, and is distant from Cape
Town about seventy miles. In this division there is a small
neat church, and a very comfortable parsonage-house, with
extensive vineyards, orchards, garden, and arable land; and
contiguous to the church is.a row of houses, the number of
which has lately increased.
28, 29, 30, 31. Bott River, Zwarte Berg, Drooge Ruggens,
and River Zonder End are interposed between Hottentot Hol-
lands Kloof and the borders of Zwellendam ; the chief pro-
duce of which is corn and cattle, with a small quantity of
wine of an inferior quality, cultivated chiefly for the supply
of the more distant parts of the colony.
32, 33. Uyl Kraal and Soetendal’s Valley aré two divisions
stretching along the sea-coast from Hanglip, the east point of
Bay False, to the mouth of the Breede River, beyond Cape
L’Aguillas, comprehending excellent corn-lands. and good
grazing ground for horses. The smaller kinds of antelopes
VOL. II. K
66 TRAVELS IN
are very abundant, as are also hares, partridges, and bustards ;
and towards the Cape T’Aguillas are a few Zebiras, Harte-
beests, and Bonteboks.
The greater part of this extensive district, beyond the
mountains, consists of loan-farms, as that on the Cape side is
chiefly composed of freehold estates. The population and
produce were ascertained from the Opgaaff list being taken
on oath in the year 1798, and were as follows:
Population.
Men - - 1970
Women - u 4 Iho
Sons - - - 1845
Daughters - - 1818
Servants and people of color 424,
Christians 7256
Slave men - - F211
Slave women - - 3411
Slaves and people of color 81
ee
Slaves 10,703 ;
To these may be added, Hottentots in the wholc
district, about te - - 5000;
Total population of Stellenbosch and Drakeustein 22,959
oe ee
=<
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 67
Stock and Produce.
Horses - : = ~ 99,061
Horned cattle - ‘ é ¥6 59,567
Sheep - - - = - 451,695
Wine plants - - - . 11,500,000
Leggers of wine in 1797 a 2 7914,
Muids of corn - - = 4 77,063
-- of barley . - - - 32,872
242 Of FYE - - - - 2053
Quantity of land under cultivation in vineyards and grain,
19,573 morgen, or 39,146 English acres.
DISTRICT OF ZWELLENDAM.
The district of Zwellendam is that tract of country which
lies upon the sea-coast between the Breede River on the west,
and Camtoos River on the east, and extends northerly to the
second chain of mountains called the Zwarte Berg or Black
Mountains. Its length is about 380, and breadth 60, miles,
comprehending an area of 19,200 square miles, which is oc-
cupied by 480 families, so that each family, on an average,
-_ has forty square miles of land. This is more than four times
the quantity assigned to each loan-farm by the Government.
Except in the drosdy the whole district is composed of loan-
lands, and may be considered to consist of the following
divisions :
K 2
68 TRAVELS IN
1. The Drosdy or Village of Zwellendam.
2. The Country between the Drosdy and Gawritz River,
named according to the rivers that cross it.
Cango.
. 2warte Berg.
. Trada.
. Mossel Bay.
. Autiniequas Land.
. Plettenberg’s Bay.
. Olifant’s River.
. Kamnaasie.
. Lange Kloof.
. Sitsikamma.
SOMNARE
eet ore
to &
1. The Drosdy of Zwellendam is situated at the foot of the
first chain of mountains that runs east and west or parallel to
the sea-coast, and is distant from Cape ‘Town about one hun-
dred and forty miles. It is composed of about thirty. houses,
scattered irregularly over a small but fertile valley, down the
middle of which runs a plentiful stream of water. At the
head of the valley stands the house of the Landrost, to which
is annexed a large garden well stocked with a variety of fruits,
and a spacious vineyard ; the whole enclosed and planted
with oaks and other trees. In the middle of the village a
Jarge church has lately been erected, which is the only place
of worship in the whole district.
2. This division comprehends the whole tract of country
that lies between the Gauritz River and the drosdy, and is
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 69
well watered by a number of streams issuing from the moun-
tains, upon the banks of which the farm-houses in general
are placed. The produce of these is corn, wine, and cattle,
but few sheep; the whole district of Zwellendam being un-
favourable to this animal, except the three following di-
visions.
8, 4, 5. Cango, Zwarte Berg, and Trada, are Karroo plains,
situated between the first and second chains of mountains,
but being well watered by the mountain streams, contain fer-
tile patches of ground. ‘The great distance, however, from
the Cape, and the excessive bad roads, operate against
an extensive tillage. On these plains are an abundance of
ostriches, herds of Quachas, Zebras, and Hartebeests. Behind
the first chain of mountains, in these divisions, are two hot
springs of chalybeate water.
6. Mossel Bay division, sometimes. called the Droogeveldt,.
or Dry Country, extends from the Gauritz River to the Great
Brakke River that falls into Mossel Bay. ‘The surface is hilly
and composed of a light sandy soil, which, when the rains
are favorable, is sufficiently fertile in corn. The only natural
product in the vegetable kingdom, that is useful as an article
of commerce, is the aloe, but the heathy plants along the sea-
shore are more favorable for sheep than in the other parts of
this division. ‘The shores of the bay and the sea-coast abound
with excellent oysters; and muscles are equally plentiful,
but they are very large, and of a strong flavor; and the
mouths of all the rivers contain plenty of good fish.
40 TRAVELS IN
7. Autiniequas Land is the next division to Mossel Bay
dlong the sea-coast, and extends as far eastward as the Kay-
man’s River. The Dutch Government reserved to itself
about twenty thousand acres, which is nearly half the division,
of the finest land, without exception, in the whole colony,
being a level meadow always covered with grass. ‘The moun-
tains approaching near the sea, and being covered with large
forest trees, attract the vapours and cause a -considerable
quantity of rain to fallin the Autiniequas Land in the summer
months. The overseer calculated that the land held by Go-
vernment in this division was fully sufficient for the main-
tenance of a thousand horses, a thousand head of cattle, and
for raising annually tea. thousand muids of corn.
-8. .Plettenberg’s Bay division begins at the Kayman’s River, ~
and continues to the inaccessible forests of Sitsikamma. The
whole of this tract of country is extremely beautiful, agreeably
diversified: by hill and dale, and lofty forests. Within seven
miles of the bay are large timber trees, and the surface is al-
most as level as a bowling-green, over which the several roads
are carried. ‘The peasantry, who inhabit this district, are
mostly woodcutters, and they earn a very hard subsistence.
‘The great distance from the Cape, being 400 miles of bad
road, leaves them little profit on a load of timber, when sold
at the dearest rate in the Cape market, so little, indeed, that
they prefer to dispose of it at the bay for a mere trifle.
Plank of thirteen or fourteen inches wide, and inch thick,
aay be purchased on the spot at the rate of threepence the
foot in length.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. oe
The bark of several of the creeping plants in the forests
might be employed as substitutes for hemp. ‘The iron ores
near the base of the mountains might be worked by clearing
the wood, of which there is an inexhaustible supply. The
timber is, undoubtedly, suitable for many purposes, notwith-
_ standing the prejudices. that have been entertained against it
very undeservedly, and very ignorantly,. because about one-
eighth part only of the different-kinds has ever undergone
a trial, and these few by no means a decisive one. The
climate is trying for the best timber; and English oak even
gives. way much sooner here than in its native country, by
the alternate exposure to wet weather, dry winds, and scorch-
ing sun. Where such exposure has been guarded against,
one of the slightest Cape woods, the geel hout .or- yellow
wood, has been known to stand a hundred years without. |
shewing symptoms. of decay. .
The native trees of the Cape are many of them of quick
growth, and advance to a large size, but they are much
twisted and shaken by the wind, and generally hollow at
heart. Many, however, are perfectly sound, and every way
suitable: for balk, rafters, joists, and. plank, but, I again
repeat it, they have never yet met with a fair trial. The
bay will hereafter be noticed, and also a harbour’ called the
Koysna, which is in this. district, and. closer to the forests
than even the bay itself.
9. Olifant’s River runs at the foot of the second chain of
mountains or the Zwarteberg to the westward, and falls into
the-Gauritz River, The-soil is Karroo, and strongly tinged :
Ha
72 TRAVELS IN
with iron, and as in some places there is plenty of water,
vegetation here is remarkably luxuriant. At each extremity
of this division are hot springs of chalybeate water, the tem-
perature from 98° to 110° of Fahrenheit’s scale. The inha-
bitants cultivate the vine for home consumption, and distil
from peaches, as well as from grapes, an ardent spirit. But
the articles brought to the Cape market are chiefly butter and
soap. ‘The salsola grows here much more luxuriantly than I
have seen it in any other part of the colony. The mimosa
iarroo grows also along the valley, through which the river
flows, to a very large size, and produces a great quantity of
gum-arabic ; the bark too is superior to that of oak for tan-
ning leather. Small antelopes and hares are sufficiently
plentiful, and the beautiful hoodoo is sometimes shot among
the groves of mimosas. Leopards, tyger cats, and different
species of the viverra genus, as also the fiver otter, are not
uncommon along the wooded banks of the Olifant or Ele-
phant River.
10. Kamnaasie is a rough hilly tract of country surrounding
a high mountain so called, situate between the Olifant River
and the Lange Kloof. The inhabitants are comparatively
poor and few. .
11. Lange Kloof is the long pass which has been parti-
cularly noticed in the first Volume.
12. Sitsikamma commences at Plettenberg’s Bay, and con-
tinues along the sea-coast to the Camtoos River. It is chiefly
covered with impenetrable forests, on the east of which, how-
aa
- Po.
a
} SOUTHERN AFRICA. 43
ever, there are extensive plains equally good for the cultiva-
tion of grain and the grazing of cattle. No direct road has
yet been made through the forests along the sea-coast, so as
to be passable by waggons, but the inhabitants are obliged
to go round by the Lange Kloof. They bring little to the
Cape market on their annual visit, except salted butter and
soap. In the forests of Sitsikamma are elephants, buffaloes,
and rhinosceroses ; and on the plains the large hartebeest and
koodoo antelopes, besides an abundance of small game.
The population and produce of Zwellendam, as ascer-
tained by the Opgaaff, taken on oath in the year 1798, are
as follows :
Population.
Men - < 1070
Women - - 639
Sons - - - 971
Daughters - - - 987
Servants and free people of color 300
Christians 3967
Men slaves - - 7
Women slaves - - f 2196
Slave children - =
Hottentots in the service of the
peasantry, on a calculation 500
Slaves and Hottentots 2606
Total population of Zwellendam 6063
VOL. II. L
74 TRAVELS IN
Stock and Produce.
Horses - - - = 9,049.
Horned cattle - - - - - 52,376
Sheep , ~ : =. iy ty pylon
Leggers of wine made - - = 290z.
Muids of wheat reaped in 1797 = i 16,720.
— of barley
> - 10,554
of rye
DISTRICT OF GRAAF REYNET.
The district of Graaf Reynet extends to the eastern ex-
tremity of the colony. ‘The Great Fish River, the Tarka, the
Bambosberg, and the Zuureberg, divide them from the Kaf-
fers on the east; the Camtoos River, the Gamka or. Lions’
~ River, and Nieuwveld Mountains, from the districts of Zwel-
lendam and Stellenbosch on the west; Plettenberg’s. Land-.
mark, the Great Table Mountain, and the Karreeberg, from
the Bosjesman Hottentots on the north ; and it is terminated
by the sea-coast on the south. ‘The mean length and breadth
of this district may be about 250 by 160 miles, making an
area of 40,000 square miles, which is peopled by about’'700
families ; consequently each family may command 57 square
miles of ground, which is more than six times the quantity
regulated by Government. Great part, however, has been.
occasionally abandoned on account of incursions made both
by the Kaffers and Bosjesmans. The inhabitants, indeed,
are asort of Nomades, and would long before this have pene-
1
iS sre ats ie
SOUTHERN AFRICA. "6
trated with their flocks and herds far beyond the present
boundaries of the colony, had they not met with a bold and
spirited race of people in the Kaffers, who resisted and effec-
tually repelled their encroachments on that side. Their
persecution of the Hottentots in their employ has at length
rouzed this people, also, to make an effort for their former
independence. Should they succeed, and it is their own
fault if they do not, for it appears they are superior in point
of numbers, and much so in courage, the whole or the greatest
part of the district of Graaf Reynet must, in consequence, be
abandoned by the Dutch African peasantry.
The boors of this district are entirely graziers; few at-
tempting to put a plough or a spade into the ground; ex-
cept in Zwart Kop’s Bay, or in some parts of the Sneuwberg,
preferring a life of complete indolence and a diet of animal
food to the comfort of procuring a supply of daily bread,
and a few vegetables, by a very trifling degree of exertion.
In Sneuwberg, indeed, the depredations of the locusts are
discouraging to the cultivator, as the odds are great he reaps
nothing, while this devouring insect remains in the country.
About the drosdy, also, they cultivate a little grain, which
they exchange with the grazier for sheep and cattle.
The district of Graaf Reynet is entirely composed of loan-
farms, and it is divided as follows :
1. The Drosdy.
2. Sneuwberg, consisting of three parts.
3. Swagers Hoeck.
L2
76 TRAVELS IN
4. Bruynijes Hoogté.
5. Camdeboo.
6. Zwarte Ruggens.
7. Zwarte Kop’s River.
8. Zuure Veldt.
9. Bosjesman’s River.
0. Tarka.
11. Sea-cow River and Rhinoscerosberg.
12. Zwarte Berg.
13. Nieuwveld and the Ghowp.
1. The Drosdy, or residence of the Landrost, is a small
village in the centre of the district, and rather more than 500
miles from Cape Town. It consists in about a dozen mud-
houses covered with thatch. That of the Landrost is of the
same description, to which are annexed a garden and vineyard;
but the grapes here seldom come to perfection, on account of
the cold blasts from the Snowy Mountains, at the feet of -
which the village is situated. ‘The land is red Karroo, and
uncommonly fertile where the Sunday River can be brought
to flood it. I observed here seventy distinet stems from one
single grain of corn.
Under the idea of civilizing the rude boors of this district,
Lord Macartney made suitable provision for a clergyman,
and the foundation was laid for a large church. Long, how-
ever, before the outer walls were built, they thought fit to
expel the clergyman that had been sent down to them; and
the building was only just finished when the English evacu-
ated the place.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. we
2. Voor, Middle, and Agter Sneuwberg, the near, middle,
and ulterior Snowy mountains, may be considered as the
grand nursery of sheep and horned cattle, particularly of the
former. Of these many families are in possession of flocks
from two to five thousand. Between the people of these
divisions and the Bosjesman Hottentots there is a perpetual
warfare, which is imprudently fomented by the former making
prisoners for life of the children they take from the latter.
In no part of the colony are such immense flocks of the
springbok as in the divisions of the Snowy Mountains. Five
thousand in one group are considered only as a moderate
quantity, ten, twelve, or fifteen thousand being sometimes
found assembled together, especially when they are about to
migrate to some other part of the country. The bontebok, the
eland, the hartebeest, and the gemsbok, are also plentiful, and
small game in vast numbers. On the banks of the Fish
River are two wells of hepatized water, of the temperature
of 88° of Fahrenheit’s.scale. They are considered to be effi-
cacious in healing sprains and bruises, and favorable to rheu-
matic complaints, to which the great changeableness of the
climate renders the inhabitants subject. In several of the
mountains of this division are also found, adhering to the
sandstone rocks, large plates of native nitre, from half an inch
to an inch in thickness, but not in quantities sufficient to
make it an object of attention as an article of commerce..
3. Swaager’s Hoeck is a small division within the moun-
tains at the head of Bruyntjes Hoogté, tolerably well wa-
78 TRAVELS IN. *
tered and fertile in grain, which, however, is very sparingly
cultivated.
4. Bruyntjes Hoogté lies upon the banks-of the Great Fish
‘River, and is considered as the best division in the whole dis-
trict for horses and horned cattle, and equally suitable for
the cultivation of grain and fruits ; but the enormous distance
from any market holds out no encouragement to the farmer
to sow more grain than is necessary for family use, and many
of them take not the trouble of sowing any. The bosch bok
and pigmy antelope are common in this district; and buf-
faloes and rhinosceroses haunt the thickets upon the banks of
the Great Fish River.
All the disturbances of Graaf Reynet have: originated in
‘this division. Its proximity to the Kaffers held out an irre-
sistible temptation to the boors to wage war against them for
the sake of plundering them of their cattle; yet none of the
boors are in better circumstances than those of Bruyntjes
Hoogté. ‘The very man who was most active in promoting
a Kaffer war, according to his Opgaaff, had between 800 and
900 head of cattle, and more than 8000 sheep, all of which,
ain their late disturbances with the EKaffers, he very de-
servedly lost.
5. Camdeboo extends along the feet of the Snowy Moun-
tains, from the drosdy to Bruyntjes Hoogté, and is chiefly
composed of Karroo plains, which, however, are extremely
fertile in the chasms dewn which the streams of the moun-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 79
tains constantly flow. The oxen are large and strong, and
the sheep little inferior to those of the Snowy Mountains.
The beautiful animal the gnoo is frequently seen bounding
over the plains of Camdeboo, and springboks and hartebeests
are very plentiful:
6. Zwarte Ruggens is a rough stony tract of country to:
the southward of Camdeboo, very scantily supplied with wa-
ter, and producing little except succulent plants, among
which are two or three species of euphorbia. Few families
are found in this division, but here and there in the neigh-
bourhood of the Sunday River, which runs through it. The:
cattle and sheep are small, but generally in good condition,
notwithstanding the apparent scarcity, I might almost say
total absence, of grass.
7. Swarte Kop’s River is a fertile and extensive division,
lying to the southward of the Zwarte Ruggens, and is capable
of producing an abundant supply of grain, convenient to be
delivered at a trifling expence at the bay, which I shall here-
after have occasion to. notice. About fifteen miles to the
westward of the bay are large forests of timber trees, near
which there is every appearance of a rich mine of lead, as I
particularly noticed in the former volume, I had occasion
also to speak of the salt lake near the bay, and the plentiful
supply of that article which it produces. Wax from. the.
myrica cerifera and aloes might be furnished by this division:
as articles of commerce.
80 TRAVELS IN
8. <uure Veldi is an extensive plain country stretching
from the Sunday River in Zwarte Kop’s Bay to the Great
Fish River, and is the same kind of good arable or pasture
land as the plains of the Autiicquas division in Zwellendam,
but it is now exclusively in the possession of the Kaffers, from
whom, indeed, it was originally taken forcibly by the boors.
The great chasms towards the sea-coast, that are filled with
thickets, abound in elephants and buffaloes; and in the Great
Fish River are, occasionally at least, a few of the hippopo-
tamus or river horse.
9. Bosjesman’s River joins the Zuure Veld to the northward,
and is a dry hilly country without any verdure, except in the
hollows. It is thinly inhabited.
10. The Tarka is a small division at the north-eastern ex-
tremity of the colony, almost entirely deserted on account of
its proximity to several hordes of Bosjesman Hottentots. It
was in the mountains that terminate this division that I found
the drawing of the unicorn on the caverns. The bontebok, the
eland, and the gnoo, are common in the Tarka.
11. Sea-cow River and Rhinoscerosberg lie to the northward
of the Snowy Mountains, and consist of detached hills
rising out of extensive plains, and are well covered with
grass. All kinds of game are particularly abundant in these
divisions, and there is scarcely a species of antelope within
the limits of the colony that may not be met with. here.
The inhabitants are in a state of perpetual warfare with the
‘
¢
a
o
i,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 81
Bosjesmans, and are frequently obliged to desert this part of
the country.
12. Zwarte Berg is a portion of the mountain of the same
name in the district of Zwellendam, to which, indeed, this
also ought properly to belong. Sheep and horned cattle are
the chief produce of the farmers.
13. Nieuwveldt and the Ghowp are also portions of the
mountains of the same names, in the Stellenbosch district,
and extend from thence to the Sneuwberg. They are occa-
sionally deserted on account of the incursions of the Bosjes<
man Hottentots.
The Opgaaff list taken on oath at the drosdy of Graaf
Reynet, in the year 1798, was as follows :
Population.
Men - . - 940
Women - ~ = 689
Sons = = = 1170
Daughters - - 1138
Servants, schoolmasters with their
families - - 189
Persons of color and their families 136
eee
Christians 4262
VOL. Il. M
82
TRAVELS IN
Brought forward, Christians 4262
Men slaves - - 445
Women slaves - - 330
‘Slave children « = 189
Slaves
Hottentots in the whole district (taken in
the Opgaaff) ° - : =
Total population of Graaf Reynet
Stock and Produce.
Horses - - > = =
Horned cattle - . _ ‘4
Sheep - - - -
Leggers of wine made - ~ -
Muids of wheat reaped 1797 - -
- of barley = ° - -
7,392
118,306
780,274
1872,
11,2834
5,193%
a
ga git
ee. ee
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 83
Toran Amount of the Opgaaff Lists of the four Districts,
being the exact State of the Population, Steck, and Produce
of the whole Colony (the British Army and Navy, and
British Settlers not included) in the year 1798.
Population. | Cape. |Zwellendam,| Stellenbosch. |GraafReynet.| Totals.
Christians 6261 3967 72506" 4262 21,746
Slaves 11,891 2196 10,703 964 255754
Hottentots 500 5000 8947 14,447
—
Total Pe,t52 | 6663 2235959 14,173 61,947
(| cn
Horses 8334 9049 22,661 97392 475436
Heads of cattle 203957 § 25376 591567 | 118,306 251,206
Sheep 61,575 | 154,092 | 451,695 | 780,274 | 1,448,536
Hogs 758 758
Wine plants 1,560,109 I 13500,000 13,060,109
Leggers of wine 7864 2203 7914 1875 910845
Muids of wheat 32,962 16,720 77,063 11,2832 138,0282
——- of barley 18,819 10,554 32,872 $1934 67,438%
- of rye 529 2053 2582
TENURES oF Lanps.
The Dutch Government having obtained a tract of coun-
try from the Hottentots, at first by purchase and extended
afterwards by force, made grants of land to the settlers on the
four following tenures :
1. Loan lands.
2. Gratuity lands.
3. Quit rents.
4. Freeholds.
| M2
84 | TRAVELS IN
1. The most ancient tenure is that of Loan lands. These
were grants, made to the original settlers, of certain portions
of land to be held on yearly leases, on condition of paying to
Government an annual rent of twenty-four rix dollars. Every
farm was to consist of the same quantity, and be subject to
the same rent, without any regard being paid to the quality
of the land. And though the lease was made out for one
year only, yet the payment of the rent was considered as a
renewal ; so that the tenure amounted, in fact, to a lease held
in perpetuity. And the buildings erected on it, together
with the vineyards and fruit groves planted, called the upstals,
were saleable like any other property, and the lease con-
tinued to the purchaser.
When application was intended to be made for the grant
of a leasehold farm, the person applying stuck down a stake
at. the place where the house was meant to be erected. The
overseer of the division was then called to examine that it
~ did not encroach on the neighbouring farms, that is to.say,
that no part of any of the surrounding farms were within half
an hour’s walk of the stake ; or,.in other words, that a radius
of about a mile and a half, with the stake as a centre, swept
a circle which did not intersect any part of the adjoining
farms. In such case the overseer certified that the loan farm
applied for was tenable, otherwise not. And as it generally
happened that the site cf the house was determined by some
spring or water-course, the stake was so placed that the cir-
cumference of the circle described left a space between the
new and some adjoining farm of one, two, or more miles. in
SOUTHERN AFRICA, Ss
diameter. This intermediate space, if less than three miles
in diameter, was considered as not tenable, and, consequently,
if any person (willing to pay the established rent for a smaller
quantity of land than Government allowed) applied for such
intermediate piece of ground, his application was sure to be
rejected. Whether the Government had any design of
dispersing the people by such an absurd system, under
the idea of keeping them more easily in subjection, I can’t
pretend to say, but it thought proper to encourage the
continuance of the system, which is in full force to this.
moment.
The disputes about these stakes or baakens, as they call
them, are endless; and partly through accident, but fre-
quently by design, the stakes are so placed that, on an average
throughout the whole colony, the farms are at twice the dis-
tance, and consequently contain four times the quantity of
land allowed by Government.
The number of these loan farms registered in the office of
the receiver of the land revenue, on closing the books in 1798,
were,
In the district of the Cape - - 110
— Stellenbosch and Drakenstein) - 689
——— Zwellendam- - = 541
— Graaf Reynet - - 492
Total 1832.
|
36 TRAVELS IN
Supposing each farm to consist only of the usual allowance,
or a square of three miles the side, the quantity of land in all
the loan farms will amount to 10,552,320 acres; and the an-
nual rent they produce is about 44,000 rix-dollars, which is at
the rate of about eight-tenths of a farthing an acre. Yet, mo-
derate as these rents are, the Dutch Government could not
prevent their running in arrears, the amount of which, at the
capture, was upwards of 200,000 rix dollars. From the pay-
ment of this arrear they were excused by the British Govern-
ment. Yet, nevertheless, they pay the small rent reserved so
unwillingly and irregularly, that new arrears are every day
accruing.
2. Gratuity lands are such as were originally granted in loan,
but, on petition of the holders,in consequence of somesupposed
services done to Government, have been converted into a sort
of customary copyhold liable to a certain rent, which, like the
loan-lands, is continued at 24 rix dollars a-year. Such estates,
except a few in Zwellendam, are at no great distance from the
Cape, and, in general, are in a better state of cultivation than
the loan farms. Their number, as registered in the Land Re-
venue Office, are, !
In the district of the Cape be - 43
—— Stellenbosch and Drakenstein - 46
—— Zwellendam - - - 18
‘Total 107
3. The quit-rents arise from pieces of waste ground which,
from their contiguity or convenience to an estate, have been
“SOUTHERN AFRICA. 87
allowed by Government to be occupied by the owners of such
estates upon a lease of fifteen years, on condition of their pay-
ing an annual rent of one shilling an acre. Before the expi-
ration of the lease a prolongation of the term for another fif-
teen years is petitioned, and the renewal seems now to have
become a matter of course. Of such grants there are,
In the Cape district - - - - 25
———-- Stellenbosch and Drakenstein = a
Total 35
4. Real estates held in fee-simple, and subject to no rent, are
chiefly situated in the Cape district, or its vicinity. These
are the choicest patches of land, and have originally been sold
or granted to the early settlers in parcels of about 60 morgen,.
or 120 English acres. It is natural to suppose that lands held in
fee-simple should be in a higher state of improvement than
those held by any other tenure, and so, in fact, they are, though
by no means brought to that degree which might be expected.
A Cape farmer has no idea of bestowing much labor or em-.
ploying his capital in the prospect of a distant profit. He is
unwilling to plant trees, because he may not live to reap the
benefit of them. Yet, in this climate, there is no great inter-
val of time between dropping the seed into the ground and
the growth of the tree. ‘The oak, the stone-pine, the poplar,
and the native silver tree, are all of quick vegetation. One
Van Reenen, a brewer at the foot of the T'able Mountain, on
the east side, planted a wood of the silver tree twelve years ago,
88 TRAVELS IN
on waste ground, from which he now supplies the town and
garrison with fuel; and for which he refused the offer of be-
tween three and four thousand pounds.as it stood on the spot.
Estates in the Cape remain but a short time in the same fa-
mily. Their descent is seldom settled, as by the laws of the
colony all the children are entitled to equal shares of the pro-
perty at the death of the parents. The advantages to which
primogeniture in some countries entitles, are here entirely un-
known. Superior in point of equity, as sucha rule must be ac-
knowledged to be, the consequence of it is an indifference to all
imprevement of estates beyond what will be productive of im-
mediate profit. The proprietor endeavours to enrich himself by
lending out money, increasing his stock of slaves, of cattle,
and furniture, or by purchasing other estates, but he rarely
thinks of improving them. He is little ambitious of leaving
a name behind him, or of settling any branch of his family
upon the same spot that raised him to independence and af-
fluence. Old Cloete, the late proprietor of Constantia, forms
a solitary exception from this remark. Having raised himself
from the situation of trumpeter of a regiment into affluence,
his whole attention was directed to the improvement of his
estates, which he divided among his children. His favourite
Constantia he left to the son who bore his own name, and it is
provided, in his will, that this estate shall descend directly in
the male line to him who bears his Christian name, or collate-
rally to the nearest of kin to his own Christian name and a
Clocte. The consequence of which is, that Constantia is the
most improving estate in the colony.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 89
There are, perhaps, few countries where property so fre-
quently changes hands as at the Cape of Good Hope. Not
only do estates go out of a family at the death of the parents,
when they are sure to be sold in order to make a division of
the property among the children, but there seems to be an
universal propensity to buy, sell, and exchange. Of this the
Government has taken the advantage, and imposed a duty
of four per cent. on all immoveable property that is trans-
ferred from one person to another. 'I'wo-thirds of the pro-
perty, disposed of at the Cape, is by public auction, on which
the vendue master charges two per cent., 13 per cent. for
Government, and : percent. for himself; so that the duty
on transferring an estate amounts to 6 per cent. upon the
value. In fifteen sales, therefore, by adding the expence of
stamps and writings, Government runs away. with the whole
capital ; and I have been informed, there are instances, with-
in the memory of many persons, of estates being sold this
number of times. I myself purchased a small estate that,
within the last eight years, has changed hands six times ;
paying thrice a duty to Government of 6 per cent., and
thrice of 4 per cent., making a tax of 30 per cent. on the
value of the property. It may be observed, that this rage
for buying and selling makes the transfer and the public
vendue duties two of the most productive branches of the
public revenue.
CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS.
If the condition of mankind was to be estimated entirely
by the means that were furnished for supplying an abun-
VOL. II. N
90 TRAVELS IN
dance, or preventing a scarcity, of the necessary articles of
life, and it must be confessed they constitute a very essential
part of its comforts, the European colonists of the Cape of
Good Hope might be classed among the happiest of men.
But as all the comforts of this world are blended with their
concomitant evils, as roses are placed on stems surrounded
with thorns, so these people, in the midst of plenty unknown
in other countries, can scarcely be considered as objects of
envy. Debarred from every mental pleasure arising from
the perusal of books or the frequent conversation of friends,
each succeeding day is a repetition of the past, whose irk-
some sameness is varied only by the accidental call of a tra-
veller, the less welcome visits of the Bosjesmans, or the terror
of being put to death by their own slaves, or the Hottentots
in theiremploy. The only counterpoise to this wearisome
and miserable state of existence, is a superfluity of the ne-
cessaries of life, as far as regards the support of the animal}
functions, which all, of every description among the colonists,
have the means of acquiring with little exertion either of body
or mind.
A short sketch of the circumstances and resources of the
several classes of the colonists will be sufficient to convey a
general idea of their respective conditions. The 22,000
Christian inhabitants that compose the population of this
colony may be reduced into four classes.
1. People of the town.
2. Vine-growers.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. gt
8. Grain-farmers.
4. Graziers.
1. The free inhabitants of Cape Town, let their condition
be what it may, are too proud or too lazy to engage in any
kind of manual labor; and two thirds of them owe their sub-
sistence to the feeble exertions of their slaves. And for the
better encouragement of this class of unfortunate beings, who
otherwise could have little inducement to put out their
strength or talents to the best advantage ; and in order to
derive to themselves a certain fixed income from their labors,
each slave is required to bring home to his proprietor a cer
tain sum at the end of every week ; all that he can earn above
this sum is for his own use: and many are industrious enough
to raise as much money ina few years as is sufficient to pur-
chase their freedom, and sometimes that of their children.
The price of provisions and the price of labor bear no sort
of proportion. Butcher's meat is only about twopence a
pound, and good brown bread, such as all the slaves eat, one
penny a pound. A common laboring slave gets from two
shillings to half a crown a day, and a mechanic or artificer
five or six shillings a day. Yet an European will with ease
perform at least three times the work of a slave.
There is not, perhaps, any part of the world, out of Europe,
where the introduction of slavery was less necessary than at
the Cape of Good Hope. Nor could it ever have found its
way into this angle of Africa, had the same spirit of Batavian
industry which, to make room for its numerous population,
N 2
92 TRAVELS IN
drove in the ancient limits of the ocean, possessed the minds
of those who first formed the settlement. A temperate cli-
mate, a sufficiently fertile soil, a mild and peaceable race of
natives, were advantages that few infant colonies have pos-
sessed. But although these advantages still exist to a certain
degree, yet, such is the prevalence of custom, that the present
inhabitants appear to be equally blind to them as their pre-
decessors were. ‘T'o encourage the native Hottentots in use-
ful labor, by giving them an interest in the produce of that
labor; to make them experience the comforts of civilized
life, and to feel they have a place and a value in society,
which their miserable policy has hitherto denied to them,
would be the sure means of diminishing, and, in time, of en-
tirely removing the necessity of slavery. Few negroes, in
fact, were imported during the seven years which the English
kept possession of the colony; and those few were intro-
duced in captured ships, or by the roguery of two or three
English slave merchants, or by special permission. The ex-
travagance of the price which the farmer, by the increased
demand and value of his produce, could afford to give, was
too strong a temptation for the dealer in human flesh to re-
sist. From: one hundred to four hundred pounds sterling was
the price of a choice slave in Cape Town; and it was by no
means unusual to find from twenty to thirty, of different
descriptions, in one house. Some of these, indeed, were ar-
tificers, and hired out at certain rates for the day, week, or
month. The most active and docile,’ but at the same time
the most dangerous, slaves, are the Malays. ‘They are faith-
ful, honest, and tolerably industrious; but so impatient of
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 93
injury, and so vindictive, that the slightest provocation will
sometimes drive them into fits of phrenzy, during the con-
tinuance of which it would be unsafe to come within their
reach. The revengeful spirit of a Malay was strongly marked
by an occurrence which happened some little time after the
capture of the settlement. Conceiving that he had not only
served his master with great fidelity, but a sufficient length
of time, exclusive of the several sums of money he had given
him, to entitle him to his freedom, he was one day tempted
to remonstrate on the subject, and to demand his liberty,
which, however, the master with more harshness than was
necessary thought fit to refuse. The following morning the
Malay murdered his fellow-slave. On being taken and
brought up for examination before a commission of the Court
of Justice, he not only confessed the fact, but acknowledged
that the boy he had murdered was his friend. Being ques-
tioned as to the motives which had led to the perpetration of |
so horrid an act, he calinly observed, that having considered
the most effectual revenge he could practise on his master
was not by taking away his life, but by robbing him of the
value of a thousand rixdollars, in the loss of the boy, and
another thousand by bringing himself, in so doing, to the
gallows, he could not but exult in what he had done, as the
recollection of the loss would prey upon his master’s avaricious
mind for the remainder of his life.
It is a circumstance not easily to be accounted for, that
the Dutch should have given the preference to this race of
men, of talents much inferior to those of the Hottentots, and
94 TRAVELS IN
whose temper, always capricious, becomes on slight provoca-
tions cruel and revengeful. ‘The negroes of Mosambique and
of Madagascar are harmless and stupid on their first arrival,
but soon become cunning and dishonest by intercourse with
their elder brethren. In full possession of all the vices that.
must infallibly result from the condition of slavery, there is
yet no part of the world where the domestic slaves of every
description are so well treated, and so much trusted, as at
the Cape of Good Hope. They are better clothed, better
fed, and infinitely more comfortable, than any of the pea-
santry of Kurope. Yet such are the bad effects. which the
condition of slavery produces on the mind, that they are in-
capable of feeling the least spark of gratitude for good and
gentle usage, whilst, under the severe hand of a rigid and
cruel master, they become the best of slaves. It may be
considered as an axiom or self-evident truth, that such are
and always will be the consequences of degrading man to
the lowest of all conditions, that of being made the property
of man.
The Dutch use little prudence or precaution with regard
to their domestic slaves: in the same room where these are
assembled to wait behind their masters’ chairs, they discuss
their crude opinions of liberty and equality without any
reserve ; yet they pretend to say that, just before the Eng-
lish got possession of the Cape, and when it was generally
thought the French would be before-hand with us, the
slaves who carried the sedan chairs, of which no lady is
without one, used very familiarly to tell their mistresses;
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 95
s We carry you now, but by-and-by it will be your turn
“ to carry us.” The proportion of slaves to whites, of |
both sexes and all ages, in the town, is not more than two
to one: but that of slave men to white men is near five
to one.
The field slaves belonging to the farmers are not, how-
ever, nearly so well treated as those of the town; yet in-
finitely better than the Hottentots who are in their employ.
The farmer, indeed, having a life-interest in the one, and
only five-and-twenty years in the other, is a circumstance
that may explain the difference of treatment. The one, also,
is convertible property, an advantage to which they have not
yet succeeded in their attempts to turn the other. The
country slaves, notwithstanding, are ill fed, ill clothed, work
extremely hard, and are frequently punished with the greatest
severity ; sometimes with death, when rage gets the better
of prudence and compassion.
The bad effects that a state of slavery invariably produces
on the minds and habits of a people, who have the misfor-
tune to be born and educated in the midst of it, are not less
felt at the Cape than in the warmer climates. Among the
upper ranks it is the custom for every child to have its slave,
whose sole employment is to humour its caprices, and to drag
it about from place to place lest it should too soon discover
for what purposes nature had bestowed on it legs and arms.
Even the lower class of people think it would be degrading
to their children to go out as servants, or be bound as ap-
]
96 TRAVELS IN
prentices to learn the useful trades, which, in their contracted
ideas, would be to condemn them to perform the work of
slaves.
The management of the young people is almost wholly
left to the slaves, and their education much neglected. The
government made an attempt, but without success, at the
establishment of a public school ; and the individual had no
other ambition but that of qualifying his sons, by writing and
accounts, to become servants of the Company. This body
of merchants had a number of persons in their employ who
were very ill paid. ‘Their salaries indeed were insufficient to
afford them a bare subsistence ; but it tacitly allowed them
to negociate for themselves. ‘The consequence of such a
system was what might easily have been foreseen, that each .
became a kind of petty dealer, and dealt very frequently and
liberally with the wares and merchandize of his employers.
Each had his little private shop in some corner of his house.
The most paltry articles were in the list of their commodities
for sale ; and those who ranked high in the government, and
assumed a string of full-sounding epithets to their names, felt
no sort of indignity im retailing the produce of their gar-
dens; not indeed avowedly, but through the medium of
their slaves. In fact, the minds of every class, the governor,
the clergy, the fiscal, and the secretary of the court of justice
excepted, were wholly bent on trade. Koopman or merchant
was a title that conferred rank at the Cape, to which the mi-
litary even aspired. On this subject the ideas of the Dutch
differ widely from those of the Chinese, who have degraded
*
‘
“
:
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 97
the merchant into the very lowest order of their socicty. The
Dutch have a remarkable propensity for public vendues. Not
a day passes without several of these being held in the town
both before and after dinner. And it is no uncommon thing
to see the same identical articles exposed at two different sales
on the same day. Jn fact, a vendue is a kind of lottery. A
man buys a set of goods in the morning, which he again ex-
- poses to sale in the evening, sometimes gaining and sometimes
losing. Yet all moveable property, on sale by public auction, *
is liable to a duty of 5 per cent., 32 of which the auctioneer is
accountable for to Government ; the remainder is for himself.
I cannot give a stronger instance of the rage for vendues than
by observing that in four successive months of the year 1801,
the amount of property sold by public auction was 1,500,000
rix dollars, a sum equal to the whole quantity of paper money
in circulation, which, indeed, may be considered as the only
money, of late years, that has circulated in the country.
In what manner, therefore, these articles were to be paid
for is a sort of mystery, which, however, the declining state
of the colony may long before this have sufficicntly ex-
plained.
The better sort of people are those who are employed in the
different departments of government. Many have estates in
the country, and derive a revenue from their produce. Others
again are a sort of agents for the country boors, and keep
houses to lodge them when they make their annual visit to the
town. ‘These menarea sort of Jew brokers, who live entirely
by defrauding the simple boors in disposing of their produce,
VOL. II. fe)
x.
98 | TRAVELS IN
and purchasing for them necessaries in return. A boor in the
Cape can do nothing for himself. Unaccustomed to any
society but those of his family and his Hottentots, he is the
most awkward and helpless being on earth, when he gets into
Cape Town, and neither buys nor sells but through his agent.
The emancipated slaves and people of color are generally ar-
tificers ; many of them support their families by fishing. Dur-
ing the whole year there is great plenty and variety of fish
caught in ‘Table Bay, and cheap enough for the poorest fami-
lies to make a daily use of.
The leading pleasures of the inhabitants are chiefly of the
sensual kind, and those of eating, drinking, and smoking pre-
dominate ; principally the two latter, which, without inter-
mission, occupy the whole day. They have little or no relish
for public amusements. They love not any kind of exercise
but that of dancing. A new theatre was erected, but plays
were considered to be the most stupid of all entertainments,
whether the performance was English, French, or German.
To listen three hours to a conversation was of all punishments
the most dreadful. I remember, on one occasion only, to
have observed the audience highly entertained ; this was at an
old German soldier smoking his pipe; and the encouragement
he met with in this part of his character was so great, and his
exertions proportioned to it, that the whole house was .pre-
sently in a cloud of tobacco smoke.
There is neither a bookseller’s shop in the whole town, nor
a book society. A club called the Concordia has lately aspired
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 99
C6
to a collection of books, but\the pursuits of the principal part
of the members are drinking, smoking, and gaming. Under
the direction of the church is a library, which was left by an
individual for the use of the public, but it is rarely disturbed
either by the public or by individuals. In this collection are
some excellent books, particularly rare and valuable editions
of the classics, books of travels and general history, acts of
learned societies, dictionaries, and church history. Books are
rarely found in Cape Town to constitute any part of the fur-
niture of a house. So little value do they set on education,
that neither Government, as I before observed, nor the church,
nor their combined efforts, by persuasion or extortion, could
raise a sum sufficient to establish a proper public school in the
colony; and few of the natives are in circumstances to enable
them to send their children for education to Kurope. But
those few who have had this advantage generally, on their re-
turn, relapse into the common habits of the colonists, finding
how unnecessary in this country are the exertions of body or
mind for procuring a subsistence. I repeat, that if the mea-
sure of general prosperity was to be estimated according to
the ease of procuring abundance of food, the people of the
Cape may be considered as the most prosperous on earth, for
there is not a beggar in the whole colony, aiff no instance of
any person having suffered for want of the common necessaries
of life. |
By habitual indolence, excess of food, and fondness for in-
dulging in sleep, they become no léss gross in their persons,
than they are vulgar in their manners. A young lady de-
scribed the Cape and its inhabitants in very few words: “ De
og
100 TRAVELS IN
“ menschen zyn mooy dik en vet de huizen mooy wit en groen:
“< The people are all nice and plump; the houses are prettily
“ whitewashed and painted green.” I believe there is no coun-
try in the world that affords so large a proportion of unwieldy
and bulky people ; and I am certain there is none where the
animal appetites are indulged with less restraint, the most pre-
dominant of which are eating and drinking, or where the powers
of body or mind are capable of less exertion. ‘“ When the
«¢ Devil catches a man idle he generally sets him to work,” isa
proverb which is every day exemplified at the Cape of Good
Hope. ‘hey are active only in mischief; and crimes against
morality meet with applause if the end be successful. A man,
who in his dealings can cheat his neighbour, is considered as
a slim mensch, a clever fellow; even stealing is not regarded as
criminal, nor does it materially affect the character of the
thief. ‘Truth is not held as a moral virtue, and lying passes
for ingenuity.
There is agreat want of affection among near relations; it has
been observed, indeed, that there are scarcely two brothers in
the Cape who will speak to each other. The manner in which
children are brought up, and in which the economy of a
family is managed, is little favourable to social intercourse, or
likely to excite that harmony of sentiment and union of inte-
rests which, 1n more civilized countries, are cherished and
grow to maturity by the genial warmth and cheerfulness and
comfort of a family fire-side. Here the members of the same
family seldom meet together. The husband, having slept the
greater part of the day, finds his bed irksome in the morning
and rises with the dawn. He takes his solitary cup of coffee,
2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. IOI
or sopie, or both, and smokes his pipe; then lounges about
the house in his slaap mutz and nagt cabbaay, his night cap
and gown, or parades the stoop, or raised platform before the
door, in the same dress, with a long pipe stuck in his mouth,
About nine o’clock he takes a solid breakfast, and a few
glasses of wine, continues to lounge about the house till din-
ner-hour, which is punctually at twelve, or, if the weather be
tempting, or any news stirring, he walks out to meet his com-
rades. Immediately after dinner he goes to bed, rises again
at five or six, makes or receives visits, when he smokes tobacco
and drinks wine till nine o'clock, which is the signal for every
one to repair to his own house. Here a hot supper, consist-
ing of eight, ten, or even twenty solid dishes of fish and but-
cher’s meat, dressed in a variety of shapes, is ready to receive
him, smoking on the table. This is the favourite meal, to
which he considers all that he has eaten and drunk and
smoked in the course of the day, as whets only to the appe-
tite, and preparatives to the grand feast. Thus day after day,
“ The lazy glutton safe at home will keep,
‘< Indulge his sloth, and fatten with his sleep.”
The good woman of the house rises about the same early
hour with her husband ; takes her coffee alone; scolds the
slaves; sets them their daily task; dresses for a vendutie or
public sale, of which there are never fewer than three or four
in the town, or its vicinity, every day of the week; comes
home to dinner at twelve, and then goes to bed ; rises again
with her husband, receives or pays visits with him ; but here
they separate; the men drink and smoke in one room; the
102 TRAVELS IN
women are left to themselves in another. The poor children
scramble as well as they can among the slaves, to whom
they are consigned, one in one room, and another in an-
other; each, in the better sort of families, having its proper
slave, called its uya, a Malay term, borrowed, perhaps, from
the Portuguese or Italian, signifying nurse or protectress ;
and, by an inevitable consequence, the aya is looked up to
through life with more affection than the natural parents.
Little as character is regarded, they are extremely tenacious
ef their rank. More quarrels have arisen about ladies taking
precedency in the church, or placing their chairs nearest the
pulpit, than on any other occasion. In the government of
Lord Macartney a serious dispute arose on this subject, be-
tween the ladies of the Landrost or Chief Magistrate of the
district, and of the Minister of the parish; and memorial was
presented after memorial on both sides, stating their mutual
claims and mutual grievances. His Lordship, feeling the de-
licacy of interposing his authority between two ladies of such
high rank, reeommended a compromise, suggesting, in case
that should not go down, that he would be under the necessity
of adopting the decision of the Emperor Charles the Fifth,
when on a somewhat similar occasion he settled a dispute of
precedency between two women of fashion at Brussels ; “ Let
‘«‘ the greater simpleton of the two have the pas ;’ which made
the two ladies predigiously civil to each other ever afterwards,
both striving which should give, instead of take, the prece-
dency. A Dutch nobleman, who is the only titled man in
the colony, and who held in the old government one of the
SOUTHERNAIARRICA, 103
highest employments, felt no degradation in associating with
butchers, nor in bestowing the hand of his daughter on an at-
torney who, for his mal-practices, had been publicly declared
infamous by the Court of Justice ; but he would have thought
himself disgraced if his wife and daughter were deprived of
their rank in the church. |
There are, however, as must be the case in every society, a
number of worthy people in the colony, to whom the above
observations do not apply : men, whose talents and informa-
tion, propriety of conduct, and strict integrity, would command
respect in any part of the world; but the number of these is
comparatively so small, as to make only an exception to the
- general character. I need scarcely observe, that these people
met with that consideration and attention from the British
government to which they were entitled ; whilst those of the
other class experienced the neglect and contempt they so
justly deserved.
House-rent, fuel, and clothing are all dear in Cape Town ;
yet, I will be bold to say, there is no town nor city in all Eu-
rope, where the mass of the people are better lodged or better
clothed ; and fire is less necessary here than in most parts of
Europe. ‘The keep of a horse in Cape Town was never less,
under the English Government, than 25/. sterling a year, yet
every butcher, baker, petty shopkeeper, and artificer, had his
team of four, six, or eight horses and his chaise. It is true,
his horses were lent out for hire one day, and drew himself and
his family another ; but still it seemed inexplicable how they
contrived to keep up an establishment so much beyond their
1o4 TRAVELS IN
apparent means. Their creditors, I imagine, long before this,
will best be able to give a satisfactory explanation, since
British money has ceased to circulate among them.
It is true, they are neither burthened with taxes nor assess-:
ments. Except on public venducs and transfer of immoyeable
property, Government has been remarkably tender in imposing
on them burthens, which, however, they might very well
afford to bear. Their parochial assessments are equally mo-
derate. At the first establishment of the colony a kind of
capitation tax was levied under the name of Lion and Tyger
money. ‘The fund so raised was applied to the encouragement
of destroying beasts of prey, of which these two were con-
sidered as the most formidable. But as lions and tygers have
long been as scarce in the neighbourhood of the Cape, as
wolves are in England, the name of the assessment has been
changed, though the assessment itself remains, and is applied
to the repairs of the roads, streets, water-courses, and other
public works. ‘The sum to be raised is fixed by the police,
and the quota assigned to each is proportioned to the circuin-
stances of the individual ; the limits of the assessment being
from half a crown to forty shillings. The persons liable must
be burghers, or such as are above sixteen years of age, and
enrolled among the burgher inhabitants. ‘The ordinary amount
is fixed at about 5000 rix doilars a year.
_ Another assessment to which heads of familics are liable is.
called Chimney and Hearth money. ‘This is, properly speak-
ing, a house tax, fixed at the rate of eighteenpence a month,
or 43 rix dollars a year, for every house or fire-place. This
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 105
would seem to be an unfair assessment, as the richest and the
poorest inhabitant, the man with a large house and he who
possesses only a cottage, are liable to the same contribution ;
but it is presumed that every house, great or small, has its
kitchen fire-place and no other. ‘The amount of this assess-
ment is about 5200 rix dollars, which, at the above rate, cor-
responds very nearly with the number of houses in the town.
They are not subject to any tythes or church-rates whatsoever,
towards the maintenance of the clergy ; these being paid in
the most liberal manner out of the treasury of Government.’
Nor is any demand made upon them for the support of the
poor. ‘The very few that, through age or infirmities, are un-
able to maintain themselves, are supported out of the super-
fluities of the church. Where the mere articles of eating and
drinking are so reasonably procured as in the Cape, it is no
great degree of charity for the rich to support their poor re-
Jations, and, accordingly, it is the common practice of the
country. ‘Those who come under the denomination of poor
are, for the most part, emancipated slaves, who may not have
the benefit of such relations. Nor does the church provide
for such on uncertain grounds. Every person manumitting
a slave must pay to the church fifty rix dollars or ten pounds,
and at the same time give security that such slave shall
not become burdensome to the church for a certain number
of years.
The police of the Town is committed to the management
of a board consisting of six burghers, called the Burgher
Senate. ‘The functions of this board are various and im-
VOL. IL. B
106 TRAVELS IN
portant, but they are performed in that careless and slovenly
manner which is ever the case where men are compelled to
accept an office to which there is annexed neither pay nor
emolument. The only exception that I know of to this re-
mark is the situation of an English justice of peace. In
most public employments of a permanent nature, like that of
the Burgher Senate, if the emoluments are not such as to
make it worth a man’s while to keep his place, the odds are
great that the duties of it will be neglected. This was the
rock upon which the Dutch, in all their East India settle-
ments, split. The appointments of their servants were so
' small, that those who held them could not live without cheat-
ing their employers; and this was carried on to such an
extent, as to become a common observation that, in propor-
tion as the Company’s finances were impoverished, their
servants were enriched.
The business of the Burgher Senate consists in seeing that
the streets be kept clean and in proper repair; that no nui-
sance be thrown into the public avenues leading to the town;
that no encroachments be made on public property ; that no
disorderly houses be suffered to remain ; no impositions prac-
tised on the public; no false weights nor measures used.
They are authorized to regulate the prices of bread ; to in-
quire from time to time into the state of the harvest ; and to
take precautions against a scarcity of corn. ‘They are to
devise measures and suggest plans to Government that may
seem proper and effective for keeping up a constant succes-
sion of coppice wood for fuel in the Cape district. They are
directed to take particular care that the tradesmen of the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 109
town, and more especially the smiths and cartwrights, impose
not on the country boors in the prices of utensils necessary
for carrying on the business of agriculture. ‘They are to re-
port such crimes, trespasses, and misdemeanors, as come
within their knowledge, to the Fiscal, who is the Chief
Magistrate of the police, and Attorney-General of the
colony. -
It would be in vain to expect that such various and im-
portant duties should be faithfully fulfilled for a number of
years without any consideration of profit or hope of reward ;
or that every advantage would not be taken which the situa-
tion might offer. Some of the members of the Burgher Senate
send their old and infirm slaves to work at the public roads,
and receive for them the same wages as are paid to able-
bodied men ; others have teams of horses and waggons that
never want employ. These things are trifling in them-
selves, but the public business suffers by them. When the
English took the place, the streets were in so ruinous a con-
dition as scarcely to be passable with safety. A small addi-
tional assessment was laid upon the inhabitants, and in the
course of five years they had nearly completed a thorough
repair of the streets, to the great improvement of the town.
It has been the remark of most visitors, that the young ladies
of the Cape are pretty, lively, and good-humoured ; possessing
little of that phlegmatic temper which is a principal trait in
the national character of the Dutch. The difference indeed in
the manners and appearance of the young men and the young
women, in the same family, is inconceivably great. The
P 2
108 TRAVELS IN
former are clumsy in their shape, awkward in their carriages
and of an unsociable disposition ; whilst the latter are gene-
rally of a small delicate form, below the middle size, of easy
and unaffected manners, well dressed, and fond of social inter-
course, an indulgence in which they are seldom restrained by
their parents, and which they as seldom turn to abuse. They
are here indeed less dependant on, and less subject to, the ca-
price of parents than elsewhere. Primogeniture entitles to no:
advantages ; but all the children, male and female, share alike
in the family property. No parent can disinherit a child
without assigning, on proof, one at least. of the fourteen: rea-
sons. enumerated in the Justinian Code. By the law of the
colony, a community of all property, both real and personal,
is supposed to take place on the marriage of two persons, un-
Jess the contrary should be particularly provided against by
special contract made before marriage. Where no such con-
tract exists, the children, on the death of either parent, are
entitled to that half of the joint property which was supposed
to belong to the deceased, and which cannot be withheld on.
application after they are come of age.
It is but justice to the young females of the Cape to remark,
that many of them: have profited much more than could be
expected from the limited means of education that the place
affords. In the better families, most of them are taught music,
and some have acquired a tolerable degree of execution.
Many understand the French language, and some have made
great proficiency in the English. They are expert at the
needle, at all kinds of lace, knotting, and tambour work,
and in general make up their own dresses, following the pre-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 109"
vailing fashions of England brought from time to time by
the female passengers bound to India, from whom they may
be said to
« Catch the’ manners living as they rise.”
Neither are the other sex, while boys, deficient in vivacity
or talent ; but for want of the means of a proper education,
to enlarge their minds and excite in them a desire of know-
ledge, they soon degenerate into the common routine of eat-
ing, smoking, and sleeping. Few of the male inhabitants
associate with the English, except such as hold employments.
under the government. This backwardness may be owing in
part to the different habits of the two nations, and partly,
perhaps, to the reluctance that a vanquished people must
always feel in mixing with their conquerors. No real cause,
however, of complaint or disaffection could possibly be al-
leged against the English government at the Cape. No
new taxes were imposed ; but, on the contrary, some of the
old ones were diminished, and others modified. 'The demand
and value of every production of the colony were very con-
siderably increased, while the articles of import fell in their
prices. More than 200,000 rixdollars of arrears in rent
of land were remitted to the inhabitants by the British go-
vernment, as well as 180,000 rixdollars of dubious debts.
They preserved their laws and their religion, both of which
continued to be administered by their own people. They en-
joyed as great a share of rational liberty as men, bound to
each other, and to the whole, by the ties that a state of so-
ciety necessarily imposes, could possibly expect, and much
greater than under their former government. Property was
BIO ‘ TRAVELS IN
secure in every instance, and raised to double its former
value: and none had the loss of life of any friend or relation
_to lament at the time of, or since, the capture; for it was
taken and maintained without bloodshed. ‘Their paper cur-
rency, fabricated by the government in order to get over a
temporary distress, but which it had never been able to take
out of circulation, bore a depreciation of 40 per cent. at the
time of the capture, and a silver dollar was scarcely to be
seen. ‘The former was brought back to be nearly at par with
specie, and not less than two millions of the latter were sent
from England and thrown into circulation. Every person
enjoyed his share of the general prosperity. The proprietor
of houses in town more than doubled his rent; and the farmer
in the country, where formerly he received a rixdollar for
each of his sheep, afterwards received three. Seven years of
increasing prosperity, of uninterrupted peace and domestic
tranquillity, were not, however, sufficient to convince these
silly people of their happy lot; but the restoration of the
colony to its ancient possessors corrected their mistake, in
this respect, in as many months.
2. The Vine-growers or, as they are usually called at the
Cape, the Wine-boors are a class of people who, to the bless-
ings of plenty, add a sort of comfort which is unknown to the
rest of the peasantry. ‘They have not only the best houses
and the most valuable estates, but, in general, their domestic
economy is managed in a more comfortable manner than is
usually found among the country farmers. Most of them are
descendants of the French families who first introduced the
vine. Their estates are mostly freehold, in extent about 120
6
SOUTHERN AFRICA. reo e
English acres, and the greater part is employed in vineyards
and garden grounds. ‘heir corn they usually purchase for
money or in exchange for wine. Their sheep also, for family
use, they must purchase, though many of them hold loan
farms on the other side of the mountains, The produce of
their farms, however, is sufficient for keeping as many milk
cows as are necessary for the family; and they have abun-
dance of poultry. The season for bringing their wine to
market is from September to the new vintage in March, but
generally in the four concluding months of the year, after
which their draught oxen are sent away either to their own
farms or others in the country till they are again wanted.
The deep sandy roads over the Cape isthmus require fourteen
or sixteen oxen to draw two leggers of wine, whose weight is
not 22 tons.
The tax upon their produce is confined to that part of it
which is brought to the Cape market, and is at the rate of
three rix dollars for every legger of wine, and the same sum
for every legger of brandy that passes the barrier. All that
is consumed at home, or sold in the country, is free of duty.
Neither are they subject to any parochial taxes or assess-
ments, except a small capitation tax towards the repair of
the streets and avenues leading to the town, and the Lion
and Tyger money for the exigencies of the district. ‘They are
equally exempt, with the people of the town, from church
and poor rates; the former being liberally provided for by
Government, and the other description of people not being
known-in the country districts. The wine farmers take their
pleasure to Cape Town, or make frequent excursions into the
4
aqi2 TRAVELS IN
country, in their tent waggons drawn by a team of six or
eight horses; an equipage from which the boor derives a vast
consequence over his neighbour, who may only possess a
waggon drawn by oxen.
The following rough sketch, which was given to me by
one of the most respectable wine boors, of his outgoings
and returns, will serve to shew the condition of this class
of colonists.
Outgoings.
The first cost of his !
estate was 15,000 Rix dollars.
15 Slaves a 300”. d.
each - 4,500
80 Wine leggersa 12 960
Implements for press-
ing, distilling, &c. * 500
3 'Team of oxen 500
2 Waggons - 800
Horse-waggon, and
team - 900
Furniture, utensils, &c. 2000
Rix dollars.
Amount 25,160. . Interest 6 percent. 1509 5
3 Sheep per week for family use, 156 per year, a 23 390 O
Clothing 15 slaves a 15 r.d. each per year - 225 O
~ Carried over 2194 5
<7 ae
Se
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 113
Brought over R. D. 2124 5
Corn for bread 36 muids a 3 r.d. - - 108 0
Tea, coffee, and sugar - - - 150 0
Clothing for the family and contingencies - 350 0
Duty at the barrier on 120 leggers of wine and brandy 360 0
Wear and tear 100 r.d. parochial assessments 20 120 0
Amount of outgoings 3212 5
Returns.
100 Leggers of wine brought to market a30 3000
20 Ditto of brandy ditto a 50 - - 1000
The wine and brandy sold to the country
boors, with the fruit and poultry brought
to the Cape market, are more than suffi-
cient to balance every other contingent
and extraordinary expence.
eee
Amount of returns 4000 4000
t
Balance in favor of the farmer R. D. 787 3
or £.157 8 3
which sum may be considered as a net annual profit, after
every charge on the farm and on housekeeping has been de-
frayed.
VOL. II. Q
114 _ TRAVELS IN
‘The payment of an estate purchased is made sufiiciently
easy to the purchaser. ‘The customary conditions are to pay
by three instalments, one-third ready money, one-third in one
year, and the remaining third at the end of the second year ;
and the latter two-thirds bear no interest. And even the
first instalment he can borrow of Government, through the
loan bank, by giving the estate as a mortgage, with two suffi-
cient securities. So that very large estates may be purchased
at the Cape with very little money, which is the chief reason
of the multiplicity of vendues.
3. The corn-boors live chiefly in the Cape district, and
those parts of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein that are not dis-
tant more than two or three days’ journey from the Cape.
Their farms are some freehold property, some gratuity land,
but most of them loan farms. Many of these people are in
‘good circumstances, and are considered in rank next to the
wine-boor. ‘The quantity of corn they bring to market is
from a hundred to a thousand muids each, according to the
quality of their farm, but more commonly to their skill and
industry. They supply, also, the wine-boor and the grazier.
The grain sold to these in the country is subject to no tax
nor tythe; but a duty amounting not quite to one-tenth of —
the value is paid at the barrier for all grain passing towards
Cape Town. Their parochial assessments are the same as
those of the wine-boor. |
The colonists of the Cape are miserable agriculturists, and
may be said to owe their crops more to the native goodness
7
SOUTHERN AFRICA. a
Wn
of the soil and favorable climate, than to any exertions of
skill or industry. Their plough is an unwieldy machine
drawn by fourteen or sixteen oxen, just skims the surface,
and, if the soil happens to be a little stiff, is as frequently out
of the ground asin it; hence, in most of their corn fields,
may be observed large patchies of ten, fifteen, or twenty square
yards without a stem of grain upon them. Such grounds,
when sown and harrowed, are infinitely more rough than the
roughest lea-ploughing in England. They have not the least
idea of rolling the sandy soils, which are sometimes so light
as to be sown without ploughing. Sometimes, towards the
end of the rainy season, they turn the ground and let it lie
fallow till the next seed-time ; but they rarely give themselves
the trouble of manuring, except for barley.
For returns of corn in general they reckon upon fifteen
fold ; in choice places from twenty to thirty, and even much
greater where they have the command of water. The grain
is not thrashed, but trodden out in circular floors by cattle.
The chaff and short straw of barley are preserved as fodder
for their horses, and for sale; the rest of the straw is scat-
tered about by the winds. They do not even give them-
selves the trouble of throwing it into the folds where their
cattle are pent up by night, which would be the means
of procuring them a very considerable supply of manure,
and, at the same time, be of service to their cattle in cold
winter nights.
The following rough statement will serve to shew the cir-
cumstances of an ordinary corn-boor of the Cape.
Q 2
116 TRAVELS IN
Outgoings.
The price of the opstal or buildings
on his loan farm - R. D. 7000
50 Oxen a 15 r.d. - -_ 750
50 Cows a 8. r.d. - - 4.00
12 Horses a 40 - - 480
6 Slaves a 300 - - 1800
2 Waggons - i 800.
Furniture - ~ - 1000
Implements of husbandry - 500:
12,730. Interest 763
Clothing for slaves E m=
Ditto for the family 4
‘Tea and sugar uy E u
Duty on corn brought to maket 150. Parish taxes 20
Contingencies, wear and tear, &c. -
Corn sold to the wine-boors and graziers more than
sufficient to defray all other expences.
Amount of outgoings
Returns.
300 Muids of corn a 4 r.d. R. D. 1200
100 Ditto of barley a 3 rd. - 300
6 Loads of chaff a 32 r.d. = 192
Carried over 1692
90
150
100
170
150
oo 08 @G-o
|
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 17
foe Brought over R. D. 1692 1423 6
1000 lbs. butter a 12 sk. - 250
5 Horses sold annually a 40 r.d. 200
Amount of returns 214270
_——
Balance in favor of the farmer R.D. 718 2
or 5. 143° 1S
——
4, The graziers, properly so called, are those of Graaf Rey-
net and other distant parts of the colony. These are a class
of men, of all the rest, the least advanced in civilization.
Many of them, towards the borders of the settlement, are
perfect Nomades, wander about from place to place without
any fixed habitation, and live in straw-huts similar to those
of the Hottentots. Those who are fixed to one or two places
are little better with regard to the hovels in which they live.
These have seldom more than two apartments, and fre-
quently only one, in which the parents with six or eight
children and the house Hottentots all sleep; their bedding
consists generally of skins. Their hovels are variously con-
structed, sometimes the walls being mud or clay baked in
the sun, sometimes sods and poles, and frequently a sort of
wattling plaistered over with a mixture of earth and cow-
dung, both within and without ; and they are rudely covered
with a thatch of reeds that is rarely water-proof.
118 TRAVELS IN
Their clothing is very slight; the men wear generally a
broad brimmed hat, a blue shirt, and leather pantaloons, no
stockings, but a pair of dried skin shoes. ‘The women have
a thick quilted cap that ties with two broad flaps under the
chin, and falls behind across the shoulders ; and this 1s con-
stantly worn in the hottest weather; a short jacket and a
petticoat, no stockings, and frequently without shoes. The
bed for the master and mistress of the family is an oblong
frame of wood, supported on four feet, and reticulated with
thongs of a bullock’s hide, so as to support a kind of mattress
made of skins sewed together, and sometimes stuffed with
wool. In winter they use woollen blankets. If they have a
table it is generally of the boor’s own making, but very often
the large chest that is fitted across the end of their ox-waggon
serves for this purpose. ‘The bottoms of their chairs or stools
are net-work of leather thongs. A large iron pot serves
both to boil and to broil their meat. They use no linen
for the table ; no knives, forks, nor spoons. ‘The boor car-
ries in the pocket of his leather breeches a large knife, with
which he carves for the rest of the family, and which stands
him in as many and various services as the little dagger of
dudibras.
Their huts and their persons are equally dirty, and their
whole appearance betrays an indolence of body, and a low
groveling mind. Their most urgent wants are satisfied in the
easiest possible manner; and for this end they employ means
nearly as gross as the original natives, whom they affect so
much to despise. If necessity did not sometimes set the in-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 119g
vention to work, the Cape boor would feel no spur to assist
himself in any thing ; if the surface of the country was not
covered with sharp pebbles, he would not even make for him-
self his skin-shoes. ‘The women, as invariably happens in
societies that are little advanced in civilization, are much
greater drudges than the men, yet are far from being indus-
trious ; they make soap and candles, the former to send to
Cape Town in exchange for tea and sugar, aud the latter for
home-consumption. But all the little trifling things, that a
state of refinement so sensibly feels the want of, are readily
dispensed with by the Cape boor. Thongs cut from skins
serve, on all occasions, as a succedaneum for rope; and the
tendons of wild animals divided into fibres are a substitute for
thread. When I wanted ink, a mixture of equal quantities
of brown sugar and soot, moistened with a little water, was
brought to me in lieu of this article, and soot was substituted
for a wafer.
To add to the uncleanliness of their huts, the folds or kraals
in which their cattle remain at nights are immediately front-
ing the door, and, except in the Sneuwberg, where the total
want of wood obliges them to burn dung cut out like peat,
these kraals are never on any occasion cleaned out; so that
in old established places they form mounds from ten to
twenty feet high. The lambing season commences before the
rains finish ; and it sometimes happens that half a dozen or
more of these little creatures, that have been lambed over
night, are found smothered in the wet dung. The same thing
happens to the young calves; yet, so indolent and helpless
is the boor, that rather than yoke his team to his waggon and
120 TRAVELS IN
go to a little distance for wood to build a shed, he sees his
stock destroyed from day to day and from year to year, with-
out applying the remedy which common sense so clearly
points out, and which requires neither much expence nor
great exertions to accomplish. _
If the Arcadian shepherds, who were certainly not so rich,
were as uncomfortable in their cottages as the Cape boors,
their poets must have been woefully led astray by the muse.
But Pegasus was always fond of playing his gambols in
the flowery regions of fancy. Without a fiction, the people
of the Cape consider Graaf Reynet as the Arcadia of the
colony.
Few of the distant boors have more than one slave, and
many none; but the number of Hottentots amounts, on an
average in Graaf Reynet, to thirteen in each family. The
inhumanity with which they treat this nation I have fre-
quently had occasion to notice. ‘The boor has few good fea-
tures in his character, but this is perhaps the worst. Not.
satisfied with defrauding them of the petty earnings of their
industry, and with inflicting the most cruel and brutal punish-
ment for every trifling fault, they make it a common practice
to retain the wife and children after turning adrift the hus-
band; thus dissolving the tender ties of social intercourse,
and cutting off even the natural resources of wretchedness
and sorrow. It is in vain for the Hottentot to complain.
‘To whom, indeed, should he complain? The Landrost is a
mere cypher, and must either enter into all the views of the
boors, or lead a most uncomfortable life. The last, who was
SOUTHERN, AERICA. 121
@ very honest man, and avxious to fulfil the duties of his
office, was turned out of his district, and afterwards threat-
ened to be put to death by these unprincipled people, be-
cause he would not give them his permission to make war
upon the Kaffers ; and because he attended to the complaints
of the injured Hottentots. The boor, indeed, is above all
Jaw. At the distance of five or six hundred miles from the
seat of Government he knows he cannot be compelled to
do what is right, nor prohibited from putting in practice what
is wrong. ‘lo be debarred from visiting the Cape is no
punishment to him. His wants, as we have seen, are very
few, nor is he nice in his choice of substitutes for those which
he cannot conveniently obtain. Perhaps the only indispen-
sable articles are gunpowder and lead. Without these a
boor would not live one moment alone, and with these he
knows himself more than a match for the native Hottentots
and for beasts of prey.
The produce of the grazier is subject to no colonial tax
whatsoever. ‘The butcher sends his servants round the coun-
try to collect sheep and cattle, and gives the boors notes upon
his master, which are paid on their coming to the Cape.
‘They are subject only to a small parochial assessment, pro-
portioned to their stock. For every hundred sheep he pays
a florin, or sixteenpence, and for every ox or cow one penny.
With the utmost difficulty Government has been able to col-
lect about two-thirds annually of the rent of their loan-farms,
which is only 24 rixdollars a year. Under the idea that
they had been dreadfully oppressed by the Dutch Govern-
ment, and that their poverty was the sole cause of their run-
VOL. 11. R
122 TRAVELS IN
ning in arrears with their rent, the British Government
forgave the district of Graaf Reynet the sum of 200,000 rix-
dollars, the amount to which their arrears had accurnulated.
By descending a little closer to particulars we shall be able
to form a better judgment of the condition of these people,
and how far their poverty entitled them to the above-men-
tioned indulgence.
The district of Graaf Reynet, as we have already observed,
contains about 700 families. Among these are distributed,
according to the Opgaaff (and they would not give in more
than they had, being liable to an assessment according to the
number), 118,306 head of cattle, and 780,274 sheep, which,
to each family, will be about 170 heads of cattle and 1115
sheep. :
Out of this stock each boor can yearly dispose of from 15
to 20 head of cattle, and from 200 to 250 sheep, and, at the
same time, keep up an increasing stock. The butcher pur-
chases them on the spot at the rate of 10 to 20 rixdollars a
head for the cattle, and from 2 to 2: for the sheep.
Suppose then each farmer to sell annually,
15 Head of cattle a 12 r.d. - R. D. 180
220 Sheep a 2 r.d. - - 440
A waggon load of butter and soap 1200
pounds a Is. - - - 300
See
Amount of his income R. D. 920 O
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 12
fa
Amount of his income brought over R. D. 920 O
Outgoings.
2 Waggons 800 r.d. Interest = - R. D. 48
Clothing for 8 persons a 15 7.d. - 120
Tea, sugar, tobacco, brandy - - 150
Powder and shot - - - 20
Rent to Government and stamp - 25
Parochial assessments = - 8
Contingencies, cattle to Hottentots, &c. 80
Amount of Outgoings R. D. 451 0
Yearly Savings R. D. 469 0
or £.93 16 O
eee
In what part of the world can even a respectable peasant
do this ? much less the commonest of all mankind, for such
are the generality of the Cape boors. After quitting the
ranks, or running away from his ship, he gets into a boor’s
family and marries. He begins the world without any pro-
perty, the usual practice being that of the wife’s friends giv-
ing him a certain number of cattle and sheep to manage, half
the yearly produce of which he is to restore to the owner, as
interest for the capital placed in his hands. He has most of
the necessaries of life, except clothing, within himself; his
work is done by Hottentots, which cost him nothing but
meat, tobacco, and skins for their clothing. His house and
rn 2
124 TRAVELS IN
his furniture, such as they are, he makes himself; and he has
no occasion for implements of husbandry. ‘The first luxury
he purchases is a waggon, which, indeed, the wandering life
he usually leads at setting out in the world, makes as neces-
sary as a hut; and frequently serves all the purposes of one.
A musquet and a small quantity of powder and lead will
procure him as much game as his whole family can consume.
The springboks are so plentiful on the borders of the colony,
and so easily got at, that a farmer sends out his Hottentot to
kill a couple of these deer with as much certainty as if he
scnt lim among his flock of sheep. Ina word, an African
peasant of the lowest condition never knows want; and
if he does not rise into affluence, the fault must be entirely
his own. i
REVENUES OF GOVERNMENT.
From what has already been stated, in the last section, it
will appear, that the public burthens are not of that natare
as to furnish any subject of complaint. In fact, the propor-
tion of produce paid by the colonists for their protection is
less than in most other countries. They are not required to
pay any land-tax, window-tax, excise, or tax on any of the
tuxuries of life; they are exempt from poor-rates, and from
any assessment towards the maintenance of the clergy. Ex-
cept the tenth on grain and wine, brought mto Cape Town,
and a small Custom-house duty on foreign articles imported,
the duties to which they are liable are, ina great measure, -
optional, being levied on their extreme passion for buying,
selling, and transferring property. ‘The stamp duty, the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 125
public vendue duty, the transfer duty on sale of immoveable
estates, and the duty arising from the sales of buildings on
loan-lands, are branches of the revenue mostly of this de-
scription.
The revenues of the colony are derived from the following
sources, comprized under thirteen heads :
ee
C9 i &
Ot ON Dr & bo 0
(Rents of Loan farms.
Gratuity lands.
: peodr wy -—_ Quit, rents.
Oo
consisting 1n aun Places taken by the month.
iL -— Salt pans.
. Duties on grain, wine, and spirits, levied at the barrier.
. Transfer duty on sale of immoveable estates.
. Duty arising from the sale of buildings on loan farms.
Public vendue duty.
Fees received in the Secretary’s office.
Customs.
sorters.
. Postage of letters.
. Seizures, fines, and penalties.
. Licences to retail wine, beer, and spirituous liquors.
. Interest of the capital lent out through the loan bank.
. Duty arising from stamped paper.
1. The revenue arising from the soil has been sufficiently ex-
plained in describing the tenures of land ; but, in addition to
the articles therein explained, may be mentioned the rents of
some salt water lakes in the Cape district let out to the highest
126 TRAVELS IN
bidder for the purpose of collecting the salt formed in them
during the summer season ; as also some trifling rents of places
for grazing cattle at certain seasons of the year, taken by the
month. :
2. The duties levied on grain, wine, and brandy at the bar-
rier are as follows :
Rd sk. tte See
For 10 muids of wheat 2 6 4orll 4
— 10 muids of barley Bait 4 5 4
— 10 muids of peas ABO» el Bs G
5 0 0 20 O
— 10 muids of beans
On wine and brandy the duty is exactly the same,
being 3 rixdollars for every legger, let the price or quality
be what they may. This duty amounts to about 5 per
cent. on common wine, and not to £ per cent. on Con-
stantia.
3. The transfer duty on the sale of immoveable estates is 4
per cent. on the purchase money, which must be paid to the
receiver of the“land revenues before a legal deed of convey-
ance can be passed, or, at least, before a sufficient title can
be given to the estate. ,
4, The duty arising from the sale of buildings, plantations,
and other conveniencies on loan-lands, is 2: per cent. on the
purchase money, and must be paid in the same manner as the
last, on the property being transferred from the seller to the
purchaser.
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 127
5. The duty on public vendues is 5 per cent. on moveable,
and 2 per cent. on immoveable property ; of the former, Go-
vernment receives 53 per cent. and 13 per cent. of the latter.
This is a very important branch of revenue.
6. Fees received in the Secretary’s office are such as are paid
on registering the transfer of property, and were formerly part
of the emoluments of the colonial Secretary and assistants.
They are very trifling.
7. The import and export duties at the Cape were formerly
a perquisite of the Fiscal. At the surrender of the colony it
was found expedient to make some new regulations with re-
gard to this branch of revenue. All goods shipped in the
British dominions, to the westward of the Cape, were allowed
to be imported duty free; but others, not so shipped, were
liable to a duty of 5 per cent. if brought in British bottoms,
and 10 per cent. in foreign bottoms. And no goods nor mer-
chandize of the growth, produce, or manufacture of countries
to the eastward of the Cape were allowed to be imported into,
or exported from, the Cape of Good Hope, except as sea-
stores, but by the East India Company, or by, their licence,
The export duties vary according to the nature of the arti-
cles, but, on a general average, they amount to about 5 per
cent. on commodities, the growth and produce of the Cape.
8. The port fees, or wharfage and harbour money, were
formerly levied at a fixed sum on all ships dropping an-
chor at the Cape, whether they were large or small, but
128 TRAVECS IN
were afterwards altered to sixpence per ton upon their re-
gistered tonnage.
9.. The postage of letters was a small charge made on the
delivery of letters at the post office, more with a view to pre-
vent improper correspondence during the war, than to raise a
revenue, which, indeed, amounted to a mere trifle.
10. Seizures, fines, and penalties. The law respecting smug
gling is very rigid at the Cape of Good Hope. Not only the
actual shipping or landing of contraband goods is punishable,
but the attempt to do it, if proved, is equally liable; and the
penalty is confiscation of the goods, when found, together
with a mulct amounting to three times their value ; or, if not
found, on sufficient evidence being produced, the delinquent.is
liable to forfeit four times their value. Of all seizures and con-
fiscations, and penalties for misdemeanors, the Fiscal receives
one-third of the amount, the informer or prosecutor one-third,
and the other third, which was formerly the share of the Go-
vernor, was directed by Lord Macartney to be always paid
into the Government Treasury in aid of the revenue.
11. The licences granted for the retailing of wine, beer, and
spirituous liquors, are farmed out in lots to the highest bidders ;
and they produce a very considerable sum to Government,
proportioned, however, to the strength of the garrison, the
soldiers being their best customers. Sir James Craig, wishing
to discourage, as much as possible, all monopolies, proposed
to divide the retailing of wine among thirty-two persons, but fif-
teen only were found totake them out ; and these the following
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 129
year refusing to renew, it became necessary to recur to the old
method, to prevent the revenue from suffering, as well as the
disorders that might be supposed to arise from an unrestrained
liberty of sale. It was, however, found difficult to get any
one after this to undertake the farm on the most moderate
terms. Such is often the effect of making sudden and violent
changes, even where abuses are meant to be reformed, and a
certain benefit procured for those who have long been suffer-
ing under them. Gradual alterations are usually the most
acceptable, and, in the end, most effectual.
12. Interest of the capital lent out through the loan or
Lombard bank arises from a-sum of paper money issued by
the Dutch Government as a loan to individuals, on mortgage
of their lands and houses, with the additional security of two
sufficient bondsmen. The sum thus lent out is about 660,000
rixdollars. ‘I'he interest is 5 per cent., which is one per cent.
less than the legal interest of the colony. Government re-
ceives a clear profit of 4 per cent., and the bank one per cent.
for its trouble. The rule is never to lend a greater sum than
half the value upon estates in town, nor more than two-thirds
on estates in the country. ‘The 'term for which the loan was
made was not to exceed two years, and it rested with the di-
rectors to prolong the loan, or to call it in, at the expiration
of that time.
The establishment of this bank, by the Dutch East India
Company, was one of the many symptoms, that of late years
had appeared, of the declining condition of their commercial
VOL. 11, S
130 TRAVELS IN
credit, and of their political influence in their Indian pos-
sessions. Driven to the necessity of raising revenues, by di-
rect or indirect means, to defray the contingent expences of
the year and to keep together their numerous establishments,
and of maintaining their existence by temporary expedients,
their finances were reduced at length to such a state, that
their capital was employed to pay the interest of their debt.
In order, therefore, to reform some abuses, and for the better
regulation of their affairs in India, certain commissioners were
appointed in 1792, under the name of Commissaries General,
to proceed from Holland, without delay, upon this important
office.
Finding, on their arrival at the Cape, that the resources of
Government were nearly exhausted, the colony in most de-
plorable circumstances, and a general complaint among the
inhabitants of the want of a circulating medium, they con-
ceived it too favorable an occasion to let slip of converting
the public distress into a temporary profit for the state; in-
creasing, at the same time, the revenue of the latter, while
they conferred a seeming favor on the former. They issued,
through the Lombard bank, a loan of such sums of stamped
paper money as might be required to satisfy the wants of
those who could give the necessary securities; the whole
amount being limited to the sum of one million rixdollars.
Thus, by this transaction, Government created for itself a
net revenue of about 25,000 rixdollars a year, free of all de-
ductions, without risk and without trouble, from a fictitious
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 14
capital. It did more than this. Part of the original capital,
which, at its highest point was about 680,000 rixdollars, was
repaid by the inhabitants, and restored to Government ; but,
instead of cancelling such sums, as it should secm in honor
bound to do, it applied them towards the payment of the
public expences, suffering the whole of the original capital
to continue in circulation.
The operation of such a loan, from the Government to the
subject, so much the reverse of what generally takes place in
other states, might be supposed to produce on the minds of
the people a disposition of ill-will towards the Government ;
which, indeed, was assigned as one of the motives to shake —
off their dependence, and thus free themselves at once from
a load of debt by the destruction of the creditor. These
short-sighted people did not reflect that the whole amount
of paper money issued through the bank was not half the
amount of paper currency in circulation ; that a much greater
sum, of the same fabric, but made on a different occasion,
had been borrowed by Government from the inhabitants, for
which the only security was its credit and stability. ‘The con-
sequence of Suffrein’s visit to the Cape, and the expences of
throwing up the lines, and putting the works in repair, obliged
the Dutch to borrow plate and silver money from the in-
habitants for the exigencies of Government, which was pro-
mised to be repaid on the arrival of the ships then expected
from Holland ; and, in the mean time, stamped paper, in
pieces bearing different values, was given and thrown into
$ 2
132 TRAVELS IN
circulation, none of which has ever been redeemed by specie,
nor, in all human probability, ever will. ‘The balance of the
paper lent by Government, and of the money borrowed from
the people, is about 240,000 rixdollars in favor of the latter,
so that they would gain little by destroying the credit of
Government.
13. The duty arising from stamped paper was early intro-
duced, but limited to such public writings as were issued
from the offices of the Secretary of Government and of the
Court of Justice; and for acts signed by public notaries,
until the arrival of the Commissaries General, when it was.
considerably extended. At present all bills of sale, receipts,
petitions, and memorials, must be made out on stamped
paper. ‘Lhe limits of the stamps are sixpence the lowest, and.
one hundred rixdollars, or twenty pounds, the highest.
The net proceeds of the colonial revenue for four succes-
sive years will appear from the following table :
/
SOUTHERN AFRICA,
Branches‘of the Public Revenue.! Year 1798. Year 1799. Year 1800. Year 1801.
Ras | ahenct | aeRdeuickache| Rd.) ke se \ineed.) Usk: sts
1. Land Revenue 60,622 6 2] 40,720 6 41 43,396 2 4} 47,885 6 4
2. Duties on grain and
wine levied at ie 36,867, 6/0) 355204. 92 dh G¥.030%- 2) 131. 3'75759 43%. 0
barrier
3. Transfer duty on
sales of inmorabc| Ba soit A 2) OO;84z- 93 2 Accu LT) 3O7.AG8. 7
estates
4. Duty arising from
sale of buildings ot SAAS a 55077) 2. ol $3039 1 3h S247 5
loan estates
5. Public vendue duty | 48,182 3 3] 59,916 1 2] 61,166 3 Oo} 85,960 2
6. Fees received in
the Secretary’s Of- TOSt Ol Olle I, F050 Or OC] 1,193 3. O|. 15322). 7
fice !
7. Customs ABBAS Oll4 2.020 10s) Gl 385502 ) 4. Ol) 47,933 fo
8. Port fees 25100 ¢ 2 O}"' 2,100 -O OF "3,945 «4° Fol '5,408'! 0% %o
g. Postage of letters OAT iG Ohyy 950.404? Ol, HattE) Zo ol 1.390 /6'. 10
. Seizur
a eee ay bo 299283 O I! 7585 © 3] 26,572 9 o| 55533 3 ©
11. Licences to retail
wire, beer, subsp ZO1255 ws A DE T3R i 2 i pal vOnTgT ih 1121 93,2001)- On, 0
rituous liquors
12. Interest of the capi-
tal lent cattvongh | 252532 6 | 25,678 4 1| 26,240 2 3]. 25,957
the loan bank
13. Duty arising from | 18,403 4 | 20,348 6 of 18,751 0 of 25,645
stamped paper
#33
Re D29e 2,502 17 513005312 0: 6|260;590 4:
er £. 64,502 1 11| 72,062 8 o| 73,919. 6
01450,713
o| 90,142 13
Amount
These sums were applied to the payment of salaries on the
civil establishment, the expences of the several departments,
the repairs of Government buildings, and the contingencies
and extraordinaries of the colony, to all which, by a prudent
economy, they were much more than adequate ; for, on clos-
ing the public accounts the year after the departure of Lord
Macartney from his government, there was a balance in the
Treasury, amounting to between two and three hundred
thousand rixdollars, after every expence of the year had
been liquidated.
134 TRAVELS IN
JURISPRUDENCE.
The constitution and the practice of the Court of Justice
at the Cape are ill suited to the sentiments of Englishmen,
yet, as their continuance was stipulated for in the articles of
capitulation, they remained of course unaltered. The civil
servants of the Dutch East India Company composed two-
thirds of its members, and one-third was chosen from the
burghers of the town. ‘The Company, as proprietors of the
settlement, directed their servants to take the ascendancy in
all colonial affairs, but by way of reconciling the free citizens,
not in their employ, a certain proportion were admitted into
the civil courts and public boards; but, as might be sup-
posed, the propositions and opinions of the former were gene-
rally found to preponderate. None of the members of the
Court of Justice were professional men ; nor were they sup-
posed to possess a greater share of legal knowledge than the -
other citizens out of which they were chosen. The Fiscal
and the Secretary were the interpreters of the law. The
members might be considered as a kind of special jury, who,
after hearing the evidence, decided on the facts by a ma-
jority of voices. As members, composing a Court of Judi-
cature, they had no salaries under the Dutch government,
and therefore were supposed not to reject presents from one
or both of the parties who had suits before the Court. But
although they had no special salaries, most of them either
actually enjoyed other employments attended with profit, or
were considered as entitled to succeed to them on vacancies,
in recompence for their services as ministers of justice. And
B)
py
i i 5 te ie ee
stir
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 135
as the situation, though honorable and conferring a distinc-
tion of rank, was attended with a considerable share of trouble
and some expence, and as their lucrative offices, on the
surrender of the settlement to the English, in a great
measure ceased, it seemed but reasonable that so import-
ant a duty should be compensated by an allowance from
Government, which was accordingly made to them by Lord
Macartney.
One part of their practice was particularly repugnant to
the feelings of Englishmen and to the principles of English
jurisprudence. ‘The proceedings of the Court were always
carried on, foribus clausis, with closed doors, except in the
single instance of the trial of the boors for sedition, on which
occasion the Fiscal or Attorney General determined, though
contrary to all precedent, to throw open, for the first time,
the doors of the Hall of Justice. No oral pleading is ad-
mitted by the Dutch law; no confronting the accused with
the witnesses ; but the depositions of each are singly taken
down before two commissioners, on oath, and afterwards read
to the Court; all persons are excluded from entering the
Court except the parties concerned. In all criminal causes
the Fiscal, or Attorney-General, directed two commissioners
of the Court to examine evidences, take depositions, hold in-
quests over bodies that had died suddenly by the visitation of
God, accident, or violence ; and to draw up, in every case,
preparatory information for the trial. or this troublesome
part of their duty they had no remuneration, unless when the
delinquent should be condemned to labor for the service of
government, in which case the expences of the trial were paid
out of the produce of that labor.
136 TRAVELS IN
re
The constitution and the practice of such a court gave but
too strong grounds for supposing that justice was not always
administered with strict impartiality. ‘The cause of a foreigner
was always indeed considered as hopeless. If in some few
instances they may have leaned to the side of their country-
men, where the dispute respected property, yet I am inclined
to believe that in all criminal cases they have acted, not only
with impartiality, but with the greatest caution and circum-
spection. I do not here mean to include that unfortunate
race of men who are doomed to slavery: the measure of
justice was dealt out to these poor creatures with as sparing
a hand at the Cape as in most other countries where the
negro is scarcely considered to rank among human beings.
If a slave should unfortunately lift his hand against a white
man, he runs the greatest risk of being tortured and torn in
pieces, it being always presumed, on such an event, that the
intention was to murder; but if a white man should actually
murder his own slave, little, if any, inquiry is made into the
circumstances of the case; and if he should put to death the
slave of another man, he has only to settle with the owner for
the value he put upon him ; unless indeed the owner, from prin-
ciple or from pique, should bring the matter before the Court
.of Justice, a case which I fancy has rarely, if ever, happened.
Two irreproachable and concurring witnesses are required to
substantiate a fact against a person accused of a capital crime;
and one evidence of good character, produced on the part of a -
person accused of felony, is considered of equal weight with
two produced against him: and even after sentence has been
passed, until the moment of execution, the condemned is
allowed to bring forward evidence in his favor. Nor can
at
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 137
circumstantial evidence, however strong, warrant the carry-
ing of any sentence into execution, until a free confession be
made of the crime. Such confession, it is true, was, under
the Dutch government, sometimes extorted by the applica-
tion of the torture; in which case, if the guilty had nerve
enough, he was sure to escape, and if the innocent was feeble,
he was equally sure of being hanged.
Even in civil causes, the presumption that the Court was
generally right is in its favor; for since the establishment of
an English Court of Appeal in the year 1797, to the evacua-
tion of the colony, out of the number of cases brought before
the said Court of Appeal, only one sentence was reversed ;
and it appeared that the error committed, in this instance,
by the Court of Justice was owing to their tenacity rather to
the letter, than to the spirit of the law; and that by rigidly
adhering to the summum jus, their decision was productive of
the summa injuria. It was also supposed that, in the case —
alluded to, a very undue influence was employed to sway the
Court. Neither are the members of the Court of Justice in
the Cape so wanting in talent or in legal knowledge as might
be supposed ; at least, they proved to the world that they
. had sagacity enough to detect, and integrity and firmness
enough to punish, the authors of a most nefarious and bare-
faced transaction, which those persons had contrived to carry
through the Court of Vice-Admiralty with complete success,
though the imposition was of the grossest nature.
Capital crimes in the Cape district are less frequent than
they might be supposed among such a mixed multitude,
VOL. IL. T
133 TRAVELS IN
where a great majority have no interest in the public pro-
sperity or tranquillity. ‘The strength of the garrison contri-
buted materially to keep the slaves in order; and instances
of capital crimes were less numerous under the British Go-
vernment than in any former period of the same duration for
the last thirty years. In six years 63 were sentenced to
suffer death, of which 30 were publicly executed, and the
rest condemned to work at the fortifications in chains for’
life. ‘The sentence of such as escaped execution was not
changed on account of any palliative circumstance or insuf-
ficient testimony, but because confession of the crime is in--
dispensably necessary to the execution of the sentence; and
this confession being now no longer extorted by the applica-
tion of the torture, most of them persist to deny the crime
of which they are accused; preferring a life of hard labor,
with a diet of bread and water, to an untimely death. But
though the rack and torture were by the Dutch laws allowed
to be put in practice, in order to extort the confession of
crimes, and breaking on the wheel was a common sentence
of the law, yet the Court of Justice at the Cape pretended
to say that these expedients were rarely resorted to; but, at
the same time, on their abolition by command of his Majesty,
they strenuously urged the necessity of their continuance, as
proper engines of terror for preventing the commission of
capital crimes, which, they thought, simple strangling with a
cord would be insufficient to effect. Contrary, however, to
the opinion of the Court of Justice, there were fewer execu-
tions, after the abolition of the rack and torture, than had
taken place in an equal period for many years before: so
much so, indeed, that one of the public executioners made
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 139
an application for a pension in lieu of the emoluments he
used to receive for the breaking of legs and arms. ‘The fate
of the other hangman was singular enough: On hearing that
the abolition of the rack and torture was likely to take place,
he waited upon the chief magistrate to know from him
whether it was the fashion among the. English to break on the
wheel. A few days after this he was found hanging in his
room. It was thought that the fear of starving, for want of
employment, on account of his having held such an odious
office, had operated so powerfully on his mind as to have led
him to the perpetration of self-murder. Under the idea of
conveying terror into the minds of the multitude, the place
of execution is erected close to the side of the great avenue
leading into the town. ‘The first object that presents itself to
a stranger, after passing the Castle, is a large gallows flanked
by wheels and engines of death—objects not well adapted
for impressing any very favorable opinion either of the hu-
manity of the people or the lenity of their laws. Though the
custom of most European nations may have sanctioned public
punishments, as warnings against the commission of crimes,
the constant exposure of the instruments of death can have
little share in producing this effect. The human mind, by
long habit, becomes reconciled to objects that, for a time,
might have created disgust and dismay ; and nothing is more
likely to happen than that the unreflecting part of the multi-
tude should turn into a source of ridicule, when made too
familiar to them, what was intended to convey the sensation
of terror.
140 TRAVELS IN
Two of the members of the Court form in turn a monthly
commission, before which written evidence is produced by
the attornies of the parties, and every information collected
against the full meeting of the Court, which is held once a
fortnight. In the intervening time all the written evidence
and other attested documents that relate to each case are read
by the several members. Were this not practised, so great
is the litigious disposition of the people, they would not be
able to go through the ordinary business. Forty or fifty
causes are sometimes dispatched in the Court in the course
of one morning; and they hear none where the damages are
not laid at a greater sum than 200 rix dollars or 407. All
| suits, under this amount, are decided in an inferior Court
called the Court of Commissaries for irying petty causes : in the
country districts the Landrost and Hemraaden are empowered
to give judgment in all cases where the damages tobe re-
covered do not exceed 150 rix dollars or 307.
This litigious spirit in the people, who are mostly related
one way or another, and who always address each other by
the name of cousin, is encouraged by the attornies, who, in|
the Cape, may truly be called a nest of vermin fattening on
the folly of the people. To become a procureur it is by no.
means necessary to study the law. Hence any bankrupt
shopkeeper, or reduced officer, or clerk in any of the depart-
ments, may set up for an attorney. ‘The business consists in
taking down depositions in writing, and drawing up a state
of the case for the examination of the monthly commissioners,
and afterwards to be laid before the full Court. As their
ae
SOUTHERN AFRICA. x4t
charges, in some degree, depend upon the quantity of paper .
written, such papers are generally pretty voluminous, ‘The
expences of a single suit will sometimes amount to 400/. or
500/. sterling, when, at the same time, the object of litigation
was not worth 100/.
The office of Fiscal is one of the most important in the
colony. As public accuser it is his duty to prosecute, in the
Court of Justice, all high crimes and misdemeanors; and as
Solicitor-General to the Crown he is to act in all cases where
the interest of Government is concerned. As Chief Magt-
strate of the police, both within and without the town, he is
authorised to inflict corporal punishment on slaves, Hotten-
tots, and others, not being burghers, for petty offences, riot~
ous behaviour, or other acts that cannot be considered as
directly criminal. The Fiscal has also the power of impos-
ing fines, and of accepting pecuniary composition for misde-
meanors, insults, breach of contract in cases where the offender
does not wish to risk a public trial. The sum, however, that
in cases of compromise can be demanded by the Fiscal, was
limited, under the British Government, to 200 rix dollars.
For it appeared that, under former Fiscals, many and enor-
mous abuses had been practised in the levying of fines, par-
ticularly in cases where the nature of the offence was such
that the accused chose rather to pay a large sum of money
than suffer his cause to be investigated before a full court.
The Fiscal, being entitled to one-third of all such penalties,
took care to lay them as heavy as he thought the cases would
bear. What a temptatiog was here laid for frail mortal man,
142 TRAY Eee SiN
in his“fiscal capacity to be guilty of injustice and extortion, |
by leaving thé:power of fixing the penalty in the breast of the
very man who was to reap the benefit of it! To the honor
of the man be it spoken, who held this important but odious
situation, during the British government at the Cape, his
most inveterate enemies, and he and every one who fills the
office must daily make such, never accused him either of
making an undue use of his authority, or of studying his own
interest in this respect. The English found him poor, and
Jeft him so, but not without making some though not per-
haps an adequate acknowledgment of his services.
The office of Fiscal consisted of the principal and a de-—
puty, a clerk, two bailiffs, two jailors, eight constables, and
nineteen blacks and Malays, usually called Kafiers. The
whole expence to Government was under 10,000 rix dollars ;
the Court of Justice and Secretary’s Office to the Court was
about the same sum, so that the administration of justice cost
the Government about 40007. sterling a year.
The Court of Commissaries for trying petty suits, and for
matrimonial affairs, consists of a President, a Vice-president,
and four members, whose situations are merely honorary,
and are biennial. The duties of the Court, as the name im-
plies, are divided into two distinct classes: first, to decide
in suits where the sum in litigation does not exceed 40/.;
and secondly, to grant licences of marriage where, on ex-
amination of the parties, there appears to be no legal im-
pediment.
SOUTHERN - AFRICA. 143
In ifs first capacity it may be considered as a sort of Court
of Conscience. ‘The proneness of the people to litigation
made it necessary, notwithstanding the scanty population, to
establish this as a relief to the Superior Court, by taking off
its hands the decision of a multiplicity of trifling suits, as
well as, by a summary mode of proceeding, to prevent heavy
costs. The process for the recovery of a debt is very simple.
A summons is sent from the Secretary to the debtor, forty-
eight hours before the meeting of the Court, which is on
every Saturday. The parties are heard, a decision taken,
and sentence pronounced. An appeal lies to the Superior
Court.
In order to obtain a licence for marriage, it is necessary
for both persons to appear personally before the Court, to
answer to such questions as may be put to them concerning
their age, the consent of parents or guardians, their relation-
ship, and such like; after which a certificate is given, and
the banns are published thrice in the church. The consent
of parents or guardians is necessary to be had by all who
marry under the age of twenty-five years. Ifthe consent of
parents or guardians be refused to a minor, the removal of
the objections is left to.the discretion of the Court. If either
of the parties has been married before, and has children, a
certificate must be produced from the Secretary of the Or-
phan Chamber, or from the notary appointed to administer
to.the affairs of the children, that the laws of the colony re-
lating to inheritance have been duly complied with.
2
poh
144 TRAVERS ITN
The Veeskammer, or chamber for managing the effects of
minors and orphans, is one of the original institutions of the
colony, and is modelled on those establishments of a similar
kind that are found in every city and town of the Mother
Country. The nature of their laws of inheritance pointed
out the expediency of public guardians to protect and manage
the property of those who, during their minority, should be
left in an orphan state. In this instance the Dutch have de-
parted from the civil or Reman Jaw on which their system of
jurisprudence is chiefly grounded. By their laws of pro-
perty the estates and moveables of two persons entering into
wedlock become a joint stock, of which each party has an
equal participation; and, on the death of either, the children
are entitled to that half of the joint property which belonged
to the deceased, unless it may have been otherwise disposed
of by will; and here the legislature has wisely interfered to
allow of such disposal only under certain restrictions and
limitations. ‘The Dutch laws, regarding property, are more
inclinable to the interests of the children, than favorable to
the extension of parental authority. To enable a man to dis-
inherit a child, he must bring proof of his having committed
one, at least, of the crimes of children against parents, which
are enumerated in the Justinian code.
To guard against abuses in the management of the provi-
sion which the law has made for minors and orphans, and to
secure the property to which they are entitled, are the duties
of the Orphan Chamber. Its authority extends also to the
administration of the effects, either of natives or strangers,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 145
who may die intestate. At the decease of either parent,
where there are children, an account of the joint property is
taken by the Chamber, and in the event of the survivor in-
tending to marry a second time, such survivor must pass a
bond to secure the half share of the deceased to the children
by the former marriage.
This excellent institution is managed by a president and
four members, a secretary, and several clerks. Their emolu-
ments arise from a per centage of 2£ on the amount of all
property that comes under their administration, and from
sums of money accruing from the interest of unclaimed pro-
perty, and the compound interest arising from the unexpended
incomes of orphans during their minority. The Secretary, in
addition to a fixed salary, has an allowance of 4 per cent. on
the sale of orphan property, which almost always takes place
in order to make a just distribution among the children.
This is considered as an indemnification for his responsibility
to the board for the payment of the property sold. The
clerks divide among them one per cent., so that all orphan
property, passing through the Chamber, suffers a reduction
of 73 per cent. upon the capital, which is 2% per cent. less
than when left to the administration of private executors,
who have 5 per cent. for their trouble, and must pay 5 per
cent. to government on the public vendue, from which the
- Orphan Chamber is exempt.
VOL. II. U
146 TRAVELS IN
RELIGION.
Calvinism or the Reformed Church, as it has usually been
called, is the established religion of the colony. Other sects.
were tolerated, but they were neither countenanced, nor paid,
nor preferred by the Dutch. The Germans, who are equally
numerous with the Dutch, and mostly Lutherans, had great
difficulty in obtaining permission to build a church, in which,
however, they at length succeeded; but they were neither
suffered to erect a steeple nor to hang a bell. A Methodist
chapel has also lately been built ; and the Moravians have a
church in the country ; but the Malay Mahomedans, not be-
ing able to obtain permission to build a mosque, perform their
public service in the stone quarries at the head of the town.
Other sects have not yet found themselves sufficiently nume-
rous or opulent to form a community. |
The body of the clergy are in no part of the world more
suitably provided for, or more generally respected, than in this
country; a consequence which may be attributed to their
being supported entirely by Government, and not by any tax
or tythe laid upon the public. Their situation, it is true,
leads not to affluence, but it places them beyond the appre-
hension of want or pecuniary embarrassments ; and it secures
to their widows a subsistence for life. The salaries and the
emoluments, which all of them enjoy, both in the town and
the country districts, are nearly on an equality. By their .
rank, which is next to that of the President of the Court of
Justice in town, and of the Landrost in the country, they are
SOUTHERN AFRICA. Ay
entitled to seek connections with the first and wealthiest
families ‘in the colony. None would think of refusing his
daughter’s hand to the solicitations of a clergyman ; and the
lady usually considered the precedence at church as a full
compensation for the loss of balls, cards, and other amuse-
ments which her new situation obliged her to relinquish.
Some changes, however, of such sentiments were said to havé
taken place, on the part of the ladies, with the change of
their former Government, and that whatever might still
be the opinion of the parents, they began to doubt whether
the easy and unrestrained gaiety of a red coat might not
be equally productive of happiness with the gravity of a
black one.
But the introduction of new manners and new sentiments
produced no direliction in the pious deportment of the clergy
and their families; nor was there any change in the exterior
marks of devotion among the laity. The former are scrupu-
lously exact in the observance of the several duties of their
office, and the latter equally so'in their attendance of public
worship. In the country the boors carry their devotion to
an excess of inconvenience that looks very like hypocrisy:
From some parts of the colony it requires a journey of a
week or ten days to go to the nearest church, yet the whole
family seldom fails in its attendance twice or thrice in a
year. |
The duties of the clergy are not very laborious, though
pretty much the same as in Europe. They attend church
twice on Sundays, visit the sick when sent for, and bestow
u 2
148 TRAVELS IN
one morning in the week to examine young persons in the
confession of faith, They must also compose theif sermon
for Sunday, and learn it by heart. ‘Their congregation
would have little respect for their talents if it was read to
them, though of their own composing. Nothing will do ina
Dutch church but an extemporary rant; and they all go to
church in expectation of some glance being made at the pre-
vailing topic of the day, and return satisfied or. displeased ac-
cording as the preacher has coincided with or opposed their
sentiments on the subject of his discourse.
The clergy have also the direction of the funds raised for
the relief of the poor. These funds are established from weekly
donations, made by all such as attend divine service, from le-
gacies, and from the sums demanded by the church on the
emancipation of slaves. The interest is applied towards the
succour and support of those whom old age, infirmities, acci-
cent, or the common misfortunes of life, may have rendered
incapable of assisting themselves. This class is not very nu-
merous in the Cape, and is composed mostly of such as have
been denied, in their early days, the means of making any
provision against old age; chiefly emancipated slaves, the
best part of whose life has been dedicated entirely to the.
service of their owners.
An unsuccessful attempt was made some years ago to esta-
blish a public grammar-school at the Cape, and the clergy-
men were nominated as curators. A fund for this purpose was
intended to be raised by subscription, and every one was ready
to put down his name, but very few came forwards with the »
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 149
money. After the purchase of a suitable house, they found
there was nothing left to afford even a moderate salary for a
Latin master ; and the clergy of the Cape, who are the only
fit persons to take upon them the important task of instruct-
ing youth, are already too well provided for by Government
to engage in so laborious an employ.
The amount of the funds belonging to the Reformed Church
in Cape Town, in the year 1798, was, Rd. 110,842 1 2 or
22,1681. 8s. 8d., and the subsistence granted to the poor was
Rd. 5564 2 or 1112/. 17s. The funds of the Lutheran Church
were Rd. 74,148 2 2 or 14,8291. 13s. 2d., and the relief
granted to the poor Rd. 972 2 2 or 1941. 9s. 2d.
IMPROVEMENTS SUGGESTED.
Before any considerable degree of improvement can be ex-
pected in those parts of the country, not very distant from the
Cape, it will be necessary, by some means or other, to increase
the quantity and to reduce the present enormous price of la-
bor. The first step towards the attainment of these objects
is the complete prohibition of the importation of slaves under
any pretext whatsoever; for, until such a measure shall be
adopted, the increase of the price of labor is sure to keep
pace with the encreased population. The number of slaves
that are already in the colony, and the number of Hottentots
unemployed for want of due encouragement, render any im-
portations of the former wholly unnecessary. But supposing
the demand for labor was greater than they could supply, a
150 TRAVELS IN
very trifling encouragement would draw into the colony as
many Chinese as it might be thought prudent to admit.
Were ten thousand of this industrious race of men distributed
over the Cape district, and those divisions of Stellenbosch and
Drakenstein which lie on the Cape side of the mountains, the
face of the country would exhibit a very different appearance
from that it now wears, in the course of a few years; the
markets would-be better and more reasonably supplied, and.
an abundance of surplus: produce acquired for exportation.
Jt is not here meant that these Chinese should be placed under
the farmers ; a situation in which they might probably become,
like the poor Hottentots, rather a load and an encumbrance
on the colony, than a benefit to it. The poorest peasant in
‘China, if a free man, acquires notions of property. After
paying a certain proportion of his produce to the State, which
is limited and defined, the rest is entirely his own ; and though
the Emperor is considered as the sole proprietary of the soil,
the land is never taken from him so long as he continues to
pay his proportion of produce to Government.
I should propose then, that all the pieces of ground inter-
vening between the large loan farms, which in many places
are equal in extent to the farms themselves, and other unoc-
cupied lands, should be granted to these Chinese on payment
of a moderate rent after the first seven years, during which
period they should hold them free. The British Government
would find no difficulty in prevailing upon that, or a greater,
number of these people to leave China; nor is the Govern-
ment of that country so very strict or solicitous in preventing
its subjects from leaving their native land as is usually sup-
SOUTHERN AFRICA.. ig:
posed. The maxims of the State forbad it at a time when it
was more politic to prevent emigrations than now, when an
abundant population, occasionally above the level of the
means of subsistence, subjects. thousands. to perish at home
for want of the necessaries of life. Emigrations take place.
every year to Manilla, Batavia, Prince of Wales’s. Island, and
to other parts of the eastern world.
In the more distant parts of the colony, where the land is.
not only better, but large tracts occur that are wholly unoc-.
cupied, it would be adviseable to hold out the same sort of
encouragement to the Hottentots as they have met with from
the Hernhiiters at Bavian’s Kloof; a measure that would be
equally beneficial to the boor and the Hottentot, and put a
stop to the many atrocious murders and horrid cruelties which
are a disgrace to humanity.
The next step to improvement would be to oblige all the
Dutch landholders to enclose their estates, agreeably to the:
original plans which are deposited in the Secretary’s Office..
By planting hedge rows and trees, the grounds would not
only be better sheltered, but the additional quantity of
moisture that would be attracted from the air, would prevent
the surface from being so much scorched in the summer
months. The almond, as I have observed, grows rapidly in-
the driest and poorest soils, and so does the pomegranate, both
of which would serve for hedges. The lemon-tree, planted
thick, makes a profitable as well as an extremely beautiful and.
excellent hedge, but it requires to be planted on ground that
is rather moist. ‘The keurboom or sophora capensis. grows. in.
152 TRAVELS IN
hard dry soils, as will also two or three of the larger kind of .
proteas. The planting of trees and hedge rows would furnish
a supply of wood for fuel, and other useful purposes, which
is at present extremely scarce and exorbitantly dear. Avenues
of oak trees, plantations of the white poplar, and of the stone
pine, are to be seen near most of the country houses not very
distant from the Cape, and have been found to thrive most
rapidly. It is true, the timber they produce is generally
shaken and unsound ; but the oak which has been introduced
into the colony appears to be that variety of the Quercus
Robur known in England by the name of Durmast oak, much
of which grows in the New Forest, and is but of little estima-
tion among ship-builders. It is distinguished by the acorns
growing in clusters, and each having a long foot stalk. The
larch, whose growth in Europe is rapid, and yet the timber as
good or better than any of the pine tribe, would be an acqui-
sition and an ornament to the present naked hills of the Cape;
and the beech would no doubt thrive in those places where
the poplar does so well.
There can be little doubt but a great variety of exotic plants
might be introduced with success into the colony. The tea-
shrub, fer instance, is already in the colony, and seems to
thrive equally well as in China; it is a hardy plant, and
easily propagated, and the soil, the climate, and general face
of Southern Africa, bear a strong analogy to those provinces
of China to which it is indigenous. Three years ago a small
coffee plant was brought from the island of Bourbon, and is
now in full berry, and promises to succeed remarkably well ;
the sugar cane equally so. ‘The dwarf mulberry -seems to
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 153
thrive here quite as well as in China; but the common silk«
worm is not in the colony. Several species of wild moths,
however, spin their coccoons among the shrubby plants of
Africa. Among these there is one species, nearly as large as
the Atlas, which answers to the description of the Paphia of
Fabricius, whose food is the leaves of the Protea Argentea,
the witteboom or silver tree of the Dutch; this worm might
probably by cultivation be turned to some account. Dr.
Roxburgh is of opinion that it is precisely the same insect
which spins the strong silk known in India by the name of
Tussach. 'The palma christi, from the seed of which is ex-
pressed the castor oil, and the aloe, whose juice produces the
well known drug of that name, are natives of the country, and
are met with of spontaneous growth in the greatest plenty in
every part of the colony ; which is also the case with the cape
olive, so like in habit and appearance to the cultivated plant
of Europe, that there can be little doubt as to the success of
the latter if once introduced. It is the more surprizing that
the cultivated olive has not found its way hither, since no ve-
getable oil, fit for culinary uses, is produced in the colony.
The Sesamum Orientale, to which I gave a fair trial, promised. -
to do well on moist soils, but could not be cultivated with suc-
cess as an article of general produce. As green food for cattle,
Thad an opportunity of trying four species of millet of the
genus Holcus, namely, the Sorghum, the Saccharatus, the Spicatus,
and Bicolor. All of these, except the specatus, were cut down
several times in the same season, afterwards grew to the height
of six to ten feet, bore a plentiful crop of seed, sprung up
afresh from the old stumps in the winter, furnishing most ex-
cellent food for cows and horses throughout the whole year.
A species of Indian Lucerne, the Medicago esculenta, I culti-
VOL. II. xX
154 TRAVELS IN
vated with equal success, giving, after being twice cut down,
a plentiful crop of seed. A small kidney bean, the Phaseolus
lobatus, grew very rapidly, producing two crops in one season ;
this is an excellent species of food for cattle, whether given to
them green or dried into hay, which is the case also with the
lucerne. A strong tall dog’s-tail-grass, the Cynosurus coracanus
of India, affording a wholesome food for man and beast,
after being cut down twice, produced a crop of seed. Of
this species of grass horses are extravagantly fond, and it
will remain green nearly through the winter. The culture of
all these would be of the greatest importance to the welfare
of the colony. Nothing is so much wanted as green food for
the cattle in the summer months when every kind of herbage
is burnt up and disappears. ‘The Cape might also be rendered
valuable to the state on which it may be dependent, by
the cultivation of the different kinds of hemp for cordage and
canvass, and which might be carried on to an unlimited extent.
The Cannabis sativa, or common hemp, has been long planted
here as a substitute for tobacco, but its cultivation was never
attempted for other purposes. It grows in the shape of a
branching shrub, losing entirely that habit of springing up in
a single stem as it always appears in Europe; which is no
doubt owing to its being planted singly. When sown
thick on the ground as in Europe, it is said to shoot up
exactly in the same manner, ascending to about the height
of eight feet, and giving to all appearance a fibre of equal
strength and tenacity to that where it is usually culti-
vated ; and it requires very little trouble in keeping clean on
the ground. ‘The different plants of India, cultivated there for
the purposes of hemp, have been found to grow at the Cape
fully as well as in their native soil. Of these the most com-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 155
“mon are the Robinia cannabina, affording a fibre that is durable
under water, and on that account used in the east for fishing-
nets and tackle. The Jute of India, Corchorus olitorius,
thrives very well, as does also the Hibiscus cannabinus, whose
leaves, of a delicate subacid taste, serve as a sallad for the
table, and the fibres of the stem as a flax fit for the manufac-
ture of cordage. A native species of hibiscus which I brought
from the vicinity of Plettenberg’s bay yields a hemp of an ex-
cellent quality, perhaps little inferior to that of the cannabis,
or common hemp, which is most unquestionably the best ma-
terial yet discovered for the manufacture of strong cordage.
The Janap of India, Crotularia juncea, from which a strong
coarse stuff is manufactured under the name of Gunney, seems
to thrive very well in the climate of the Cape in sheltered
situations ; but its slender stem is unequal to the violence of
the south-easterly gales of wind. Cotton and indigo may
both be produced in any quantity in this colony; but the
labor necessary in the preparation of the latter, and the enor-
mous price of slaves, or the hire of free workmen, would
scarcely be repaid to the cultivator. That species of cotton
plant called the hzsutum seems to sustain the south-east blasts
of wind with the least degree of injury ; but the Bourbon cot-
. ton, originally from the West Indies, has been found to thrive
just as well in the interior parts of the country, where the
south-easters extend not with that degree of strength so as to
cause any injury to vegetation, as on the island from whence
it takes its name. Many of the India and China fruits are pro-
duced in the colony, and others introduced since it came into
our hands, seem to bid fair success. But the article of produce,
which is best suited for the soil and the climate of the Cape,
x 2
}
156 TRAVELS IN
is unquestionably the vine, the culture and management of
which are however very little understood.
The vineyards, instead of being pruned down to the ground,
so that the bunches of grapes frequently rest upon it, should
be led up props or espaliers, or trailed, “as‘in Madeira, along
the surface of lattice work. The strong Spanish reed that
grows abundantly in the colony is well suited for this purpose,
which would not only free the grapes from the peculiar earthy
taste that is always communicated to the wine, but would
cause the same extent of vineyard to produce more than
double the quantity of grapes. A family or two from the
island of Madeira, to instruct them in the process of making
wine, would be of essential use to the colony.
A better system of the tillage of corn lands could not fail
to be productive of a considerable increase in the returns of
grain. The breed of horses has so much improved since the
capture by the English, that these may soon be substituted
for oxen in all the purposes of husbandry, and small English
ploughs made to supersede their present unwieldy machines,
requiring each from ten to sixteen oxen.
With respect to the country boors, it will require a long
time before any effectual steps can be adopted for the im-
provement of their condition. Content with the possession
of the mere necessaries of life, they seek for none of its com-
forts, which, however, are sufficiently within their reach.
Their cattle alone, if any care were bestowed upon them,
would procure for their families every convenience, and enable
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 157
them to live with decency. One great step towards the bet-
tering of the condition of these people, would be the establish-
ment of fairs or markets at Algoa Bay, Plettenbere’s Bay,
Mossel Bay, and Saldanha Bay ; to which, at certain fixed
periods, once a month or quarter for instance, they might
drive down their cattle, and bring their other articles of pro-
duce for sale.
This might immediately be effected by prohibiting the
butchers from. sending round their servants to collect cattle at
the boors’ houses ; and by giving public notice of the times
at which the markets would be held at the different places.
At Algoa Bay a great variety of produce, besides sheep and
horned cattle, might be exhibited together, not only from the
boors, but also from the Kaffers and the Hottentots. These
people would, no doubt, be very glad to give their ivory and.
skins of leopards and antelopes in exchange for iron, beads,
and tobacco, and perhaps coarse cloths, provided they were
allowed to take the advantage of a fair and open market. The
honey that abounds in all the forests would be collected by
the Hottentots and brought to the market at Plettenberg’s
Bay, where the great plenty of timber might also lead to a
very extensive commerce, and furnish employment for num-
bers of this race of natives, who require only proper encou-
ragement to become valuable members of society. An esta-
blishment of Moravian missionaries at this bay would prove of
infinite benefit to the colony. It would be difficult to per-
suade the boor of this, and nothing would convince him of
the truth of it, but the circumstance of his being able to pro-
cure as good a waggon for 150 or 200 rix dollars as he must
now purchase at the rate of 400 dollars in Cape Town. ‘There:
rs8 TRAVELS IN
is not any part of this extensive settlement that is capable of
such improvement as the country which is contiguous to
Plettenberg’s Bay, and I should hope that the British Govern-
ment, when the colony is once permanently annexed to the
iimpire, as Iam confident, sooner or later, must be the case,
will adopt a plan similar to that which a single individual in
Holland had in contemplation, and had actually taken mea-
sures to carry into execution, when the war breaking out, un-
fortunately put an end to the laudable undertaking. He ob-
tained from the Dutch Government a grant of the whole
district of Plettenberg’s Bay, on condition of paying a certain
annual rent. This district he meant to divide into one hundred
portions, on each of which was to be placed an industrious
family to be sent out from Europe, cither Dutch or Germans,
to be furnished with stock, utensils, implements of husbandry,
and every article that was requisite for carrying on the useful
trades, and to cultivate the soil; but they were not to be al-
lowed to purchase or to employ a single slave. Every kind of
labor was to be performed by themselves and by Hottentots,
whom they were directed to encourage. How easily might a
hundred industrious families be found in the United Kingdom,
ready to embrace so favorable an opportunity of exercising
their capital, their skill and activity, in so fine a climate, and
so fertile a tract of country.
It would be no small advantage to the boors, who dwell
some hundred miles from the sea-coast, to carry back in their
waggons a quantity of salted fish, which might be prepared to
any extent at all the bays; this article would not only furnish
them with an agreeable variety to their present unremitting
consumption of flesh meat three times a day, but would serve
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 189
also, according to their own ideas, as a corrective to the su-
perabundance of bile which the exclusive use of butchers’
meat is supposed to engender. ‘To cultivate the fisheries on
the coast of Africa would afford the means of employment and
an ample source of provision for a great number of Hottentot
families.
At Mossel Bay, besides the fisheries, there are two articles,
the natural produce of the country, in the collection and pre-
paration of which the Hottentots might very advantageously
be employed, both to themselves and to the community.
These are aloes and barilla, the plant that produces the first
growing in every part of the district that surrounds the bay,
and that from the ashes of which the other is procured being
equally abundant in the plain through which the Olifant River
flows at no great distance from the bay. Here too the culti-
vation of grain and pulse might be greatly extended.
If the introduction of Chinese were effected, the markets of
Cape Town and Saldanha Bay could not fail to be most
abundantly supplied with wine, grain, pulse, fruit, and vege-
tables ; probably to such a degree as not to be excelled in
the world, either for price, quality, or quantity.
The consequence of such a system of establishing markets
would be the immediate erection of villages at these places.
To each village might be allowed a church, with a clergyman,
who might act at the same time as village schoolmaster. 'The
farmers’ children put out to board would contribute to the
speedy enlargement of the villages. ‘The farmers would thus
be excited to a sort of emulation, by seeing the produce of
160 TRAVELS IN
each other compared together, and prices offered for them
proportionate to their quality, instead of their being delivered
to the butcher, as they now are, good and bad together, at so
much per head. The good effects produced by occasionally
meeting in society would speedily be felt. The lan-
guor, the listlessness, and the heavy and vacant stare, that
characterize the African peasant, would gradually wear off.
‘The meeting together of the young people would promote
the dance, the song, and gambols on the village green, now
totally unknown; and cheerfulness and conversation would
succeed to the present stupid lounging about the house, sullen
silence, and torpid apathy. The acquaintance with new ob-
jects would beget new ideas, rousing the dormant powers of
the mind to energy, and of the body to action. By degrees,
as he became more civilized by social intercourse, humanity
as well as his interest would teach him to give encouragement
to the Hottentots in his employ to engage in useful labor,
and to feel, like himself, the benefits arising from honest
industry:
The establishment of villages in an extensive country thinly
peopled, may be considered as the first step to a higher state
of civilization. A town or a village, like the heart in the
animal frame, collects, receives, and disperses the most valu-
able products of the country of which it is the centre, giving
life and energy and activity by the constant circulation which
it promotes. Whereas while men continue to be thinly scat-
tered over a country, although they may have within their
reach all the necessaries of life in a superfluity, they will have
very few of its comforts or even of its most ordinary conve-
niencies. Without a mutual intercourse and assistance among
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 161
en, life would be a constant succession of make-shifts and
substitutions.
The good effects resulting from such measures are not. to
be expected as the work of a day, but they are such as might,
in time, be brought about. It would not, however, be at-
tended with much difficulty to bring the people closer to-
gether, and to furnish them with the means of suitable edu-
cation for their children ; to open them new markets for their
produce, and, by frequent intercourse with one another,
to make them feel the comforts and the conveniencies of social
life. Whether the Dutch will be able to succeed in doing
this, or whether they will give themselves the trouble of
making the experiment, is doubtful, but when it shall again
become a British settlement, these, or similar regulations,
would be well deserving the attention of Government.
But, above all, the establishment of a proper public school
in the capital, with masters from Europe qualified to under-
take the different departments of literature, demands the first
attention of the Government, whether it be Dutch or English.
For as long as the fountain-head 1s suffered to remain troubled
and muddy, the attempt would be vain to purify the streams
that issue from it. It is painful to see so great a number of
promising young men as are to be found in Cape Town, en-
tirely ruined for want of a suitable education. The mind of
a boy of fourteen cannot be supposed to remain in a state of
inactivity, and if not employed in laying up a stock of useful
knowledge, the chances are it will imbibe a taste for all the
vices with which it is surrounded, and of which the catalogue
in this colony is by no means deficient.
VOL. II. ¥
162 TRAVELS IN
CM AvP oer
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope considered as a Military Station.
Waury the Prince of Orange had departed from Holland,
and the subsequent affairs of that nation had rendered it suf-
ficiently obvious that the majority of the inhabitants of the
United Provinces were inclined to adopt the revolutionary
principles of France, it became a measure of precaution, in
our government, to take immediate possession of the Dutch
colonies. Among-these the Cape of Good Hope claimed the
earliest attention, being considered as a settlement of too
great importance to be trusted in the hands of the Dutch
colonists, although it was weil known that the principal as
well as the majority of the civil and military officers were in-
debted to their Prince for the situations they enjoyed in that
colonial government.
An expedition was accordingly sent out to take possession
of the Cape, not however in a hostile manner, but to hold it
in security for, and in the name of, the Prince of Orange,
who had furnished letters dated from London to that effeet.
But the misguided people of the colony, having received only
imperfect accounts of affairs in Holland, and being led to ex-
pect a French force at the Cape, had already embraced the
principles of Jacobinism, whose effects were the more to be
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 163
dreaded on account of the consummate ignorance of the
bulk of the settlers. Some French emissaries, those assiduous
disturbers of the peace of mankind, who, snake-like, have
crept into every society and corner of the world, poisoning
the springs of harmony and good order, found little difficulty
in urging a people, already so well disposed, to carry their
new principles into practice. ‘The few officers of government
who were supposed to be attached to the cause of the Stadt-
holder, and friends to the old system, were completely sub-
dued ; and the weakness of the governor favored the views of
the disorderly citizens. ‘They became clamorous to declare
themselves, by some public act, a free and independent re-
public ; they prepared to plant the tree of liberty ; and es-
tablished a convention, whose first object was to make out
proscribed lists of those who were either to suffer death by
the new-fashioned mode of the guillotine, which they had
taken care to provide for the purpose, or to be banished out
of the colony.. It is almost needless to state that the per-
sons, so marked out to be the victims of an unruly rabble,
were the only worthy people in the settlement, and most of
them members of government.
The slaves, whose numbers of grown men, as I have before
observed, are about five to one of male whites who have ar-
rived at the age of maturity, had also their meetings to decide
upon the fate of the free and independent burghers, when
the happy days of their own emancipation should arrive,
which, from the conversations of their masters on the bless-
ings of liberty and equality, and the unalienable rights of
y 2
164 TRAVELS IN
man, they were encouraged to hope could not be very
distant.
In this state of things the British fleet appeared before the
bay. The governor called an extraordinary council to de-
liberate upon the steps to be taken in this critical juncture.
Some were inclmed to throw the settlement under the protec-
tion of the British flag, but the governor and the greater num-
ber, influenced, and perhaps intimidated, by the citizens,
hstened to the absurd proposals of resisting the English force
and, if suecessful, as they doubted not they would be, of set-
ting up immediately a free and independent republic of their
own. They talked of the thousands and ten thousands of
courageous boors who, on the signal of alarm being given,
would flock to the Batavian standard ; so ignorant were they
of the nature and the number of their valiant countrymen. The
burgher cavalry, a militia of country boors, who were then in
the vicinity of the town, were immediately called out, and a
few hundreds reluctantly obeyed the summons. ‘The con-—
duct and the cowardice of this undisciplined rabble, whose
martial spirit had hitherto been tried only in their expeditions
against the native Hottentots, might easily have been fore-
seen. A few shot from the America ship of war, striking the
rocks of Muisenberg, soon cleared that important pass, and
caused the regular troops to retreat to Wynberg, which is a
tongue of land projecting from the east side of the Table
Mountain, and about eight miles from Cape ‘Town: the Hot-
tentot corps still loitered about the rocks and did some mis-
chief but, being speedily dislodged, feli back also upon
“SOUTHERN AFRICA. 165
Wynberg ; after which the brave burgher cavalry scampered
away to their respective homes without once stopping to look
behind them.
The British troops, led on by General Sir James Craig,
under the orders of Sir Alured Clarke, marched to attack the
enemy on their elevated post; and having, by the assistance
of the sailors, brought his guns and artillery to bear upon
them, a few shot caused them to retreat within their lines.
The English encamped on the spot from which they had
dislodged the enemy ; who, finding it in vain any longer to
oppose a feeble resistance, sent, in the middle of the night,
a flag of truce to propose a capitulation, which was acceded
to and, the next day, concluded between the two parties.
Most of the members of the government that were well
disposed to the Prince of Orange, and had conducted them-
selves with propriety, were continued in office ; and thus the
plans of the Jacobin party were, for the present, completely
defeated.
When the news of this event first reached England, the
acquisition of so valuable a settlement was considered of the
utmost importance to the British empire, and particularly to
the East India Company, as being the grand out-work and
a complete barrier to their vast possessions in India. So
forcibly was the public mind impressed with an opinion of
the great advantages that would result to the nation at large
from the possession of the Cape, that the question was im-
mediately started and discussed among persons entrusted with
166 TRAVELS IN
the management of the first political and commercial interests
of the empire-——Under what tenure it should be held ?
Whether the Cape should be considered as a foreign depen-
dency of the crown, and subject to the same regulations as all
the other colonics are; or, as a post to be annexed to the
possessions which are under the administration of the East
India Company ? Those who held the latter opinion asa mat-
ter of right quoted the charter granted by Queen Elizabeth, by
which the Company are allowed the privilege of a free and
sole trade into the countries of Asia, Africa, and America,
or any of them beyond the Cape of Buona Esperanza, to the
Streights of Magellan. ‘Those, who were inclined to think
that the charters of the East India Company gave them no
claim to the Cape, brought forward the charter they received
from Charles the Second, in which no mention whatever is
made of Africa.
While these questions were in agitation, two general plans
floated in the mind of Mr. Dundas (now Lord Melville) ;
both of which were so conceived as to combine the interests
of the public with those of the East India Company. One
of these plans supposed the Cape to be a foreign dependency
of the Crown, and included such provisions and regulations
as were compatible with the interests and the chartered pri-
vileges of the East India Company: the other invested the
territorial possession in the East India Company, but pro-
posed such regulations as were calculated to promote the
general commercial prosperity of the British empire. And,
in the mean time, until one or other of these plans should be
SOUTHERN AFRICA. +. £67,
adopted, the settlement was to be considered as dependent
on the Crown, and to be administered by the executive power,
as constitutionally responsible to Parliament.
Every precaution was also taken that the rights and privi-
leges of the East India Company should suffer no infringe-
ment. The exclusive advantage of supplying the Cape with
India and China goods was immediately and unconditionally
granted to them. And the regulations adopted in conse-
quence by the Earl of Macartney, and the vigilance that
was constantly employed under his government, prevented
and defeated every attempt to undermine their interests, and
were productive of a source of considerable profit to the
Company.
It was, in fact, the well known integrity of his Lordship’s
character, and the able and decided measures employed by
him, on various trying occasions, for promoting and combin-
ing the interests of the Kast India Company with the honor
of the Crown, and the commercial prosperity of the British
empire, that determined the minister in his choice of him as
governor for this important acquisition: and his Lordship
was accordingly nominated, without his knowledge, whilst
absent on public service in Italy.
As little doubt was entertained, at that time, either by his
Majesty’s ministers or the public, that the Cape would be-
come, at a general peace, a settlement in perpetuity to Eng-
Jand, great pains were employed in drawing up instructions
168 TRAVELS IN
and in framing such regulations as appeared to be best cal-
culated for promoting the prosperity of the colony, securing
the interests of the East India Company, and extending the
commerce and navigation of Britain. Its importance, in
fact, was deemed of such magnitude, that it was a resolution
of the minister from which he never meant to recede, “ That
* no foreign power, directly or indirectly, should obtain pos-
“* session of the Cape of Good Hope, for, that it was the
“ nhysical guarantee of the British territories in India.” Its
political importance, indeed, could be doubted by none ; its
commercial advantages were believed by all.
Yet, after every precaution that had been employed for
securing the privileges, increasing the conveniency, and pro-
moting the interests, of the Kast India Company in this
settlement, it was but too apparent that an inclination pre-
vailed in some of the Directors to disparage or undervalue it.
What their motives may have been, I do not pretend to de-
termine; nor will I suppose that a body of men, who have
always been remarkable for acting upon the broad basis of
national prosperity, could, in the present instance, so far de-
viate from their usual line of conduct, as to bend to the in-
fluence of any little jealousy about patronage or prerogative,
when the welfare of the public was so nearly concerned.
The opinions of men, it is true, when grounded on moral
events, are sometimes fugitive, and yield to circumstances :
it were difficult, however, to assign any event or circum-
stance that could have operated so as to produce any reason-
able grounds for a change in the opmion of the Directors of
2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 169
the East India Company, in the course of the last twenty
years, with regard to the value of the Cape of Good Hope:
many have occurred to enhance its importance.
That they did consider it of the utmost consequence, to-
wards the end of the American war, is sufficiently evident
from the conduct they adopted at that time. The moment
that a Dutch war was found to be inevitable, towards the
close of the year 1780, Lord North, whose sentiments on this
point were in perfect agreement with those of the Directors,
lost no time in communicating to the secret committee of the
East India Company the information of it; in order, that
they might take or suggest such measures, without delay, as
the event might render most conducive to their interests.
The chairman and deputy chairman, who, if I mistake not,
at that time, were Mr. Devaynes and Mr. Sullivan, lost not
a moment in consulting with such of their officers as happened
to be then in London, and were supposed to be qualified to
give good information. The result of their deliberations was a
proposal, in the event of a Dutch war, to take possession of
the Cape of Good Hope, as a measure of the utmost import-
ance to the East India Company’s concerns; and as this
proposal met the concurrence of the minister, a squadron was
immediately dispatched under the command of Commodore
Johnston, who carried under his convoy their outward-bound
fleet. Having anchored for refreshments in Porta Praya Bay,
he was overtaken by Suffrein, with whom he fought an inde-
cisive battle, which enabled the French to reach the Cape
of Good Hope, and to place it in such a state of security that
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170 TRAVELS IN
the Commodore did not think it prudent to make the attack,
but contented himself with the capture of a few Dutch India-
men in Saldanha Bay; whilst the French Admiral, having
refitted and refreshed his squadron at the Cape, proceeded to
Mauritius, and from thence to the Indian Seas with his ships
and men in the highest order; a circumstance that was at-
tended with no small degree of detriment and annoyance to
the trade and possessions of the East India Company, as
well as of expence and inconvenience to the Crown. For the
failure, in the grand object of this expedition, not only gave
the enemy the vast advantage of landing and refreshing their
seamen and troops, who were soon recruited by the invigorat-
‘ing effects of a temperate climate and abundance of fresh
provisions, fruits, and vegetables, but it likewise enabled him
to keep a fleet almost constantly at sea, by the provisions
and naval stores it received from the Cape through Mauritius
_ by agents residing at the former place. Their own islands of
Mauritius and Bourbon furnish no such supply, their produc-
tions not being adequate to the consumption of the inhabitants
and the garrisons.
The French, in fact, have always contrived to refit and
provision their ships, and to send their armaments supplied
with stores to the Indian Seas from the Cape of Good Hope.
Had it not been for the supplies furnished from this settle-
ment, together with the possession of the harbour of Trinco-
malée, it would have been utterly impossible for Suffrein to
have supported his fleet, or maintained the contest with us in
the manner he did.
Me
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 171
It was not, indeed, without a full conviction of its great
utility to England, as well as of encumbrance to the Dutch,
by the enormous expence it occasioned, that Mr. Dundas
was induced, in the considerations on the treaty between
Great Britain and Holland, transmitted to the British ambas- ’
sador at the Hague in 1787, to propose to them the cession
of certain stations in India, which were to them of little
weight, either in a political or commercial point of view.
The reasoning employed on this occasion was, “ ‘That the
66
14
66
Cape was invaluable in the hands of a maritime power, be-
ing really and truly the key to India, which no hostile fleet
could pass or repass, as the length of the previous voyage,
either from India or Europe, must have disabled such a
fleet, in a certain degree, before it could reach the Cape—
that it was the interest of Holland itself that the Cape and
Trincomalée should belong to Great Britain ; because Hol-
Jand must either be the ally of Britain or of France in
India; and because Great Britain only can be an useful
ally of Holland in the East—that the Dutch were not able
to protect their settlements in that quarter, and Britain
fully competent to their protection—that the Cape and
Trincomalée were not commercial establishments, and that
the maintenance of them was burthensome and expensive
to the Dutch—but that the force required to protect the
British Indian possessions would render the defence of the
Dutch settlements much less so to Britain.”
The Earl of Macartney was not less convinced of the
policy, nor less persuaded of the readiness, of the Dutch to
leave the Cape in our hands, provided they were allowed to
Zo
172 ' TRAVELS IN
have a choice of their own. In his letter to Mr. Dundas,
dated October 1797, he observes, * The power and influence
66
66
G6
of Holland appear to me so irretrievable, that it is impos-
sible she can ever again hold an independent possession of
the Cape. Indeed, before the war, she was neither rich
‘ enough to maintain its establishments, nor strong enough
to govern its people, and, I believe, had it not been for our
conquest of the country, it would soon have attempted to
become independent. As Holland is likely to be in future
less powerful at home, and consequently less respectable
abroad, and as the Cape would be a burthen to her, not
easy to bear, it would not be against her interest to leave it
in our hands, for in such case she might derive, without any
expence, all the advantages of its original intention, which
was that of a place of refreshment for her commerce to
the eastward; and there are other circumstances. which,
were she now in a situation dispassionately to consider, I
have reason to imagine, would lead her to adopt this sen-
timent. The French (who, to speak of them in the lan-
guage of truth and experience, and not in the jargon of
pretended Cosmopolites, are, and ever must be, our natural
enemies) can only wish to have the Cape either in their
own hands, or in those of a weak power, that they may use
it as an instrument towards our destruction; as a channel
for pouring through it an irresistible deluge upon our
Indian possessions to the southward of the Guadavery. Of
this I am so perfectly convinced, that if it shall be found
impracticable for us to retain the sovereignty of the Cape,
and the French are to become the masters of it, either
per se, aut per alium, then we must totally alter our present
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 17%
«* system, and adopt such measures as will shut them out of
** India entirely, and render the possession of the Cape and
“ of the isles of France and Bourbon of as little use to them
* as possible.”
Whatever might have been the feelings of the Dutch with
regard to the Cape, under the old government, I have high
authority in saying that Holland never did expect, and in-
deed had scarcely a wish for, the restoration of this colony at
a peace; well knowing that they would be allowed by the
English to enjoy the advantages of refreshing and provision-
ing their ships, without the expence of maintaining it. In
fact they are utterly unable to support a garrison sufficient
for its defence ; and so conscious were they of it that a pro-
position was made, on the part of Schimmelpenninck, to
declare the Cape a free port, to be placed under any flag
except their own. But the only power that Holland pos-
sessed, in framing the treaty of peace, was a mere name;
and all the territories that were nominally restored to the Bata-
vian Republic were virtually given up to France. As a proof
of the superior light in which the Dutch consider their settle-
ments in the East, from which they draw their coffee, pepper,
and other spices, it may be observed that they have com-
pletely stripped the Cape of every ship of war, which, with
seven or eight hundred troops, have proceeded for the de-
fence of Java and the Molucca Islands; from these they
draw a considerable revenue, but the Cape is a burden which
their finances are little able to support.
174 TRAVELS IN
I have stated thus much with regard to the opinions that
have hitherto been held of the importance of the Cape of
Good Hope to the British trade and settlements in India, at
a time when we were made to feel the inconvenience of its
being in the possession of an enemy, or even of a neutral
power, because a very sensible change of opinion appears to
have taken place from the very moment it became a de-
pendency on the British Crown. For it is very certain that
the Directors of the East India Company did not only assume
an affected indifference, with regard to this settlement, but
employed agents to depreciate its value in the House of
Commons, and endeavoured to discourage the retention of it
in the most effectual manner they possibly could have thought
of, by shewing and proving to the world, as they imagined
they had done, that the possession of the Cape was of no use
whatsoever to their commerce, or their concerns in India.
With this view the commanders of all the ships in their em-
ploy were forbidden, in the most positive terms, to touch at
the Cape, either in their outward or their homeward bound
passage, except such, on the return voyage, as were destined
to supply the settlement with Indian goods.
But this ill-judged and absurd order defeated itself.
Though the strength and constitution of English seamen,
corroborated by wholesome food, may support them on a
passage from India to England, shortened as it now is by the
modern improvements in the art of navigation, without the
necessity of touching at any intermediate port, yet this is not
the case with regard to the Lascars, or natives of India who,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 175
in time of war, constitute frequently more than two-thirds of
the crew. These poor creatures, whose chief sustenance is
rice, oil, and vegetables, are ill calculated to suffer a long
privation of their usual diet, and still less so to bear the cold
of the southern ocean, especially in the winter season. By
them the Cape was looked up to as a half-way house, where
a stock of fresh supplies was to be had, and where the delay
of a few days had a wonderful effect in recruiting their health
and spirits. And the event very soon shewed that such a half-
way house, to such people, was indispensably necessary ; for the
Directors were obliged to countermand their order as far as it
regarded those ships that were navigated by the black natives.
of India.
Whenever it has happened that government was under the
necessity of sending out troops in ships navigated by Lascars,
a greater degree of sickness and mortality has prevailed than
in ships entirely manned by Europeans ; and under such cir-
cumstances it would be highly criminal to attempt to run
from Europe to India without stopping at some intermediate
port, not only to procure refreshments for the troops and
Lascars, but to clean and fumigate the ships in order to pre-
vent contagious diseases. ‘The two Boy regiments, as they
are usually called, the 22d and 34th, which it was necessary
to send to the Cape as a reinforcement of the garrison, after
the able and effective men had been sent away to Madras,
who soon after so materially assisted in the conquest of
Seringapatam, arrived in a dreadful state at the Cape; the
disease had gained such a height, that if the Cape had not
at that time been in our possession it was universally be-
176 TRAVELS IN
lieved not an officer nor a man could possibly have survived
the voyage to India. Yet the same ships, after being pro-
perly washed, scoured, and fumigated, and the crews com-
pletely refreshed, carried on other troops to their destination *
without the loss of a single man.
How far the conduct of the Directors was compatible with
the interests of the East India Proprietors, who have con-
signed them to their management, I shall endeavour to point
out in the subsequent pages, and to state some of those ad-
vantages that would have resulted to the British nation in
general, and to the East India Company in particular, by
annexing the Cape to the foreign possessions of England ;
and the serious consequences that must infallibly ensue from
its being in the possession of an enemy. Opinions on this
subject, it would seem, are widely different ; on which ac-
count a fair and impartial statement of such circumstances as
may tend to clucidate a doubtful point, may not be deemed
impertinent, and may ultimately be productive of good, by
assisting those, to whose care the best interests of the country
are committed, to form their judgment on facts locally col-
lected, and brought in some order together under one point
of view. It is not unimportant to premise that such facts
were either taken from authentic and official documents, or
fell immediately under my own observation.
I proceed then, in the first place, to consider the Cape of
Good Hope in the view of a military station; by which term
IT do not mean to confine myself to the mere garrison that
may be considered necessary for the defence of the settle-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 177
ment, but to extend the acceptation of the word to that of a
military depdét, or place suitable for collecting and forming,
so as always to have in readiness, a body of troops, either
belonging to his Majesty’s regular regiments, or to the armies
of the East India Company, fitted and prepared for foreign
service, and seasoned for the climates either of the East or
the West Indies.
A very general notion seems to have been entertained in
this country in all our former wars, by people who consider
only the outlines or superficies of things, and such, by the
way, constitute by far the largest portion of mankind, that if
the minister can contrive to furnish money, the money will
supply men, and these men will form an army. It is true
they will so; just as a collection of oak. timber brought to
a dock-yard will form a ship. But a great deal of labor is
necessary in the seasoning, hewing, and shaping of such tim-
ber, and a great deal of judgment and practice still required
to arrange and adapt the several parts to each other, so that
they may act in concert together, and form a complete whole
that shall be capable of performing all the effects that were
intended to be produced. ‘Thus is it also in the formation of
anarmy. It is not enough to collect together a body of men
and to put arms into their hands. They must be classed and
arranged, seasoned and inured to a certain way of life; ex-
ercised in certain motions and positions of the body, until
long practice has rendered them habitual and easy; they must
be taught to act in an uniform and simultaneous movement,
and in such a manner that the separate action of the indi-
viduals shall form one united impulse, producing the greatest
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possible effect of aggregated strength. They must also be
taught to preserve their health and strength by habits of
temperance and cleanliness, and to take care of themselves in
the various circumstances that may occur of situation and
climate.
Such a body of men, so formed and prepared, may properly
be called soldiers. And no small degree of attention and
judgment is required to bring a body of men to such a state
of discipline. Yet it is highly important that all troops, in-
tended to be sent on foreign service, should at least be partly
formed, and instructed in the art of taking proper care of
themselves, previous to their embarkation. Being once ac-
customed to habits of cleanliness and regularity, they are less
liable to fall a sacrifice to the close confinement and want of
room in a ship ; and the inconveniencies of a long sea voyage
will always be less felt by persons thus _prepared than by raw
undisciplined recruits, who are apt to be heedless, slovenly,
and irregular.
But even old seasoned troops, after a long sea-voyage, are
generally found to be disqualified, during a considerable time,
for any great exertion. ‘The tone or elasticity of the mind
has become relaxed as well as the habit of body. Let
any one recollect how he felt after a long sea-voyage, and
ask himself if he were capable of the same exertion, and of
undergoing the same fatigue, immediately after landing as
before his embarkation. The answer, I fancy, will be in
the negative. The limbs, in fact, require to be exercised in
order to regain their usual motions, and the lungs must have
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 179
practice before they will play with their usual freedom in
the chest. And these effects, adverse to prompt and ener-
getic action, will generally be proportioned to the length
of the voyage, and the privations to which men must neces-
sarily submit.
The very able and intelligent writer of the Précis des evéne-
mens militaires, or Epitome of military events, secins to ascribe
the defeat of the Russian column, commanded by General
Hermann, in the affair at Bergen where it was almost cut to
pieces, to their marching against the enemy immediately after
landing from a sea-voyage, although it bad not been very
long. He observes that, “ by being crowded on board
‘“‘ transports, and other inconveniencies experienced at sea,
*“ not only a considerable number of individuals are weak-.
“ ened to such a degree that they are incapable of any ser-
“ vice, but whole corps sometimes present the same disad-
“ vantages—the extreme inequality of strength that, in such
“ cases, prevails between the individuals or constituent parts
“ of corps, is, at once, destructive of their aggregated and
* combined impulse.”
If then such be the effects produced on seasoned troops,
on a sea-voyage of a moderate length only, they must be
doubly felt by young recruits unaccustomed to the necessary -
precautions for preserving their health. In fact, a raw re-
cruit, put on board a ship in England, totally unformed and
undisciplined, will be much farther from being a soldier,
when he arrives in India, than when he first stepped on board.
The odds are great that he dies upon the passage, or that he
AA 2
180 TRAVELS IN
arrives under incurable disease. I think I have heard that
not more than three out of five are calculated upon as able’
to enter the lists on their arrival in India; and that of those
who may chance to arrive in tolerable health, a great pro-
portion may be expected to die in the seasoning, from the
debilitating effects of a hot climate. India is, perhaps, the
worst place in the whole world for forming an European
recruit into a soldier. Unable to bear the fatigue of being
exercised, his spirits are moreover depressed by observing
how little exertion men of the same rank and condition as
himself are accustomed to make. It cannot, therefore, be
denied that, as long as it shall be found necessary to recruit
our large armies in India with European troops, it would
be a most desirable object to be in possession of some
middle station to break the length of the sea-voyage; a sta-
tion which at the same time enjoys a middle temperature
of climate, between the extremes of heat and cold, to season
the body and adapt it to sustain an increased quantity of the
one or the other.
The Cape of Good Hope eminently. points out such a
station. Its geographical position on the globe is so com-
manding a feature, that the bare inspection of a map, with-
out any other information, must at once obtrude its im-
portance and value in this respect. Its distance from the
coast of Brazil is the voyage of a month; from the Dutch
colonies of Surinam, Demarara, Berbice, and Essiquebo,
with the West India islands, six weeks: the same to the Red
Sea; and two months to the coasts of Malabar and Coro-
mandel. With the east and the west coasts of Africa and
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 181
the adjacent islands, it commands a ready communication at
all seasons of the year. A place so situated, just half way
between England and India, in a temperate and wholesome
climate, and productive of refreshments of every description,
would naturally be supposed to hold out such irresistible ad-
vantages to the East India Company, not only by its happy
position and local ascendancy, but also by the means it af-
fords of opening a new market and intermediate depository
for their trade and commodities, that they would have been
glad to purchase, at any price, an acquisition of such im-
mense importance; and that such great advantages as it
possessed, however they might be blinked by some or un-
known to others, would speedily have forced a general con-
viction of their value, in spite of real ignorance or affected
indifference.
One might also have supposed that the possession of the
Cape of Good Hope would have suggested itself to the East
India Company as a place which would have removed many,
if not all, of the difficulties that occurred to them, on the
renewal of their privileges in 1793, when a depdt for their
recruits in Britain was in contemplation. The principal re-
gulations proposed for such depository of troops, as contained
in “ Historie View of Plans for British India,” were the fol-
lowing :—“ That the age of the Company’s recruits should
“ be from twelve to fifteen or twenty, because, at this period
“ of life, the constitution was found to accommodate itself
“ most easily to the different variations of climate—that the
** officers of the police should be empowered to transfer to
* the depdt all such helpless and indigent youths as might
382 TRAVELS IN
“be found guilty of misdemeanors and irregularities ap-
“ proaching to crimes—that the said officers of police and others
“ should be authorized to engage destitute and helpless young
‘* men in a service, where they would have a comfortable sub-
* sistence, and an honourable employment—that the young
*“ men so procured should be retained in Great Britain, at the
* depdt, for a certain time, in order to be instructed in such
“‘ branches of education as would qualify for the duty ofa non-
* commissioned officer, and in those military exercises which’
“ form them for immediate service in the regiments in India.”
Now of all the places on the surface of the globe, for the
establishment of such a depdt, the Cape of Good Hope is pre-
eminently distinguished. In the first place, there would be
no difficulty in conveying them thither. At all seasons of
the year, the outward bound ships of the Company, private
traders, or whalers, sail from England, and the more they
were distributed among the ships the greater the probability
would be that none of them died on the passage. There is
not, perhaps, any place on the face of the earth which in
every respect is so suitable as the Cape for forming them into
soldiers. It possesses, among other good qualities, three
advantages that are invaluable—healthiness of climate—
cheapness of subsistence—and a favourable situation for
speedy intercourse with most parts of the world, and par-
ticularly with India. I shall make a few remarks on each of
these points.
To establish the fact of the healthiness of its climate, I do not
consider it as necessary to produce copies of the regular returns
ut
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 183
of deaths in the several regiments that, for seven ycars, have
been stationed at the Cape of Good Hope. Such dry details
furnish very little of the useful and less of the agreeable.
They might, indeed, serve to shew, on a comparison with
other returns sent in from different foreign stations, how very
trifling was the mortality of troops in this settlement. It will
be sufficient, however, for my purpose to observe, that Lord
Macartney, in order to save a vast and an unnecessary ex-
pence to the public, found it expedient to break up the
hospital staff, which, m fact, was become perfectly uscless,
there being at that time no sick whatsoever in the general
hospital, and so few as scarcely worth the noticing in the
tegimental hospitals ; and the surgeons of the regiments ac-
knowledged that those few under their care were the victims
of intemperance and irregularity. At this time the strength
of the garrison consisted of more than five thousand men.
Shortly after the capture, it is true, a considerable sickness
prevailed among the British troops, and great numbers died,
a circumstance that was noticed, and at the same time fully
explained, by General Sir James Craig in his letter to Mr.
Dundas, about three months after the cession of the colony.
He observes that the soldiers of the Dutch East India Com-
pany were obliged to furnish their own bedding and blankets,
as well as the necessary garrison and camp furniture ; so that,
when the Dutch entered into the capitulation, not a single
article of garrison furniture could be claimed; and as the
shops, at that time, furnished no such materials, the men were
obliged to sleep on the bare flag-stones in the great barrack,.
184 TRAVELS IN
until a supply of blankets and camp utensils of every kind
could be sent out from England.
Invalids from India recover very quickly at the Cape. The
servants of the East India Company are allowed to proceed
thus far on leave of abfence without prejudice to their rank ;
and here they generally experience a speedy recovery. The
two Boy regiments, whom I have already mentioned to have
suffered severely on the passage from England in ships ‘navi-
gated by Lascars, and who landed in fact at the height of a
malignant and contagious disease, rapidly recovered ; and,
in the course of two years, from being a parcel of weakly
boys, unable to carry their musquets, became two very fine
regiments, fit for service in any part of the world. When the
orders, indeed, for the final evacuation of the Cape were
ccountermanded, the 34th regiment, which two years before
had excited the pity of every one who saw them, enfeebled
as they were by disease, and unfit, from their tender years,
for the fatigues of soldiers, was now a very essential part of
the strength of the garrison. :
It may, therefore, I think, be safely concluded, that the
climate of the Cape is not only salubrious, but that it is par-
ticularly favourable for forming young and raw recruits into
soldiers. And it would appear, moreover, that the salutary
effects of this climate are not merely local, but that their
seasoning efficacy is extended beyond the hemisphere of
Southern Africa, and qualifies, in a very remarkable manner,
the raw recruit and the seasoned soldier for the climate of
-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 19s
India, and the still more trying situation of the voyage thither.
The constitution would seem to acquire, by a few years resi-
dence at the Cape, a strength and vigour which not only en-
able it to surmount the inconveniencies of the sea, but,
contrary to what usually happens, to sustain the fatigue of
long and continued marches in a hot climate, immediately
after disembarkation.
_ The truth of this observation was made evident by a num-
ber of instances which occurred during the seven years that
the Cape remained in our possession; but in none more
strongly than that, in the government of Lord Macartney,
when three almost complete regiments of infantry, the 84th,
the 86th, and the Scotch brigade, were embarked and sent
off, at a few days’ notice, under the command of Major-Ge-
neral Baird, to join the army of India against Tippoo Sultaun.
This reinforcement, consisting of upwards of two thousand
men in their shoes, arrived to a man, and in the highest state
of health ; took the field the day after their landing ; marched
into the Mysore country; co-operated with the Indian army,
and contributed very materially towards the conquest of
Seringapatam. The very man (Major-General Baird), under
whose command they sailed from the Cape but a few months
before, led them on to storm this celebrated capital of the
Mysore kingdom.
One might have supposed that the facility and success of
throwing reinforcements into India, exemplified in this re-
markable instance, would have stamped on the minds of the
Directors of the East India Company an indelible value on
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the Cape. “ By possessing and improving the advantages of
“* seasoning and preparing our troops at the Cape,” observes
Lord Macartney in his letter to Lord Melville on the import-
ance of the settlement, dated April the 25th, 1801, “ I had
it in my power, almost at a moment's notice,’ to send to
Madras, under the command of Major-General Baird,
about two thousand effective men in the bighest health,
vigor, and discipline, who eminently contributed to the
capture of Seringapatam, and the total subversion of the
power of Tippoo.”
It did not seem, however, to have made any such impression
on the East IndiaCompany; at least their conduct and opinions
did not indicate any change in consequence of it. Nor could
their inflexible indifference be roused by the multiplied in-
stances which occurred of the solid advantages, every one of
which clearly demonstrated the importance, of having a suitable
station for the seasoning and training of young troops to act,
on any emergency and at a short notice, in their service, and
for the protection of their vast possessions in India. Had not
the very striking instance above recited been considered as
sufficient to stamp the value of the Cape, the reinforcement
of troops that was sent from thence, to accompany the ex-
pedition of Sir Home Popham to the Red Sea, it might be
supposed, would have forced conviction of the importance of
such a station. On this occasion were embarked, at almost
a moment’s warning, twelve hundred effective men, composed
of detachments of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, who all
arrived to a man, at Cossir, a port in the Red Sea, from
whence they were found capable of immediately sustaining
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 187
long and fatiguing marches, notwithstanding the heat of the
climate, the heaviness of the ground, and the scarcity of
water. The 61st Regiment, Sir Robert Wilson observes,
landed at Cossir after having been near sixteen weeks on
board, without having one sick man, though the strength of
the regiment exceeded nine hundred men.
A thousand difficultics, it appears, were started in Eng-
land with regard to the sailing of this expedition, by people
who derive their information only from defective books, and
not from local knowledge. ‘The season of the Monsoon was
stated to be unfavorable for the navigation of the Red Sea,
and the deserts by which it was bordered were held to be
totally impassable. But to vigorous and determined minds
few things are insurmountable. ‘The man (Lord Melville)
*« who projected, and persevered in, the expedition to Egypt,”
saw very clearly that the expedition to the Red Sea could
not fail under proper caution and management, and the event
proved that he was right.
Having thus sufficiently shewn, as I conceive, the import-
ance of the Cape as a military station, or depositary of troops,
as far as regards the healthiness of the climate, and the effects
produced on the constitution of soldiers, by being seasoned
and exercised a short time there, I shall now proceed to state
the comparatively small expence at which the soldier can be
subsisted on this station, and the saving that must necessarily
ensue both to Government and the East India Company, by
sending their recruits to the Cape to be trained for service
either in the East or the West Indies. And as some of his
BB 2
188 TRAVELS IN
Majesty’s late ministers, in discussing its merits on the question
of the peace of Amiens, justified the surrender on the ground of
its being an expensive settlement, I shall be more particuiar on
this head, in order.to prove to them, what indeed I imagine
they are now sufficiently convinced of, how much they had
mistaken the subject; and that the cant of economy was but
a poor justification for the sacrifice of a place of such im-
portance.
The Cape of Good Hope is the only military station that
we ever possessed, and perhaps the only garrison that exists,
where the soldier can be subsisted for the sum of money
which is deducted out of his pay in consideration of his being
furnished with a daily ration or fixed proportion of victuals.
In other places, government, by feeding the soldier in this
manner, sustains a very considerable loss ; that is to say, the
ration costs more money than that which is deducted from
his pay ; but it is a necessary loss, as the soldier could not
possibly subsist himself out of his pay in any part of the
world, unless in those places where provisions are as cheap as
at the Cape of Good Hope. Here each ration costs the go-
vernment something less than sixpence, which was the amount
of the stoppage deducted in lieu of it. But each individual
soldier could not have supplied his own ration for eightpence
or ninepence at the very least, so that the gain made by govern-
ment, in furnishing the rations, was also a saving, as well as a
great accommodation, to the soldiers. At home, and in dif-
ferent parts abroad, as I have been informed, the ration
stands the government in different sums from tenpence to
half-a-crown.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 189
At the Cape of Good Hope, some twenty years ago, two
pound of butchers’ meat cost one penny; at the capture by
the English the price had advanced to one pound for two-
pence; yet, notwithstanding the increased demand, occa-
sioned by the addition of five thousand troops and near three
thousand seamen, frequently more than this number, with all
the various attempts and combinations that were practised
(and, on acertain occasion in the year 1800, very unwisely
countenanced by high authority) to raise the price of this ar-
ticle, the contract for supplying the garrison was never higher
than at the rate of two and five-cighths pounds for sixpence.
Two pounds of good wholesome bread might be generally
purchased for twopence. Liven in the midst of a scarcity,
which threatened a famine, bread rose no higher than two-
pence the pound ; and all kinds of fruit and vegetables are so
abundant, and so cheap, as to be within the reach of the
poorest person. A pint of good sound wine may be pro-
cured at the retail price of threepence; and were it not
for the circumstance of the licence for selling wine by re-
tail being farmed out as one source of the colonial revenue,
a pint of the same wine would cost little more than three-
halfpence.
The farming out of the wine licence was a subject of griev-
ance to the soldier, as it compelled him to buy his wine in
small quantities at the licensed houses, when the civilians and
housekeepers were allowed to purchase it in casks of twenty
gallons, at the rate of five or six rixdollars the cask, which is
just about half the retail price he was obliged to pay for it.
Yet, vexatious as such a regulation appeared to be, it was
190 TRAVELS IN
still sufficiently cheap to enable the soldier to purchase fully
as much as was useful to him. Numbers of the soldiers, in-
deed, contrived to save money out of their pay. The 91st
regiment of Highlanders, in particular, was known to have
remitted a good deal of money to their families in Scotland ;
and many of the serjeants of the different regiments, at the
evacuation of the colony, had saved from one to two hundred.
pounds in hard money. :
In the year 1800 the government, in order to bring a little
more money into the treasury by the wine licence, directed,
by proclamation, that the retail sellers should demand from
the soldier the increased price of eightpence the bottle, in-
stead of sixpence, which, however, they had prudence enough
to decline. The sum brought into the government treasury
by tolerating this monopoly, averaged about seventy thou-
sand rixdollars annually. But in the event of the Cape fall-
ing again into our hands, which sooner or later must happen,
if it be an object to secure our Indian possessions, it would
be wise to supply this part of the revenue by some other
means.
Government likewise derived other profits besides those
which accrued from the cheapness of the rations. The De-
puty-Paymaster-General drew bills on his Majesty’s Pay-
masters-Gencral in England, in exchange for the paper cur-
rency of the colony, in which all the contingent and extra-
ordinary expences of the garrison were paid. There was not,
in fact, any other circulating medium than this colonial cur-
rency which was sanctioned by the English at the capitula-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 191
tion. The hard money that was brought into the colony
from time to time, for the purpose of paying the troops,
always found its way to India and China, which made it
extremely difficult for the Paymaster to collect the necessary
sums. But so tenacious was Lord Macartney in adhering to
the principle of paying the soldiers in specie, that, notwith-
standing the difficulties and the delay which sometimes oc-
‘curred in procuring it, he chose rather to let the troops go
in arrear, than pay them in paper with the highest premium
added to it, to prevent the possibility of a suspicion entering
a soldier’s mind, that he might be cheated. The premium
which Government bills bore in exchange for paper currency
fluctuated from five to thirty per cent., but was fixed, for the
greater part of the time, at twenty per cent. ‘They would,
indeed, have advanced to a much higher rate; for the mer-
chant, unable to make his remittances to any great extent in
colonial produce, or in India goods, which, if permitted,
might have been injurious to the interests of the East India
Company, was under the necessity of purchasing these bills.
Lord Macartney, however, considered it expedient to fix the
premium at twenty per cent., deeming it right that govern-
ment bills should bear the highest premium of bills that
might bein the market, but, at the same time, not to proceed
to such a height as to become oppressive either to the mer-
chant or the public. The drawing of these bills was there-
fore a source of profit to government. Geing an article of
merchandize among the English traders who had their re-
mittances to make, and the demand for them exceeding the
amount that was necessary to be drawn for the extraordinaries
of the army, the premium would have risen in proportion to
192 TRAVELS IN
their scarcity. ‘To have issued them at par with the paper
currency to be trafficked with for the benefit of individuals,
when that profit could fairly and honorably be applied to the
public service, would be a criminal neglect in those who were
entrusted with the government. The merchant, no doubt,
took care to cover the per centage paid on his remittances by
a proportionate advance on his goods; and thus the exchange
might operate as a trifling indirect tax on the general con-
sumer of foreign articles, which the increased prosperity of
the colony very well enabled them to pay.
The amount of bills thus drawn for the contingent and ex-
traordinary expences of the army, from the Ist of October
1795, whea the colony was taken, to the 28th of July 1802,
the time it should have been evacuated, as appears from the
Deputy Paymaster’s books, is 1,045,814/. 14s. 1d. upon
part of which (for part was drawn at par for specie) the profit
derived to his Majesty’s government amounts to the sum of
JARZIGE 3s. ld
Another source of profit, which might have been very con-
siderable, was derived from the importation of specie. The
pay of the soldiers, as I have observed above, was invariably
made in hard money, and not in paper currency. The
Spanish dollar was issued in payment to the troops at the
rate of five shillings sterling, which was always its nominal
value at the Cape; and, I imagine, it might have been pur-
chased and sent out at four shillings and fourpence, making
thus a profit of more than fifteen per cent. on the pay, as well
as on the extraordinaries, of the army. ‘The sum that was
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 193
thus imported amounted to 103,426/. 18s. 3d. Upon which,
supposing the whole sent out by government, which I under-
stand was not exactly the case, though nearly so, the profits
must have been 15,514/. at home, besides an additional profit
of 710/. 13s. 3d. arising from a small quantity of specie
bought in the Cape. As government, however, did not send
out a sufficient supply from home, the Paymaster was some-
times under the necessity of purchasing hard money at a
higher rate than five shillings the dollar, and consequently
suffered a loss, as this was the invariable rate at which it was
issued to the troops. About four thousand pounds of copper
money were sent out, in penny pieces, which were circulated
at twopence, from which there was consequently another
profit derived of 4000/. ‘This was done by the advice of the
police magistrates, who were confident that unless this no-
minal and current value should be put upon it, the foreigners
trading to India would carry it as well as the silver out of
the colony.
Shortly after the capture of the Cape, General Craig, find-
ing it impossible to raise, upon bills, a sufficient sum of
paper currency to defray the extraordinaries of the army,
was reduced to the bold measure of stamping a new paper
issue, on the credit of the British government, to the amount
of fifty thousand pounds; a sum that was never redeemed
from circulation, nor brought to any account, until the
final restoration of the colony. So that the interest of this
sum for seven years produced a further saving to government
of 17,5002.
VOL. II. cc $
194 TRAVELS IN
By taking these sums together, namely,
Profit on bills drawn - Es TIS 1S
on specie imported - 16,224 13 3
on copper money ~ 4,000 O @
on paper money circulated 17,500 0 O
We have LL. 153,443 16
which may be considered as a clear gain to the government,
(independent of the saving on each ration,) and, conse-
quently, a lessening of the expenditure that was occasioned
at the Cape of Good Hope.
As this expenditure has publicly been declared of such
enormous magnitude as to overbalance all the advantages re-
sulting from the possession of the settlement, and we have
already: seen how important these advantages are, when con-
sidered only in one point of view, it may not be amiss to
point out, in as correct a manner as the nature of the subject
will admit, the exact sum expended in any one year, in the
military department, at the Cape of Good Hope. The year
I shall take is from May 1797 to May 1798, when the gar-
rison was strongest ; consisting of
ee Light Dragoons.
The 84th}
86th
Olst
Scotch Brigade J
> Infantry
SOUTHERN AFRICA.
In that year the estimate was made up
following extract:
1. Subsistence of the non-commissioned of-
ficers and privates of the two regiments
of dragoons and four regiments of in-
fantry, for one year, according to the new
rate of payment, deducting for rations
and hospital charges, = z :
2. Clothing and contingent expences for
ditto, - - C a a
3. Full pay of the commissioned officers of
two regiments of dragoons, and four regi-
ments of infantry for one year, according
to the latest regulations, - -
4. Staff officers and hospital establishment
of one inspector, two physicians, one pur-
veyor, four surgeons, two apothecaries,
and nine hospital mates, - .
5. Commissary-General’s department, in-
cluding engineers, which alone amounts
t0 17,2251. 16s. 5d. = = a
6. Ordnance Se including artillery
expences, = - - Hh ible
7. Deputy Quarter- nen General’s de-
partment, including lodging money to
officers, which amounts to about 4000/.
and bat and forage for 200 days about
60007. in the whole - - -
195
according to the
55,729 2 6
28,1383 13 2
43,007 14 8
11,178 .2 6
107,794 10 11
18,536 14 4
95,000 0 O
‘Total amount of one year’s expence JL. 290,039 18 1
oc 8
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Or, we may, perhaps, be able to come still nearer the
truth, by taking the total expenditure of the whole seven
years, thus: .
Amount of bills drawn by the Deputy Pay-
master General for paper and _ specie,
for the pay and subsistence of the non-
commissioned officers and privates, and
for the extraordinaries of the army for
seven years, - - - - 1,045,814 14 fF
Specie imported and bought (about) — - 111,000 O O
Clothing and contingent expences at the
rate as above specified per year, —- 196,035 122
Full pay of the commissioned officers of six
regiments, as above, for seven years, 305,674 2 §
Ordnance department for seven years, L20;7o7 Owe
——— es
Total amount J.1,789,181 9 3
which total amount, divided by seven, gives 255,597. 7s.
for the annual average expence incurred in the military de-
partment at the Cape of Good Hope. But it would be the
height of absurdity to say, that even this sum, moderate as it
is, was an additional expence to Government in consequence
of the capture of this settlement ; since it is not only com-
posed of the expences of maintaining the garrison, and the
contingencies and extraordinaries of the army, but it in-
cludes, likewise, the pay, the subsistence, and the clothing
of an army of five thousand men. Now as these troops must
have been fed, clothed, and paid in any other place, as well
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 197
as at the Cape of Good Hope, and, as I have shewn, at a
much greater expence, it is certainly not fair to charge this
sum to the account of the garrison of the Cape. Even in
peace the commissioned officers would have received their
half pay, which alone would amount toa sum from 100,000/.
to 150,0002.
There are not, therefore, any grounds for considering the
Cape in the light of an expensive settlement. In fact, the
sums of money, which have been expended there, dwindle into
nothing upon a comparison with those in some of the West In-
diaislands, whose importance is a feather when weighed against
that of the Cape of Good Hope. Viewing it only as a point
of security to our Indian possessions, and as a nursery for
maturing raw recruits into complete soldiers, the question of
expence must fall to the ground. Of the several millions
that are annually raised for the support of government at
home, and its dependencies abroad, a small fraction of one
of these millions may surely be allowed for the maintenance
of a station whose advantages are incalculable. One single
fact will sufficiently prove the fallacy of hoiding out the Cape
as an expensive garrison. ‘The price of good bread was one
penny a pound, of good mutton and fresh beef twopence,
of good sound wine little more than one shilling the gallon,
of fruit and vegetables of every description a mere trifle.
Tf in such a country the maintenance of the garrison be at-
tended with great expence, the fault must rest with the go-
vernment, and cannot be attributable to any unfavorable
circumstances in the place itself. If full powers are en-
198 TRAVELS IN
trusted to weak and corrupt governors, and numerous and
unnecessary appointments are created, every station, what-
ever the local advantages may be, will become expensive.
But the expenditure necessary for the support of the gar- :
rison of the Cape, trifling even in war, could be no object
whatsoever in time of peace. ‘The fortifications, which were
in the most ruinous condition when the place was taken,
being finished in a complete manner, would require no fur-
ther expence than that of merely keeping the works in repair,
which might amount, perhaps, to an annual sum of five
thousand pounds. ‘The contingencies and extraordinaries of
the army could not, at the utmost, amount to twenty thou-
sand pounds; so that twenty-five or thirty thousand pounds
would be the extent of the contingent and extraordinary ex-
pences of the Cape in time of peace ; a sum that, by proper
management, and a prudent application of the revenues of
the colony, might easily be defrayed out of the public trea-
sury, and Jeave a surplus adequate to all the demands of the
civil department, together with the necessary repairs of public
works and buildings.
It may be necessary that I should give the grounds upon
which I calculate. From a review of the colonial revenues,
I find that the average in the Dutch Government in ten
years, from 1784 to 1794, was little more than 100,000 rix-
dollars yearly, but that by the regulations and new imposts
made by the Dutch Commissaries General in 1793, the
amount in the following year was 211,508 rixdollars. They
ies
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 199
afterwards experienced a considerable increase, and from the
first year of Lord Macartney’s administration they rose gra-
dually as follows :
From the Ist Oct. 1797 to the 30th Sept. 1798,
they were - - - ie da S22 a1 7 5
Ist ditto 1798 to ditto 1799 - 360,312 0 O
Ist ditto 1799 to ditto 1800 - 369,596 0 0
Ist ditto 1800 to ditto 1801 “ 450,713 2 4
And it is here not unworthy of notice, that from the mo-
ment of the preliminaries of peace being known they fell,
the last year’s produce being only
From ist Oct. 1801 to 50th Sept. 1802 - 389,901 6 0
And in the following year, as far of it as was expired, they
were still less productive.
In their state of progressive improvement under the British
Government, without a single additional tax being laid but,
on the contrary, some taken off and others modified, arrears
of Jand-rent remitted and again accumulating, I think that
under the British flag we might, without any danger of ex-
aggeration, reckon upon a net annual revenue of half a
million rixdollars, or one hundred thousand pounds currency.
The annual average expenditure, including salaries and con-
tingencies of departments, with the necessary repairs of public
works and buildings, were, under the administrations of Lord
Macartney and Lieutenant-General Dundas, at the most
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about 300,000 rixdollars or 60,000/. Suppose then the con-
tingencies and extraordinaries of the army to be 30,000J.
the whole sum required would be 90,000/. or 450,000 rix-
dollars, the exact amount of the colonial revenue at the close
- of the year 1801.
The point of view, in which the importance of the Cape
next presents itself to our consideration, is its local position, as
being favourable for distributing troops to any part of the
globe, and especially to our settlements in the east, with faci-
lity and dispatch ; which is not by any means the least among
those advantages it possesses as a military station. Im-
portant as the considerations are of healthiness of climate and
cheapness of subsistence where a depot of troops is intended to
be formed, its value in these respects would very materially
be diminished by great distance from, or difficulty of convey-
ance to, those places where their services are most likely to be
required. ;
The longer the voyage the less effective will the troops be
on their arrival; and delay is dangerous, even to a proverb.
Perhaps it is not saying too much, that we are indebted in a
very high degree to the Cape for the conquest of Mysore and
the overthrow of Tippoo; not merely from the reinforcements
that were sent from thence to join the Indian army, though
they eminently contributed to the conquest of Seringapatam,
but from the speedy intelligence obtained of the transactions
carrying on at the Isle of France in consequence of the arrival
of the Sultaun’s agents, of which they were entirely ignorant
in India, but which, by the vigilance and precaution of Lord
2
Sart.
4
SOUTHERN: APRICA. 20%
Macartney, were detected and communicated to the Gover-
nor-general of Bengal. “TI received,” the Marquis of Wel-
lesley observes in his dispatch to the Court of Directors, “ on
the 18th of June 1798, a regular authentication of the pro-
“ clamation (of the Governor of the Isle of France) in a
“ letter from his Excellency the Ear! of Macartney, dated the
“98th of March.” And he acted, on this intelligence, with
that prudence, promptitude, and spirit, for which the charac-
ter of the noble Marquis is so eminently distinguished. The
object of Tippoo was to gain time in order that he might
strengthen his position and augment his forces. But the
rapid movement of our troops towards his capital, as soon as
his hostile views were confirmed, frustrated his plans, and ef-
fected the total subversion of his country. Both the moment
of attack and the reinforcement from the Cape were acknow-
ledged to be important; in either of which a failure might
have proved fatal to the campaign, and would, at all events,
have postponed the day of victory.
The almost incredible celerity, with which twelve hundred
effective men joined the Egyptian army in high health and
spirits from the Cape of Good Hope, is another instance that
must force conviction of its vast importance as a military sta-
tion. ‘The advantages indeed that are afforded by its geogra-
phical position of acquiring and conveying intelligence with
respect to the affairs of neighbouring nations, or of transport-
ing troops, are by no means precarious or depending on
chance; there being scarcely a week in the year in which
English whalers or merchantmen, or ships of neutral powers,
do not touch at the Cape, especially on their outward bound
VOL. Il. DD
202 TRAVELS IN
voyage. And few of these are unwilling to engage as trans-
ports.
It appears from the books of the Custom-house, and the re-
turns of the Captain of the port, that there sailed from the
Cape
In 1799 - 103 ships
1800 ~ 109 ditto
1801 = 130 ditto
1802 - 131 ditto
being, in four years, 473 ships, 1
besides the men of war and coasting vessels. Of these 82
were Americans, 66 Danes, 24 Portugueze, 15 from Ham-
burgh, and 6 Swedes, 4 from Prussia and Bremen, and the
rest English. ;
The Americans, for some years past, have been establishing
a very considerable carrying trade from the eastward on the
ruins of the Dutch commerce, and have acquired no small
portion of the India and China commerce. The ships of this
nation have always found it convenient to touch at the Cape,
partly for the sake of refreshing their crews, but with a view,
at the same time, of disposing of the whole or any part of
their cargo to advantage. This cargo is generally lumber, or
it is composed of what they quaintly term notions, from the
great variety and assortment of goods which they take a fancy,
or notion, may succeed. In payment ofsuch a cargo they are
glad to get bills on India for hard money, which they carry
to China to purchase teas, nankeens, and porcelain. From
SOUTHERN AFRICA. "203
the Cape to India they are always glad of the opportunity of
being employed as transports.
The situation is pretty much the same with regard to the
Danes. But the assistance of neither the ove nor the other
could possibly be wanted, provided the numerous fleets of our
East India Company were permitted to touch at the Cape.
Without the least inconvenience to their commercial concerns,
_ these ships might transport from England to the Cape a con-
stant succession of raw recruits to be formed there into com-
plete soldiers, from whence they might take on board as many
of the latier as should be wanted to reinforce their armies
serving in India.
The possession of the Cape is also important in another
point of view. Foreign nations trading to India may be said
to be at the mercy of the power which holds this grand out-
work.
To England, however, its real value consists more in the
effectual security it is capable of affording to her trade and
settlements in India, than to any advantage that might be
taken of annoying or interrupting the commercial concerns of
other nations. ‘The unbounded credit of the East India Com=
pany, the immensity of its capital employed, the superior
quality of British manufactures, and the low rate at which
they can be afforded in foreign markets, will always ensure to
them the best part of the trade to India and China, and give
to England a preference before the other maritime powers
of Europe, or that of Amcrica. No naval power, therefore,
DD
204 TRAVELS IN
except France, could feel any jealousy, nor entertain reason-
able grounds of objection against the Cape becoming a set-
tlement of the British Empire. They were all allowed to trade
and to refresh on the same terms as British subjects, with this
single exception, that an additional duty of 5 per cent. was
payable on all goods brought into the Colony in foreign
bottoms.
The possession of this settlement, at an early period of the
war, so completely excluded every hostile power from the
Indian seas, threw so great an increase of commerce into our
hands by that exclusion, left usin such quiet and uadisturbed
dominion in the eastern world, and gave us so many solid
advantages unexampled in any former war, that one would
suppose it a moral impossibility for the Kast India Company
to be unmindful of the source from whence they sprung. But
things that are apparently of little value m themselves, are
sometimes magnified by intense observation, swell into im-
portance by discussion, and become indispensable by conten-
tion ; whilst objects of real moment lose their niagnitude
when slightly viewed, or seen only at a distance, grow little
by neglect, and useless without a quarrel. This observation
may probably be applied to Malta and the Cape of Good
Hope. Respecting the importance of the latter, the French
seem to have avoided any discussion in the late negociation
for peace. ‘Their views were, no doubt, well known to our
Government, and might have induced it, in the very first
sketch of the conditions of peace, to propose that the Cape
of Good Hope should be restored to the Duteh, or be de-
clared a free port. The latter, however, happening to be just
SOUTHERNSAFRICA. 205
what France could have wished, was, on further considera-
tion, restored in full sovereignty to its ancient possessors.
France, finding that her purpose would be completely an-
swered when once it was rescued out of the hands of the Eng-
lish, made no objection to this arrangement. Ceylon she
considered as a less important sacrifice, although she knew it
to be a much greater to Holland than that of the Cape. The
latter has always been an expensive settlement to the Dutch,
whilst from the former they derived a considerable revenue.
Had the Cape been demanded on the part of England, there
can be little doubt the French would have been equally eager
in contesting the point in regard to this settlement as to
Malta, knowing their vast importance to us as points of se-
curity.
I have no intention to discuss the comparative value of
these two stations to England, considering them both to be
essentially necessary to her independence as well as to the
protection of her commerce and settlements, so long as the
restless and aggrandizing spirit of the French Government
shall continue to disturb the peace of Europe. It may not,
however, be improper to endeavour to point out, and to com-
pare some of the inconveniencies that would necessarily have
resulted to our trade and settlements in the Kast Indies during
the late war, from either one or the other of these places being
in the hands of an ambitious enemy.
In the first place, it may be considered as a general principle
that has long been rooted in the French Government, and
from which it is likely never to depart, to aim at the overthrow
2
206 TRAVELS IN
of our power in India, and to endeavour to erect upon its
ruins an empire of their own. To accomplish this point, and
in consequence thereof, in the language of the present Corsi-
can ruler, “ To strike a blow at England which will be fol-
“ lowed up with its complete destruction,” they know there
are but two roads to take: the one by getting possession of
Egypt and Syria, where they might collect and season their
troops for the grand expedition, either by sea or land; the
other by occupying the Cape of Good Hope. Knowing the
latter to be a desperate attempt, they were induced to make
an experiment on the former. Had they, or their forced ally,
the Dutch, kept possession of the Cape, there is no reason for
supposing that the same fleet which sailed for Egypt, might
not have sailed from some other port, to this station ; or that
they could not have slipped out from time to time almost any
number of troops they might have thought proper to send.
These troops, when seasoned and prepared at the Cape, for
a warmer climate, could easily have been transported to the
Isles of France and Bourbon, where the French would not
only continue to draw supplies from the former, and to victual
and provision their ships of war and transports from thence,
as in the American war, but where they could not fail to have
received a material reinforcement to their shipping from the
Dutch; for it may be recollected, that the fleet under the
command of Admiral Lucas reached Saldanha Bay, in spite
of the obstacles which the Southern Atlantic presented, by the
Cape being then in our hands. This fleet combined with
that of the French would have required a naval force, on our
part, in the Indian seas that might not have been quite con-
venient for us to spare. It is possible, also, they might have
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 207
eluded the vigilance of our force, as their object would not
have been so much to fight us, as to have put in execution
a plan that many are inclined to suppose floated in the
mind of Buonaparte when he took the road of Egypt, though
he was soon convinced of the futility of it by that route,
without at least double the number of troops; his whole
army being barely sufficient to keep the conquered country
in subjection.
Among many reasons, which led to this conjecture, was
the work of Mr. Anquetil Duperron on India, which, after
being withheld from publication for fifteen years on account
of the information it contained, and of which it was su pposed
the English might avail themselves, was hastily issued from
the press on the sailing of this memorable expedition ; being
intended, most probably, as a guide for the officers on their
arrival in India. This intelligent writer, who, to a mind
capable of observation and deep reflection, adds the great
advantage of local knowledge, fixes on the coast of Malabar
as the foundation and corner-stone of their long projected
empire in India. The considerations which induce him to
give this coast the preference are, among others, the facility
of possessing the passes of the neighbouring mountains, and
of thus securing the internal commerce of Hindostan—the
opportunity it would afford of entering into an alliance with
the Mahrattas, whom he considers as a warlike and faithful
people—the easy intercourse that might be maintained from
this coast with the Persian gulph, the Red Sea, the Isles of
France and Bourbon, Madagascar, and the Cape of Good
Hope.
208 TRAVELS IN
These are certainly important considerations, and de-
manded all the vigilance and attention of our Government in
Judia. Even a small force of French troops, had they been
thrown upon the coast of Malabar, at the very moment when
our forces were drawn off into the Mysore, against the Sual-
taun’s army, might have proved fatal to our possessions on
this coast. "The usurper would, no doubt, have obtained his
reinforcement from the Isle of France, and probably without
our knowledge, rendering, by their means, the conquest of
Seringapatam doubtful. If, in such a state of things, the
French forces could have gained a footing at Bombay, Goa,
or Guzzarat, and intrigued themselves into an alliance with
the Mahratta powers, though it might not have realized their
project of an Indian empire, it would, at least, have been
destructive of our possessions in the west of the peninsula,
the holding of which, indeed, Mr. Anquetil considers as fatal
to our power in India.
On this subject his opinion is- not singular; before the
overthrow of the Mysore kingdom, there were many of our
own countrymen, whose sentiments in this respect accorded
with his; and who, like himself, have not only a profound
knowledge of Indian politics, but are well acquainted with
the physical and moral character of the natives, their several
connections and relations ; and who, at the same time, pos-
sess the advantage that local information so eminently affords,
The reduction of the Sultaun, it is true, has contributed in
no small degree to our security on the Malabar coast; has
consolidated our power in Southern India, and rendered the
junction of foreign forces with the Mahratta chiefs more dit-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 209
ficult, if not altogether impracticable. On the northern parts
of this coast only are we vulnerable in India by sea.
Supposing, however, the views of the enemy, on the Ma-
labar coast, to have failed, they would, at least, have been
enabled, with the assistance of the Dutch, to annoy and cut
up our Indian and China trade by the multitude of cruizing
vessels sent out from their islands of France and Bourbon,
and from the Cape of Good Hope. Even under every dis-
advantage, the French frigates and the nest of privateers on
the Mauritius station did much mischief at the commence--
ment of the late war, and although they had few reinforce-
ments from France, it required five years, with a very active
and powerful squadron from the Cape and from India, before
they were all taken and destroyed. What then must have
been the case, if, instead of the English possessing this im-
portant station, it had been an enemy’s port for assembling,
refitting, and refreshing the combined fleets of the French
and Dutch? It is unnecessary to observe, that neither of
these powers would have found much difficulty in reaching
the Cape with single ships, when we have an instance of a
whole fleet of Dutch ships arriving there notwithstanding
they were fifteen weeks on their passage. This single fleet,
acting from the Cape, might have been productive of much
inconvenience, expence, and injury to England, and espe-
cially to the trade of the Kast India Company. Were, in-
deed, the French and Dutch to keep up a proper naval force
at this place, it is extremely doubtful if any of the homeward-
bound fleets of the East India Company would ever reach
England, or if they did, it would be under an expence of
VOL. II. EE
" a10 TRAVELS IN
convoy so enormous, that the profits on the cargoes would be
inadequate to meet it; but of this we shall have occasion to
speak more particularly in the next chapter. Such are the
dangers to be apprehended in consequence of the Cape being
held by an enemy.
The principal disadvantages that would result to England
by leaving Malta in the possession of France appear to be,
in the first place, the power it would give them of excluding
our ships from that port, the best, undoubtedly, in the Medi-
terranean, and of increasing their force there to the complete
annihilation of our Mediterranean trade; and secondly, the
means it would afford of facilitating their views upon Egypt,
by enabling them to throw into that country a force suffi-
cient to conquer it, and probably to renew their project
upon India.
With regard to the extent and importance of the Mediter-
ranean trade I speak with diffidence, but I am not appre-
hensive of hazarding much by saying that it admits not of a
comparison with that of India and China, though, perhaps,
too valuable to be altogether relinquished. In this respect
then the value of Malta is certainly less important than that
of the Cape of Good Hope. But the second point is of a
more serious nature. Some, however, are of opinion, that
although the subjugation of Egypt may at any time be ac-
complished by the French, through Malta, yet, in such an
event, we have every reason to expect that the vigilance and
activity of a British fleet, and the valor of British soldiers,
might always enable us to dispute with them the passage of
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 201
Syria. But that, admitting even they should succeed in col-
lecting at Suez an army equal to their wishes, the difficulties
of transporting this army to India would be almost insur-
mountable. If it be meant by those who support this
opinion that the attempt is to be made by sea, whilst the
Cape remained in our possession, I have little hesitation in
agreeing with them that it must certainly fail. During the
last war, when their troops had marched to Suez, they had
not a single ship in the Red Sea that dared to carry the
French flag, nor, with the Cape and Ceylon in our hands,
could they at any future period have a fleet of any descrip-
tion without our permission.
But we will even allow them to have assembled at Suez a
fleet of their own ships, or of the country coasters, sufficient
to take on board their armament destined for the Malabar
coast. ‘The next question is, where, or in what manner, are
they to victual and to provision such a fleet for a month or
five weeks passage, and especially in the supply of the in-
dispensable article of water? The fountains of Moses, it is
true, furnish a supply of water at all seasons of the year, but
they are situated at twelve miles distance from Suez. Water
may be, likewise, and is, collected in tanks or reservoirs
near the town, but it soon grows fetid. The difficulty, how-
ever, of victualling and watering such a fleet, though great,
is not insurmountable, and therefore may be allowed to be
‘got over.
The dangerous navigation of the Red Sea, in which it ap-
pears not fewer than fifteen armed ships were lost between
EE 2
212 TRAVELS IN
the time of the French entering Egypt, and the signing of
the definitive treaty of peace, is the next obstacle that pre-
sents itself, and which may also be surmounted. But as the
navigation down this sea can only be performed six months
in the year, on account of the periodical winds which there
prevail, we can always know, within six months, when such
a fleet would attempt to pass the narrow strait of Babel-
mandel, and be prepared accordingly. ‘This strait is com-
pletely commanded by the island of Perim, against which
there is no other objection but the want of water. If, how-
ever, we have allowed the French to surmount so many dif-
ficulties before they can arrive at the straits of Babelmandel,
we may surely give ourselves the credit of being able to
overcome this single objection against the island of Perim.
A reservoir to collect and preserve rain water might be con-
structed ; or, by digging below the level of the sea, fresh
water would, in all probability, be obtained ; or, at any rate,
water might be transported thither from the continent, suffi-
cient for the supply of the small garrison that would be ne-
cessary to protect the strait. The possession of this island,
with a few frigates, is said to be competent to the destruction
of all the craft that could possibly be collected and sent
down from Suez and all the other ports of the Red Sea.
Little, therefore, is to be apprehended from the designs of
the French on India by the way of the Red Sea, so long as
we can command the strait and victual the force neces-
sary to be stationed there ; advantages which the possession
of the Cape and of Ceylon would always enable us to make
use of,
1
a a a
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 213
But if through the Cape the French can contrive to as-
semble and victual a large armament in the Indian Seas, we
must have an immense force to prevent such an armament
from co-operating with a body of troops that may previously
have been thrown into Egypt and Syria, a plan which they
probably intended to have carried into. effect, had not. the
ambitious views of Buonaparte put us on our guard, and
rendered the present war both just and necessary. Such a
plan, by means of such a peace as the last, might easily be rea-
lized long before any intelligence of it could reach India, or any
force be sent out from England to counteract it, were Malta
and the Cape of Good Hope accessible to the French ; but
with the latter in our possession the attempt would be
madness,
What the consequence might: be of an attempt entirely by
land,. from Greece or Syria to India, is not quite so certain.
If the emperor Paul had lived to carry into execution his
wild but dangerous scheme, of assembling a large body of
troops on the eastern borders of the Caspian Sea, to act in
concert with the French, it is difficult to say where the mis-
chief of their quixotism might have ended. The minds of
men, intoxicated with power and maddened by ambition, are
not to be measured by the same motives which commonly
guide the actions of mankind. It is certain that neither
Paul nor Buonaparte regarded the great waste of men that
such a project would have occasioned. ‘They must have
known that by no precaution nor exertion could they have
made sure of a constant supply of provisions for so vast a
204 TRAVELS IN
combined army ; but such knowledge would not have pre-
vented them from making the experiment, the lives of their
people being objects of little consideration with them. Tf;
like the host of Xerxes, they should be compelled to feed on
grass and the shrubs of the thicket, or, like the army of Cam-
byses, in its march against the Ethiopians, be reduced to the
still more dreadful necessity of killing every tenth man to
feed the rest, what remorse would such calamities occasion
in the breast of that man, who could deliberately put to death
by poison the companions of his victories, for. no other wie
than the misfortune of being disabled by sickness
Yet, although vast numbers would necessarily perish ‘in
such an enterprize, the result might, nevertheless, be the
means of shaking our security in India; and this would be
considered as a most ample compensation for any loss the
enemy might sustain in the expedition. ‘The obstacles. that
have been urged against it were, perhaps, equally great and
numerous when the Macedonian hero undertook to march his
army across the same countries; yet he overcame them all.
And if Alexander could succeed in penetrating into India,
why not Buonaparte, since military skill and tactics are now
so much superior among Europeans to what they were in his
day, whilst they have remained nearly stationary in the na-
tions of the East? No sufficient reason can, perhaps, be
assigned why the one, with the same or with increased means,
and with talents, perhaps, not less suited to apply these
means to the best advantage, should not be able to proceed
to the same length that the other did. |
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 215
That no part of his army would ever return is extremely
probable. When a considerable proportion had perished by
fatigue, by sickness, and by famine, the rest, in all human
probability, by change of climate, manner of living, and by
intermarrying with a new people, would produce a new race,
and that race would cease to be Frenchmen, just as the suc-
cessors of Alexander ceased to be Greeks. An army for such
an expedition must, in the outset, be immense, to afford a
sufficient number of men to maintain the conquered countries
through which they must pass. ‘The farther they proceeded
the more numerous would be the enemies left in their rear;
and on their approach to India, there is ‘no reason for sup-
posing that the native powers would welcome their arrival,
jealous, as they now must be, of admitting new European
visitors, after the dearly bought experience they have already
had of their old friends from the same quarter. These, how-
ever, are contingencies that amount to no security of a failure
in the main object of the expedition, namely, the destruction
of our empire in the east. We shall, perhaps, come nearest
the mark by considering the most serious, and probably the
only, obstacle that would impede their progress in the coun-
tries that lie between Syria and India, to be occasioned
by the great difficulty of procuring provisions and trans-
porting the baggage and ammunition that would be re-
quired for so large an army. But even these are difficulties
which, by an enterprizing and determined mind, would be
surmounted.
Whether the French really intended to march an army by
‘ land, in the event of their having reduced Acre and got pos-
216 TRAVELS IN
session of Syria, seems to be doubtful ; but it is pretty evi-
dent they entertained hopes, at one time, of being able to
co-operate with the Sultaun of Mysore by the Red Sea,
though it does not appear that any previous plan had been
concerted for transporting their troops from Egypt to India.
The whole expedition, indeed, should seem to have been, in
the first instance, a-:momentary thought, without any further
plan or design'than that of diverting the original intention of
an armament, which was vauntingly called the Army of
England. ‘The fact seems to be, that the power and the
influence of Buonaparte, who had the command of this army,
had rendered him the object of jealousy and hatred to the
Directory, who were equally glad with himself to have an
excuse for changing the current of these vast preparations .
from a hazardous, almost hopeless, enterprize, whose failure ~
would have ended in equal disgrace both to the Directory
and their general, into a romantic expedition that had the
sanction of the old government for the attempt, and, at all
events, was more promising of success than the pretended in-
vasion of the British islands. The fame of Buonaparte re-
quired, in ‘fact, to be supported, at that time, by some new
and signal adventure which might be the means of rescuing
him from ‘the secondary part the Directory had reserved for
him, by the command of a pretended expedition against their
only remaining enemy. In this situation some of his friends,
it is supposed, suggested to him the conquest of Egypt,
which had long been an object of the French Government
under the monarchy. ‘The brilliancy of such a conquest was
well suited to the enterprizing spirit-and ambitious views of
the Corsican. It is supposed, also, that the memoir which
SOUTHERN AFRICA. any
the philosopher Leibnitz presented to Louis XIVth was put
into his hands, and that the grand. objects held out therein
took strong possession of his mind. “ The sovereignty of the
* seas—the Eastern Empire—the overthrow of the Porte—and
“ universal arbitration,’ were all to be accomplished by the con-
quest of Egypt, a conquest that was reserved for his mighty
arm. “Soldiers,” says he, on the departure of the expedition,
« you are about to undertake a conquest, the effects of which,
“‘ upon commerce and civilization, will be incalculable; and
* the blow it will give to England will be followed up with
“its destruction.”
Butvainare often the hopes of man! The brilliancy of such a
conquest, however alluring at a distance, seems to have faded
on the approach. Whether his unsuccessful attempt against
Acre had damped his ardour, and thrown an insurmountable
barrier to any views he might have entertained against India,
or whether he meant to be satisfied with annexing Egypt to
the colonies of France, is still matter of conjecture ; but it
would seem from one of his letters, published in the inter-
cepted correspondence, written at a time when he had not the
least idea of being baffled in his schemes, and his army finally
driven out by the English, that the acquisition of Egypt was
the end of his design, and that his intention was to return to
Paris as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made
for its future government.. His object, no doubt, as appears
from his letters to the King of England and the Emperor of
Germany, was to obtain a general peace, and. by certain sa-
crifices on the part of France or its allies, to retain possession
of this new colony, from whence, at some distant period,
VOL, If. FR
218 TRAVELS IN
when he had assembled a sufficient force, and prepared the
necessary quantity of shipping in the Red Sea, he might have
availed himself of a favourable opportunity of making a
descent on the Malabar coast. In such an event he was well
aware that England, at that time, would never have relin-
quished the Cape of Good Hope, which he might therefore
have proposed as an equivalent for Egypt. The importance
which the French have attached to this half-way station be-
tween Europe and India, appears from the conferences which
took place between Lord Malmesbury and Monsieur De la
Croix, wherein the latter persisted that the Cape of Good
Hope was of infinitely greater importance to England than
the Netherlands were to France, and that if our demands for
keeping it were acquiesced in, it should be considered as a
full and ample compensation for them. “ If,” says he, “ you
“ are masters of the Cape and Trincomalée, we shall hold alt
* our settlements in India, and the Isles of France and Bour-
“bon entirely at the tenure of your will and pleasure; they
* will be ours only as long as you choose we should retain
‘them; you will be sole masters in India, and we shall be
“ entirely dependent on you.” On one occasion, he vehe-
mently exclaimed, “ Your Indian empire alone has enabled
* you to subsidize all the powers of Europe against us, and
“¢ your monopoly of the Indian trade has put you in possession
“ of a fund’of inexhaustible wealth !”
As the French, in all human probability, will very soon be
deprived of all their colonies in the west, they will be the
more anxious to increase their establishments i the east ;-
and however limited might have -been the extent of their
2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 219
views On the memorable expedition to Egypt, there cannot’
now be a difference of opinion on the subject. India is, un-
doubtedly their object, and to gain that object they will leave
no. measures untried, nor regard. the sacrifice of thou-
sands. ‘They have now, indeed, stronger motives than ever
for attempting the destruction of our power in the east.
Driven from the most valuable of their West India settle-
ments, by a conduct of which the consequences might easily
have been foreseen, and in a fair way of losing the rest, they
will seek for reparation in Egypt and in India, and I am per-
suaded that nothing, but our regaining possession of the
Cape, will prevent them from making the attempt. That we
should, at this moment, possess every strong point which may
tend to check the career of an overwhelming and insatiable
ambition, ought to be the wish of every nation of Europe. In
vain would any of the inferior powers hope to meet a better
fate under France if triumphant than Holland, Hanover, or
Switzerland have experienced, where, before the palsying arm
of Gallic tyranny had destroyed their health and vigour, the
people were prosperous, happy, and free. Can Denmark or
Sweden, Prussia or the principalities of Germany expect to be
treated with more consideration than the Italian provinces have
been? WillSpain and Portugal increase their influence, wealth,
and commerce, by being degraded into tributary provinces of
France, and do they promise themselves a better security of
their colonies by the humiliating alliance ? Nothing, surely, but
the most morbid apathy, will prevent these, and others, to
join the great powers of Europe now in arms, and endeavour
to wipe off the disgrace that has already fallen on many, and
which momentarily threatens them all. How is it possible
FF 2
220 ‘iJ PRIAVE BES IN
that those powers, who have yet the means of rescuing Eu-
rope from universal misery, can remain inactive, and insensi-
ble of ther own impendmg danger, when it is visible to all
the world that the system rooted in the mind of the usurper
is nothing short of universal and arbitrary dominion ? an am-
bitious desire of reducing all Europe into Gallic provinces, a$
Asia fell under the yoke of Rome.
Nor would the dreadful effects of French aggrandizement
be confined to Europe, were they not completely checked by
the maritime power of Great Britain. Asia, Africa, and South
America would soon be overrun with Frenchmen. No one
can doubt, for a moment, what the fate of Egypt would be
if England should relinquish the possession of Malta. The
First Consul, indeed, in an unguarded moment of frenzy, has
most unequivocally avowed it. The destruction of the Ot-
toman Government is another object. of French ambition.
One of the most intelligent of the French officers, in his cor-
respondence with the Exccutive Directory, observes, “ The
“¢ Ottoman Empire is generally regarded as an old edifice, tot-
“tering to its fall. ‘The European powers have long been
“ preparing to divide its scattered fragments, and many poli-
“ ticlans conceive that the catastrophe is close at hand. In
“ this supposition, they think it but right that France should.
“have her share of the spoils; and the part allotted to her
“is Koypt.”
But let those professed Cosmopolites, who, from principles
of pretended humanity, declare themselves friends to the dis-
memberment of the Turkish Empire, reflect seriously on the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 221
consequences that would inevitably ensue were France con-
cerned in the dissolution and partition of this government.
However desirable it may seem to free the Greeks from the
miserable yoke under which they long have groaned, yet a
sudden transition from slavery to freedom would scarcely be
borne with more moderation by the Greeks, than by the
French at home or the negroes in the West India islands.
Nor would the horrors of a revolution be confined to the
Turkish provinces. ‘The licentious army who might effect it,
trained and accustomed to rapine and plunder, led on by
needy or ambitious officers, who, on their part, are spurred
by the agerandizing views of their government, would not be
content to sit down with Egypt as their share of the plunder.
As Malta was the step that led them to Egypt, so would
Egypt be to Syria, and Syria to the possession of India; to
the plunder of that wealth which, in their opinion, is the
great support of Britain. Thus would the scourge of their
inordinate ambition be felt from the Nile to the Ganges, and
from thence, in all probability, to the Yellow Sea. And by
udverting to the geographical position of the southern extre-
mity of Africa, in relation to other countries, and to the ad-
vantages it commands as a military station, we shall perceive
with what ease might all the ports of South America be made
subservient to their ambitious views, and how speedily that
great continent from the isthmus of Darien to Terra del Fuego
would fall into their insatiable grasp. The accomplishment
of these objects, chimerical as they may appear, are prevented,
only by the transcendent and invincible strength of the Bri-
tish navy.
222 | TRAVELS IN
As it must therefore obviously be the interest of the
world that the restless and aggrandizing spirit of. i
as effectually as possible be counteracted ;
Cape of Good Hope and Malta, if left |
would forward her views at universal don to
be nor 1 HjE tions, on the pant ot! powers
of _ of secur Ry being
nd, or, at all
S, aS soe guarantee
of the human race
against the designs of t
As the importance of every military station must depen d, it
considerable degree, on the sufficiency of the works that eit
are already constructed for its defence against internal
ternal attack, or on the local advantages it possesses of
rendered defensible, it may be expected I should
something on this subject. Being no professional 1
aware, in doing this, of the risk I run of laying
to the censure of some who are so, particularly
so many and such contrary opinions advancec
scriptive ; and as
* a)
| in their profes-
. sound judgment. e ordinary affairs of
ds ‘their local kriowledge, entitle such opinion to
rree of consideration. It may be observed, however,
ae ont
face page 205.
References
A The Citadel
B (upe Iown
© Table Mountain 3582E High
D Devils Hill
E Lions Head. 2160
F. Lions Rump ...1143
gs Tower + Battery
FI Fort de Miroklee
I The landing pl
K Rogachay Ba
L Amsterdam Th
M Chavonne Batter
N Battery de Mouil
0 hittle Bauery
P Soetety House
Q dumps Bay
R The orange
S Lebsrenbers
T Rondebosch 5
U Estate called Brndenberg
Vp Welyeteegen
Whe of Joubere
XD: _.. Belvliet
Y La we de Ma:
Z Koede Bloem
a Lhe old corn Mill
2 The Salt River
3 Farm called Zonnebloam
+ Marden or Horse Istand
6 wbecks River
7 The Old Mouth
8 Grat koad tw False Bau
9 Gordons Battery
so Cohoorns Battery
CHAPMAS
By)
moe Dutch Too
Kina lish Yanks.
OF THE
MILITARY PLAN
CAPE PENINSULA
drawn by orden ofthe Dutch Government
3
and revised and corrected by @
Lieu! Col Bridges Roy! Engineer.
of Surface
References
a The Sea Lin
Munichs
13 Divers.
Hempers a?
15 Herholis a?
egies ds
7 Llolimans d?
Teunings d?
ty Erpliota CH.
20 Langerjans a?
a1 Estate called Stellenbery
Must en werk
Vredenhoi™
of Doltins
Estate of De Waal
Klaaserhosch
Goed gdoot
29 Witteboomen or the Silver Tres
30 Frunkes Estate
Great Constantia
Little Constantia ..d”
Brink:s Farm
Elssterns F called Berg viet
35 The English Camp
36 The Deep River
37 Van Elstens Estate
38 Locknaare...d
no Rousouws ..d®
to Lake nearly dry in Summer
41 Newlands
42 Tanudise
43, Kerstenbosch
44 Van Renens Estate
sooo English Yards.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 223
peaking of the defence of the Cape of Good Hope, I
o confine the observations I have to make to the penin-
promontory, including the two bays, which are the usual
t of shipping. And for the better illustration of what
vs, I have added a military map of the said peninsula,
line of which was taken, I believe, some years ago-by
h engineer, was afterwards filled up by different offi-
> Dutch service, and was examined, corrected, and
Perified i great care and accuracy, by Captain (now Lieu-
tenant-Colonel) Bi ‘the British engineers, under whose
directions several works were constructed
by order of Sir James’ ake of conveniency, {
found it necessary to reduce the scal ‘ the size of the
original drawing, and have added to tt cale of roeds
one of English yards, the former being to tl eV as 4 voo's
to 1. .
m against this import-
had the opportunity
rmation ; which,
rations are to be
s coast. For
re well ac-
224 TRAVELS IN
the colonists and their resources, and, above all, with the ha-
bits of the native Hottentots.
Cape Town, which may be called the capital of the colony,
is situated on the south-east angle of Table Bay. It usually
happens that the advantages of the bay, in forming a new set-
tlement, determine the choice of the site for the town; but,
in this instance, the convenience of a plentiful stream of pure
Jimpid water, rushing out of the Table Mountain, was the
primary object to which the bay was subservient. Had this
not been the case, the first settlers would unquestionably have
given the preference to Saldanha Bay, whose only defect is the
want of fresh water in the vicinity; whereas ‘Table Bay is
faulty in every point that constitutes a proper place for the re-
sort of shipping; and so boisterous, for four months in the year,
as totally to exclude all ships from entering it.
As this point of the peninsula became, however, the seat of
the petty concerns in which the Dutch Eaft India Company
allowed its servants to traffic, and, under certain restrictions,
the other settlers to carry on with foreign ships, a commerce
that was chiefly confined to the supply of provisions and re-
treshments in exchange for Indian and European articles, they
found it necessary to build a fort for the protection of their
property and of the Company’s warehouses against the at-
tempts of the natives.
As the trade to India increased, and the Cape, in conse-
quence, became more frequented, it was deemed expedient
to extend the works, and to erect a citadel that should serve
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 225
as a defence against any attack either by land or by sea.
This citadel is the present castle, a regular pentagon fort,
with two ravelins and some other trifling outworks, and sur-
rounded by a wet ditch; but so injudiciously placed, in the
very lowest part, or sink, of the valley that, although it com-
mands the town and part of the anchorage, it is itself com-
manded by the ground rising from it in a gradual slope to the
Devil’s Hill, which renders it on this side not defensible.
This slope is now occupied as high as the commencement of
the perpendicular rocky side of the Devil’s Hill, by various
redoubts, batteries, and block-houses commanding each other
and the advance ground to the castle, all of which were added
by Sir James Craig.
During the American war, when the French were at the
Cape, they threw up lines with two redoubts to protect the
approach to the castle on the land side, the expence of which
they defrayed in paper money. These lines, however, ex-
tending no farther up the tongue of land that projects from
the Devil’s Hill, than the point, No. 12, in the map, were
liable to be turned between that point and the craggy sum-
mit D; a manceuvre, I believe, which General Craig intended
to put in practice, provided the Dutch, after being driven
out of Wynberg, were disposed to make a stand at the French
lines. He therefore, very properly, ordered a battery and
block-house to be constructed immediately under D, and a
second a little lower down the hill, which, with the two re-
doubts in the lines, and Fort de Knokke at their extremity
« on the shore of Table Bay, being all within the compass of
3000 yards, would enable the garrison to keep up such a cross
VOL. IE. GG
226 TRAVELS IN
and concentrated fire, as to prevent any moderate number of
troops from attempting to force the lines in their approach
to the town from Simon’s Bay, without a very considerable
loss of men. And, in order to strengthen the northern ex-
tremity of the lines, and, at the same time, to cover the
landing place at the mouth of, and passage across, the Salt
River, he added a bomb-proof tower and. battery at G, both of
which bear his name. Notwithstanding, however, the strength
of these lines, the officers of the Dutch garrison, now at the .
Cape, were of opinion that the most eligible mode of at-
tacking the town would be to force the lines, though at
the expence ofa few men, after which the castle must immedi- ~
ately fail; and many English officers are of the same opinion.
Fort Knokke is connected with the citadel by a rampart
drawn along the shore, called the Sea lines, defended by
several batteries, mounted with heavy guns, and furnished
with ovens for heating shot. Within these lines is a powder
magazine, and a long range of low buildings that were con-
verted, under the English government, into a general hos-
pital, with lodgings for the inspector, storekeeper, and apothe-
cary to the forces.
On the west of the bay are three strong batteries at the
points K, L, M, the Rogge-bay battery, the Amsterdam bat-
tery, and the Gnevenne matey the guns of which all bear
directly upon the anchorage. At N is also a small battery,
called the Mouillé, commanding the entrance of the bay ;
for all ships, when coming in, keep the point of the Mouillé
elose on board, and go out of the bay between Roben Island
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 224
and the continent. A little farther, at the point O, where
there is a small sandy cove, a work was thrown up with a
few light guns and a furnace for heating shot, to prevent a
Janding at this place, which they have further endeavoured
to impede by fixing three anchors across the inlet. A very
few shot from one of our frigates soon, however, dislodged
the enemy from this work.
At Camp’s Bay, on the western coast of the peninsula,
there are also a few small batteries, and a military post on
the height above it, directly between the ‘lable Mountain
and the Lion’s Head. An almost perpetual surf rolls upon
the sandy beach of Camp’s Bay, otherwise, this might be
considered as a very vulnerable pomt. An army landing
here, and at ‘Three Anchor Bay, might take the town and all
the batteries in their rear, or, which would still be more im-
portant, might get possession of the Lion’s Rump at F, from
whence, with a few howitzers, the town and citadel, and the
strong batteries on the west side of Table Bay, would, be
completely commanded. And this hill has the very great
advantage of not being commanded by any other point.
So fully convinced was Sir James Craig of the vast import-
ance of this situation, that he proposed to Government, in
the event of the Cape remaining in our possession, to erect
a citadel upon it, with buildings for every military purpose,
such as barracks for the garrison, houses for an hospital,
buildings for the ordnance department, for military stores,
and for at least twelve months’ provisions. Such a fortifica-
tion, when properly completed, would, in-the opinion of Sir
GG 2
228 TRAVELS IN
James, be ably. defended, in time of war, by 1200 men; and
would render the town, the batteries, and the castle un-
tenable by an enemy, all of which might be totally destroyed:
‘from this height in four-and-twenty hours. ‘The most intelli-
gent of the officers of the Dutch garrison, now at the Cape,
were precisely of the same opinion, and immediately pointed
out the situation as the most eligible for erecting a citadel.
~'Phe Dutch Government, however, are not in circumstances at
present to undertake a work of such magnitude and expence,
not being able to raise funds adequate to meet the sub-
sistence of the troops, and the contingent and extraordinary
expences of the garrison, though it consists of less than two
thousand men.
The greatest difficulty, in occupying this situation for such
a purpose, would be the want of water; but it is by no means
an insurmountable difficulty. Twelve hundred men, at a
daily allowance of a quart to each man, would consume, in
twelve months, 109,500 gallons, and a cistern, capable of con-
taining this quantity, would not be required to exceed a
square of twelve yards, provided the depth be about four
yards and a half. And two cisterns of these dimensions
would be fully adequate for every purpose that the garrison
would require.
Another objection, however, was started, grounded on the
opinion of some of the artillery officers in the service of the
East India Company, who conceived the Lion’s Hill to be
within point blank shot of the Devil’s Hill, the slope of
which, even below the rocky summit, is at least twice the
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 229
height of the former, and consequently commands it. These
gentlemen, who are supposed to be among the best informed
of the Company’s officers, may be very good artillery officers,
but tney are certainly bad judges of distance in a moun-
tainous country ; for, as Sir James Craig has observed, the
nearest point of the Devil’s Hill is at the distance of 3700
yards ; but that, in order to get any thing like a level with
the part of the Lion’s Rump, on which the most considerable
part of the works would be placed, it would be necessary to
go farther back on the slope of the Devil’s Hill, at least five
hundred yards, and even then the elevation on the latter
would not be equal to that point on which the said works
were intended to be situated ; so that the point blank range
of the Company’s artillery officers is, at least, 4200 yards.
’ Sir James observes, that a resideuce of fourteen months at
the Cape, since he gave his opinion on this subject, and a
continued and unremitting study to render the place as de-
fensible as possible, had only served to confirm him in it; an
opinion, indeed, which perfectly coincided with that of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Bridges, as well as with that of every intelli-
gent officer who has been on duty at the Cape, not only
among the English, but also among the French, Dutch, and
German officers. now serving there.
Near the narrowest part of the peninsula, on the western
shore, are two contiguous bays called Hout or Wood Bay,
and Chapman’s Bay ; the latter communicating, by a defile
of the mountains about 5400 yards in length, with Vis or
Fish Bay close to Simon’s Bay ; and the former, by another
defile, with the great road leading from Cape Town to Si-
230 TRAVELS IN
mon’s Bay. ‘here appears to be no instance on record of
any ship going into Chapman’s Bay, it being completely ex-
posed to all the prevailing winds that blow at the Cape, and,
in consequence, seldom free from a heavy swell of the sea.
Were it, indeed, ever so secure and convenient for landing
troops, all the advantages it holds out would be obtained by
a landing at Simon’s Bay. ‘This is not the case, were an
enemy to effect a Janding at Hout Bay to the northward of
it; as, from this place, they would be enabled to make their
approach to the lines, after passing a defile of the mountains
which is totally unoccupied.
Hout Bay affords safe and convenient anchorage for eight
or ten ships; and has a rivulet of fresh water falling into it
from the back part of Table Mountain ; but the getting out
of the bay is supposed to be very difficult and precarious, on
account of the eddy winds from the surrounding mountains
when they are moderate in the Offing, or from the south-
easterly winds setting into the entrance ; as well as from the
constant westerly swell and wind prevailing from that quarter
in the winter season. Captain Blanket, however, in the
year 1784, when he commanded the Nymph sloop of war,
ran, out of curiosity, into Hout Bay, at which the Dutch
were exceedingly jealous and angry, none of them having
ever seen a ship there before. It is now defended with a
battery and a block-house, situated on an eminence which is
too high to be successfully attacked by ships of war.
As to Simon’s Bay, which lies on the eastern side of the
peninsula, in the great bay of False, and is the usual resort
fa)
val
ay ae
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 231
of shipping for five months in the year, it should seem the
Dutch had no idea of their colony being attacked from that
quarter, as there are only two small batteries mounting four
or five guns each, to which ships of the line may approach
within 500 yards; and the strong ground at Muisenberg was
entirely unoccupied before the British expedition appeared
in the bay; the few works and batteries, with which they
attempted to defend this ground, were constructed between
the time of its arrival in the bay and the day the troops
marched for the Cape. But though the Dutch at that time
suffered themselves to be easily driven out of this pass, they
are now too well acquainted with its strength and importance
to abandon it so specdily, should an enemy again attempt a
landing in Simon’s Bay. In fact there is no other road to
Cape Town but at the foot of this mountain washed by the
waves of False Bay. It is the ‘Thermopyle of the Cape;
and so strong a position that, with the assistance of the se-
veral breast-works constructed while in our possession, a
chosen band of 300 riflemen might stop the progress of an
army.
For the complete defence of the various works upon the
Cape peninsula, which I have just enumerated, a garrison of
five thousand men has been considered, by all who are ac-
quainted with the place, as the very least force that would
be required ; and, consequently, no part of it could, with
propriety, be detached into the interior, without exposing the
garrison to danger. ‘The colony, indeed, is so extensive, hav-
ing an unprotected coast of 580 miles from Cape Point to
the Kaffer country on the east, and of 315 miles from Cape
2R2 TRAVELS IN
Point to the River Koussie on the north, that an army of ten
thousand men would scarcely be sufficient to keep out an
enemy, if he were determined to effect a landing. A large
force, however, landed at any great distance from the Cape,
could not possibly be subsisted. At Mossel Bay it might,
perhaps, receive a small supply of corn, but no cattle; at
Plettenberg’s Bay, neither the one nor the other. At Algoa
Bay an enemy might, at all times, create a great deal of mis-
chief, by putting arms into the hands of the Kaffers and
Hottentots, who might very easily be encouraged to drive the
whole colony within the limits of the Cape peninsula; a
measure, by which the garrison and the settlers would be
reduced to the danger of starving for want of provisions. It
is obvious that such a step would be attended with the ruin
of the settlement, and would not, on that account, be resorted
to but by a desperate or a Machiavelian enemy. The Dutch,
T understand, have stationed at this bay near three hundred
troops, to keep the peace between the boors, the Kaffers,
and the Hottentots, but the greater part would, undoubtedly,
be withdrawn on receiving intelligence of the present. war ;
the weakness of the garrison not admitting of so large a de-
tachment being sent off the peninsula. :
One effectual way of distressing the garrison would be to
Jand detachments at various pomts not very distant from the
Cape Peninsula; as, for instance, at Saldanha Bay, from
whence, by getting possession of Roode Sand Kloof, all
supplies of cattle would be cut off from the imterior—at
Gordon’s Bay, in the north-east corner of False Bay, whose
proximity to Hottentot Holland’s Kloof wowd afferd an easy
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 033
possession of that important pass which, being defensible by a
very few men, would completely cut off all communication
with the district of Zwellendam and the eastern parts of the
colony—and, if the attempt was made in the month of De-
cember, a detachment landed near Blauwherg opposite to
Robben Island would intercept the annual supply of corn,
which, in the beginning of the year, is always transported to
the Cape. The garrison would then be obliged to abandon
their forts to dispute those posts or starve within their lines,
as they never have a stock of provisions in store, and are par-
ticularly reduced at this season of the year.
Some, however, are of opinion that the place would best
be taken by a Coup de Main, by dashing at once into ‘Table
Bay in a south-east wind, and cutting out all the ships that
may happen to be at anchor. In doing this, they would have
to sustain the fire of Craig’s tower and battery, Fort de
Knokke, the sea lines and the castle, beside the three heavy
batteries on the west coast of the bay. There are few places,
perhaps, where so great a fire can be concentrated, as may be
brought to bear on the anchoring ground of ‘Table Bay.
The batteries are mounted with a considerable number of
heavy guns; but, it is true, they are very old; a great part
of them honeycombed, and the carriages of many completely
demolished. The Amsterdam battery has also many defects,
and, in the opinion of some naval officers, would seon be
silenced by a single ship of the line, brought to lie close
alongside of it. It must be recollected, however, that in this
situation she would be flanked by the Chavonne battery,
and have to sustain the fire of that of Rogge Bay.
VOL. IT. var
234 TRAVEUS iy
Others are of opinion, that a moderate force of infantry
and artillery, landed at Three Anchor Bay, might easily suc-
ceed in getting possession of Amsterdam battery in the rear,
as well as the Chavonne and Rogge Bay batteries, after which
the castle would no longer be tenable, and the town would
be at the mercy of the attacking party. This is very true,
if the landing could be reduced to a certainty ; but this bay
is a mere narrow,creek, choaked with anchors, and nine days
out of ten subject to a heavy rolling swell that makes it dan-
gerous fora boat to attempt a landing. Perhaps the strongest
impression might be made by combining the operations
agreeably to the two opinions; though a large force might
probably prefer landing on the eastern beach of Table Bay,
where there is nothing to interrupt them, cross the Salt
River, and carry the lines by a Coup de Main, after which,
as I have before observed, the castle must immediately fall,
and the garrison surrender at discretion,
The Dutch garrison, at the evacuation of the colony by the
English, in March 1803, were certainly not capable of op-
posing any extraordinary resistance, or to defend the place
against a spirited attack, conducted by an officer of skill and
local experience; and their numbers since that time have
considerably been reduced. ‘Three or four ships of the line,
with four thousand men, would be fully sufficient to carry
their point; provided the Dutch should receive no reinforce-
ments from the French, which, hitherto, there are no grounds
for supposing to be the case. The whole garrison, when
complete, was intended to consist of three thousand men; of
these were already arrived, at that time, barely two thousand,
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 2r5
consisting in a regiment of the Prince of Waldec, about six
hundred strong; three hundred cavalry; three hundred ar-
tillery ; two or three companies of grenadiers, and the rest
jJagers or a light rifle corps, totally undisciplined, and com-
posed of almost every nation on the face of the earth,
being, for the most part, deserters from German regiments.
And, with regard to the artillery, they were so miserably de-
fective that, out of the whole corps, they could not select a
sufficient number of trained men to fire the salutes intended
to be made on hoisting the Dutch flag on the first of January;
but made application to the commanding officer of the
British artillery, for a party to assist them: yet, when the
orders for the surrender of the colony were countermanded,
and it became a probable event that hostilities would ensue,
it was industriously circulated by the Dutch officers, or
rather by the French officers nominally in the Dutch service,
that their corps of artillery was in the highest state of disci-
pline and order, the greater part of the men having distin-
guished themselves at the battle of Marengo! They were
commanded, however, as well as the cavalry, by active and
intelligent officers.
The services of the Burgher Cavalry are not likely ever to
be again demanded. Were they, indeed, ever so well dis-
posed to fight, the number that it would be found practi-
cable to raise is far from being great. ‘Those who dwell in
the interior parts of the settlement would find it extremely
inconvenient to quit their homes, on account of their slaves
and Hottentots, who might be induced to take advantage of
their absence ; and the Cape district, containing only about
Hu 2
236 TRAVELS IN
six thousand souls, could not be supposed to furnish more
than a thousand men fit to bear arms, and, probably, not one
hundred that would dare to use them.
The Hottentot corps, consisting of about five hundred men,
so far from feeling any disposition to enter into the service of
the Dutch, actually declined it, and expressed the strongest
wishes to return to their connections in the distant parts of
the colony. What may be the fate of these poor creatures,
under their old masters, is difficult to conjecture. Con-
vinced, as the Dutch Government would speedily be, that
they would never be prevailed on to draw a trigger against
the English, it will become a very serious difficulty in what
manner to dispose of them. If they should desert in a body,
which was generally thought would be the event, they would
drive in the whole country. But if, before this happens,
the humane colonists should succeed in obtaining the prayer
of two petitions presented by them, the government will be
relieved from any apprehensions with regard to the Hottentot
corps: one of which was to surround and massacre the whole
corps; the other, to put a chain to the leg of every man, and
distribute them among the farmers as slaves for life.
The only chance they have of escaping rests upon the good
intentions of the Governor and Commander in Chief towards
them, from whose humane disposition, and honorable charac-
ter, they will receive every protection and support, as far, at
least, as depends upon him; but, in a revolutionary govern-
ment, the best disposed must, in some degree, swim with the
terrent of popular opinion.
SOUTHERN AFRICA, ag
One single ship of war, the Bato of 68 guns, remained in
Table Bay, preparing to follow two others of the same class,
the Pluto and the Kortenaar, to Batavia. She has since been
condemned as totally unfit for service, None of these three
ships had any of their lower-deck guns on board, and were
only half manned ; being intended, though under the com-
mand of an Admiral, to take on board, and carry to Europe,
cargoes of coffee. Three frigates had sailed a few months
before for the same purpose, under the command of Com-
modore Melisse, and two others formed part of Rear-Admiral
Dekker’s squadron; so that the Dutch had, at that time, in
the Eastern Seas, three ships of the line and five fine frigates,
which, however, were in no condition to add much lustre to
the Batavian flag.
The ammunition and stores that were found at the capture,
together with those that were given over by the British Go-
vernment, at the surrender, to the amount of about twenty
thousand pounds value, will serve for many years, not only
as a supply of the garrison, but also of the Isles of France and
Bourbon. ‘The great barrack, situated between the town and
the castle, was put into thorough repair, and fitted up with
bedding and other necessaries for the reception of two thou-
sand men ; and the citadel, capable of containing one thousand
men, with lodgings for the officers, was intended to be put
into the same condition.
Recent accounts mention the deplorable state of the colony
under its new government. The revenues are so reduced as
to be totally inadequate to meet the expences of the garrison,
)
“aA
238 TRAVELS IN
and they have no hope of any supply from Holland. New
taxes were imposed on the inhabitants, which they refused to
pay. ‘The people detested the government, and the govern-
ment was afraid of the troops. The garrison was in a com-
plete state of insubordination ; several were under trial for
mutiny, and numbers were daily deserting with their arms.
Universal discontent and general distress prevailed. All
credit was. at an end, money had totally disappeared, the
little commerce they had was destroyed, bankruptcies were
without number, and a war was only wanting to complete
their misery. Under such circumstances, it is not unreason-
able to conclude that the Cape will fall an easy conquest to
a British force.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 239
CHAP. alr,
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered as a Naval Station.
W yas one reflects, for a moment, on the diminutive space
that the British islands occupy on the surface of the globe,
in comparison with the large portions which some nations
enjoy, and considers their detached and remote situation by
which their inhabitants were, in the opinion of the ancients,
“© Toto ab orbe divisos,”
« Cut off from the rest of mankind :”
when, at the same time, one bears in mind the vast weight
and preponderance these little islands have long maintained
in the history and transactions of almost all the governments
and nations which constitute this world of human beings, it
is impossible to withhold our wonder and admiration at a
phenomenon which, at first sight, wears the appearance of
being so much out of the ordinary course of things. In vain
should we search for a parallel in the history of the world,
because the history of the world affords no example of a
country where property has so much weight, where it affords
so much enjoyment, and where it is so well secured by just
and equal laws, as in Great Britain.
240 TRAVELS IN
Exertions to amass wealth will, generally, be proportional
to the stability that is given to property. Hence, the enter-
prizing spirit of Britons has collected the riches of the world
within their fortunate islands. Hence, the great and stupen-
dous works of convenience, utility, and magnificence, that
embrace the shores of the Thames, the Mersey, the Severn,
and most of the navigable rivers of the empire which, whilst
they facilitate the purposes of commerce, add splendor and
ornament to the country, and serve as notable monuments of
a powerful and opulent nation. But, although the seat of
empire, the central point of power and wealth, is fixed in the
British islands, yet, if we cast our eyes on the map of the
world, and skim along the western shores of the Atlantic,
thence descend to the Southern Pacific, and return easterly
to the Indian Seas, we shall there find that the possessions
of Britain comprise “a vast empire on which the sun
“‘ never sets, and whose bounds nature has not yet ascer-
‘Stained.’
Whatever philosophers may advance on the subject of the
wealth of nations depending on the encouragement given to
agriculture, it cannot be denied that the wealth and the in-
fluence of the British empire derive their source and their
main-spring from commerce. It is to commerce we owe our
colonies, and to our colonies the perfection of navigation.
For, after all the objections that have been urged against the
colonizing system, it is pretty evident that, without foreign
possessions, we should have few seamen. The mere carrying-
trade is so precarious, and so liable to be affected by every
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 24x
little.incident that may involve the nation carrying it on, in
its relations with contending powers, that no degree of sta-
bility can be assigned to it. As long as the Portugueze main-
tained their territories and their dominion in the Kast, the
Portugueze navigators were the first among Europeans in
‘reputation ; but no sooner had the Dutch deprived them of
the best part of their possessions, than the whole of the carry-
ing-trade fell into the hands of the Dutch; and the Dutch
flag maintained the superiority in the Kast, and was respect-
able in the West.
As the Dutch began to lose their colonies, the Americans
snatched the remains of their carrying-trade, which, while
they preserve a state of neutrality, they will not only main-
tain but improve to a very great extent; but, having no
foreign possessions, the instant they go to war with a nation
that has, their carrying-trade will in all probability fall to
the ground. Such will be the case also with the Danes and
the Swedes; and such has France found, by experience, to
be her fate from the moment she lost her best colonies.
The number of hands that are required to work the ships
employed in transporting to England the produce of our
colonies furnish for the navy, in time of war, an immediate
supply of skilful and able-bodied seamen: giving it, at once,
a decided superiority over that of all other nations. The
French, the Dutch, and the Spaniards can construct their
ships fully as well as, and some of them, perhaps, better than,
the English; but none of them can make such good seamen.
The rough and resolute character that is necessary to form
VOL. II. Ii
242 TRAVELS IN
good sailors, would appear to be incompatible with the fri-
volous and flexile tempers of Frenchmen. ‘Their natural ver-
satility disqualifies them for situations that require steady
perseverance ; and the trifling gaiety of their disposition is
il] suited to the order and discipline that are indispensable on
board of a ship. In a gale of wind, it is said to be a matter
of the greatest difficulty to prevail on a sufficient number of
Frenchmen, in a whole ship’s company, to go aloft for the
purpose of taking in the sails; and if the gale comes on sud-
denly, the odds are great that the masts are carried away, or
the sails blown from the yards.
Both men and officers are averse to long voyages, and are
seldom inclined to pass a friendly port. ‘To possess the ad-
vantage of having such ports, in different parts of the world,
is of the first importance to their navigation and commerce.
They pay little attention to cleanliness, either in their per-
sons or ships, and they are generally very much crowded ;
hence, a long voyage, without refreshments, is seldom unat-
tended with disease and mortality.
The Dutch seamen are steady, persevering, and intrepid ;
and, of all nations, have maintained the hardest struggles
with the English ; but they are habitually slow and inactive.
That they are not physically so, the crew of, the Rattlesnake
sloop, a great part of which were Dutchmen, afforded a suf-
ficient proof, when they engaged, in the most gallant and
active manner, the La Preneuse frigate, which they drove
out of Algca Bay. By example and a little practice, they
overcome the dull and sluggish motion to which they have
il
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 243
been accustomed, and soon become capable of prompt and
vigorous action.
The Dutch sailors, it seems, are always glad of an oppor-
tunity to serve in English ships, where they have the reputa-
tion of being a quiet, orderly, and obedient people. ‘The
manner in which they are fed, in their own ships, is little
calculated to give them encouragement. ‘The captains of the
men of war are, at the same time, the pursers; and they
feed their men by contract, which, stipulating for quantity
only, leaves the quality to the discretion and the conscience
of the captain. The Dutch ships of war that were sent out,
with the governor and troops on board, to take possession of
the Cape, had a remarkably long passage, which occasioned
the Dutch sailors on board our ships to observe, that the cap-
tain’s musty peas, rancid pork, and black bread were not
consumed, before which it would not be his interest to come
into port where better articles were to be had. The same
sailors got hold of some of their bread, which they carried
through the streets of Cape ‘Town, tied to the end of a stick,
by way of a joke, it being so very black as to have more
the appearance of animal excrement, baked in the sun, than
of bread.
On the present plan of navigating their ships, the Dutch
would find it impracticable to proceed from Europe to India
without breaking the voyage. ‘The unfavorable form of their
vessels for moving quickly through the water, the little sail
they carry, especially by night, the economical plan in which
they are fitted out, forbidding the use of copper sheathing,
ie
244 TRAVELS IN
and the bad provisions laid in for the people, are all against
a long continued voyage. The mortality that sometimes
prevails on board their Indiamen, even on short passages, is
almost incredible. Mr. 'Thunberg informs us, and his vera- '
city may be depended on, that the mortality on board the
ship which carried him to the Cape, after a voyage of three
months and a half from the Texel, amounted to one hundred
and fifteen ; that three other ships in the same fleet suffered
still more in proportion to their crews, the Hoenkoop having
buried one hundred and fifty-eight ; the //idliam Vih two hun-
dred and thirty ; and the Jonge Samuel of Zeeland one hundred
and three men !
It may be considered, indeed, as next to a physical impos-
sibility for a Dutch ship to run from the Texel to Batavia
without stopping. The possession we held of their old half-
way house, the Cape, was so severe a blow to their navigation
in the Eastern Seas, that, after the capture of Lucas’s fleet in
Saldanha Bay, there was not, in the course of five years, a
single Dutch ship of any description that ventured to the
southward of the line. ‘The convenience of refreshing at the
Cape is absolutely necessary to, and inseparably connected
with, the Dutch trade to India. The Spaniards and Portu-
gueze are equally averse to long passages, without refreshing,
as the French and Dutch. ‘The Danes, the Swedes, and
Americans less so, because their provisions, in general, are
more wholesome, and their ships more cleanly: yet, to all
these, an intermediate port is always considered as an object
worthy of attention. .
SOUTHERN AFRICA. . 245
To the English the intervention of a port, m the longest
voyages, is the least important; and many commanders, of
late years, have been so little solicitous on this point, as to
prefer making the run at once, rather than suffer the delay
and impediment occasioned by calling for refreshments on
the passage. The commanders, indeed, of the British ships,
in general, are so well acquainted with the nature of the
fixed and periodical winds (the Trades and. Monsoons), and
with making the most of those that are variable, that distant
voyages are now reduced almost to a certain duration. The
old system, still, perhaps, too rigidly adhered to in the navy,
of endeavouring to place the ship’s head in the direction of
her intended port, is entirely exploded by the commanders
of ships in the employ of the East India Company. It may
answer the purpose in the British Channel, and near land,
but is ill suited for a long voyage, through climates where the
wind undergoes but little change. The squadron of. men of
war, which brought away the garrison, on the evacuation of
the Cape, were twelve weeks on their passage, whilst the Sir
Edward Hughes Indiaman, which left the Cape a week later,
was three weeks in England sooner, than the said squadron.
A passage from China, which formerly was reckoned from ten
to twelve months, is now reduced to four months, and has
been made in a hundred days.
This rapidity in skimming over the ocean, reduced, as
nearly as the nature of such a loco-motion will allow, toa
certainty, added to the superior quality, as well as abundance,
of provisions that are laid in for the voyage, bas rendered it
a matter of perfect indifference to English seamen, in point of
246 TRAVELS IN
health, whether the run be made at once, or the voyage be
broken for the sake of obtaining refreshments at some inter-
mediate port. This being the case, the former method is
usually preferred, and much delay, as well as expence, is
thereby avoided.
Since, however, all maritime expeditions and transactions
are, in a very peculiar degree, liable to accident and misfor-
tune, it must always be considered as a desirable object to
have some neighbouring port to resort to in case of urgent
necessity.. In the short voyage to the ports of the Levant and
others in the Mediterranean, Malta, and a number of other
islands, present themselves as places of refuge for ships in dis-
tress. ‘The bay of Madeira lies open to the outward bound
‘ships in the West India trade, and the Western Islands, if
necessary, may be approached on the return-voyage. And,
although the Portugueze settlement of Rio de Janeiro in
South America is not greatly out of the way of ships, in their
‘outward-bound passage to the East Indies and China, nor the |
island of Saint Helena on their return, yet it cannot be denied
that the Cape of Good Hope is infinitely preferable to both
of these places, since it not only divides the passage more
equally, but supplies, in general, better refreshments, and
in greater plenty, and is alike convenient for shipping to
touch at, whether in their outward or homeward-bound
voyage.
In the early periods of foreign navigation, the ships of
every nation, trading to the East Indies, found it convenient
to call at the Cape for water and fresh provisions, long before
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 247
it was taken possession of, in form, by any European power.
The native Hottentots, at that time, were numerous on the
Cape peninsula, and rich in cattle, which they supplied to
passing ships on easy terms.
In the reign of John IId of Portugal, Bartholomew Diaz
made the first successful attempt to reach the southern pro-
montory of Africa, which he effected in the year 1487 ; but
whether he quarrelled with the natives, and was driven away
by them, as some historians have pretended, scems to be
doubtful. Vasco-de-Gama, ten years afterwards, touched at
the Cape, but made no attempt to form a settlement there.
Next to Vasco-de-Gama, was the Portugueze Admiral Rio
d’Infanté, who strongly recommended to his Government the
establishment of a colony on the southern coast of Africa;
and fixed upon the mouth of a river for that purpose, to
which was given his own name, and which is now called the
Great Fish River. Some other attempts, by different Por-
tugueze navigators, were made to colonize the Cape, but
they all failed.
After this the English and the Dutch were frequent visitors
to the bays of the Cape.
_ The English, in their outward-bound voyage, had a custom
of burying their dispatches for the directors, and to point out
where they were to be found by cutting a sentence, to that
effect, on some large blue stone Jaid on a particular spot.
The intelligence, engraven on the stone, was usually limited
to the name of the ship and captain, the date of her arrival
248 “TRAVELS IN
and departure, and it ended with “ Look for letters (in such
‘¢ or such direction) from this stone.” Two or three stones of
this kind are built into the castle wall, and are still legible.
The Dutch used to bury, on a certain spot on Robben Island, -
a register of the state of their vessels and cargoes, out-
ward bound, which the next ship, in coming home, took
up and carried to HoHand for the information of the Direc-
tors.
In this manner the English, the Dutch, and the Portugueze
continued, for more than a century, to refresh at the Cape,
without any design, on the part of the two former, of appro-
priating the soil; until the year 1620, when Andrew Shillinge
and Humphrey Fitzherbert, two commanders of two fleets of
English ships bound for Surat and Bantam, took a formal pos-
session of the soil for, and in the name of, King James of
Great Britain, because they discovered that the Dutch in-
tended to establish a colony there the following year; and
“© because they thought it better that the Dutch, or any other
* nation whatsoever, should be his Majesty’s subjects in this
eS lace, than that his subjects should be subject to them
« oy any other.” It was not, however, until a period of more
than thirty years had expired after this event, that the repre-
sentations of Van Riebek, stating the richness of the soil,
the mildness of the climate, the advantage it would give to
the Dutch, as a colony, over other nations, whose ships would
all be obliged to touch there, and, above all, the barrier it
would afford to their Indian dominions, prevailed on the Di-
rectors of the Dutch East India Company to form a regular
establishment at the Cape.
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 249
Their original intention was to limit their possessions to the
Cape peninsula, and the two bays that are separated by the
isthmus ; considering it only, as it had hitherto been, as a
place for refreshing and refitting their ships, But the num-
ber of settlers that crept in, from time to time, made it neces-
sary to cross the isthmus, and, by presents and promises, to
obtain from the natives the cession of a tract of land to which
they gave the name of Hottentot’s Holland. Laving dis-
covered that the predominant passion of this feeble people
was the love of spirituous liquors and tobacco, and that pieces
of iron and glass beads were considered among the first ne-
cessities, they negociated for whole tracts of land with these
pernicious drugs and paltry baubles. A cask of brandy was
the price of a whole district, and nine inches in Jength of an
iron hoop the purchase of a fat ox. The natives, however,
it would seem, had no idea of resigning, for ever, to a foreign
nation, the ground that was necessary for feeding their own
cattle; but conceived it could only be intended for tempo-
rary use, and that, in time, their visitors would depart from
the country as other Europeans had hitherto done for the last
century and an half; but, when they observed them building
houses and fortifications, sowing and planting the ground, and
rearing their own cattle, they began to be jealous of the en-
croachments of their new neighbours, and commenced hosti-
lities with a view to expel them. ‘These hostilities terminated,
as is usual in such cases, in the further extension of the Dutch
settlement, and in an increase of troops and colonists from
Hurope.
Still, however, the Dutch East India Company endeavoured
to limit the Cape to the orginal design ofa port for refreshing
VOL. II. KK
250 TRAVELS IN
their ships. They threw every obstacle in the way of its be-
coming a flourishing settlement ; allowed no trade whatsoever
but what passed through the hands of their own servants, and
made it dependent on the Governor-General of Batavia ; con-
cluding, that the settlers would thus be made equally submis-
sive to their orders from Europe, and from the seat of their
influence and wealth in the East. It foresaw, perhaps, that a
spirit of industry, if encouraged on a mild and temperate cli-
mate, and on a fertile soil, might one day produce a society
impatient of the shackles it might wish to impose upon it.
A decree was therefore passed, that in the country districts
the farm-houses should not be erected at a nearer distance
from each other than three miles; with a view, probably, by
preventing a ready intercourse, of counteracting more
effectually any design they might be inclined to adopt for se-
cnring their independence.
-
A colony, in such a state, on the decline of their commer-
cial establishments in the East, became a burden and’an ex-
pence too heavy for them to bear; and little doubt was
entertained of their willingness to dispose of it for a moderate
sum of money, just before the French revolution and its de-
structive consequences unsettled the affairs of all Kurope. As
it never produced any surplus revenue, but, on the contrary,
was attended with considerable expence ; and, as they never
applied it to any other use themselves, but that of refreshing
their ships, which they could always do, in time of peace, just
as well in the hands of any other power, it could not be sup-
posed they would be averse to part with it; and, accordingly,
overtures to this effect were intended to be made by England
about the time when the above unfortunate event took
place.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. ast.
Having shewn the necessity that the ships of most of the
maritime powers of Europe are under of refreshing at the
Cape, it is obviously the interest of all those powers that it
should remain in the hands of that nation which would have
the least motive for imposing restrictions on foreign visitors ;
and it is scarcely necessary to observe that, from the general
policy of England, and the favourable circumstances in which
her commerce and navigation are now placed, there would be
a greater security of the Cape, when in her possession, being
open to foreign shipping, and of refreshments being supplied
to them on equal terms as to her own, than if left in the hands
of any other power.
I have stated its vast importance to Eingland in a military
point of view: it now remains to consider it as a naval sta-
tion. First, as a port for refreshing and refitting the ships of
the East India Company: secondly, as a station for ships of
war, commanding the entrance into the Indian seas; and,
thirdly, as affording, by its geographical position, a ready
communication with every part of the globe. After which, I
shall endeavour to point out the disadvantages that may re-
sult to the East India Company, in the present war, if the
French or Dutch are suffered to retain possession of the
Cape.
If, in the first place, the advantages resulting from the pos-
session of this settlement were confined to the furnishing of re-
freshments for the shipping of the East India Company, either
on their outward or their homeward-bound voyage, I am will-
Kk 2
252 JO BRAY EGS” FN
ing to suppose the importance of them, however great even
in this point of view, might be considered as inadequate to
counterbalance the expence of keeping up the necessary es-
tablishment, although I have shewn that, under a prudent
administration of the revenues, this expence would be re-
duced to a mere trifle. ‘The Directors, indeed, thought they
had sufficiently proved, by the measures they adopted with
regard to the Cape, that it was by no means necessary for
their trade as a place of refreshment. The Directors, how-
ever, were soon convinced of their mistake, having discovered
that, although English seamen could bear the run between
England and India, the native blacks, which they are under
the necessity of employing in time of war, could not do it ;
and it is to be apprehended they either have or soon will dis-
cover, that unseasoned troops, sent directly from England, are
no more able to bear an uninterrupted voyage, than the Las-
cars. It will remain, therefore, for the Directors to find out
some other place, in lieu of the Cape, now that they are ex-
cluded from it, a circumstance which, indeed, their own con-
duct seemed to invite.
But, as I have already observed, all maritime aflairs are
peculiarly liable to casualties, and, on this consideration,
one would be led to conclude that a friendly port must al-
ways be held as a valuable acquisition to all who are con-
cerned in such affairs ; and more especially to the East India
Company, whose concerns are of such vast magnitude. The
number of ships that meet with stress of weather, and suffer
from the tremendous storms that are frequent in the winter
i
&
%
de
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 253
season, on L’Aguillas Bank, must always stamp a value on
the Cape, and make its ports and bays particularly desirable
on the homeward-bound voyage.
That instances of distress do happen, and not unfrequently,
in situations where the only hope of safety can be placed
on the Cape, or in some of its bays, might be proved ina
number of cases that happened while it remained in the
hands of Great Britain ; but I will content myself with men-
tioning one single instance. ‘The Countess of Sutherland
Indiaman experienced a most violent gale of wind between
Madagascar and the coast of Africa, in which, after losing
all her masts, she became a wreck at the mercy of the winds
and waves for several days; and, at length, was momentarily
expected to sink, when, on the weather clearing up, they
descried the land of Africa to the southward of the spot
where the Grosvenor was lost ; and being now in the stream
of the current, they contrived to fetch into Kromme River’s
Bay, a small Cove in Camtoos, or Saint Francis, or Content
Bay, for it has a variety of names. Having here procured a
supply of water and other refreshments, and rigged up a kind
of jury masts, she endeavoured to proceed to Simon’s Bay for
the purpose of undergoing a thorough repair; but, un-
fortunately, she met with a second gale of wind, just as she
was approaching the entrance of the bay ; and in this gale
she must inevitably have perished, had not Captain Hotham,
with his Majesty’s ship the Adamant, gone out to her imme-
diate assistance, and succeeded in towivg her off the rocky
coast, towards which she was rapidly drifting. Now this
single ship and her cargo were said to be estimated at the
254 TRAY EAS (iN
value of three hundred thousand pounds; a sum of money
equal to the maintenance of the civil, military, and contin-
gent expences of the Cape, for a whole year.
Had the Cape, at this time, been in the hands of the
Dutch, the fate of the Countess of Sutherland must have
been inevitable. In war she would have been taken; and in
peace she would have been suffered to go on shore; for the
Dutch possess neither the activity nor the willingness to give
speedy assistance to ships in cases of distress. ‘This unfor-
tunate ship has since been captured and carried into the Isle
of France ; and the loss of the Prince of Wales, in attempting
to beat round the Cape in the winter season, may wholly be
attributed to the circumstance of this colony being in the
possession of an enemy. ‘The value of these two ships would
have maintained the garrison for two years.
There is no place, in the homeward-bound voyage from
India, so proper or so convenient for the valuable fleets of the
East India Company to assemble at for convoy, in time of
war, as the Cape of Good Hope. Here, at a very reasonable
rate, their crews might be refreshed with fruits, vegetables, and
fresh provisions. Salt beef, for the rest of the voyage, might
here also be laid in, affording, thus, a considerable increase
of tonnage in each ship for stowing goods, by her taking in
only three instead of six months’ provisions.
1f, in the second place, we consider the Cape as a nayal
station, commanding the entrance into the Indian Seas, its
importance, in this respect, will be no less obvious. A small
SOUTHERN) AE RICA. 255
squadron, during the last war, was found to be fully adequate
to guard the passage round the Cape, and effectually to de-
feat any attempt of an enemy to disturb the peace of India,
as well as to prevent them from giving the least annoyance
to our trade in the Indian Seas. Not a single ship of the
line of the enemy ventured to double the Cape in six years,
much less did he venture to risk any attempt to throw troops
into the colonies or the continent of India. If indeed foreign
ships, in their voyage from Europe to India, find it necessary
to refresh their crews at the Cape, how much more urgent
would the necessity be when the same ships were crowded
with troops. The French, in all their former wars, in the short
voyage to the Isles of France and Bourbon, refreshed and re-
fitted at the Cape. These islands, as I have already ob-
served, instead of being able to victual a fleet, barely furnish
provisions sufficient for the inhabitants. and a small garrison.
But by the supply of provisions and naval stores sent to them
from the Cape, Suffrein was enabled to maintain his ground
in the Indian Seas, without which he would very soon have
been obliged to give up the contest. In the late war our
cruizers from the Cape kept the Southern Ocean completely
clear of the enemy’s ships, and allowed the Indian squadron
to make such choice of their cruizing ground, that between
the two, not a French frigate escaped, nor scarcely a single
privateer remained on the Mauritius station for some time
before the close of the war. Our Indian squadron was re-
duced to a mere nothing, whereas it is now considered neces-
sary to keep in those seas eight sail of the hne and two Com-
manders in Chief, half of which force might be withdrawn
and kept with greater advantage and much less expence at
556 . OTR AVEES aw
the Cape of Good Hope, ready on any emergency to -act
either to the eastward or the westward.
It is not probable that France will ever be able to make
any impression on India but by the assistance of a fleet ;
and it must be our own fault if we allow them any such fleet
in the Eastern Seas; as by our possessing the Cape, she must
find it utterly impracticable to assemble, much more to victual
and store, any such fleet. The want of a suitable place to re-
fresh at must render every attempt to cope with us in those
seas abortive. So well were they aware, in the late war, of
the futility of any expedition from the Isles of France and
Bourbon, without the assistance of the Cape of Good Hope,
that they preferred the fatal experiment of colonizing Egypt,
in the hope, perhaps, of proceeding at some future time by
the Red Sea to India. They knew that, even if they had
succeeded in getting out to these islands a sufficient number
of ships and troops, yet without the supplies which they have
usually on such occasions drawn from the Cape, any such ex-
pedition must necessarily here have ended.
While England held the Cape, the trade of every other
nation to India and China might be considered as entirely at
her mercy, though this is an advantage of which she is under
no necessity of availing herself. During the northern con-
federacy, several Danes came in to refresh, although they
knew they would be taken, or at least detained. With re-
spect to the Americans, who, of late, by their carrying-trade
alone, have worked themselves into the greatest portion, next
to England, of the India and China trade, notwithstanding
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 259
the favorable situation of their country to an extended com-
merce with India, they would find it extremely inconvenient
to be obliged to relinquish the accommodation of refreshing
their crews, and disposing of part of their cargoes, at the Cape
of Good Hope; from whence, indeed, in case of any rupture,
their trade might, at any time, be completely checked, a cir~
cumstance which would operate as a security for the pre-
servation of amity and a good understanding with that com-
mercial nation. Had we, indeed, been fortunate enough to
have retained this settlement, there is every reason to believe
the indulgencies granted to their trade here might have been
an important consideration with them, in the renewal of a
commercial treaty with England.
After what has been stated with regard to the healthiness
of the climate, exemplified in the small degree of mortality
among the troops, and in the vigor and stability that their
constitutions acquired, it is scarcely necessary to add that the
same salutary effects equally prevailed in the navy on this
station. The mortality, indeed, among the seamen, was still
less, probably on account of their being less exposed to the
summer heats, and to their having fewer opportunities of com-
mitting irregularities. There was generally a difference of
six or eight degrees in the temperature of the bay and the
town. When the thermometer, for instance, in Cape Town
was at 84°, it stood no higher than 76° on board the ships in
Table Bay.
The moderate expence at which a fleet can here be main-
tained is, likewise, an advantage not to be overlooked. The
VOL. II. LL |
258 TRAVELS IN.
sailor may be subsisted equally cheap with the soldier. It
has been calculated, after making the usual allowances for
waste, damage, and interest of money, on ships provisions
sent out from England, to say nothing of the premium re-
ceived on bills given in exchange for paper currency, that the
sailor at the Cape can be furnished with his ration of fresh
beef or mutton, biscuit, and wine, at one-fourth part of the
rate which the same ration costs the government in salt pro-
visions and biscuit sent out from England. <A pint of wine,
as I have already stated, costs no more than threepence, and
might be reduced to-half that price by abolishing the mono-
poly ; and the Cape brandy, though at present bad, on ac-
count of the defective manner of distillation, and the improper
ingredients employed, may be had at a much cheaper rate
than West India rum, and would, in a little time, under the
-- encouragement of the British Government, have been made
in its quality equally good of its kind.
What the actual expence of the squadron, which might be
- considered to be stationed there for the defence ofthe settle-
ment, amounted to, is not easily ascertained. Sometimes
there were eighteen pendants, and sometimes not eight ;
and the ships were generally employed on various and active
service. The following account, made up in conformity to a
precept of the House of Commons ona motion of the late
Sir William Pulteney, will shew at least the money expended
there in seven years for naval services.
~~
SOUTHERN AFRICA. acy
* An account of the expences which have been iucurred in
maintaining the possession of the Cape of Good Hope,
from the time it was surrendered to his Majesty's forces,
to the time it was delivered up at the peace, so far as re-
lates to payments made on account of the following Offices
in the Naval Department.”
Navy OFFIce. Sesini Ueeltnde Vie gare d. Jy yy dass fads
Stores purchased, payment to arti-
ficers, salaries and other charges
on account of the naval establish- ris = ]) 3055849) Lt) ta
ment onshore - - -
Pay to Admirals or Commanding
Officers on the station, their Se- — — — | 14,680 12 4
cretaries 3 - - = !
Wages to the Companies of his
Majesty’s ships employed there { es ow ii eg ae
5733038 14 3
VicTuatiinG OFFIce.
Expences incurred for the sea service} —- —- — |632,635 18 3
Ditto for the land service - — — —!] 35,639 16 83
’ 4
See rad 668,275 14 113
Sick anp Wounpep Ofrice.
Sick and wounded Seamen.
Victualling, &c. of patients - 87,228 13 14
Salaries, &c. to officers - 10,652 15 9
Vegetables, lime juice, &c. to his 8 6
Majesty’s ships and vessels - aaa. Tee :
Sick Prisoners of War. He LOG, G7. g07 5. acy
Victualling, &c. of patients - BAST ALCS
Salaries, wages, &c. to officers - | 2,575 19 6
————| 8,033 10 11
—| 114,706 16 of
I
Total £. 1,356,021 5 32
Or a yearly expence of 10235757, 0. 5 |
To this account the Commissioners of the Navy have very
properly subjoined the following observation: “ The above
“ accounts include all the expences incurred at the Cape
“¢ while it was in our possession, not only on account of the
“ squadron which may be considered as more immediately
“ stationed for the protection of the settlement and of the
LL2
260 - TRAVELS IN
establishment of the naval yard, but for a great number of
ships of war which touched at the Cape on their passage
to and from India, as well as for a considerable body of
troops which were sent to that settlement and afterwards.
transported to India. The abatement of the expences of
victualling these ships and troops, and of the prisoners
taken from the enemy, would very much reduce the ex-
pence relating to the victualling department; and the same
observation will apply to a considerable extent in respect
of the expences for the sick and wounded seamen, and also
of the expences for refitment of ships not belonging to the
Cape squadron, and for stores supplied to them : but find-
ing it impracticable to separate the expences, so as to
ascertain with correctness what part was incurred for such
a number of ships and for such a naval establishment as
might be considered to have been maintained solely for
the protection of the settlement, which expences only
would come within the meaning of the precept, it has been
judged better to send the accounts in their present form,
with the above explanations, than to attempt to form an
estimate thereof, the accuracy of which could not be
relied on.”
It would indeed be just as correct to charge the victualling —
and other expences of the fleet under Lord Nelson blockad-
ig Cadiz to the account of Gibraltar, as the whole money
expended on naval services at the Cape of Good Hope to
the account of maintaming that settlement. As a great pro-
portion of the provisions were the produce of the colony, I
have little hesitation in saying that if the same number of
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 261
ships had been attached to the Indian station, the victualling
account would at the very least have been equal to twice the
sum contained therein.
With respect to the wear and tear of the tackle and furni-
ture, I have understood it to be very considerable on this sta-
tion, owing to the frequent gales of wind, and the exposed
situation of the ships. Admiral Pringle used to say, that
every south-easterly gale, of a week’s duration, cost his Ma-
jesty some thousand pounds. But this expence might, pro-
bably, be obviated by forming an establishment at Saldanha
Bay.
The geographical position of the Cape of Good Hope
throws a vast weight into the scale of its importance to Eng-
land. Its happy situation, with regard to climate and the
productions of the soil, stamps its value as a depository of
troops and seamen ; and its relative position on the globe en-
hances that value by the ready communication it commands
with almost every part of the world. We have seen with
what expedition more than two thousand troops were thrown
from hence into India, to the very walls of Seringapatam ;
and, on another occasion, twelve hundred effective men into
Egypt. With equal facility and dispatch could the same,
or a greater, number have been conveyed to the east coast of
North America, the West India islands, and the east and
west coasts of South America. At a month’s notice, the
whole coast of Brazil could be lined with cruizers from the
Cape. The whole eastern coast of Africa, and the various
islands contiguous to it, are at the mercy of the power who
262 TRAVELS IN’
holds the Cape ; and the large island of Madagascar may be
approached in ten or twelve days, those of France and Bour-
bon in much less than a month, the Red Sea in five or six
weeks, and the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel in seven
or eight weeks. These passages will certainly depend much
on the season of the year in which they are made; but when
this is properly chosen, the different places may be arrived at
within the periods here mentioned. ‘The only effectual block-
ade of the Isles of France and Bourbon can be kept up from
the Cape; it is in vain to attempt it from India without
a much greater force than it would be prudent to keep there
for that purpose. In fact, this advance post, in its relation to
our Eastern dominions, may be considered in the same light as
Barbadoes is to Jamaica and the rest of the West India islands
—a point from whence they can at all times receive a speedy
reinforcement ; and with this additional advantage, that it ex-
cludes the enemy from entering the Eastern Seas with any
considerable force.
If, at any time, troops should be wanted in the West In-
dies, the homeward-bound East Indiamen might be employed
to transport them thither from the Cape without retarding
their passage more than sixteen or eighteen days, as the com-
mon practice of crossing the line is now as far to the west-
ward as 26° west longitude. Detachments of the Hottentot
corps would be well calculated for service in the West India
islands. Should, at any future period, the French resume
their projects on India by the Red Sea (which they will cer-
tainly not fail to do whenever an opportunity presents itself),
in three months from the time it was first known in England,
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 263
a force from the Cape might be in possession of the straits of
Babelmandel, and, by thus anticipating, completely frustrate
their designs, which, with the Cape in their possession, or in
that of the Dutch, they would with great facility accomplish.
But if the geographical position of the Cape gives it the pre-
eminence, as a great naval and military station, as the bar-
rier and master-key of our Indian possessions, it still derives
other advantages from this very eircumstance,. which, though
of a subordinate nature, are highly deserving of notice; these
are the turn it 1s capable of giving to the commerce of India
and China ; and the encouragement and protection it affords
to the Southern Whale Fishery ; but as these considerations
are too important to be slightly passed over, it may be proper
to reserve the observations. that occur on them for a subse-
quent chapter ; and, in the mean time, proceed to point out
the disadvantages that may result to Britain, and particularly
to the East India Company, from the Cape being placed in
' the possession of the Dutch, or, which must be considered as
the same thing, in that of the French, the former being so
much reduced and degraded by the latter, that they no longer
are, and in all probability never can. revive as, a separate and
ap independent nation.
We have already seen the vast advantages that Great Bri-
tain derived to her trade and possessions in India, during the
late war, by holding this barrier in her own hands ; let us now
consider what our situation is, in these respects, in the present
state of things. The Cape of Good Hope is in the possession
of an enemy; Rio de ta Plata belongs to Spain, who has,
264 TRAVELS IN
been forced into ‘hostility against us; and the Isles of
France and Bourbon, deriving their usual supplies from the
Cape, are enabled to send out their cruizing squadrons against
our trade. These three important stations, all hostile to us,
form a triangle, within the boundary lines of which every
ship, bound to or from the Indies, must necessarily pass ;
and the respective, positions of these three points are so fa-
vorable for annoying our trade, that, were the skill and acti-
vity of the enemies who hold them commensurate with our
own, which, fortunately for us, they certainly are not, it would
be almost an hopeless attempt for a ship to escape.
It will be urged, perhaps, that the great extent which may
be taken in crossing the equator from eighteen to twenty-six
degrees of longitude, leaving it to the discretion of the com-
manders of our East India Company’s ships to keep the
American shore close on board, or to pass it at a distance ;
and the equally great extent that may be chosen in doubling
the Cape, from the thirty-fourth to the forty-second degree of
latitude, would render the cruizing of the enemy so pre-
carious, that'the odds of escaping them are greatly in our fa-
vor. Itis granted that it may be so; and I am, moreover,
‘persuaded that neither the French nor the Dutch would at-
tempt to intercept our outward-bound ships, for these two |
reasons ; first, because their value is so much less on the
outward than on the homeward-bound passage; and _ se-
condly, on account of the uncertainty of falling in with
them, as well as in consideration of the violent storms their
cruizers would be almost sure to encounter off the Cape of |
Good Hope. -
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 265
But these circumstances take a very different turn on the
homeward-bound voyage. The danger is then increased in a
much greater proportion than the value of the ships is aug-
mented. If, indeed, we are willing to allow the enemy to
employ the same means that we should ourselves do, ina like
situation, the capture of many of our ships may be considered
as inevitable. Since this was written the observation has been
but too fully justified.
In the first place, the danger of the straits of Sunda pre-
ents itself to our homeward-bound China ships. A small
squadron from Batavia, stationed at Nicholas Point on the
‘north of Java, where there is good anchorage, or at Anjeric
Point in the middle of the Strait, at both of which places it
may receive a constant supply of refreshments, would be able
to intercept every ship that attempted to pass the Strait. To
avoid these the Strait of Malacca has been chosen, but in
either case the ships from China pass a fixed point. When
Linois waited the approach of the Canton fleet near Pulo
Aura, he knew to a certainty that he could not miss them ;
and had he possessed the courage and the skill of a British
officer, the greater part, if not the whole, of this valuable
fleet must have fallen into his hands or have been de-
stroyed.
Both these straits, it is true, may be avoided by taking
the eastern passage; but here a new and no less danger
presents itself from the port of Manilla. As all ships, mak-
ing this passage, must go within sight of Luconia, it would
VOL, II. M M
266 TRAVELS IN
be difficult for them to avoid an active squadron cruizing off
this island. Thus,
“ Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim 3”
by avoiding one danger they fall into a greater.
Admitting, however, that either through the exertions of
our cruizers, or the inactivity of the enemy, the China fleet
should escape both Scylla aud Charibdis ; the next dangerous
point that occurs, not only to them but to the whole trading
concern of the East India Company, is the L’Aguilla’s Bank,
where we can have no cruizers to protect our trade, on ac-
count of the heavy storms that prevail there, and the want
of a friendly port to refit and refresh our ships. The cur-
rent, that sets along the outer margin of this bank, moves at
the rate of forty or fifty miles a day, in the winter months, in
direct opposition to the north-westerly winds ; a circumstance
so well known, that all our ships strive to keep in the stream
of the current, which sweeps them round the Cape against
the wind. ‘The enemy’s cruizers would find no difficulty in
running from False Bay, im the winter months, close along
shore as far as Algoa Bay, which our ships have frequently
done in three or four days; and, by skirting the outer margin
of L’Aguilla’s Bank, they can, at any time, return by the stream
of the current, even against a gale of wind. ‘Thus might their
ships of war from the Cape track our homeward-bound India-
men, and greatly annoy our trade; for, on the return-voyage,
they have much less scope in doubling the Cape than when
outward-bound. Indeed, in the winter season, it is almost
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 267
impracticable to double the Cape at any great distance from
it. The attempt to do it has generally failed, and always been
attended with the greatest danger of losing the ships, as in
the instance of the Prince of Wales. The Experiment from
China, venturing on the usual track, was captured on the
edge of the L’Aguilla’s Bank.
Supposing them, however, to have escaped all these dangers;
admitting them to have passed the island of Manilla, the
Straits of Malacca and of Sunda, and the Cape of Good Hope;
there still remains one point against which nothing can pro-
tect them but a superior fleet. In whatever degree of lati-
tude the Cape of Good Hope may be doubled, in the home-
ward-bound passage, all our ships run nearly upon the same
line to Saint Helena, so nearly, indeed, that I suppose they
scarcely deviate twenty leagues from the same track. If then
a squadron of the enemy’s ships from the Cape should cruize
to windward of this island, and within sight of it, our India
flect must necessarily fall into their hands. And on this
cruizing ground, where the wind is fixed and steady, the water
smooth, and the weather always fine, the enemy’s vessels may
remain for any length of time.
The enormous expence, and, indeed, the impracticability
of affording effective convoys to our Indian trade, under such
unfavorable circumstances, must be obvious to every one.
The expence of one effective convoy to be stationed off Saint
ITelena, as long as the Cape remains in the possession of the
French, to say nothing of the serious inconvenience of de-
taching ships of war from more important stations, would be
MM 2
268 TRAVELS IN
much more than sufficient to maintain the whole establish-
ment of the Cape for a twelvemonth ; and, in all probability,
more than the profits might amount to of the cargoes so con-
voyed. Saint Helena, besides, is not adequate to furnish
any supplies for such a convoy. With the greatest exertions
a few refreshments are raised for the use of the island, and
the surplus is disposed of at a most extravagant rate to the
shipping of the East India Company. They have few horned
eattle, and not one of these can there be killed without the
consent of the Governor. Yet this is the only place we now
have left where a convoy can be assembled ; a fixed point,
where it is exactly known to all the world at what periods,
within a month, the several convoys will be collected. How
incalculable then were the advantages of possessing a middle
point between India and Europe, where every necessary re-
freshment might be had in the greatest abundance; and
which, instead of being a point of danger and annoyance as
it now is, was the bulwark of security to our Indian trade and
_ possessions.
These who may feel inelined to console themselves for the
loss of the Cape, by reflecting that nothing of serious moment
happened to our Indian fleets and possessions during the
American war, should recollect the great change of circum-
stances that has taken plaee since that event. Holland, at
that time, though an impoverished and declining nation, was
independent on France, and had her own possessions in India
to protect ; and France, though equally then, as now, zealous
to accomplish the ruin of our wealth and power in India,
which she had long in vain endeavoured to emulate, had but
¢
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 269
just the means of giving a feeble protection to her territorial
possessions in that quarter of the globe. Armies were not
raised, nor fleets equipped, with that facility under the mo-
narchy, as under republican tyranny, or consular despotism.
Mr. Delacroix took great pains to impress on the mind of
Lord Malmesbury the accession of strength that France had
acquired by her republican form, of government. “ Nous ne
“ sommes plus dans la décrépitude de la France mo-
“ narchique, mais dans toute la force d’une republique ado-
‘* lescente.”
What imperial France may be able to atclneve, a little time
will probably determine. Not having, however, at present
any possessions im India to protect, her grand object will
probably be, in co-operation with the Dutch, to endeavour
to hold in their hands, by rendering it impregnable, this out-
work and barrier of all India; and having once effected this,
she will find little difficulty in assembling, at her own islands
of France and Bourbon, a sufficient number of troops and
transports to disturb the peace of our Indian settlements.
Her aim will not be that of fighting our fleets of war, nor of
making a direct attack on our Lastern possessions, but to
abet and assist the native powers against us, with a view
rather of destroying our empire in India, than any hope she
can possibly form of establishing one of her own. Without
funds and without eredit she can have little prospect of
amassing wealth by fair trade and honest industry; and will
therefore attempt, by every means she can think of employ-
ing, to effect the ruin of ours; by disturbing the peace of our
settlements through her intriguing agents; by forming al-
270 TRAVELS IN
liances with those who are dsiposed to be hostile towards us ;
and by assisting them with her troops.
It was in this point of view that the French considered the
Cape of Good Hope to be more important than the Island of
Ceylon, the cession of which, I have reason to believe, they
never meant to dispute vigoiwusly in negociation, being rather
determined to stand a contest for the restoration of the Cape
nominally to its ancicnt possessors. If, however, in order to
obtain a peace, we were actually reduced to the necessity of
accepting the alternative of retaining one and giving up the
other, as may have been the case, it became, no doubt, a very
serious and interesting consideration, just)y to appreciate their
comparative value and importance. The one rated as yield-
ing a revenue of nearly a million a year, with a barbour not
surpassed in the whole world; the key of all India; and a
place, in the hands of a powerful enemy, from whence all
India might be assaulted—the other, a barren promontory
(for such it was generally esteemed) at a great distance from
our Indian territories, affording little or no revenue, and
maintained at a considerable expence.
“ If we give up Ceylon,” has observed Lord Macartney,
“‘ being situated at the extremity of the peninsula of India, it
* would become an immediate and terrific enemy to us in that
“‘ quarter, as commanding the power of invading from thence
“ both the coast of Malabar and Coromandel. To a maritime
“‘ power the excellent harbour of Trincomalée is a jewel of in-
_“ estimable value ; it holds the Bay of Bengal at its mercy, and
“ affords every facility of overawing and controuling the na-
9
~
n
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 271
a
‘ vigation of the Straits of Sunda and Malacca. Our Asiatic
“ possessions, commerce, and marine, would consequently lie
“ open to the depredations of the masters of Ceylon.... Ad-
“ mitting then that Ceylon should preponderate, if put into
“ the scale against the Cape, let it not be forgotten, however,
‘that the Cape in an eneny’s hands may become a powerful w-
* strument for their recovering Ceylon.”
na
There can be no question that the French had previously
decided on the relative importance of these two settlements
which had been taken from their ally; and that they were
extremely glad we gave up that which was considered as the
worse, under the idea of its being an instrument in their
hands which might enable them to take from us the better.
Ceylon to them was of no great value. It furnishes no sup-
plies for au army ora navy, and would always be at the mercy
of that power which could bring a superior fleet into the
Indian Seas; and we have shewn that no such fleet of an
enemy could be assembled there, nor victualled, nor pro-
visioned, whilst the Cape of Good Hope remained a British
colony. It would seem then to have been a more desirable
object to retain possession of that station which would effectu-
ally have excluded them from the Indian Seas; and which
would have enabled us to confine them to their useless islands
of France and Bourbon.
Of one thing England may be well assured, that the destruc-
tion ofits commerce, as the source from whence its power and
affluence are derived, is a sentiment so deeply roated in the
mind of the Corsican that, so long as. it continues to flourish,
272 i TRAVELS IN
his irascible and vindictive temper will not allow him to keep
on any terms of friendship with us. He is well aware that
eur commerce is our great support, that, as Mr. Delacroix
observed, it enabled us to subsidize all Europe against them ;
and that if he could once break up our commerce to India
and China, and shut us out from the Mediterranean, the grand
bulwark that stands between him and universal sovereignty
would, in a great degree, be removed.
Should his views, unhappily for the world, ever be accom-
plished, an age of barbarism would return, ten times darker
than that which followed the irruption of the northern hordes.
A deadly blow would be struck at once to the liberty of the
press ; nothing would be written, nor printed, nor tolerated,
but what the sovereign despot should find conducive to his
universal sway. ‘The time would then come when ig ut cle-
ricus, instead of saving a man from death, would be ‘be sure
means of bringing him to his end.
It behoves his Majesty’s Government then to be upon
guard, and to watch the points where we are most vulnerable, —
in our commercial concerns, with unremitting attention ; but
above all, to secure the possession of every post that might
favour the designs of the French upon India. ‘The first
step towards the accomplishment of this desirable object
is the recovery of the Cape of Good Hope; for, without the
possession of this out-work, our Indian Empire can never be
considered as secure. While the enemy is allowed to keep
the key, the house is all at times liable to be plundered.
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SOUTHERN AFRICA. ays
v
Having now pointed out some of the principal advantages
which the Cape possesses as a naval station, it is right to men-
tion the inconveniencies under which it labours in this respect.
The most serious of these, which, indeed, is the only material
one that I am acquainted with, is the want of a secure
and convenient harbour for refitting, repairing, or building
ships. ‘I'he two principal bays that are resorted to by ship-
ping, one in the summer, the other in the wiater months, are
entirely open, and exposed to the two prevailing winds, the
north-west and the south-east ; nor does it appear to be prac-
ticable, by any expence, to render them secure and sheltered,
nor to construct any kind of dock or harbour for the reception
of large ships, and scarcely even of sinall coasting vessels.
If any thing of this kind were to be attempted in Table
Bay, it could only extend to the accommodation of small
craft; and the only place for this purpose would be at Rogge
Bay, where nature has laid a solid foundation of rock, close
to which there is a considerable depth of water, where the
swell of the sea is broken by the jutting points on which are
erected the Amsterdam and the Chavonne batteries. At all
events, this would bea much better and more convenient landing
place than at the present wooden wharf, which is barely
kept from falling into ruins at an enormous annual expence.
Tn all other parts of the bay an attempt to make any kind
of harbour would be fruitless. The tide barely rises five feet, and
the constant rolling swell in the winter season would always
choak the entrance of any dock with sand. Thus the mouth
of the Salt River is alternately open and blocked up with sand.
VOln I. NN
to Danae rule cane
274 ‘TRAVELS IN
The annexed chart of Table Bay was constructed by order
of Governor Van de Graaff in the year 1786, and has beer
found, by a diligent examination, to be extremely accurate.
The anchoring-ground in general is tolerably good, but the
shifting of the sand leaves bare sometimes whole ridges of the
same kind of hard blue schistus that appears every where on
the west shore of the bay. These ridges are so sharp, that a
cable coming across them is sure to be cut in pieces. This
has happened so frequently, that the bay is full of anchors,
which have never been fished up ; and these contribute equally
with the rocks, to cut and chafe the cables of other ships.
If some pains be not taken to remove the anchors, the num-
ber of which increase every year, there will not, in time, be a
clear anchorage for a single large ship. When the Dutch
Admiral Dekker’s squadron was blown out of Table Bay in:
February 1803, they left six or eight anchors behind.
Admiral Pringle, I understand, was of opinron that the in-
convenience arising from the rocks and the lost anchors was. >
in some degree remediable, by sinking mooring-chains for the
Jarge ships, instead of their lying at anchor. In the south-east,
winds, which blow from September to the end of April, and.
which is the season when all ships bound for the Cape resort
to ‘lable Bay, there is no other danger than that of being
driven out to sea from the wear and tear of the cables; though
the water is not smooth, yet the sea is not high, and it is next
to impossible for a ship. to go on shore, unless on the south,
point of Robben Island, which they have always time enough,
to avoid, the distance being seven or eight miles. Within
this island and the continent there is excellent anchorage,
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SOUTHERN AFRICA. 275
where ships so driven out usually bring up. Herc, too, ships
intending to come into Table Bay generally wait the abate-
ment of a south-east wind, if it should happen to blow too
strong for their working up against it. This island is too
small, and at too great a distance, to afford the least shelter to
Table Bay in the north-west winds that blow in the winter
months.
The frequency, the strength, and the long duration of the
south-east winds are attended with considerable disadvantage
to commerce, it being sometimes impracticable to ship or to
land goods for many successive days.
These winds are very uncertain in their duration, there being
scarcely two years in which their periods do not vary. ‘The
Dutch used to bring their ships round about the beginning of
September; but as Simon’s Bay is safe, at all times of the
year, for a few ships, the English protracted the time of en-
tering Table Bay to the beginning of October, yet in the year
1799, his Majesty’s ship the Sceptre, with seven others, were
driven on shore on the fifth of November.
The loss of this ship was attended with many distressful cir-
cumstances. At one o'clock she fired a few-de-joie, in com-
memoration of the anniversary of the Popish plot; at ten the
same evening scarcely a vestige was to be seen, but the frag-
ments of the wreck scattered on the strand, in myriads of
pieces, not a single plank remaining whole, nor two attached
together. Captain Edwards, his son, with ten other officers,
and near three hundred seamen and marines perished on this
NN2
276 TRAVELS IN
melancholy occasion. The body of young Edwards, a fine
boy of about fourteen years, was found the next day with a
bible in his bosom; that of the father not till several days
after. The morning after this melancholy accident happened,
exhibited a dismal scene of distress. 'The strand was strewed
with dead carcases, most of them mangled in so shocking a
manner by the shattered fragments of the ship, that they were
obliged to bury them in holes upon the beach ; the bodies
that could be taken up whole were placed in waggons and
carried to the usual burying-ground.
The Oldenburg, a Danish man of war of 64 guns, went on
shore the same day, but, from her having drifted upon a
smooth sandy beach, the crew were saved, as were those of alk
the otherships. ‘The Sceptre was unfortunately thrown u pon
a ledge of rocks near the mouth of the Salt River. Captain
Edwards, it seems, conformably to the custom of the navy,
employed every means to bring her up while drifting, and,
having lost their last anchor, bent even the forecastle guns to
the cable. The Dutch, knowing from experience how inef-
fectual is every attempt when once a ship has parted her
cables, pay no further attention to her safety but, setting
some of the head sails, run her ashore between the wharf and
the centre of the sea-lines, upon a smooth sandy beach, by
which means, though the ship be lost, the crew are generally
saved.
Our officers seem to be divided in opmion as ta the prefe-
rence to be given to Table Bay or Simon’s Bay. They are
certainly both defective, but the latter would appear to be the
9
ca
ake @
' F {
uy S
4 ' !
pi 1
7
‘
x 436
‘
co
Arcee ti ick
aay te
BAAS
Shallow Lake
ia
VY Mvenbay
Calkss Bay
Fishok Bay
Else Bay
Simons Bay
a7
2 10 ar
| 2 Ronan Rock
a Tine Sand
2
(Great! ySmiss winkle
"Bay w
Buy
nd . 13:13
Hocky 17. Fine Sand
Hae
Mountains
Little Smite Winkle
Bay
Ridge or High
0% 94 40 WO
ap Good UopeP!
© Anil Hooke
23 48
asa
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Page 258.
FALSE BAY at the CAPE of GOOD HOPE with the Soundings
as ee in the Year ge, On order of Rear Adm?+ Pringle.
Southern pen or 7th
)) Wael Leland
@ semetines
eakere
en
Meridian
True
Q
Tine Sand
OEP ‘
c Cape 7 ae eqniinting in n high ides oF
@
Breakers
Jand
AW
Fine Green Sand
aw
15
2 10 ao iB Hp.
“Rds Point Rank
52519 17 10 27 1B 22 \,
i877 35 27
20 24 oy
—
4713
is
Liblished Decli 205 hy Cadell & Davies Strand .
(ape ERED Vig
Lso
or Tal
“UNpassible Mountain,»
sleep
NOTE
The Buoy on Whittles Rock Ties ing Father)
at low Water.and bears trom the Kock by bom
pass NW, by Neabout 35 Futhoms distant att
PM.On Monday the 49*Dee 1796 the Teast we
ter on the Rock waste Feet itappears about 3®
Feet long andi20 broad huis irregular Sour:
all round about 2 Cables trom it.
The Variation in False Bay.33 West Tat. Cape
Good Hope P3424 30°
Neelé
&
§
3
x
NS
=
By
S
Sy
a)
:
NOTE
The Buov on Whittles Rock lies ing Fathoms| |
atlow Water.and bears trom the Rack by Com}
pass NW, by Niabout 35 Yathoms distant at 2 |
P.M .On Monday the 49 Decl 796. the least way |
lr on the Rock was.2 Feet .itappears about 30
Feet long and 20 broad ha's irregular Soundings
all round about 2 Cables from tt. : |
The Variation in False Bay, 93 West Lat, Cape
Good Hope P'34222 30:
PRK Oem
Seana
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 277
more secure, from the circumstance of few, if any, fhips
having ever been known to drive on shore from their anchors,
whilst scarcely a season passes without some being lost in
Table Bay. In the winter months, when the wind blows from
north to north-west, forty or fifty ships may lie at anchor per-
fectly secure in Simon’s Bay ; and eight or ten may be suf-.
ficiently sheltered in the strongest south-easters. The Great
Bay False, of which this is an identation or cove, was so little
known at the time of the capture by the British forces, that
Rear-Admiral Pringle, in the year 1797, directed it to be sur-
veyed and sounded, in consequence of which the exact situa-
tion was ascertained of a very dangerous rock, placed directly
in the passage of ships into Simon’s Bay; a rock, of the
existence of which the Dutch were entirely ignorant. The
annexed chart, with the soundings, is a copy of the said
survey.
The usual months in which ships resort to Simon’s Bay
are from May to September inclusive. The distance from
Cape Town, being twenty-four miles, and the badness of the
road, mostly deep sand and splashes of water, render the
communication at all times difficult; but more especially so
in the winter; and few supplics are to be had at Simon’s
Town; a name with which a collection of about a dozen
houses has most unworthily been dignified.
The necessity of ships of war being sent round into Simon’s
Bay for five months in the year, might be attended with very
serious consequences ‘to the safety of the colony, as far, at
least, as depended on the exertions of the navy belonging to
278 TRAVELS IN
the station. Being a lee port, the chances are greatly
against their being able to work up to Table Bay, and still
less to Saldanha Bay, to afford any assistance in the event
of an attack by an enemy’s fleet; which, without any inter-
ruption or molestation, might disembark troops, and land
artillery, stores, and ammunition at Robben Island, or any
of the windward bays.
This being the case, it would seem more desirable that the
ships of war upon the station should winter in Saldanha Bay,
being not only a windward port with respect to Cape Town,
but one of the best harbours, perhaps, in the whole world.
It extends in length near fifteen miles, in the direction of the
coast, which is about north by east, and south by west; and
the entrance into it is near the northern end, through a ridge
of granite hills, moderately high. In this entrance are three
rocky islands, two of which, named Jutten and Malagas,
are partly without ; and the third of flat naked rock, called
Marcus, is directly in the mouth of the passage, about three
quarters of a mile from the northern, and a little more than
a mile from the southern points of land, forming the entrance.
These two points and the island being once fortified, would
render the bay inaccessible to an enemy’s fleet. To the
southward of the entrance, and within the bay, are two other
islands, called the Schaapen and the Mewen. Between these
is a narrow passage into the south angle of the bay, which
is called the Laguna, or lake, where cutters, schooners,
fishing ships, and all kinds of small craft, to almost any
amount, might lie as securely as in a dock. On the north
side of these two islands is also good and safe anchorage for
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 2479
large ships; and it was here that the squadron of Admiral
Lucas was lying, when captured by that of Sir George
Elphinstone.
But the northern part of Saldanha’ Bay, distinguished by
the name of Hootjes Bay, affords the most eligible, con-
venient, and secure anchorage for large shipping, being land-
locked and sheltered from all winds. There is also a very
excellent landing-place near a mass of granite rock, which
is convertible into a commodious pier. The western shore
of Hootjes Bay is skirted by a range of granite rocks, along
the sides of which shipping might be hove down to: repair,
the water being four fathoms deep, close in with the rocks.
The Dutch ship Middleburg, that was set on fire when Com-
modore Johnstone appeared off the bay, went down with her
sides just touching these rocks, where she now lies under water
as if alongside a quay.
The entrance of Saldanha Bay lies in latitude 33° 10’ south,
longitude 18° east, and the distance from Table Bay is
eighteen leagues north by west. About nine leagues to the
southward of the entrance is.a low flat island, not many miles
from the main land, called Dassen Island, which is said to be
constantly covered with rabbits and penguins. The former
may generally be taken with great ease ; for on the appear-
ance of people on the island, the penguins take possession of
the rabbit holes, to the exclusion of the rightful owners.
Saldanha Bay, the shores of Dassen Island, and Robben
Island, in the mouth of Table Bay, abound with the different
kinds. of fish peculiar to this part of the world. Saldanha Bay,,
280 TRAVELS IN
in the winter season, is frequented by vast numbers of the
black whale, where the Southern fishers very frequently resort
in order to complete their cargoes.
The situation of Saldanha Bay is much more convenient
than that of the peninsula for receiving the supplies afforded
by the country. The deep sandy isthmus, whose heavy roads
have bcen the destruction of multitudes of cattle, would be
entirely avoided; and its distance from the corn districts,
which is the most material article of consumption, is much
less than that of the Cape. Its situation, with regard to all
the northern parts of the colony, is much more convenient
than Cape Town ; and equally so for those who inhabit the
distant district of Graaf Reynet, and who usually pass over
the Roode Sand Kloof.
From the many conveniencies that Saldanha Bay possesses,
as a secure harbour for shipping, at all seasons of the year,
where they may be repaired, and even built, must, on the
other hand, be deducted two very serious disadvantages, with-
out the removal of which it must ever present insuperable
obstacles against its becoming a- great naval station; these
are the want of wood and of fresh water.
The first might indeed be supplied, to a certain degree,
from the adjacent country. In the sand hills, that surround
a part of the bay, grow several kinds of shrubby plants, whose
long and thick roots are easily drawn out of the loose sand,
and in such abundance as scarcely to be credited. They
form a kind of subterraneam forest. The sides of the hills
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 28%
also, and the extensive plains, are covered with frutescent
plants. If the country, indeed, was planted with the oak,
poplar, silver tree, and others that grow near the Cape,
plenty of firewood might, in a very few years, be furnished
for avy number of shipping that would ever frequent the
bay.
The scarcity of water.is a much more serious evil than that
of wood, and perhaps more difficult to obviate. There are
two small springs towards the south end of the bay, but the
water of both is slightly impregnated with salt. The farmers,
however, seem to have no idea of digging wells, or of opening
a spring to let it run; on the contrary, the usual practice is
that of making a large dam close to the spring : by so doing,
they expose a greater surface to the action of the sun, which
is certainly an unwise measure, on a soil so strongly impreg-
nated with saline substances, and in a climate where evapora-
tion is so powerfully carried on. On a trial being made, by
order of the late Admiral Sir Hugh Christian, to obtain water
by digging near the landing-place of Hootjes Bay, a mass
of granite rock, of a steel blue color, was entered to the
depth of thirty or forty feet, and the small quantity of water
that oozed through the seams was found to be impregnated
with salt. ;
It may be observed, in the annexed chart of the coasts
from Table Bay to Saldanha Bay, that in every part there are
abundance of springs spontaneously bursting out of the
ground, for not one of these have eyer been dug for, nora
spade put into the ground in order to open the conduits and
VOL. II. 0O
282 TRAVELS IN
suffer them to run more freely. If, indeed, we consider for
a moment the situation of this low sandy belt of land, stretch-
ing along the northern coast, common sense must convince
us that there is plenty of water at no great distance below —
the surface. It is bounded on the east, at the distance only
of seventy miles, by a chain of mountains, whose summits are
from two to nearly five thousand feet high ; and all the waters,
from both sides of these mountains, fall upon this narrow.
plain. <A great part of them, it is true, sink into the Berg »
River, but the Berg River itself is on a level with Saldanha
Bay, into which, indeed, the whole body of it might, with
ereat ease, be carried.
This was, in fact, a favorite subject of conversation with
the late Colonel Gordon, and some other Dutch gentlemen,
by which would not only be furnished a plentiful supply of
water for a town, garrison, and shipping but, at the same time,
a navigation would be opened into the interior of the country,
particularly into Zwartland, the granary of the colony. Such
a scheme would, no doubt, be practicable, though that part
of it which regards the supply of a fleet and town with fresh
water would perhaps fail to answer the purpose, for the fol-
lowing reasons: That part of the Berg River, where it would
be the most practicable to turn its course, is within a mile or
two of the place to which the high spring tides flow, and
about twenty miles from tbe present mouth of the river in
St. Helena Bay. The distance from the same place, along
the line in which the new channel would be carried to Sal-
danha Bay, is about five and twenty or perhaps thirty miles.
Allowing for the circuitous course of the river in its present
1 :
Gna ene
SY
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 283
channel, and considering the bays of Saldanha and St. Helena
to have the same difference of level with the place at which
the river is proposed to be turned, the general current in the
new would be the same as that in the present channel, and
this is so very trifling, that let there be given in the new one
a fall as little as possible at the first, and as great as possible
near the bay, the tide must nevertheless set up it for many
miles, and render the water completely salt; and if it were
an open canal terminating in a bason, there is reason to sup-
pose it would soon be choaked up with the sand which the
wind shifts and rolls about. ‘There is a spring at Witte Klip,
the White Rock, which is situated. on an elevated point
about six miles to the northward of Hootjes Bay, which ap-
pears to be amply sufficient for the supply of a considerable
fleet of ships, if collected and brought to the bay in pipes,
the expence of which could not exceed a few thousand
pounds.
Even should this not be found sufficient for the purposes
of the fleet and the necessary establishment consequential to
its becoming the naval station, a measure might be adopted
which could not fail of securing a constant supply of fresh
water toany amount. ‘This would be effected by bringing it
in pipes from the Berg River, which never fails in the dryest
weather, and the surface of which, contrary to almost all the
other rivers of the colony, is very little sunk below the general
surface of the country. I should think that ten thousand
pounds would go a great way towards accomplishing this
object, so important to every nation whose shipping trade to
ihe eastward of the Cape of Good Hope. Were this once
00%
284 TRAVELS IN
effected, the interest of the capital expended in the under-
taking would be more than defrayed by an additional port
duty of ten dollars or two pounds sterling for each ship
a mere trifle, when compared to the ease and security in
which ships would here ride at anchor, and thus avoid the
wear and tear of Table Bay, besides the conveniency of
careening and repairing ; and, above all, the perfect safety
in which they would remain im all winds and at all seasons
of the year.
There can be little doubt, if a naval establishment was |
once formed at Saldanha Bay, that many coasting vessels and.
fishing ships would be constructed here, as it affords every
convenience that could be required for building ships, which
would be the means of increasing the coasting trade, and es-
pecially in the article of timber, the produce of the colony..
Whether any of the forest trees of South Africa are suitable
for building ships seems, as yet, a doubtful matter. Hitherto
they have not had any trial. With respect to size and form:
they are liable to no objections, and there can be little doubt
that, by felling them at a proper time, and seasoning them.
in such a manner as the climate may require, they would be:
found to answer all the purposes that might be wanted, not
only for the hull of a ship but also for masts and yards. So
little did they know, in the Cape, of the resources of the co-
lony, with respect to the timber, that of the forty-four distinct
species of forest trees, of the wood of which I procured speci-
mens, that were delivered to Government by Lord Macartney,.
not more than six or eight were in partial use ;. of the rest the:
names. even. were unknown.
+N,
Vie
To face page zo-
MOSSEL BAY,
On the SE. Coast of
AFRICA.
Gipe S Blaise, ts re Latitude 34°10.S. & Longitude 2228 EVariation
of the Compats, 27°54/W. Tide Plows fill and changes too" rives &
ralle ste rect perpendicular. There es a Spring of Fresh Water: near
the Landing Place, Provestons may be purchased reasonably & Fish
may be cauoht tr abundance near hobben Islan.
Surveyed in Spt"1707 by Liew WM" Pherson Rice. Reval Hany -
L 2
A Seale of one League or three Nautic Miles.
4ilevaed Plain
OU) J PRAT
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 285
The only bay within the limits of the colony, to the north-
ward of Saldanha Bay, is that of Saint Helena, which, by
land from Hootjes Bay is little more than fifteen miles. - In
shape and. situation it resembles Table Bay, but wants the
attractions of the latter both in respect of the quality of the
contiguous land and the quantity of water. Whalers some-
times anchor in ‘this bay, where, from the remote and un-
disturbed situation, so many whales constantly resort in the
winter months, that they seldom find any difficulty of making
up the deficiency of their cargo.
But on the south coast of the colony there are several
bays into which ships may occasionally run for shelter in the
north-west monsoon, but théy are all open to the south-east:
quarter. Of these the principal are Mossel Bay, the Knysna,
- Plettenberg’s Bay, and Algoa or Zwart Kop’s Bay. The
charts of this coast and the bays that were in the possession
of the Dutch were found to be so incorrect, that Admiral
Pringle sent Lieutenant Rice, in the Hope brig, for the pur-
pose of making a survey, of which the following charts and.
observations. are chiefly the result.
The outermost point of Mossel Bay, called Cape Saint
Blaize, lies in latitude 34° 10’ south; longitude 22° 18’ east
(I make it in the general chart 22° 45’ east). The variation
of the compass in 1797 was 27° 54° west. The time of high
water at full and change about 3 o'clock, and the rise and
fall of the tides six or seven feet. ‘The distance from the
Cape is about 240 miles. During the summer. months,.
286 TRAVELS iN
when the winds blow between east and south, or directly into
the bay, a heavy sweil breaks upon the beach, which makes
it dangerous, and frequently impracticable, for boats to land ;
but these winds are never so violent, nor so lasting, as at
the Cape; and ships may ride at anchor in perfect security
about three quarters of a mile from the landing place. The
south-west winds, that frequently blow with great violence
from April to September, bring into the bay a most tre-
mendous sea, setting round Cape Saint Blaize. At this season
of the year it would be highly imprudent for ships to enter
Mossel Bay. |
A rill of water glides over the sandy beach, where there is
the best landing, and it is easily conveyed into casks in the
boats, by means of a hose; but it is a very scanty stream,
and not altogether free from saline impregnations. ‘To the
south-east of this landing place is another small cove toler-
ably sheltered, and deep enough to admit vessels of ten or
twelve feet draught of water. At either of these coves piers
for Janding and shipping goods might conveniently be con-
structed, and at a small expence, as materials may be pro- -
cured upon the spot. Boats, however, may land at every ©
part of the bay ; and the adjacent country would easily afford
supplies for about five hundred men.
The mouths of the rivers that fall into the bay are generally
blocked up with sand. They abound with various kinds of
fish, and on the rocky parts of the coast are plenty of muscles
and excellent oysters. ‘The chief produce of the surrounding
7
eg an
To face page 76
CHART of the KNYSNA,
- Yu . tem f lhe teu Seven Seas CCSD
to lee Ihe wand of ‘
PLETTENBERGS B.2x,
Surveved by M James Callander.
rar a | Ps
Remarks.
The bere entrance ix directly tn the miitdle tn the tine of the Figures which denote
Fathonue at Low Water; the rise of the Tides at full and change ts about 8 Feet
Fi passing @ the proposed Pier ¥. the wame line should be kepe to abori the Rooks,
at A.and 3. The Fresh Ri G. might easily be conveyed to the Pier Between
Cand D.t# good partage rem 40 to 280 Feet hom C. at Low Water. Between C
D.and EB. Se Sail of Ships might tie at Anchor. The shore beow wen Cand E har
deep Water tr Muaitding and Launching Ships. The Waves tn the narrow entrance
are high and tunuttious in bad weather.
The Fervite and extensive
Ae ; ~ - rete ‘ Farm of MoBarnod.
9) hus Gast w the Earpward *: " 3
e fis cxevedinaly well wooded *
farud the Couatry very rirvile bub
fchinky Inhabited.
Lelande arlonting
eanllent Partirage =
sri) yp P
or yg OME
“ye
Onesie
Suess
Beautthit ectite th the whole Colony.
@
“pep 2g Sous 210
agua yorgen essay HL Perry
Published Deckw *ihog by Cutell & Danvit Serand.
a small House
and Lam
and the Courdtzy very fertile bul
inky Lihabited .
=
l ofthe KNYSNA,
WA lhe e Veu Seve eed
Vee VA cHibiwe Le of a
TEN BER GS BAS.
fed by M James Callantler.
4 Site
cm
Remarks.
Pier ¥. the same line whould be kept to avoid the Rocks!
ver G. miokt easily be corveved to the Pier. Between
\om goto 280 Feet trom C.at Low Water. Between C.
neat lie at Anchor, The shore between C.and has
Launching Ships. The Waves tr the narrow etree
2 bad weather. ~
The Fertile and eaxterwsive
Farm of MI earned.
asvtny rp PP
SIDE DAT syd
Weer,
Petoury
SPLOT Peano
+ ped 2 Aout su.
woguar yy UMP
ML Meele, Rul! 450, Seramnd.
——-
we OLU Tier VA OR CA, 287
country is grain; and there 1s a magazine erected near the
landing place, which is said to be capable of holding ten
thousand bushels..
To the eastward of Mossel Bay, and about eighteen miles
‘on the Cape side of Plettenberg’s Bay, there is a remarkable
inlet, which may one day become an important station. It
is called the Knysna. In the first volume, I observed that
the tide set into it through a narrow passage or portal, as into
a dock; that this passage, though narrow, and not quite
clear of rocks, would admit of small vessels. Since that ob-
servation was made on the spot, Mr. Callandar, a gentleman
formerly belonging to the navy, has taken a particular survey
of this arm of the sea, of which the annexed is a plan. He
observes that the depth of water, and great extent, of the
Knysna, running into the very centre of fine forests, render it
a most eligible place for the building and repairing of ships.
That vessels of five hundred tons and upwards, deeply laden,
may pass the portal; and that much larger might be built
therein and sent out light, to be completed in Plettenberg’s
Bay. That the forests contain several different kinds of
durable and well grown timber, fit for that valuable purpose,
as well as abundance of masts and yards. ‘That the native fir,
called geel hout (Ilex crocea), grows to upwards of sixty feet
in length, and to five, six, and even eight feet in diameter ;
which is also the case with the native oak, bearing an acorn
exactly like that of Europe, but called here, on account of a
strong and disagreeable smell which it emits when green, the
stinkwood tree (Quercus Africana).. ‘That the smell, however,
288 TRAVELS IN
is attended with the peculiar advantage of preventing the
worm from attacking it.
Plettenberg’s Bay is a wide open roadstead, entirely ex-
posed to the south-east winds. ‘The west point called Roben-
berg, or Seal Mountain, lies in latitude 34° 6’ south, longi-
tude 23° 48’ east; distant from Cape Point 320 English
miles. ‘The eastern shore of the bay rounds off into the gene-
ral trending of the coast, which, seen from the landing-place,
terminates in a very high and regular cone-shaped mountain,
called in the old Portuguese charts, Pic Formosa, but by the
more modern Dutch navigators, the Grenadier’s Cap. The
best landing-place is about three miles and a half to the
northward of the Robenberg, on a sandy beach, about five
hundred and fifty yards in length, guarded at each extremity
by rocky points that project into the sea. A heavy rolling |
sea generally sets into the bay, except in northerly and
north-westerly winds; when these blow, the water is
smooth. ‘The south-west winds occasion the greatest swell
of the sea.
A considerable river, called the Keerboom, falls into the
bay, but the mouth is generally choaked up with sand; and
the water within the bar, which forms an extensive bason, is
saltish for several miles up the country. There is another
small stream that runs down a very beautiful valley, but the
water of this is also brackish for at least two miles from the
beach. The only fresh water, apd it can scarcely be so
called, issues from a small well on the side of the hill, at the
*PUDMS SHAVER [PIPU) AQ GOQT, 07 229L PIYSNQNT
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Ti face pore 78
Appearance of Seal Hill when the Cape bore SEB ke Gap Appearusice of Seal Hill when the Gipe bore Nibv EXE.the Gop NEW: ts Beak within
E-by S.distene 4. ofS miles. Keurbooms RNNE.distunt & or 6 nites
Gord Takis 8°
Great
PLETTENBERGS BAY
on the
SE COAST of AFRICA,
Stl Cape ix in Latinute 3.4
een Tariation er'the Compas 27-52.W.Lide flows fill k:charwe
rises and Fille 5 wr 6 tee perpendicular: the Landing
place te on the batch near the Government Storvhoiees,
whereyou may get Brech Warr by rolling the Cashs Joo
Yaris but the Miah sure that generatty Breaks, maker it
illcule to water:
Surveyed te Snly b Aiea
Published Deol 8o3.by (idell k Davies Srant,
=|
7;
1 Mipas
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 289
foot of which the Government house, the wood magazine,
and other stores are built. ‘The anchoring ground is good,
and there is not much danger for shipping, well tound with
stores, to take in cargoes of timber at any season of the
year.
The last bay to the eastward is that called Zwart Kops
or Algoa. This bay is also open to every point of the com-
pass from north-east to south-east, and of course aftords not
any shelter against the prevailing winds. ‘The bottom, how-
ever, is generally fine sand and good holding ground, Ships
may anchor in five fathoms at the distance of a mile from the
general landing-place, which is on the west side of the bay ;
but vessels of great burden should keep farther out, on ac-
count of the very heavy swell that almost perpetually rolls in
from the eastward. ‘The latitude of the landing-place is 33¢
50’ south, and longitude 26° 53’ east of Greenwich; and the
distance from the Cape, in a direct line, 500 English miles.
The time of high-water, at full and change of the moon, ap-
pears to be about three o’clock, and the tide rises between
six and seven feet. ‘he extent of the bay, from the western
point to the eastern extremity, where it rounds off into the
general trending of the coast, is about twenty miles; and the
shore, except from the landing-place to the west point, is a
fine, smooth, sandy beach. The rivers that fall into the bay
are the Zwart-kops, the Kooka, and the Sunday. The
mouths of all these rivers are closed up by bars of sand, which
occasionally break down as the mass of water in the basons
within them becomes too heavy for the mound of sand to
support it; and the first south-east wind again blocks them
VOL. II. PP
a
290 TRAVELS IN if
up, carrying at the same time a quantity of salt water mto
the rivers. Close to the landing-place, however, there is a
copious spring of excellent water at the extremity of a nar-
row slip of ground, hemmed in between a ridge of sand-hills
on one side, and by a sudden rise of the country on the
other. This slip is about four thousand feet long by five
hundred in width. It is composed of excellent soil, has
a gentle slope to the shore of the bay, and is the prettiest
situation for'a small fishing village that could possibly be
imagined.
After indeed General Dundas had decided on the expedi-
ency of erecting a small work for the defence of the landing-
place, and caused a block-house to be built and surrounded
with a pallisade for the protection of the men to be:stationed
there, the face of the surrounding country began to put on
anew appearance. The slip of ground, contiguous to the
landing-place, was converted into gardens; and the stupid
boors stared with wonder, and were struck with astonishment,
at the variety and quantity of vegetables they produced.
These people, also, soon found the benefit of a ready market
for the consumption of their produce. Many trifling articles,
such as milk and eggs, from which they had never before de-
rived the least advantage, were now commuted into money.
Their sheep and cattle were sold at higher rates than the
butchers were accustomed to give them; and their butter,
soap, and candles, which they were always under the neces-
sity of carrying more than five hundred miles to market,
fetched now, upon the spot, double the usual prices,
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SOUTHERN AFRICA. 291
~ Zwart-kops Bay would appear to hold out no inconsider-
able advantages in the fishing trade. The bay swarms with
the black whale, and abounds with every sort of excellent
fish that frequent the coast of Southern Africa; and the
neighbouring salt pan would furnish an inconsumable quan-
tity of strong bay salt ready prepared for use. More’ solid
advantages might still be derived to the trading part of the
nation, and to the East India Company in particular, were
an establishment formed at this place for the preparation of
salted beef and fish. ‘The cause of the indifferent quality of
the Cape beef I have already sufficiently explained. .The
cattle in this part of the country, from the Snowy Mountains
to the sea-coast, are generally, in good condition; and the
beef that is killed here takes salt and keeps just as well as in
Europe. If the butchers at the Cape can afford to contract
for supplying the army with beef at two-pence a pound, after
having brought the cattle five, six, and seven hundred miles
at their own expence, and at the loss of almost half the weight
of the animals, it may easily be conceived at bow very cheap
a rate vessels bound on long voyages might be victualled at
Zwart-kops Bay: or, if the meat here prepared should be
transported to the Cape in coasting vessels, it might be af-
forded there considerably under sixpence a pound. The
surrounding country is very fertile; and corn in almost any
quantity might be purchased at the bay for less than three
shillings a bushel. Hides and skins might also be salted and
become an article of export. Those of the wild antelopes,
even with the rough dressing of the uninformed peasantry,
make very fine leather. For strength and durability the skins
PP 2
292 TRAVELS IN
of wild animals are much preferable to those that have been
domesticated.
It must however be confessed, that there is not in the
whole sea-coast of this extensive colony a single bay that is not
either insecure for shipping, or otherwise objectionable: yet,
with all the imperfections and inconveniencies of its bays, its
geographical position on the globe will, at all times, render it
a powerful instrument in the hands of a maritime nation for
directing the commerce of India and China into new chan-
nels, for enriching its possessors, and distressing their
enemies.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 293
CHAP. Iv.
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered in a commercial Point of
View, and as a Depét for the Southern Whale Fishery.
ae original intention of the United Provinces, in forming
a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, as I have already
observed, was that of its being a place of refreshment for the
shipping of their Kast India Company, beyond which they did
not consider it prudent to extend its use, till of late years,
when experience had taught them the very important advan-
tages it possessed as a military depot for forming and preparing
their troops, which were intended to serve in their Indian set-
tlements. Ships, however, of every nation, were permitted
to refit and refresh in the ports of the Cape, on payment of
certain port fees that were not by any means extravagant.
But as the supplying of such ships with provisions was a lu-
crative monopoly, acquired by favour or purchased for a sum
‘of money, the prices paid by foreigners were never less than
double, and ofttimes treble, of those paid by the inhabitants.
Hence little encouragement was held out for foreign ships to
call at the Cape, beside that of getting water and a few re-
freshments for their crews.
All commerce, except such as was brought in Dutch bot-
toms, was deemed clandestine and contraband; yet, such
294 TRAVELS (IN
illicit trade was not only winked at, but encouraged, by the’
servants of the Company, whose salaries, indeed, were so
small, that they could not subsist their families upon them.
The supphes, also, for the Cape, of which the Company re-
served to itself the exclusive privilege of furnishing, both from
Europe and India, were sometimes so scantily and so tardily
brought in, that the inhabitants were under the necessity of
smuggling certain articles of daily consumption out of foreign
ships for their immediate use. |
As the East India Company considered the Cape in ne
other light than as a conveniency to their commerce and their
settlements in the East Indies, to which point all their regula-
tions respecting it tended, their system of policy seemed to
require that every impediment should be thrown in the way of
its becoming a flourishing settlement. ‘The petty traffic they
reserved for themselves, or allowed their servants to carry on,
at this place, consisted in an exchange of colonial produce for
the manufactures of Europe and India. And this traffic was
not only a monopoly in the hands of the Company, or some
of its servants, but a fixed price, or what is usually called a
maximum, was imposed both on imports and exports. Other
regulations, that were adopted for the government of the
colony, were little calculated to promote its prosperity ; and,
although many of these were altcred and modified from time
to time, on the representations and remonstrances of that part
of the inhabitants, not engaged in the service of the Com-
pany, yet few of them were productive of public benefit. The
influence of the Company’s servants was always sufficient to
counteract the operation of any measure that promised to be
oO
all
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 295
more advantageous to the general interests of the colony, than
to the individual benefit of those entrusted with the govern-
‘ment.
There cannot be a stronger proof of this being the case than
the general prosperity that prevailed under the British govern-
ment; when, in the course of six years, with the administra-
tion of the same political system reserved to them by the ca-
pitulation, except in so far as regarded the abolishment of —
monopolies, which were nearly done away, the public re-
venues were more than doubled, without an additional tax or
increase of rents: and property in the town was also raised to
nearly the double of its former value.
The Dutch East India Company were, in fact, jealous of
establishing a power at the Cape which, by too great encou-
ragement, might, in time, shake off their yoke in Europe, and
overawe tieir settlements in India. For, although the whole
population of the colony, exclusive of slaves and Hottentots,
barely amounted to 20,000 souls, men, women, and children,
which were scattered over an extent of country whose dimen-
sions are not less than 550 by 230 English miles, yet, as it was
not convenient for the Government to keep up a great force at
the Cape, these colonists, few as they were, felt themselves
sufficiently strong to give it, at least, a good deal of trouble.
Nor, indeed, could it always place a firm dependence on the
forces that were stationed there, these being chiefly hired
troops engaged for limited service, of which both officers and
mien entered frequently into family connections with the in-
habitants. ‘Vhus circumstanced, it would have been no dif-
296 TRAVELS IN
ficult matter for the colonists to cut off, at any time, those
refreshments, without which the ships of their East India
Company would be unable to proceed on their voyage to
India.
The Dutch settlers seemed to be fully aware of the advant-
age which their situation gave them in this respect in making
their late weak attempt at independence, which, though then
unsuccessful, they may again feel themselves inclined to re-
new, if their old masters should be allowed to retain the
colony under the same regulations and restrictions as hereto-
fore. ‘lhe present weakness and the exhausted finances of
the Batavian Republic will scarcely be able to support even
the same degree of authority over its subjects here as be-
fore the capture; and the Asiatic Council, on finding them-
selves no longer capable of holding the government of the
Cape, as a conveniency to their trade, might, probably, be
the less scrupulous in rendering if. a mischievous agent against
us. Indeed, exclusive of any vindictive motives, they might,
perhaps, be tempted by the brilliant idea of establishing a
free mart of import and export at the extremity of Africa ;
which, like another Tyre or Alexandria, should concentrate in
itself the resources and supplies of every other region of the
globe.
If, indeed, at the late negociations at Amiens, the Cape of
Good Hope had been declared a free port, as is said to have
been proposed, though the result would certainly have proved
extremely profitable to speculators and the inferior nations of
Europe trading to the East, yet such a measure would as.
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 297
infallibly have proved ruinous to the concerns of the English
United Company of merchants trading to the East Indies.
The sales of Leadenhall-street would have suffered beyond
calculation ; a speedy termination would have been the con-
sequence to their monopolizing system; whilst, excepting a
few English adventurers trading under neutral flags, the Kng-
lish nation would be the last to benefit by such a measure.
The Danes, Swedes, Spaniards, Portugueze and, above all
others, the Americans, would soon find their advantage in pur-
chasing cargoes of India and China goods at the Cape of
Good Hope, at a moderate advance and without duties, in
preference of applying to the London market, where they are
liable to duties or puzzled with drawbacks; or rather than
prosecute the long and expensive voyage through the Eastern
Seas. The Americans, indeed, and the English adventurers,
would become the great carriers between India and China, and
the Cape of Good Hope.
In like manner it is to be apprehended that, if at a general
peace the Dutch should be allowed to keep possession of the
settlement, the French, having neither credit nor capital of
their own, will not only, by means of the Cape, consolidate:
a force in the Isles of France and Bourbon, to be ready to act
against us and to disturb the tranquillity of our Indian settle-
ments, but that they will likewise oblige the Dutch to allow
an emporium of Eastern produce at this extremity of
Africa for the supply of foreign nations, and _ particularly
of the Spaniards and Portugueze on the Brazil coast, to
the prejudice of the interests of the British East India
Company.
VOL. II. QQ
298 TRAVELS IN
It was an opinion, at one time pretty generally entertained,
that by reason of the long and expensive voyage to India, and
of the moderate profits with which the Company was satisfied,
the throwing open of the India trade would be less injurious
to the interests of the Company than ruinous to the concerns
of the private merchant who might be induced to engage in
it. Yet we see great numbers of ships every year proceed-
ing, even as far as China, under foreign flags, but with British
capitals ; and it is certain that the Americans, with very small
‘ ships and proportionate capitals, find their account in the
India and China trade, exclusive of that part which employs
them in carrying home the private property of individuals,
who have enriched themselves in India, The Americans,
with the returns of their lumber cargo, which they can always
dispose of at the Cape, and the produce of their South Sea
Fishery in oil and seal-skins, will always. be able to purchase
a cargo of China goods, part of which they may find conve-
nient to dispose of at the Cape on the return-voyage, in ex-
change for wine and brandy. With the rest they not only
supply the West Indian and American possessions of foreiga
powers, as well as the markets of their own extensive country,
but it is well known they have, of late years, very materially
checked the re-exportation of India and China goods. from
England to our own islands in the Atlantie.
It is obvious, then, that the Americans, by trading direct to
India and China, can afford to undersell the English West
India merchants in our own islands, notwithstanding the draw-
backs allowed on export from Leadenhall-street ; and, conse-
quently, that they may find their advantage in being alloweé
7
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 2.99
to dispose of the whole or part of their cargoes at the Cape of
Good Hope; to the prejudice of the British East India Com-
pany and the encouragement of English smugglers, of which,
indeed, the Directors were not without their apprehensions,
even whilst the Cape remained in our hands as a dependency
of the Crown. —
And if the Americans can contrive to make this a beneficial
commerce, under all the disadvantages of working up a capital
to trade with in the course of a long protracted voyage, how
much more so will ships, under neutral flags and English ca-
pitals, carry on a lucrative trade to and from the southern em-
porium of Africa; more injurious, in proportion as they are
more active, than the ships actually employed by foreign
merchants °
Here, then, is another cogent reason that, one might sup-
pose, would have had some influence on the minds of the Di-
rectors, and have operated so far, at least, as to have compelled
them to state to Government the danger to their concerns of
relinquishing the Cape; whereas the indifference they thought
fit to assume, though too affected to be real, unfortunately
had the ill effect of disparaging and undervaluing it in the eyes
of the nation. If they should be inclined to plead a want of
information with regard to the treaty of peace, let them recol-
lect that, under the administration of Lord Bute, after the pre-
liminaries of peace had been signed by the Duke of Bedford, the
latter was instructed, at the instance of the Court of Directors,
to alter an article that related to the Carnatic, or to break off
QQ 2
300 TRAVELS IN
the negociation; and the article was altered accordingly.
Thus might it also have been with regard to the Cape of
Good Hope, had the Directors consulted the real interests of
the Kast India Company. But, as there is reason to believe
that, though late, they have seen their error, and that they
are now convinced the Cape must either become a British
territory, or their interests will very materially suffer; it is to
be hoped they will shew themselves as solicitous to remove the
evil as they were before indifferent in preventing it; for,
should the present opportunity be allowed to slip, Tempus erit
magno cum optavertt emptum.
What the Dutch meant to have done with it, had not the
present war broken out, is uncertain. I was told, from good
authority, that their intention was to give it a fair trial of ten
or twelve years, unclogged and unfettered; to endeavour to
raise it, by every encouragement, to its greatest possible value
as a territorial possession ; to admit the commerce of all na-
tions on equal terms with their own, and to allow an influx
of settlers from Europe; if, at the end of that time, the re-
venues were not so far improved as not only to meet the or-
dinary and contingent expences of the establishment and the
garrison, but to produce a surplus for the use of the State,
that they should then consider how to dispose of it to the
best advantage.
_ All ships were, accordingly, admitted to an entry of Euro-
pean, American, or Indian produce and manufactures, on
payment of a duty of 10 per cent. on the invoice prices ; and
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 30x
all Indian goods, teas and spices excepted, were suffered to
be again exported on a drawback of the same amount as the
duty. How far such a regulation might interfere with the in-
terests of our Kast India Company, if at a peace the Dutch
should keep the Cape, I am not sufficiently acquainted with
the subject'to determine ; but such a plan would seem to open:
a-wide door for smuggling Indian commodities into Europe, .
under English capitals,.to an amount that must be alarming.
to the Directors themselves. .
The operation of this measure will be checked, to a cer-
tain degree, by the present war, which, I am sanguine enough .
to hope,. will ultimately be the means of once more annexing
the southern extremity of Africa to the dominions of Great
Britain. In such an event, the determination of securing it, .
at a peace, will be a more important object than the consi-
deration how its government is to be administered ; whether
as a dependency of the Crown, or as a territorial possession of —
the East India Company. ‘The interests, indeed, of the two,
are so intimately connected, that any question of privilege,
in a matter of such national importance, is a mere secondary
consideration, and ought, therefore, to bend to circumstances.
The interests of the Company, during our late tenure, were,
as I have shewn, secured and promoted in every respect.
They had their agent established at the Cape, and not the
smallest article of Eastern produce, not even the most trifling
present, was allowed on any consideration to be landed,
without a positive declaration, in writing, from their said
agent, that the landing of such article did not interfere with,
nor was in any shape injurious to, the concerns of his em-
302 TRAVELS IN
ployers. lt was, indeed, one of the first objects of the Crown,
after taking possession, to consult the interests of the East
india Company in every point of view; not only in providing
for their conveniency and security, by its happy position and
local ascendancy, but by opening a new market and inter-
mediate depository for their trade and commodities. It was
even proposed to place the custom-house under their sole di-
rection, in order to preclude any grounds of complaint. In
a word, in every point of view, except that of appointing the
civil establishment, the Cape might have actually been con-
‘sidered as a settlement of the East India Company.
Leaving, however, the question of privilege to be discussed
by those who are better informed, and more interested in its
decision than myself, I proceed to enquire,
To what extent the Cape of Good Hope might have been
rendered advantageous to the interests of the British empire,
as an emporium of Eastern produce ?—as furnishing articles
of export for consumption in Europe and the West Indies p—
as taking in exchange for colonial produce, articles of British
growth and manufacture ?
And lastly, to consider the important advantages that might
be derived from it, as a central depot for the Southern Whale
Fishery.
It is a point of too intricate and nice a nature for me to
decide, how far it might be advisable for Great Britain to
establish at the Cape an entrepdt for Indian produce, in the -
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 303
hands, and under the direction, of the East India Company,
and shall, therefore, content myself with barely suggesting
some of the probable consequences that might result from
such a measure.
.The grand objection against making the Cape an emporium
between Europe and the East Indies, and between the West
Indies, America, and Asia, is the prejudice it would neces-
sarily occasion to the sales of Leadenhall-street, and the con-
sequent diminution of his Majesty’s customs; for, though
the East India Company might be made responsible to the
Crown for the duties on the amount of its sales at the Cape,
yet the intention of the emporium would entirely be de-
feated, if the duties demanded there so far enhanced the
value of the Indian commodities, as to make it equally eli-
gible for foreign shipping to proceed to India, or to resort ta
the London market. And if these duties were reduced, it
would obviously be attended with a loss to the revenues of
the Crown; unless, indeed, the augmentation of the sales, in
consequence of the measure, should be found to be adequate
to the reduction of the duties.
It is liable also to another objection, grounded on the detri-
ment that would ensue to the London market in general. It
is certain that foreign merchants, purchasing goods at Leaden-
hall-street, find their advantage by laying in, at the same time
and sending in the same ship, an assorted cargo, the produce
of our colonies and the manufactures of Britain. Now if
these merchants could contrive to purchase Indian articles
204 TRAVELS IN
at a cheaper market than that of London, they might alse
be induced to make up their cargo with other articles at the
same place, to the prejudice of the London trader.
These objections may, perhaps, lose much of their weight
by the following considerations. The East India Company’s
trade, according to the Directors’ own account, is fully com-
petent to the whole supply of the East India and China
markets, in commodities of European growth and manufac-
ture: and they are satisfied in supplying the demands of
-those markets merely without a loss, in order to monopolize
the trade and cut out foreign nations, who are thus obliged
‘to purchase cargoes chiefly in exchange for specie. Even
the privilege of 3000 tons allowed to the private merchant,
by the terms of the Company’s late charter, is said never to.
be filled up; to such a low rate have they reduced the prices
of European articles in India and China, that the private
trader finds no advantage in sending goods on his own ac-
count, on a ‘moderate freight, to the eastward of the Cape
of Good Hope. ‘The Americans are the only nation who,
by their fisheries, are enabled to work themselves into a
-cargo to exchange for India and China goods; with which they
‘supply their own colonies and the West India islands, to the
prejudice of the sales of the British East India Company.
It will result, from these considerations, that the East India
Company, upon the same plan, could supply their emporium
at the Cape with the produce and manufactures of Great
Britain to any amount, and at so cheap a rate as to undersell
d
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 305
any other nation. ‘That the Americans, finding no longer a
market at the Cape for their lumber cargoes, would confine
their export trade to articles of peltry and ginseng, which
they might be induced to bring to the emporium in exchange
for teas, nankeen cloth, and muslins, at a moderate advance
price, such as would not make it worth their while to proceed
to India and China. ‘That other foreign nations, trading to
this emporium, might be accommodated there with British
goods and manufactures, nearly on the same terms as in Lon+
don, to make up an assorted cargo. ‘That a very extensive
trade might be opened with the coast of Brazil and the ports
of South America, both in Indian commodities and articles
of the growth and manufacture of Great Britain; those
ports, on that continent, belonging to Portugal being now
supplied through Lisbon at an enormously high rate; and
those of Spain, frequently without any supply at all, but
what they receive from English whalers and others in a clan-
destine manner.
The amount of European and Indian goods (the latter
chiefly prize articles) exported from the Cape in the last four
years, generally in Portugueze ships by English adventurers,
or in English whalers, for the coast of Brazil, the West India
islands, and Mozambique, was about 850,000 rixdollars, or
170,000 pounds currency. On the articles of Iuropean
growth and manufacture, whose value might amount to about
half of the above sum, there must have been a very consider-
able profit to the private merchant at the Cape, beyond what
would be required by the East India Company, and conse-
quently they must have been sold atahigh rate. Yet, under
VOL. II. RR
306 TRAVELS IN
these disadvantages, the trade to the coast of Brazil might
have been extended to many times the amount.
As in the case of the Cape becoming a commercial depot
in the hands of the East India Company, the consumpiion,
in Spanish and Portugueze America, of Eastern produce,
would increase to a very great extent, for all which they
would pay in specie ; and as the Company feel the greatest
want of specie for their China trade, and still more for the
necessary uses of their Indian empire, the supply of hard
money they would thus obtain, would considerably lessen,. if
not entirely put an end to, the difficulties under which they
now labor on that account. And the additional quantities
of Indian produce and manufactures that would be required
for this new channel of trade might prove, in some degree,
an indemnity to the natives of India for what the Com-
pany draw from them in the shape of revenue to be sent to
Europe.
The quantity of European and Indian produce consumed
in South America is by no means trifling. I observed in
Rio de Janeiro a whole street consisting of shops, and. every
shop filled with Indian muslins and Manchester goods, which,
having come through Lisbon, were offered, of course, at
enormously high prices. The trade, it is true, that subsists be-
tween England and Portugal, might render it prudent not
materially to interfere with the Portugueze settlements; but
the case is very different with regard to those of Spain. The
Mother Country, more intent upon drawing specie from the
mine than in promating the happiness of its. subjects in this
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 307
part of the world, by encouraging trade and honest industry,
suffers them to remain frequently without any supply of
European produce and manufacture. It is no uncommon
thing, I understand, to see the inhabitants of Spanish America
with silver buckles, clasps, and buttons, silver stirrups and
bits to their bridles, whilst the whole of their clothing is
not worth a single shilling. The whalers, who intend to
make the coasts of Lima and. Peru, are well acquainted with
this circumstance, and generally carry out with them a quan-
tity of ready made second-hand clothing, which they dispose
of at a high rate in exchange for Spanish dollars. All this
branch of trade might, with great advantage to both parties,
be carried on from the Cape of Good Hope. |
The emporium, therefore, being supplied by the East
India Company with European goods, as well as with India
and China commodities, the first to be sold at a very small
advance on the London market price, and the latter exempt,
or nearly so, from all duties, might be the means of putting
a stop to the clandestine traders upon British capitals, but
navigating under neutral colors, which has long been a sub- |
ject of unavailing complaint. The Directors of the Last
India Company would, no doubt, be able to decide as to the
rate at which it would be worth the while of these adventurers
to make their purchases at the Cape, rather than continue
their voyage to India er China.
Such an entrepét might likewise be the means of opening a
lucrative branch of trade with the West Indies ; a trade that
would not only put a stop to that which, of late years, the
RR 2
308 TRAVELS IN
Americans have so successfully carried on, but might open
a new source for colonial produce, especially for its wines,
which, with a little more attention and management in the
- manufacture, might be made to supersede those of Madeira,
that are now consumed there to a very considerable amount,
notwithstanding their enormous. prices, which limit their
consumption to the higher ranks of the islanders. Good
Cape Madeira might be delivered, at any of the West
India islands, at less than one-fourth of the expence of real
Madeira.
A new branch of trade might also be opened between the
Cape and New South Wales, the latter supplying the former
with coals, of which they have lately discovered abundant
mines, in exchange for wine, cattle, butter, and articles of
clothing. |
If, however, the East India Company, after making the
experiment, should find it injurious to its interests to con-
tinue the Cape as an emporium for Indian produce ; it will
always be in its power to reduce it to the same state in which
it remained whilst in the hands of the Dutch; to clog it as
much as possible with duties and difficulties, sufficient to
deter all ships, except their own, from trading to it; and,
in short, to allow them no other commerce than the purchase
of provisions in exchange for bills or hard money. It will
always be at their discretion to admit or to send away all
foreign adventurers. By the existing laws of the colony, no
person can reside there, but by special licence; and the
Governor is authorised to send away whomsoever he may. be
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 309
inclined to consider as an improper person to remain in the
settlement.
If the experiment should succeed, the obvious: result would
be an exclusive trade to India and China vested in the Eng-
lish. Fast India Company. The commerce carried on by the
Americans, their only dangerous rivals at present, would be
diverted into another channel, or, at all events, would suffer
a considerable reduction.. Should the Dutch ever rise again
as an independent nation, they would find it expedient to
court the friendship and alliance of Great Britain in the
East ; and, in the present low state of their finances, would:
be well’ satisfied with the exclusive privilege of the spice-
trade, and with any portion of the carrying-trade that Great.
Britain might think proper to assign to them. Any encroach-
ment on the part of this nation might easily be checked by a
refusal of the usual accommodations at the Cape, without
which their trade and navigation to the Eastern Seas must’
totally be superseded. If, at a peace, they are to become a
dependency of France, directly or indirectly, the Cape in our
hands will.always enable us to cramp their commerce to the
eastward. As to France, having neither credit nor capital,
without shipping and without manufactures, its trade to the
East will, in the nature of things, be inconsiderable for a
long time. Her first object will be to send out troops and
stores to endeavour to destroy, at some future period, our
trade and possessions in India, which she has long regarded
with envy and jealousy—and we have already shewn how far
the Cape may be instrumental in. checking or in forwarding,
310 TRAVELS IN
according to the power who holds it, her projects in this part
of the world. :
I now proceed to inquire to what extent the Cape of Good
tlope may be considered as advantageous to the interests of
the British nation, by furnishing articles of export for gene-
ral consumption in Europe and the West Indies. Its im-
portance, in this point of view, will readily be decided from
the statement of a few simple facts collected from the cus-
tom-house books, together with the supplies that were con-
sumed by the army, the navy, and the inhabitants during our
possession. It may be observed, however, that no true
estimate can be formed from such statement of what the
colony is capable of producing, cramped as it always has
been by restrictive regulations, which the indolent disposi-
tions -of the settlers tended but too much te cherish ; and,
therefore, that the following account of colonial produce
actually consumed and exported, is not to be taken as the
standard measure of its worth, as a territorial possession, nor
considered as any comparative quantity of what it might
supply, when governed by a system of salutary laws, and in-
hhabited by an industrious and intelligent race of men.
‘The chief articles of colonial growth and produce, con-
‘sumed upon the spot and exported to the East Indies,
Europe, and America, may, be .comprized under the follow-
ing heads:
SOUTHERN AFRICA. Bs
Grain and Pulse Salt Provisions
Wine and Brandy Soap and Candles.
Wool : Aloes
Hides and Skins Ivory
Whale Oil and Bone Tobacco.
Dried Fruits
IT shall take a short view of each of these articles se-
parately.
GRAIN AND PULSE.
The wheat produced at the Cape is said to be as good and
heavy as that of most other parts of the world. A load of this
grain consists of ten muids or sacks, equal to 31 Winchester
bushels: and a muid or 33, Winchester bushels, usually
weighs 180 Dutch pounds, which is equal to 1914 pounds
English. The returns are from 10 to 70, according to the
nature of the soil, and the supply of water. Mr. Duckitt,
the English farmer, informed me that he obtained seventy
for one from a new sort of wheat, of a small hard grain, at
the farm of Klapmutz, near the Cape, where the returns of
the ordinary kind, sown under similar cireumstances, were
only eighteen and twenty. A smali quantity of wheat only is
raised on such farms as are within the distance of one day’s
journey from the Cape, the best part of the ground in those
contiguous to the peninsula being chiefly employed in exten-
sive vineyards ; and still less grain is cultivated beyond the
distance of a three days’ journey from the town, .where the
inhabitants are all graziers. ‘Uhe quantity of grain.that might.
L
312 TRAVELS IN
be raised may ‘be considered as indefinite ; but the great dis-
tance from any market, the badness of the roads, and the
weak state of the cattle, will always operate against an ex-
tended cultivation. In addition to these obstacles, the farmer
had no encouragement given to him to raise more than a
limited quantity, as the prices were always fixed by the Go-
vernment, and bore a proportion to the state of the harvest.
If, therefore, the harvest happened to fail, it was an advan-
tageous circumstance to the farmer; as he received the same
money for a smaller quantity, and had less trouble and less
expence in bringing it up to town.
The surplus, purchased by Government, in fruitful years,
was laid up in magazines against a season of scarcity. At
the time of the capture there were found in store near 40,000
muids, part of which was sent to England; but the following
year not affording a productive crop, the scarcity was so
great, that Government found it necessary to prohibit the
use of white bread; nor, since that period, has it been able
to lay up in store a single bushel of wheat; nor to allow of
any exportation, beyond what was necessary for the con-
sumption of the crews of the several ships during their
voyage; and this was generally sent on board in biscuit
and flour.
The Dutch seldom paid more than from 20 to 40 rixdollars
the load; the English never less than from 40 to 60 rix-
dollars, five of which make a pound currency, and which,
being paper money, was generally 20 per cent. under a
pound sterling. The bakers of the Cape were required to
SOUTHERN AFRICA. a1}
take out a licence annually, and their number was limited ;
so that, by the regulations of the police which, in this re-
spect, were excellent, the inhabitants had always bread at a
reasonable price. )
Barley is a productive grain at the Cape of Good Hope.
Tf the rains happen to fall early, in the month of April for
instance, there is no soil, however impoverished by a con-
tinual succession of crops, none, however shallow and poor,
that will not yield a tolerable crop of barley ; or, to speak
more correctly, of beer or big ; for the only trial of flat-eared
barley I ever saw in the colony, was at the Governor’s seat of
Ronde-bosch, and it did not seem to promise much success.
‘The former is just as good as the latter at this place ; for the
Cape boor, having always plenty of animal food, would dis-
dain to eat bread mixed with barley-meal. ‘The only use that
is made of it is to feed their horses. or this purpose a great
part of that which is grown in the vicinity of the Cape is cut
down when green, just as the ear begins to shoot; the dry
barley and the chaff is brought from the opposite side of the
isthmus. The number of horses kept by the English, and the
superior manner in which they were fed, encouraged the cul-
tivation of barley tothe prejudice of that of wheat. At the
capture of the colony, the market price of barley was 15 rix-
dollar the muid, but General Sir James Craig, seeing the ne-
cessity of keeping up a certain number of cavalry as part of
the garrison, and knowing that this grain would necessarily
rise in consequence of it, made a voluntary offer of 2% rix-
dollars the muid, in order to secure a certain portion from
VOL. If. SS
314 TRAVELS IN -
each farmer for the use of the garrison, which they instantly
accepted. The following year barley rose to five dollars the
muid, and, at one time, was not to be had for less than ten.
A brewer, of the name of Van Reenen, employs a small
quantity, but the beer he makes is so execrable, that
none drink it but such as cannot afford to purchase European
beer.
Rye is a thriving grain at the Cape, but is little used ex-
cept for cattle, and then only while it is green; and oats
run so much into straw, that they are fit only for horses as
green fodder.
Peas, beans, and kidney beans are abundantly productive,
and might be supplied to any amount; but they are in little
demand except by ships that touch at the Cape. Indian
corn or maize grows here fully as well as in any part of the
world, and might be cultivated to any extent; the plant for
cattle, and the prolific heads for hogs and poultry. The
same may be observed with regard to the various kinds of
millet, three of which I cultivated here with the greatest suc-
cess, but neither one nor the other are much known beyond
the Cape peninsula.
The different kinds of grain and pulse that are brought up
to Cape Town, except oats, are subject to a certain toll at the
barrier, which, at the prices they bore under the Dutch Go-
vernment, amounted to about the tythe or one-tenth of their
value. The following table shews the quantity of each that
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 315
passed the barrier, and which, of course, includes the con-
sumption of the town, the garrison, and the navy, as well as
the exportation, in four successive years.
Muids Muids | Muids | Muids | Muids
Years. of of of of of
Wheat. | Barley. Rye. | Peas. | Beans.
—_————
1799| 34,951 |17,130 | 184 | 455 | 544
1800) 35,685 |25,6414] 444 | 366 | 326
1801) 32,3223/21,054 | 8353; 8083) 471
1802] 28,4022/21,084 | 4412) 168 | 216
oe oe <a | oo
Total of 4 years/131,3613/84,9093/1905 |17774|1358
Of the above quantity of wheat were annually required,
For the use of the Inhabitants - 18,000
Army - 8,000
Navy - 4,000
Total Muids 30,000
So that m none of the above yeats could a greater quantity
be spared, for ships calling for refreshments, than four or five
thousand muids ; and in the last year the inhabitants and the
garrison were reduced to an allowance. It may, therefore,
be fairly concluded that the Cape, in its present state, is not
capable of exporting any grain.
346 TRAVELS IN
WINE AND BRANDY.
These two articles, with those above mentioned, may be
considered as the staple commodities of the Cape of Good
Hope. Grapes grow with the greatest luxuriancy in every
part of this extensive colony ; but the cultivation of the vine
is little understood, or, to speak more properly, is not at-
tended to with that diligence which in other countries is
bestowed upon it. Hence the wines are susceptible of great
improvement, and the quantity of being increased inde-
finitely.
Ten or twelve distinct kinds of wme are manufactured at
the Cape, and each of those has a different flavour and
quality at the different farms on which they are produced.
From difference of soil, from situation, and management,
scarcely any two vineyards, of the same kind of grape, give
the same wine. By throwing under the press the ripe and
unripe grapes, together with the stalk, most of the wines
have either a thinness and a slight acidity, or, for want of a
proper degree of fermentation, and from being pressed when
over ripe, acquire a sickly saccharine taste. An instance of
the former is perceptible in that called Steen, which resembles
the Rhenish wines; and of the latter, in that which is known
by the name of Constantia. It is generally supposed that
this wine is the produce of two farms only, of that name z
whereas, the same grape, the muscadel, grows at every
farm; and at some of them in Drakenstein the wine pressed
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 317
from it is equally good, if not superior, to the Constantia,
though sold at one-sixth part of the price ; of such import-
ance is a name.
This wine sells at the Cape for 70 or 80 rixdollars the half
aum, a cask which ought to contain 20 gallons; but the
avaricious propensity of the proprietors, increasing with the
demands for their wine, has led them to fabricate false casks,
_ few of them that come to England being found to measure
more than seventeen or eighteen gallons; many not above
sixteen. And if they find out that the wine applied for is
to be sent abroad, they are sure to adulterate it with some
other thin wine. For, according to their own returns, the
quantity exported: and consumed in Cape ‘Town, as in the
case of Madeira wine, greatly exceeds the quantity manu-
factured.
By a settlement made between the Dutch Commissaries
General, in the year 1793, and the owners of the two farms
of Great and Little Constantia, the latter were bound to fur-
nish, for the use of Government, 30 aums each, every year,
at the rate of 50 rixdollars the aum; which was regularly
taken, after being tasted and sealed up in presence of persons
appointed for that purpose, by the English Government, to
the no little annoyance of the Great Lord of Constantia, who
is the son and successor to the man of whom Mr. Le Vaillant
has drawn a very entertaining portrait. The wine was paid
for out of the Colonial Treasury, and the whole of it, under
418 TRAVELS IN
Lord Macartney’s government, sent home to the Secretary of
State, for the disposal of his Majesty. »
The quantity of Constantia wine exported in four succes-
sive years was,
Years. Half Aums. Value.
In |1799 157 11,752
1800 188 14,070
1801 173 13,007
1802 210 15,745
In four years 728 54,504 R.D.
The best bodied wine, that is made at the Cape, is the
Madeira, considerable quantities of which were usually sent
to Holland and to the Dutch settlements in India. The
Americans, also, have taken small quantities, of late years,
im exchange for staves, a trade that seems susceptible of very
considerable augmentation. The English merchants at the
Cape have made up cargoes of the different sorts of wines,
both to the East and the West Indies, and they have been
tried in the northern nations of Europe. But they uni-
versally complain that the wines seldom agree with the
samples, and that they frequently turn sour; so little regard
for reputation have the Koopmen of the Cape. Confined to
this spot from their birth, they have had little opportunity of
2
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 319
improvement from education, and none from travel, and are
consequently ignorant of the nature of foreign trade. If
their wines are once on board ship, they conclude there is an
end of the transaction, and, if previously sold, whether they
arrive in good or bad condition, is no concern of theirs.
If the precaution was taken of separating the ripe from the
unripe grapes, the sound fruit from the decayed, and the stalks
rejected ; if the must was suffered to remain in open vessels,
so that a-large surface might be exposed to the free contact
of the atmospheric air, until it had undergone the last degree
of vinous fermentation; if after this it was carefully drawn
off into close vessels and kept unmolested for twelve months,
there is little doubt that a good, pleasant, sound bodied
wine might be obtained, free from that extraneous and pe-
culiar taste which all the Cape wines possess in a greater or
less degree, owing entirely to the slovenly manner in which
the process is conducted, and the vines being cut down so low
as to suffer the branches of fruit to rest on the soil.
The country boor, having no surplus stock of easks, is
under the necessity of selling to the merehant in the town his
new wine; and here it is mixed and adulterated in a variety
of ways. The pipe is called a legger, and contains 8 half
aums or 160 gallons, and each legger pays to Government
a duty, on entering the town, of three rixdollars. ‘The
price paid to the farmer is generally from 20 to 30 rixdollars
the degger, which, after adulteration, is sold again from 40
=
320 TRAVELS iN
to 60 rixdollars, and frequently at the rate of 80 to 100 rix-
dollars.
The article of brandy might become a very important com-
modity in the export trade of this settlement, provided the
cultivators of the vine were instructed in, and would take
the trouble of, carrying the manufacture of it to that state
of improvement of which it is susceptible. At present they
have no proper distillatory apparatus, nor knowledge to con-
duct those which they have. The filth that is usually thrown
into the still, with the refuse of the wines, is disgusting ;
and the imperfect process is mot sufficient to destroy the
extraneous and disagreeable taste communicated by the
loathsome materials. ‘The whole operation is usually com-
mitted to the care of a slave, who has little knowledge of,
and less interest in, the business he is commanded to per-
form: he falls asleep; his fire goes out; a rapid blaze suc-
ceeds to make up for loss of time; the spirit thus carries
over with it a strong empyreumatic flavor which it never
loses. This spirit has been tried in the East Indies, but it
seems they give the preference to arrack. If distilled with
proper care, and under proper management, it might become
a valuable article for the navy; and would, no doubt, find a
market in both North and South America. Brandy is ex-
ported at 80 to 160 rixdollars the legger, and is subject to
the same toll, on entering the town, as wines. And both
wine and brandy are liable to a further duty of 5 rixdollars
the legger on exportation. The following table shews the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 321
quantity of wines and brandy that passed the barrier, and
which, of course, includes the consumption of the town, of
the army, and navy, as well as the exportation in four suc-
cessive years.
Le 3 of Lepgegers of
| Years. eile ; Bandy
1799 6953% 598z
1800, 5199: 4723
i801] 54632 3205
1802; 40313 273%
In four years| 21,6492 16652
Of the above quantity have been exported from 400 to
800 leggers of wine, and from 30 to 100 of brandy, annually,
beside the Constantia; the rest has been consumed in the
town. So that the whole export value of wines, including
the Constantia, and the brandy, may amount, one year with
another, to about 50,000 rixdollars, or 10,000/. currency.
The gradual reduction of the quantity brought up to town,
as appears in the table, is no proof of the diminution of the
quantity manufactured, but shews rather that the wine-
farmer, by being in a condition to increase his stock of casks,
is enabled to keep his wine at home, and not obliged, as he
usually was, to deliver it to the wine merchants in the Cape
at their own price. This circumstance has contributed not a
little to the melioration of the colonial wines.
VOL. II. Cs
322 TRAVELS IN
WOOL.
This article is likely to become a source of colonial revenue,
which, till of late years, was never thought of; and certainly
never turned to any account, before the Deputy Paymaster’s.
bills on his Majesty's Paymasters-General became so scarce,.
and bore such high premiums, that the private merchant was
glad tomake his remittances in any kind of merchandize
rather than paper. ‘The wool of the common broad-tailed
sheep of the Cape is little better than hair, and is considered
of no value whatsoever ; but there is a mixed breed in the
colony, of Spanish and English, introduced by the late
Colonel Gordon, the wool of which is extremely beautifal,.
and seems to improve by every cross. <A family of the name:
of Van Reenen has paid some attention to this subject, and
by procuring European sheep, from time to time, out of ships.
that called for refreshments, has succeeded in improving their
stock beyond their expectations.
No trouble whatsoever is bestowed upon the sheep ;. they
neither wash nor salve them, nor, till they were instructed
by the English agriculturist, did they know how to shear
them. Yet, the wool taken off in this rough condition has
sold, as I have been informed, in the London market at 3s..
to 3s. Od. the pound. Bya proper degree of attention being
paid to the sheep, and by obviating any degeneracy in the
breed from a cross with the common Cape sheep, this article
bids fair to become, in the course of a few years, one of the
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 323
most valuable and productive exports that the settlement is
capable of furnishing. The mutton of the Cape sheep is also
of a very inferior quality, being coarse and void of flavour ;
and they have little intestine or net fat, nor, indeed, any
other except what is accumulated on the tail, which is of
too oleaginous a nature to be employed alone as tallow. In
every respect, therefore, the mixed Spanish breed is prefer-
able to that which, at present, constitutes the numerous
flocks of the greater part of the farmers. I understand that
the Dutch government is at this moment paying a very marked
attention to the improvement of the breed of sheep in the
colony, and that they have adopted such regulations as are
likely, in the course of a few years, to supplant the broad-
tailed species with the infinitely more valuable cross with the
Spanish sheep.
HIDES AND SKINS.
The exportation of these articles, both dried and salted
raw, has been increased to a very considerable degree under
the British Government, and the price has consequently aug-
mented in proportion to the demand for them. Ox hides,
which formerly might be purchased at half a dollar a-piece,
rose to two dollars. They are subject, on exportation, to a
duty of threepence-halfpenny a-piece. ‘The quantity ex-
ported may amount to between 2000 and 3000 annually.
Those that are taken off the cattle, killed in the country, are
employed by the farmers in various uses, but principally as
harness for their waggons, and as thongs to supply the place
of cordage. The skins of sheep, that are killed in the country,
1
24 TRAVELS IN
are converted into small sacks and other articles of household
use, and employed as clothing, for the slaves and Hottentots,
and are still worn by the farmers themselves, after a rude
kind of dressing, as pantaloons. . In the Cape they are some-
what better prepared, and are used for clothing of slaves, for
gloves, and other purposes. Few of them are exported.
Skins of the wild antelopes and of the leopard are brought
occasionally to the Cape market, but the quantity is so small
as scarcely to deserve mentioning as articles of export.
The same may be observed with regard to ostrich feathers,
the value of which, exported annually, amounts to a mere
trifle. The boors, very imprudently, rob every nest of this
bird that falls in their way; preferring the immediate benefit
of the eggs to the encouragement of a future source of profit.
The boors, indeed, derive little advantage from ostrich
feathers, being presents generally expected by the butchers”
servants, who go round the country to purchase cattle and
sheep for the Cape market. The whole value of one year’s
exportation of this article does not exceed 1000 rixdollars ;
of hides and skins of every denomination not more than 5000
or 6000 rixdollars.
WHALE OIL AND BONE.
The vast number of black whales that constantly fre-
quented Table Bay induced a company of merchants at the
Cape to establish a whale fishery, to be confined solely to
Table Bay, in order to avoid the great expence of purchasing
any other kind of craft than a few common whale boats.
SOUTHERN* AFRICA. 495
With these alone they caught as many whales as they could
wish for; filling, in a short space.of time, all their casks and
cisterns with oil. Having gone thus far they perceived that,
although whale-oil was to. be procured to almost any amount
at a small expence, they were still likely to be considerable
losers by the concern. The consumption of the colony in
this article was trifling ; they had no ships of their own to
send it to Europe, nor casks to put on board others. on freight.
Their oil, therefore, continued to lie as a dead stock in their
cisterns, till the high premium of bills on England induced -
some of the British merchants to purchase and make their
remittances in this article. The price at the Cape was about
40 rixdollars the legger, or tenpence sterling per gallon.
Sometimes, indeed, ships from the Southern Whale Fishery
took a few casks to complete their cargoes, but, in general,
they preferred to be at the trouble of taking the fish them-
selves, in or near some of the bays within the limits of the
colony, where they are so plentiful and so easily caught, as
to ensure their success. It is remarked that all the whales.
which have been caught in the bays are females ; of a smalfl
size, generally from 30 to 50 feet in length, and yielding from
six to ten tons of oil each. ‘The bone is very small, and, on
that account, of no great value.
The Whale Fishing Company, finding there was little pro-
bability of their disposing of the oil without a loss, thought
of the experiment of converting it into soap. The great
quantity of sea-weed, the fucus maaimus, or buccinalis, so
called from its resemblance to a trumpet, which grows on the
western shore of Table Bay, suggested itself as an abundant.
326 TRAVELS IN
source for supplying them with kelp or barilla ; and from the
specification of a patent obtained in London, for freeing
animal oils of their impurities, and the strong and offensive
smell that train-oil in particular acquires, they endeavoured
to reduce to practice this important discovery. The experi-
ment, however, failed ; for though they succeeded in making
soap, whose quality, in the most essential points might, per-
haps, be fully as good as was desired, yet the smell was so
disgusting that nobody would purchase it. Unluckily for
them there came in, also, just at that time, a cargo of prize
soap, which was not only more agreeable to the smell, but
was sold at a rate lower than the Company could afford
to manufacture theirs of train-oil. Being thus thwarted in
all their views, they sold the whole concern to an English
merchant, who was supposed to be turning it to a tolerably
good account, when it was signified to him, by the present
Dutch Government, that the exclusive privilege of fishing —
on the coasts of Africa, within the limits of the colony, was
granted to a company of merchants residing in Amsterdam ;
and, therefore, that he could not be allowed to continue the
concern.
DRIED FRUITS.
Under this head the most important articles are almonds
and raisins ; of which a quantity might be raised sufficient
for the consumption of all Europe. Many thousand acres of
land, now lying waste, might be planted with vineyards,
within sight of Table Mountain. Jn like manner might the
whole sea-coast, on both sides of Africa, be planted with
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 327
vines. In no part of the world are better grapes produced
than at the Cape of Good Hope; and it is unnecessary to
observe that good grapes, under proper management, cannot
fail to make good raisins; but with respect to this, as well as
most other articles, little care and less labor are bestowed in
the preparation. As in the making of wine the whole bunch
is thrown under the press, so, in the process for converting
grapes into raisins, neither the rotten nor the unripe fruit is
removed ; the consequence of which is, that the bad raisins
soon spoil those that otherwise would have been good.
The almonds are, in general, small, but of a good quality.
The trees thrive well in the very driest and worst of soils;
in no situation better than among the rocks on the sides of
mountains, where nothing else would grow; and they will
bear fruit the fifth year from the seed. ‘The quantity, there-
fore, of these nuts might be produced to an indefinite amount.
The consumption in the Cape of both these articles is very
considerable, as furnishing part of the desert, without which,.
after supper as well as dinner, few householders would be
contented; the omission might be considered as a criterion
of poverty, a condition which the weakness of human nature
leads men generally to. dissemble rather than avow.. Ships
also take considerable quantities of almonds and raisins as
sea-stock ; but few have hitherto been sent to India or to
Europe as articles of trade. Before the capture the prices
might have admitted of it, almonds being then not more than
from a shilling to eighteenpence sterling the thousand, and
raisins from twopence to threepence a pound ; but the in-
creased demand,. in consequence of the increased number of
328 TRAVELS IN
shipping, as well as of inhabitants, raised the price of the
former from two shillings to two shillings and sixpence the
thousand, and of the latter from fourpence to sixpence a
pound.
Walnuts and chesnuts are neither plentiful nor good; and
the latter will barely keep a month without decaying, so that:
these are never likely to become articles of general consump-
tion or of exportation.
But dried peaches, apricots, pears, and apples, are not only
plentiful, but good of their kind. ‘The peaches and pears
are used in the desert, but apricots and apples are intended
for tarts ; the latter, indeed, are nearly as good as when fresh
from the tree. All the others are squeezed together and
dried whole, but the apples are sliced thin and dried in the
sun, till they take the consistence and appearance of slips of
leather, of that kind and color usually called the York tan.
These, when soaked in water, swell out and make very ex-
cellent tarts; and are sold chiefly as an article of sea stock.
The whole value of dried fruit, shipped in the year 1802,
amounted only to 2542 rixdollars, as appears by the Custom-
house books, on which every pound is entered, being subject
to a duty on exportation of 5 per cent.
SALT PROVISIONS.
This is an article, as I have already taken occasion to ob-
serve, that is susceptible of great improvement; not, how-
ever, to be prepared in Cape Town, after the cattle have
1
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 329
been harassed and famished for two months in travelling over
a barren desert, but cured at Algoa Bay, and brought down
in small coasting vessels to the Cape. Salted mutton, and
mutton hams, might, however, be, and are indeed to a cer-
tain degree, prepared at the Cape, but not to that extent of
which they are capable. 4 )
It is remarkable that the Dutch, being so fond of fat,’
should not pay more attention to increase the breed of hogs.
Except a few, that are shamefully suffered to wallow about
the shores of Table Bay, where, indeed, they are so far use- .
fui as to pick up dead fish and butchers’ offals, that are scat-
tered along the strand, the hog is an animal that is scarcely
known as food in the colony. Yet, from the vast quantities
of fruit, the productive crops of barley, of peas, beans, and
other vegetables, they might be reared at a small expence;
whereas, from the manner in which they are at present fed
in Cape 'Town, no one thinks of eating pork.
Salt, in the greatest abundance, is spontaneously produced
within a few miles of Cape Town, by the evaporation of the
water in the salt lakes that abound along the west coast of
the colony. Two kinds of fish, the Hottentot and the Snook,
are split open, salted, and dried in the sun in large quan-
tities, principally for the use of the slaves who are employed
in agriculture, to correct the bilious effects of bullocks’ livers
and other offals that constitute a great part of their food.
They are eaten also by the inhabitants of the town, when
boisterous weather prevents the fishing-boats from going out ;
for a Dutchman seldom makes a meal without fish. Small
VOL. II. UU
330 TRAVELS IN
quantities are sometimes taken as sea-stock, but so. incon-
siderable as hardly to deserve mentioning.
Salt butter is a very material article both for the consump-
tion of the town, the garrison, and the navy, as also for ex-
portation. The quality greatly depends on the: degree of
cleanliness that has been employed in the dairy, and more
particularly on the pains. that have been taken in working the
butter well, to free it from the milky particles, which, if suf-
fered to remain, very soon communicate a strong rancid taste
that is highly offensive. That which comes from the Snowy
Mountains is accounted the best ; but, to say the truth, very
‘Tittle deserves the appellation of good. Under the Dutch
Government it was usually sold at from fourpence to sixpence
a pound, but, of late years, it was seldom to be purchased
under a shilling a pound.
SOAP AND CANDLES.
The first of these articles is manufactured by almost every
farmer in the country, and, in some of the districts, furnishes
a considerable part of their surplus revenue, which is appro-
priated to the purchase of clothing and other necessaries at
their annual visit to Cape Town. The unctuous part is
chiefly derived from the fat of sheeps’ tails, and the potash or
barilla is the lixiviated ashes procured from a species of
Salsola or salt wort that grows abundantly on those parts of
the Karroo, or deserts, that are intersected by periodical
streams of water. The plant is known in the colony by the
Hottentot name of Canna. With this alkaline lye and the fat
1
SS ar
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 331
of sheep, boiled together over a slow fire for four or five days,
they make a very excellent soap, which generally bears the
same price as salt butter. Being mostly brought from the
distant district of Graaf Reynet at the same time with the
butter, they rose and fell together according to the quantity
in the market, and the demand there might happen to be for
them. The great distance from the market limited the quan-
tity that was manufactured, and not the scantiness of the ma-
s
terials.
This distance is a serious inconvenience to the farmer, and
a great encouragement to his natural propensity to idleness.
If he can contrive to get together a waggon load or two of
butter or soap, to carry with him to Cape Town once a year,
or once in two years, in exchange for clothing, brandy, coftee,
a little tea and sugar, and a few other luxuries, which his own
district has not yet produced, he is perfectly satisfied. The
consideration of profit is out of the question. A man who goes
to Cape Town with a single waggon from the Sneuwberg
must consume, at least, sixty days out and home. He must
have a double team, or 24 oxen, and two people, at the least,
besides himself, to look after, to drive, and to lead the oxen
and the sheep or goats, which it is necessary to take with
them for their subsistence on the journey. His load, if a
great one, may consist of fifteen hundred weight of butter
and soap, for which he is glad to get from the retail dealers
at the Cape, whom he calls Smaus or Jews, sixpence a pound,
or just half what they sell the article for again. So that the
value of his whole load is not above 37/. 10s. But as he has
no other way of proceeding to the Cape, except with his
J uU 2
332 TRAVELS IN
waggon, it makes little difference in point of time whether it
be laden or empty. And the more of these loose articles he
can bring to market, the fewer cattle he has occasion to dis=
pose of to the butcher. These constitute his wealth, and
with these he portions off his children.
Candles being an unsafe article to transport by land car-
riage are seldom brought out of the country; but a
vegetable wax, collected from the berries of a shrubby plant,
the myrica cerifera, plentiful on the dry marshy grounds near
the sea-shore, is sometimes sent up to the Cape in large green
cakes, where it may be had at from a shilling to fifteenpence a
pound. The tallow to be purchased at the Cape is barely
sufficient for the consumption of the town and the garrison,
and the candles made from it are seldom lower than fifteen-
pence a pound.
ALOES,
This drug is extracted from the common species of aloe
known by the specific name of perfoliata, and is that variety
which, perhaps on account of the abundant quantity of juice
it contains, botanists have distinguished by the name of szwe-
cotrina, though vulgarly supposed to have taken the name
from the island of Socotra, where this drug is said to be pro-~
duced of the best quality, in which case, at all events, it ought
to be socotrina.
Large tracts of ground, many miles in extent, are covered
with spontaneous plantations of this kind of aloe, and espe-
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 333
cially in the district of Zwellendam, at no great distance from
Mossel Bay. In this part of the country the farmers rear
few cattle or sheep, their stock consisting chiefly of horses ;
and they formerly cultivated a certain quantity of corn,
which they delivered at a small fixed price, for the use of the
Dutch East India Company, at Mossel Bay ; but since this
practice has been discontinued, they find it more advan-
tageous to bring to Cape Town a load of aloes than a load
of corn; the former being worth from 18/. to 20/., the latter
only from 8/. to 10/7. The labor employed in collecting and
inspissating the juice is ill repaid by the price it bears in Cape
Town, which is seldom more than threepence a pound ; but
it is usually performed at a time of the year when the slaves
have little else to do; and the whole strength of the family,
slaves, Hottentots, and children, are employed in picking off,
and carrying together, the leaves of the aloes. Three or four
pounds, I understand, are as much as each person can collect
and prepare in a day.
This drug, it seems, has of late years been much employed
in the porter breweries of London, which occasioned an in-
creased demand, and which may one day be extended almost
to an indefinite amount, if the partial experiments of the in-
genious Sigr. Fabroni on the juice of this plant can be realized
on the great scale ; experiments that promise a no less va-
luable acquisition to the arts than a coloring substance which
may be used, with advantage, as a substitute for cochineal..
The quantity of inspissated juice brought to the Cape mar-
ket was eagerly bought up by the English merchants, and
334 TRAVELS IN
sent to London as a remittance. The amount of this article
entered on the Custom-house books, in the course of four
years, was as follows :
Years. | Lbs. Weight. Value R. D.
1799 126,684 9361 1
1800 71,843 5217 O
1801 52,181 4.258 3
1802 91,219 6829 0
ee
Total of 4 years} Ibs. 341,927 |R.D.25,665 4
It is subject to a small exportation duty of sixteen-pence
for every hundred pounds.
IVORY.
However abundant this article might once have been in the
southern part of Africa, it is now become very scarce, and, in
the nature of things, as population is extended, the animals
that furnish it, the Elephant and the Hippopotamus, must pro-
gressively disappear. Indeed, at this moment, except in the
forests of Sitsikamma and the thickets in the neighbourhood of
the Sunday River, not any elephants are to be found within
the limits of the colony. Of those few which the Kaffers
destroy, the large tusks are always cut up into circular rings
and worn on the arms as trophies of the chace. The small
quantity of ivory that is brought to the Cape market is col-
lected chiefly by two or three families of bastaard Hottentots
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 335
(as the colonists call them) who dwell to the northward, not
far from the banks of the Orange River. The whole quantity
exported, in the course of four years, as appears by the Cus-
tom-house books, amounted only to 5981 pounds, value 6340
rixdollars.
The Hippopotamus or sea-cow is now no longer within the
limits of the colony ; and, though the teeth of this animal are
considered as the best ivory, yet the quantity of it procured
was always comparatively small with that of the elephant. We
may safely conclude then, that ivory is not to be reckoned
among the valuable exports which the Cape can supply for
the markets of Europe.
TOBACCO.
I mention this article not so much on account of the quan-
tity exported, which, indeed, is very trifling, as of the great
abundance the colony is capable of producing. It is impos-
sible the plant can thrive better in any part of the world than
in this climate, or require less attention ; and I have under-
stood from persons, qualified to give an opinion on the sub-
ject, that the Cape tobacco, with a little art in the prepara-
tion, is as good in every respect as that of Virginia. As all
male persons, old and young, smoke in the Cape, from the
highest to the lowest, and as American tobacco generally bears
a high price, the consumption of that of native growth is con-
siderable, ‘The inferior sort is used by slaves and Hotten-
tots.
336 TRAVELS IN
I have now enumerated the most material articles of export
which the Cape either does, or easily might, furnish for foreign
markets. There still remain a few trifling things, as preserved
fruits, garden seeds, salt, vinegar, &c., which, though valuable
as refreshments for ships calling there, are of no consequence
as exports. The total value of every kind of colonial produce
collectively, that has actually been exported from the ports of
the Cape in four years, is as follows :
Value.
In 1799 — R.D. 108,160 0
1800 — 85,049 2
1801 — 50,519 6
' 1802 —- 57,196 O
In four years *R.D. 300,925 0
or £.60,185 O Currency.
The obvious conclusion to be drawn from the view now
taken of the amount of exports in colonial produce is, that the
Cape of Good Hope, in its present condition, is of very little
importance to any nation, considered as to the articles of com-
merce it supplies for exportation to foreign markets. The
surplus produce, beyond the supply of its own inhabitants, a ~
garrison, and navy of eight or ten thousand men, aad the re-
freshments furnished to ships trading and casually calling
there, is so trifling as to merit no consideration. That by a
new system of laws and regulations, particularly with regard
to the loan farms, it is susceptible of great improvement, I
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 339
have already shewn ; and there can be little doubt that, with
due encouragement, many of the important products above-
mentioned might be greatly extended, and some of them, as
wine, for instance, increased to an indefinite quantity.
The next point that comes under consideration is the ad-
vantages that may result to the British Empire, by the in-
creased consumption of goods, the growth and produce of
Great Britain and her colonies, from the acquisition of the
Cape of Good Hope. The commodities imported from Eng-
land into this settlement consisted in,
Woollen cloths, from the first sort down to woollen blankets..
Manchester goods of almost every description.
Hosiery, haberdashery, and millinery.
Boots, shoes, and hats.
Cutlery, iron tools, stationary.
Bar and hoop iron.
Smiths’ coals.
Household furniture.
Paint and oils.
Earthenware.
Naval stores. |
‘Tongues, hams, cheese, and pickles.
From India and China were imported,
Bengal, Madras, and Surat piece goods; the coarse ones
for tle slaves.
Tea, coffee, sugar, pepper, and spices.
Rice.
VOL. II. x X
338 TRAVELS IN
In addition to these, the Americans were in the habit of
bringing lumber-cargoes of deal plank, staves, balk, salt fish,
pitch, turpentine, &c.; and the Danes, Swedes, and Ham-
burgh ships assorted cargoes of iron, plank, French wines,
beer, gin, Seltzer water, coffee, preserves, pickles, &c. in ex-
change for refreshments, to defray the charges of repairs and
other necessaries, or for hard money to carry to India or
China.
As it is not material to state the exact amount of each kind
of goods imported, I shall subjoin an abstract account of the
whole importation into the Cape by British or foreign bot-
toms, from Europe, Asia, and America, in the course of four
years, including the value of the prize goods brought in, and _
of the slaves imported within the same period.
Prize !
flives European
Ms {India goods}. Indian and | Total pro- |and Ame-| Indian |Total pro-
ae on Britifh ea prize others | duce im- |rican goods}. goods on | duce eo
Years. b bottoms, BY goods import-| ported in jon foreign} foreign ported in
ottoms, : goods, 5 per i A
Ate free to Pel, Cont Nea ee caeou|n Zou Pet ed by Britith bottoms, | bottoms, | foreign
y » OY *leent. duty.} Britifh | bottoms. |10percent.|1opercent.| bottoms,
mer- duty.
chants.
Rd. fh. Rd. fk.) Ra. fe.| Rd. fh.| Rd. Rd. fk.| Rd. fh.) Rd. fh.) Rd. fh
¥799| 674,009 6] 104,124 o} 20,623 5|100,487 0]245,600]1,144,344 3}118,244 0] 64,219 6)182,463 6
1800} 474,706 0} 212,446 0) 17,797 ©] 45,335 ©] 184,000} 934,234 0} 51,258 O}f09,490 0|160,748 o
1801] 587,023 4] 290,117 0/568,425 o]129,642 6).271,200/1,846,408 2/136,394 5| 3,337 2|§39,731 7}
1802} 532,366 4] 455,397 4] 93,788 2|130,720 6} 198,205|1,410,478 0]142,654 6| 15,892 7] 58,577 5
|.
—- - ——_—_
ee
In 4 years|2,268,105 6|1,062,084 4|700,633 71406,185 4|899,005|5,336,014 51448,58t 3]192,939 7]641,521 2
Total importation, Rix dollars 5,977.535 7 Sk.
or £1,195,507 3 6 Currency.
It will naturally be demanded how or in what manner the
colony has contrived to pay this apparent enormous balance
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 339
of imports over the produce exported, especially when it is
known that most of the European articles were sold at an ad-
vance of from 50 to 100 per cent. on the invoice prices, which,
indeed, could not well be otherwise, considering the high pre-
mium on bills, and the small quantity of colonial produce to
be had for remittances. The following rough statement will
serve to explain this matter :
The army, independent of the clothing and
stores, &c. sent from home, and money re-
mitted by the officers, could not expend
less, in European and Indian goods, and
in colonial produce, than 180,000/. per
annum, which in four years is - - £.720,000 0 O
The navy expenditure might, perhaps,
amount to half that sum = - 360,000 0 O
The re-exportation of India prize goods, and
of European goods to the West India
islands, the coast of Brazil, and Mozam-
bique, in four years, about - - .170,000 O O
Surplus colonial produce exported as above 60,185 O O
Making in the whole £- 1,810,185 0 O
Value of the imports as above 1,195,507 3 6
Balance in favour of the colony and the
merchants residing there - £.1IA6T7 16°" 6
Besides this balance, which may be considered as the joint
profit of the colonists and English merchants on that part of
x eZ
340 TRAVELS IN
colonial produce and imported goods, which have been dis-
posed of, the shops and warehouses at the evacuation of the
colony were so full, that it was calculated there were then Eu-
ropean and Indian articles sufficient for three years’ consump=
tion, and the capital of slaves imported was augmented nearly
to the amount of 180,000/.
lt appears then, that five-sixths of the trade of the Cape of
Good Hope has been occasioned by the consumption of the
garrison and the navy. And, consequently, that unless a very
considerable garrison be constantly stationed there, or some
other channel be opened for the export of their produce, the
colonists, by having increased their capitals in the days of
prosperity, and especially of slaves, which is a consuming in-
stead of a productive capital, will rapidly sink into a state of
poverty much greater than that they werein at the capture of the
colony. The present garrison consists only of about one third
of the garrisoa and navy kept there by Great Britain; and
they will, most assuredly, not consume one fifth of the quan-
tity of colonial produce and imports; so that some new vent
must be discovered for the remaining four-fifths, or the colony
will be impoverished. What then must be the condition of
this place if the garrison, small as it is, should be supported
at the expence of the inhabitants? It must, obviously, very
speedily consume itself, and the majority of the inhabitants
will be reduced to the necessity of clothing themselves, as be-
fore the capture, with sheep-skins. tis obviously, therefore,
the interest of the colonists that the Cape should remain in
the hands of the English ; the truth of which, indeed, they felt
and loudly expressed, before the Dutch flag had been flying
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 341
two months. A total stagnation to all trade immediately fol-
lowed the surrender of the place. The merchant of the town
was clogged with a heavy capital of foreign goods, for which
there was no vent; and the farmer had little demands for his
produce. Every one was desirous to sell, and, of course, there
were no buyers. The limited amount, for which the Govern-
ment was authorized to draw on the Asiatic Council of the
Batavian Republic, had long been expended ; and the arrears
of pay and allowances, still due to the garrison, inflamed it to
mutiny. The great depreciation of the paper currency held out
no encouragement for the Government to try its credit by ex-
tending the capital already in circulation. Al! hard money
had totally disappeared, except English copper penny pieces,
of which I have already spoken, to the amount of about four
thousand pounds, and even these were bought up by the Go-
vernment and taken out of circulation, although their current
value was two-pence. ‘The addition of a French garrison, un-
der such circumstances, would, in all probability, have hastened
the destruction of the colony, in so far as regarded a supply
of foreign articles in exchange for colonial produce. For, it
is not to be supposed, after their treatment of the Dutch at
home, they would be inclined to shew more consideration for
their colonies.
As a dependency on the Crown of Great Britain, in the
natural course of things it became a flourishing settlement ;
but neither the territorial nor the commercial advantages de-
rivable to Britain, in consequence of the possession of it, are
of such magnitude as, considered in these points of view only,
to make the retention of it a sone qua non to a treaty of peace ;
442 TRAVELS IN
vy
not even when carried to the highest possible degree of which
they are susceptible. If the importance of this settlement
was confined to these objects, the possession of it would not
be worth the concern of the British government.
It now remains to consider, in the last place, the import-
ant advantages that might result to England, by establishing
at the Cape a kind of central depét for the Southern Whale
Fishery. It is an universally acknowledged truth that, with
the promotion of navigation, are promoted the strength and
security of the British empire ; that the sea is one great source
of its wealth and power; and that its very existence, as an
independent nation, is owing to the preponderancy of its
navy; yet, it would seem that the advantages offered by this
element have hitherto been employed only in a very partial
manner. Surrounded as we are on all sides by the sea, every
square mile of which is, perhaps, not much less valuable than
a square mile of land in its produce of food for the sustenance
of man, how long have we allowed another nation to reap
the benefit of this wealthy mine, and to support from it al-
most exclusively, a population which, in proportion to its
territory, was double to that of our own; a nation which, by
this very source of industry and wealth, was once enabled to
dispute with us the sovereignty of the seas? A nation of
fishermen necessarily implies a nation of seamen, a race of
bold and hardy warriors. ‘The navy of England has deserv-
edly been long regarded as the great bulwark of the empire,
whilst the most certain source of supplying that navy with
the best seamen has been unaccountably neglected. Our
colonies and our commerce have been hitherto considered as
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 343
the great nursery of our seamen ; but in times like the present,
when civilized society is convulsed in every part of the world,
our colonies may fail and our commerce may be checked.
From what source, then, is our navy to be manned? The
glorious feats that have been performed in our ships of war,
from the first-rate down to the pinnace, were not by the ex-
ertions of men taken from the plough. Courage alone is not
sufficient for the accomplishment of such actions ; there must
be activity, skill, and management, such as can be acquired
only by constant habit from early youth. The cultivation
of the fisheries would afford a never failing supply of men so
instructed ; would furnish the markets with a wholesome and
nutritious food ; and would increase our conveniencies, ex-
tend our manufactures, and promote our commerce.
For, independent of the important consideration of re-
ducing the present high price of butchers’ meat, by bringing
a more ample supply of fish to the several markets of Eng-
Jand, the fisheries are of great moment in another point of
view: whale oil is now become so valuable an article of con-
sumption in Great Britain, not only for the safety and con-
veniency it aflords by lighting the streets of our cities and
great towns at a moderate expence, but as a substitute for
tallow and grease in various manufactures, that it may be
considered as an indispensable commodity, whose demand is
likely to increase in proportion as arts and manufactures are
extended, and new applications of its use discovered. We
ought, then, to consider both the home fishery for supplying
the markets with food, and the whale fishery for furnishing
344 TRAVELS IN
our warehouses with oil, as two standing nurseries for the
education of seamen.
One would scarcely infer, from the state of the fisheries at
the present day, that our legislature has ever regarded them
in this point of view. They have hitherto been carried on in
very limited and partial manner, with encouragement just
sufficient (and but barely so) for the supply of our own mar-
kets ; when common policy should induce us to open foreign
markets to take off the surplus of our depéts. Hence it hap-
pens, and especially in time of war, that oil so frequently ex-
periences a fluctuation in its price, which, however favorable
it may be to certain individuals who can command large
capitals, to whom this limited policy confines the adventure,
is discouraging to those who look only for a fair and reason-
able, but certain, profit on their industry. If beyond the
demands of the market, there was always a redundancy of oil
on hand, the price would find its level, and the profits of the
adventure be reduced more to a certainty ; and, in such case,
there is no reason for supposing to the contrary, that England
might not supply a considerable part of the continent of
Europe with whale oil. The advantage of extending the
markets would be an increase of native fishermen without re-
sorting to foreign aid.
For many years our fisheries of Greenland were carried on —
by means of masters, harpooners, and other officers from
Holland or the Hans Towns ; even for near a century after,
the bounties allowed by Government held out a sufficient
8
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 345
degree of encouragement to bring up our own seamen to the
trade, who are now in skill inferior to none who frequent the
Northern Seas. In hke manner the Americans, settled at
Nantucket, almost exclusively carried on the South Sea
Fishery, before the American war; and after the peace,
which ceded Nantucket to the United States, they con-
tinued to supply our southern adventurers, as the Dutch had
done the Northern Fishery, with masters, harpooners, and
other officers.
In one out-port of this kingdom, the obvious policy of
establishing a nursery of southern fishermen has been success-
fully attempted. Seven families wishing to remain British
subjects, and to derive the benefit of the English markets,
had migrated to Nova Scotia, where they were discouraged
from extending their colony, and were invited by the Right
Honorable Charles Greville to settle at Milford in Milford
Haven. They fitted out their ship: and had a successful
voyage, and the respectable family of Starbucks have ex-
tended the concern to four ships.
Parliament wisely continued the limited invitation of an in-
dividual to foreign fishermen to settle at Milford, and the acces-
sion of Mr. Rotch has increased the Milford Fishery to eight
ships. And the very extensive connexion of that gentleman in
America is likely to make the port of Milford important to
the mutual benefit of commerce between Great Britain and
America, for which its situation is so eminently suited. The
Southern Whale Fishery, from this place, has not a less
capital afloat at this time than 80,000/. nor has any whaling
VOL. II. YORY!
346 TRAVELS IN
ship from the port of Milford the least concern whatsoever
with any adventure except the fishing for whales.
It is singular enough that one of the noblest ports in Eng-
land, whether it be considered in point of situation, com-
manding, at’all times, a free and speedy communication with
freland and the Western Ocean, and favorable for distribu-
tion of merchandize, or regarded as to the conveniencies it
possesses as a port and harbour, should have been so wholly
neglected by the British legislature, that when the families
above mentioned first settled there, the place did not afford
them a single house for their reception. At this moment, by
the removal of artificial obstructions and the unremitting at-
tention of Mr. Greville, there is a town, with suitable pro-
tections of batteries, and two volunteer companies ;. a.dock-
yard in which three King’s ships are now building, a quay,
and establishments of the different tradesmen and artificers,
which a sea-port necessarily requires. Having proceeded
thus far, there can be little doubt that, in the course of half
acentury, it may class among the first of the out-ports, and
rise by means of the Southern Fishery, as Liverpool has done
by the African Slave trade.
I mention this circumstance as a striking instance to shew
the importance of the South Sea Fishery, and as a proof that,
contrary to the generally received opinion, this fishery may be
carried on by skill and management, without the adventitious
aid of trading, so as fully to answer the purpose of those who
are properly qualified to embark in the undertaking. For
where men, by industry in their profession, rise from small
7
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 349
beginnings into affluence, such profession may be followed
with a greater certainty of success than many others which
appear to hold out more seducing prospects. ‘The American
fishermen never set out with a capital, but invariably work
themselves into one; and the South Sea Fishery from Eng-
land may succeed on the same principle, as the above ex-
ample clearly shews, under every disadvantage, when properly
conducted.
It is difficult to point out the grounds of justice or policy
in giving tonnage bounties to the Greenland Fishery, and
only premiums to successful adventurers in the Southern
Fishery. A voyage to Greenland is four months, the outfit
of which is covered by the tonnage bounty, and, if wholly
unsuccessful, the same ship can make a second voyage the
same year to some of the ports of the Baltic. A voyage to
the South Sea is from twelve to eighteen months, and must
depend solely on the success in fishing. A Greenland ship
sets out on a small capital, and builds on a quick return;
but a South Sea whaler must expend a very considerable
capital in: making his outfit, for which he can reckon on no
returns for at least eighteen months. Hence the usual
practice of sending them out in the double capacity of
fishers and contraband traders, in order that the losses they
may sustain by ill success in fishing may be made good by
smuggling.
If by extending the fishery we should be enabled to supply
the continent of Europe, two objects should never be out of
the view of the Legislature—the exemption from duty of all
YY 2
348 TRAVELS iN
the produce of the fisheries, and particularly spermaceti,
which, if manufactured into candles, and subject only to the
same duty as tallow candles, would produce much more to
the revenue than when taxed as it now is, as wax—and the
extension of the premium system, which, by doubling its
present amount, would probably be adequate encouragement
to supply the home market with spermaceti and black whale
‘oil. I have heard it asserted that the bonding of foreign oil.
in Great Britain would throw the whole agency of American
fishery on England with greater advantage to both countries
than by any other system.
But when we consider that the home market is necessarily
secured to British subjects by high duties on foreign oil, we
should also consider that every means to lessen the charges
of outfit should strengthen our adventure in this lucrative
branch of trade. Among others that would seem to have
this tendency are the facilities that might be afforded to the
Southern Fishery by the happy position of the Cape of Good
Hope. If at this station was established a kind of central
depét for the Southern Whale Fishery, it might, in time, be
the means of throwing into our hands exclusively the supply-
ing of Europe with spermaceti oil. ‘To the protection of the
fisheries on the east and west coasts of Southern Africa, the
Cape is fully competent, and the fisheries on these coasts
would be equally undisturbed in war as in peace. From hence
they would, at all times, have an opportunity of acquiring a
supply of refreshments for their crews, and of laying in a stock
of salt provisions at one-fourth part of the expence of carry-
ing them out from England. |
SOUTHERN?) AFRICA. 349
In the wide range which, of late years, they have been ac-
customed to take, from the east, round Cape Horn, to the
west coast of America, partly for the sake of carrying on a
contraband trade with the Spanish colonies, and partly for
fishing, they are destitute, in tume of war, of all protection.
Hitherto they have suffered little inconvenience from this cir-
cumstance, because the Cape of Good Hope gave us the
complete and undisturbed possession of the Southern Ocean;
but is this the case in the present war, when the enemy is in
possession of the bays and harbours of the Cape? Whilst,
from Europe to the Indian Ocean, if we except the Portu-
gueze islands and Rio de Janeiro, whose admission to us is
extremely precarious, we have not a creek that will afford us
a butt of water, a biscuit, or a bullock ?
It is by no means necessary to resort to the coasts of South
America to succeed in the Southern Whale Fishery. The
whales on the east and west coasts of Africa are of the same
kind, of as large a size, and as easily taken, as those on the
shores of the opposite continent. ‘The black whales, indeed,
are caught with much greater ease, as they resort in innumer-
able quantities into all the bays on the coasts of South Africa,
where there is no risk in encountering them, and less expence
as well as more certainty in taking them, than in the open
ocean. ‘The spermaceti whale, whose oil is more valuable,
and of which one half of the cargo at least should be com-
posed, in order to meet the expences of a long voyage, is
equaily abundant on the coasts of Southern Africa as on those
of America. No objection can therefore lie on the ground of
taking the fish. Besides it is well known that whales, after
450 TRAVELS IN
being long disturbed on one station, entirely abandon it and
seek for repose on a different coast. Our Southern whale
fishers may probably therefore, in the course of a few years,
be compelled to change their fishing ground from the coasts
of South America to those of South Africa.
If policy requires the encouragement of all our fisheries by
bounties, and that with a view of increasing the nursery of
seamen to Great Britain and Ireland; it may, perhaps, be
expedient to extend that encouragement to the inhabitants
of the Cape of Good Hope, a measure which could not fail
to bring together the South Sea fishers to its ports to com-
plete their cargoes, giving, by their means, an increased
energy and activity to the trade and industry of the settle-
ment.
The situation, the security, and the conveniencies of the
Knysna, are admirably adapted for carrying into execution a
fishery on such a plan. Every material either is, or might be,
produced upon the spot for equipping their ships. The land
is here the very best that the colony affords, and it so hap-
pens, that the six months in which it might be dangerous to
fish on this coast, are the suitable season for cultivating the
land. Such small craft might also find their advantage in
running down to the islands in the South Seas and picking
up a cargo of seals, and thus anticipate the Americans, who,
by means of their fishery and ginseng, and the produce of
their lumber cargoes, have worked themselves, as we have
already had occasion to notice, into a valuable portion of the
China trade. Whereas if oil taken on the coast by the small
SOUTHERN? APRRICA. EUs
craft of the inhabitants of the Cape, which might also in-
clude oil taken by foreign fishermen and exchanged by them
for India or China goods, were admitted to entry in British
bottoms into Great Britain at alow colonial duty, the foreign
fishermen, who never can be excluded from fishing on the
coasts of Africa, might find a market for their oil there. And
the Americans would, probably, under such regulations, find
it their advantage to supply themselves with Indian produce
at the Cape, and extend their fishery only when they could
not obtain a vent for their native produce of skins, drugs, and
lumber. ‘The situation of the Cape, properly stocked, might
thus be an important depdt for British trade with America,
and, perhaps, supersede expensive voyages to China in their
small ships. This, however, is mere matter of opinion and
not of fact. That the plan they now pursue does answer
their expectations, may be inferred from the number of
their ships, progressively *increasing, which navigate the In-
dian Seas.
Some few of their ships resort to the bays within the limits
of the Cape colony to take the black whale; but as those
bays are accessible only at certain seasons of the year, it
would be no difficult matter, if an exclusive fishery could be
deemed politic, with a single frigate, to clear the coast of all
fishers except our own. ‘They sometimes, also, run into Saint
Helena Bay to the northward, or into Algoa Bay to the east-
ward, to complete their cargoes, a privilege that policy would
require to be allowed only with moderation even to our own
ships ; for, as I have just observed, constant fishing in any
one place never fails to chase the fish entirely away.
352 TRAVELS.) sce
There can be little doubt, therefore, that the Cape of Good
Hope might be rendered essentially useful to the Southern
Whale Fishery, so important to the commerce and navigation
of Great Britain; but that during the war, the. same place
in the possession of an enemy may be the means of obstruct-
ing this valuable branch of trade even on the opposite coast,
and must, at all events, render it forced and precarious.
Having thus endeavoured to state the different points of
view in which the Cape of Good Hope may be considered
of importance to the British nation, from materials faithfully
collected, and of unquestionable authenticity, the result of
the whole will, I think, bear me out in this conclusion :—
That as a naval and military station, connected with the pro-
tection and the defence of our trade and possessions in India,
the advantages of the Cape are invaluable ; that the policy,
if practicable, of making it the seat of a free and unrestrained
commerce is doubtful, even in the hands of England; that
it holds out considerable facilities for the encouragement and
extension of the Southern Whale Fishery ; but that, as a mere
territorial possession, it is not, in its present state, and pro-
bably never could become by any regulations, a colony
worthy of the consideration either of Great Britain or any
other power.
Fel Nias.
Strahan and Preston,
New-Street Square, London.
Ee aN 205 ee
A
VOL. PAGE
Ab BstRACT account of imports and
exports - - 2
Advantages possessed by the Cape as _
IT, 338
a depdt of troops - =) Ty erg
Africa, probably a'prior creation - I. g
coasts of favourable for fishing - II. 349
Agriculture neglected by the Dutch I. 85
no market for its products Jt TUG,
Algoa Bay, notices and chart of ‘eV LI.-289
consequences of its becoming a
military station - =I 200
danger of an enemy landing at - II. 232
salt provisions might be prepared
at - - = II. 254
~ importance of to the East India
Company - - = INE 42°5i5
described - - = Len82
might be rendered useful to the
East India Company ° Sie ge Wap:
Albes, an article of export = Us 'e Ds 392
extended use of this drug = 339
American war, difference between that
and the present - - Il. 268
Americans, trade cf at the Cape - II. 202
interested in the Cape not belong-
ing to France - - IL. 204
VOL. II.
e
Americans— VOL. PAGE
carrying-trade of - = !II. 256
Ainsterdam battery - Se 226
Ammunition delivered to the Dutch
at the Cape - - IT. 237
Amusements of the inhabitants - io Lh.) 98
Anchor found on Table Mountain I. 387
Anchors lost in Table Bay aks 294
Anqueti! Duperon’s opinion of the
Malabar coast - - IL. 207
Antelopes at Sweet Milk’s Valley - I. 372
how hunted by the Kaffers sit tke dg
various species of, mentioned - I. 140
Ant-hills, their height % Bia ra 8 Ope a
Arborizations in the stones of Table
Mountain : = =.| bei'386
Army, what constitutes one ap El. 179
Articles of imstructions, curious ones
proposed by a Dutch Land-
rost = “ryht e -e l, 420
of export furnished by the Cape II. 310
Assessments of the inhabitants - IT. 103
Atmosphere, its temperature at the
Cape - - cee Eis 2
its weight - - «LLRs 73
Aitack of the Cape, various modes of II. 232
Attornies, bad character of - IL. wo
Fe - IL 102
Aya, what -
Cs
tn
a
B
PEN Deer ex:
VOL, PAGE
Baird, Major-General, carries a rein-
forcement of troops from the
Cape to India = =
Baltic, retreat of the sea inthe' = -
Bank of L’Aguillas - Pair
of government loans - -
Lombard, at the Cape, account
of 5 ; 5
Barilla may be procured in great
abundance at the Cape -
Bastaards, race so called - -
~Baiteries and block-houses erected by
Sir J. Craig. 5 t
those of the Cape peninsula e
Bavian’s kloof, establishment of Mo-
ravian missionaries at -
Bay, Mossel, notices and chart of -
Plettenberg, notices and chart of
Chapman and Hout Lane:
those of the Cape peninsula, no
protection to shipping -
Saldanha, advantages of é
St. Helena - - -
Beduins, Kaffers probably descended
from - - -
Beef, at the Cape, bad, and the
reason - 5 -
Berg river, crossed by the author
Bills on his Majesty’s paymasters,
premiums on = .
Birds, various species of, described
Bonaparte, little regard for his soldiers
probable obstacles to his march to
India - - ‘
apparent object im acquiring
Egypt sR he tae
Bonaparte— VOL. PAGE
views against ouf commerce - Tisiegir
Books seldom seen in the Cape - II. gg
Boors, conduct of, with adragoon I. 363
surrender themselves to Gen. Van-
deleur - - = isGr
drunken party of “ ~ IL. 369
horrid murder committed by - TI. 347g
propensity of for rambling ee etc)
idleness of - - L. domyrex:
trial for sedition - = I. 392
plundered by the Hottentots - TI. 393
culpable and impolitic conduct of I. 395
instances of their inhumancruelties id. id,
a heavy and large race of men - J. gos
plunder Mr. Callendar’s house - I. 416
wives and children of, fall into the
hands of Kaffers - mo De tgaty
condition of - - «- IL..123
Booshuanas, a tribe of Kaffers - I. 406
Bosjesmans, who = I. 36. 188
their hostilities with the colo-
nists = I.) 188. 190.242. 247
considerations on this subject - 1. 247
journey into their country, and its
purpose - - =. Lagi
their drawings of various animals,
account of - = - poli aE R
their miserable situation described I. 19
their depredations on the colo-
nists - “ Ta 2oze i2ae
one of their kraals surprised by the
author’s party - = de 226:
communications with - I, 229. 231
construction of their kraals = Wl. 23%
their dress and appearance i '242, 233
are very diminutive - id. ib,
their women have the nymphe
elongated - i Sma}
TAN YD ERK. 55
Bosjesmans— VOL. PAGE
other singularities characteristic of
the make of = < 238
belong tothe Hottentot race - I. 240
conjectures respecting their origin I. 239
their disposition and means of sub-
: sistence - L240, 241s 242
their offensive weapons on Meng
estimate of their situation - id, ib.
their longevity, &c. - ole ho2a5
compared with the Hottentots I. 247,
248
some of their hordes in amity with
the farmers - P94239.353
their cruel treatment of a Hot-
tentot - - - TL. 354
Bott River - - aT. 05
Bounties on fishing’ to be extended to
the Cape - - II. 350
Brandy of the Cape - = HTS 320
how made - eR. a8.
Britify ficet, appearance of at the
Cape - - Il. 164
islands, reflexions on - «+ 239
government at the Cape, beneficial
effects of = ITs 4660; 110
checks effectually principles sub-
versive of order in the co-
lony - - = I rre
Brazil trade to and from the Cape II. 305
Buffalo described - - I. 8o
its battles with the lion SP wih Sai
neglected by the Dutch Em pice ii
Burgher cavalry, conduct of ry Ute sey.
not likely to be called out = Lilie, 23/5
Senate, functions of - mele eOG,
Burnet, a thriving plant at , the
Cape - - oi TL 52
Buiter salted, an article of export II. 330
Cc
VOL. PAGE
Caille, Abbé de la, ascertains the
length of a degree of the me-
ridian at the Cape mga L. -327
important conclusion drawn from
his measurement - Sel 522
Callendar, My., remarks of on the
Knysna - - » 300
house of, plundered by the boors I. 416
Calvinifm, the established religion of
the Cape - - I. 146
Camel or dromedary, might. be in-
troduced with advantage into
the colony SiG - I. 291
Cameleon, facts respecting its change
of colour oh - I. 260
why they have been thought to
live on air, explained - “td. tb.
Camp’s Bay batteries - - II. 2297
Camtoos River, appearance of the
country near at PT ke. AOL NOL
Capitulation for the surrender of the
colony - = TT 564
Cape district - - = Vistas
produce of - - = ESL A gt
Cape of Good Hope, sketch of the
colony - - I, r—12
how far valuable to England II. 247—250
peninsula of, considerationson - II. 19
peasantry of the settlement of I, 27. 5x
Ice DTA!
inhabitants of the town of as ble GG
their mode of life - - Ii. 100
peopled chiefly by soldiers from
German regiments I. 423
French influence at - - I. 162
importance of as a military station IT. 162
ZZ 2
356 INDEX.
Cape of Good Hope— VOL. PAGE Cape of Good Hope— VOL. PAGE
plans for the government of - IT. 166 intention of the United Provinces
physical guarantee of British India II. 168 respecting - - II. 294
proposals respecting - cin AR and Ceylon compared - II. 270
strange conduct of the East India recovery of indispeusably necessary Il. 272
Company - eve Wai ey disadvantages of as a naval station Il. 273
advantages of its local position - II. 181 danger of becoming afree port - II. 296
as a depot of troops - II. 182 considered as an emporium of
healthiness of the climate of = L832 Eastern produce - II. 302
cheapness of subsistence =) #01. 186 consumption of grain in ~ oT: gens
total expence of maintaining the in wine and brandy II. 316
garrison of - - If. 3195 value of the exports from - “Id, 236
probable expence of in time of of imports from Britain and
peace - - If. 198 her colonies a =| jie Re
public revenue of - - II. 199 state of since the surrender = th. g40
number of shipping cleared out in unimportance of in a commercial
four years - yr ils 202 point of view - = aD aA
importance of, to different nations II. 203 as a station for the Southern Whale
valuable to England as a point of Fishery - - II. 349
security - - Il. 204 general description of - = elie ae
danger of leaving it in the hands of population, stock, and produce of Il. 83
France - - II. 206 “importance of - -, lb aGe
opinion of M. de la Croix respect- statistical sketch of - II, 1—12
ing it - SJE Gy acts) general view of the country II. 3, 4, 5.
defences of stated - eile i223 MIG) MA
modes of attack - =i Lil 292 its division into districts, and in-
Dutch garrison at - @\ EN. 234 ternal government = Hh 25
deplorable condition of the inha- description of the Cape district - II. 25,
bitants of - mf, 2:37 20,27)
importance of asa naval station - II. 239 Cape and Lgypft, circumstances of
necessary to the Dutch navigation analogy between - -. -haiege
to India - - ID. 243 Cape Town, what determined the
preferable to Rio de Janeiro or St. site of - - II. 224
Helena - - IL. 246 condition of the inhabitants of - II. gr
overtures for the purchase of ~- II. 250 consumption of - =); BUS aie
importance of its geographical po- christenings, marriages, burials,
sition - - - Il. 261 &e. in - Ths wae
preferable to Ceylon in the eyes of police of - - + IT. 105
France - - = 270 description of - Ii; +26, .27
INDEX. 357
Cape Town — VOL. PAGE
population of - woe DLs! a8
its inhabitants principally engaged
in mercantile transactions - II. 106
their manners, social and domestic II. 107
character of the Cape ladies e ils. 108
diseases to which they are liable If. 14
longevity rare among them = 40h.’ 40.
their education much neglected - IL. 96
Capital lent out by the Lombard
bank . - =" I.-1g0
Carrying-trade precarious - If. 241
Catalogue of various sorts of wood in
the colony - I. 297, 298
Catile, mode of killing inthe Cape IL. 138
their food in the desarts sour and
acrid - - ae ae
its-effects upon them - - id. ib.
how the acridity is corrected - I. 53
of the Kaffersimmensely numerous I. 127
guided by signals - é
account of the various kinds of -
rR FS
ae, Seen
~
ie)
eo
loose horned ox, description of -
Cession of the Cape, ptoposals for - If. 171
Ceylon compared with the Cape - II. 270
Chavonne battery - - IT. 226
Chapman’s Bay . - = Ik 230
Chart of Table Bay- - » Ah. oot
of False Bay . o Lis 299
of Mossel Bay - - Il. 28
of Plettenberg’s Bay - - II. 288
of the Knysna - - I. 300
of Algoa Bay - - I, 289
of the coast from Table to Sal-
danha Bay - - II. 2f8o
those of the Dutch incorrect - II. 285
Character, sanguinary, of the boors
accounted for ° - I: 400
Character-— VOL. PAGE
of the inhabitants of the town - IIL. 99
Chinese, their resemblance to the Hot-
tentot race - ee ee
introduction of into the Cape + II. 149
Christian, Sir Hugh, mistake of - II. 18
Chumney, Licut., unfortunate fate
of - - = Te 4ug
Circumcision peactised among the
Kaffers = =) iG 166
how performed - oe enO7
Citadel of the Cape 2 =, Le :225
Clergy of the Cape, provision for - II. 146
Climate, healthiness of that of the
Cape - - - II. 183
some account of - ea Senne
not unhealthy = oe ee 1S
Coal, discovered at the Cape by the
English - L293, 3°
Cobra capella, the most dangerous
snake at the Cape = ‘J. go
Cold, intense degree of, in the Kar-
roo E - 1S eo it 7)
temperature explained - II. 10
Colonies of Dutch, why taken by
England - = Ile 162
Colonists, Dutch, their mode of life,
and domestic economy - ‘f2 28
their modes of agriculture =f 30
manners of the females = Lor
their prolific tendency - lj aie
external appearance of the men - id. id.
their neglected education = i. 39
their religious zeal - Soeeainn ey.
their hospitality - -- id.. ib,
some of them treat their oxen with
I. 133, 134.
instance of their inhumanity in a
brutality =
case of shipwreck - I. 149
358
Colonists, Dutch—
their inanity of mind, and indo-
lence - -
Commerce and colonies favourable to
navigation - -
of America to India and China -
Comparison of French, Dutch, and
English seamen ef =
Confession extorted by torture -
Conclusion = = 3
Congo, a Kaffer chief, interview
with z ue 4
Condition of the inhabitants of Cape
Town = z,
Consular government, object of — +
grain -
Consumption of the Cape in
Constantia wine = Si
Convoy, convenience of assembling at
the Cape - °
Copper, indications of its abundance
in the Khamies berg -
Corn boors Bey 4 a
Countess of Sutherland Indiaman, dis-
tress of - -
Court of Justice, constitution and
practice of = -
character of c fe
further account of = -
of Commissaries for trying petty
suits = bs
Craig, Sir James, his account of the
Hottentots - =
opinion of the defence of the
Cape . - -
Criminals hung in chains - -
Croix, de la, opinion of respecting
the Cape 2 2
Cyanella, a curious plant - -
TAN DEMS
Ws
on
id.
VOL. PAGE
D
VOL. PAGE
Damaras, of the Kafer race, account
of the “ - -
acqueinted with the art of smelting
iron ore - -
their process described =
Danes, during the Northern confe-
deracy called at the Cape -
Danger of the Cape being held by an
enemy ee %
Daniell, Mr. S., intended publication
of S = Ve
Dead, peculiar manner of disposing
of the, by the Kaffers -
Defence of the Cape peninsula 5
of the whole colony impracticable
Defile, deep, account of the passage
of +: - I.
Description, topographical and statis-
* tical - i E
Deserters shot by Van Roy -
De la Croix, observation of to Lord
Malm{bury - :
Dichotoma, a curious species of aloe,
described - ite
Dimensions of the Cape colony =
Directors of the East India Com
. - pany, conduct of ke
inconsistency of - -
mistaken with regard to the
Cape 5 co
affected indifference of +
Disadvantages of ceding the Cape -
Diseases that prevail among the co-
lonists ; 5 ee a
Distance from a market, inconveni-
ences of 4 e
I,
id.
id.
Il.
II.
II.
lilt
TI.
35°
ib.
ib.
2510
INDE &X.
VOL. PAGE
Disticha, a species of amaryllis, de-
scribed - -
Distillation of spirits, process of, at
the Cape - a
District of the Cape - -
of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein
of Zwellendam = -
of Graaf Revnet - -
Divisions of the districts - -
Dogs of the cur kind, among the
Kaffers, their multitude, and
miserable appearance 2
different species of the dog kind
met with in Southern Africa
Dominion, arbitrary and universal, the
object of the Consular Go-
vernmenst - =
Dragoon, British, spirited conduct
of - = 3
two drowned i z
Drawings by the Bosjesmans, ac-
count of = ss
Dryden’s translation of a passage in
Ovid = 3 é
Dutch, character of, in their co-
lonies a = 2
accustomed to scenes of cruelty -
imprudent conduct of towards their
slaves - -
indifference of, with regard to the
Cape = : a
garrison at the Cape = -
ships of war at the Cape =
converted into coilee ships
seamen, character of ES a
views of at the Cape = =
practice of running ships on shore
in Table Bay - -
II.
Ii.
. 344
220
359
Dutch— VOL PAGE
jealous of the prosperity of the
Cape - + IL. 295
intention of with respect to the
Cape - - II. 300
their regulations at the Cape calcu-
lated to encourage smuggling II. gor
Duties levied at the Cape = «II. £26
Duyvil’s kop, difficult pass of =». Tenia.
E
Earth, changes on the surface of - I. 388
Last India Company, interests of se-
cured - - = lh 302
directors of disparage the Cape - IT. 168
indifference of with regard to the
Cape - - IL 1974
advantage of at the Cape =, 127251
Eckbergia, name of a tree - I. 389
Edwards, Captain, and son, melan-
choly fate of - = 1296
Egypt, reflections on the French ex-
pedition against - e iivvig
marked as the spoil of the French II. 220
and the Cage, circumstances of
analogy between - = nas
Eland, of the antelope genus, de-
scribed - ~y aos
Elephants, immensely numerous in
Southern Africa - I. 129
errors respecting their mode of co-
pulation refuted a = ) Di30
their period of gestation - id. ib.
how hunted by the Kaffers - ) L. 162
Einporium of eastern produce at the
Cape - - =iytT,..362
Endless River > - I. 382
6
360 IND EEX.
VoL. PAGE Sree pori— VOL. PAGE
Estates often change hands See lUIS) “hs danger of such a measure - Il. 297
Evidence, how taken in the Court of French, influence of at the Cape - II. 163
Justice - - C13 4er40 avoid any discussion about the
Euphorbium described iS Lees 28 Cape - - = II. 205
Expence of the Cape moderate in , motives for overturning our Indian
peace a ood WEB Hohe} empire p - - Il. 218
as a naval station trifling = IE257 result of their aggrandizement - II. 219
Expenditure in the military depart- averse to long voyages - II. 242
ment - - =) TL.vao2 consider the Cape as preferable to
Expedition by sea or land to India Ceylon - - Es at
considered : Stu Tel u2 3 policy of keeping them out of
Exports furnished by the Cape - IL. 310 India - = 1T. 29
total value of in four years II. 336 refugees introduce the cultivation
of the vine - ase aan ey
now confounded with the other
F settlers - - = OT ae
Fruits, European and Tropical, in-
False Bay, rock discovered in ee Oey) troduced and cultivated II. 31, 32
chart of - = - ID. 277 dried for exportation iS - II. 326
Farms, immense size of in the co- Fuel for working iron ores at Plet-
lony - S I. 29. 86 tenberg’s Bay = - I. 387
strange manner of regulating their
boundaries - L.: 29, 39
Feltspar, remarkable decomposition G
of - - SAME iG
Fiscal, office of ° - II. 141 Gaika, quarrel between and Congo I. 405
Fish, various kinds of Il. 37, 38, 39 Game, various kinds of : » iene
Fishing company, experiment of - II. 325 Garden, public, established by Lord
Fishermen the best seamen x pill...342 Macartney = 2 He ALD Og,
Fishery at the Cape granted to a- Gardenia Thunbergia - - I. 389
company at Amsterdam - II. 325 Garrison of the Cape, how embar-
general advantages resulting from Il. 343 rassed - = odeT 2 gi69
Food, animal, reflexions on =a lic4o6 strength of the Dutch at the sur-
Foreigners not displeased to see the render - - SII. 234
Cape an English settlement II. 251 Geographical position of the Cape - II. 261
Forests near the Knysna 4 - L. 300 German soldiers if TYios
Free port, desire of the Dutch to Ghonaquas, tribe of the, their deplor-
make the Cape one Sate Ne able state - iy 102,162
INDE X. 361
VOL. PAGE VOL. PAGE
Gneo, or wilde beest of the Dutch, Green Point, observations on =) Bi 837
described and classed I. 214.. 216 iI.” 65
Goat, African, remarks on the - I. 67 Greville, Right Hon. Charles, en-
Gordon’s Bay, importance of Sugily Tia go7 courages the South Sea Fish-
Gordon, Colonel, his opinion of the ery 5 ve = Ls 3x3
extent of Kaffer land - Loxrg Guajacum Afrum of Linné, its seeds
Government saves by the rations at eaten by the Kaffers Ee nha y
the Cape - - IL. 188
and by other circumstances - II. 192
revenues of - soll: ai25 H
Civil and Judicial of the Cape,
account of - II. 23, 24. 124 Harbour, no good one at the Cape - IT. 273
Graaf Reynet, money circulated in Hartebeest, of the family of antelopes,
by the troops - api Iogag2 described - Sea) ag Kol
the district and divisions of - Il. 74 Healthiness of the Cape exemplified II. 182
population and produce of ieddenSt with regard to seamen =) ‘his2g7
arrival in the district of - I. 49 Health, appearance of at the Cape id, id.
account of a valley in it - I. 50 Hemisphere, Southern, probably of
gigantic size of its colonists - I. 51 larger dimensions than the
political state of the district I. 61562 northern - april. gia9
its physical appearance - I. 64 Hemp, substitute for, used by the
village of, described - - 65 Hottentots - oP Ror
its wretched state - =) pons. Or might be cultivated with great
Grain, species of, cultivated - TH. 32 benefit at the Cape =H" 1360
average product of, near the Cape I. 316 Hermann, the Russian column of '
produce of at the Cape = i. 31x cut to pieces - eB. 179
Grass, dry, conflagration of I. 137, 138 Hernbuters, establishment of = Agee
Gratuity lands So - - II. 86 Aides and skins, articles of export = E303
raziers, condition of - - Il. 117 Hippopotami, very numerous in the ~
singular instances of the inhumanity rivers of Africa = Sal. 138
of = iy 3OG LL a20 eat nothing that waters afford = id. i,
Greasing the body, utility of in warm how destroyed by the Kaffers - I. 163
countries - - I. 106 probably the Behemoth of Job - I. 251
Great Fish river, account of - I. 137 Hoetjes Bay, advantages of - IL. 278
frequented by Hippopotami - id. ib. Hogs scarcely known ‘as food in the
Greeks, danger of giving liberty to at Cape - =“ WED. 329
once - - II. 221 Horses, shod by a deaf and dumb
Greenland fishery, how carriedon - II. 344 person - - I.-39:
VOL. Ie
3A
362
VOL. PAGE Hottentots—
Hotham, Captain, saves the Countess
of Sutherland Indiaman = -
Hot spring of the Cardouw -
of Brandt Valley a :
in Zwellendam < -
of hepatized water in the Snowy
Mountains - -
Hottentots Holland’s Kloof -
of the Moravian establishment -
slaves preferred to by the colonists
corps of, their character -
‘steady conduct of - -
retaliate on the boors -
cruelties of the boors against =~
gratitude of = ¢
murder oi by a boor -
corps of refuse to take service with
the Dutch - -
one of these people forced by the
boors to eat a piece of raw
flesh cut out of his thigh =
almost to a man in a state of servi-
tude to the Dutch -
their probable extinction -
causes of their decrease enume-
rated -. e
inhumanly treated by the Dutch
flogging them by pipes, what =
regulations in their favour disre-
garded - 5
their marriages often barren -
depressed by melancholy -
their instruments of music -
their ancient weapons : 1.
no traces of the customs described
by old travellers r
possess many good qualities I.
their indolence and gluttony — =
IN D'E's,
T1263
IL "6o
PGs
Il. 68
H
i
Mae eee
a
- 367
+ 372
373
375
402
—
Len!
I. 382
FE. +496
bed
Ae Gye)
100
VOL. PAGE
their manner of preparing food - I. 103
their dress BS ie I, 103. 105
their persons described I. 107, 108
their diseases few - - ‘Eres
their mode of computing time - I. 109
their numerals did not seem be-
yond five - - id. ib.
quicksighted - - re
their language described J. fo. Fi2
no traces of religion among them JI. 113
their numbers in the colony, and
serviceableness to the colo-
nists - - id. ib.
their rapid diminution in num-
ber - - BL 9g
“expertness at tracing animals by
their foot-marks - 1 323
Hovels of the Dutch peasants de-
scribed - - CL 84%
* Hout Bay - ° - I. 230
i
Facobinism, principles of, embraced
at the Cape - - II. 162
Impediments thrown in the way of the
Cape - - IT. 294
Importance first attached to the
Cape - - II. 166
as a military station = EE -182
as a naval station - - II. 239
as a seat of commerce, &c. - If. 293
Imports to the Cape - - Il. 337
Improvements suggested - “Il. tag
india not favourable for training re-
cruits - - IL. 179
opinion respecting our empirein II. 209
TaD BEE, 363
India— VOL. PAGE
as easily reached by Bonaparte as
Alexander - -
Indian seas commanded by the
Cape - #5
Indicator, or honey-bird, its useful
employment - -
Ingenuity, instance of in a deaf and
dumb person & =
Inhabitants of Cape Town =
condition of = is
Insects of the Cape - -
instinct, considerations on what is
called = a
operates differently in the birds of
Southern Africa and those
of Europe - =
Fohnston, Commodore, object of his
expedition * - -
Fourney across the Arid Desert to
Graaff Reynet -
mode of performing it a“
into the Bosjesmans’ country, the
Author’s preparations for -
into the Kaffer country -
into the Namaaqua country -
Trish, a tall brawney people -
Tron ores near Plettenberg’s Bay -
native iron, masses of -
ore abounds in the mountains of
Africa - 5
Isthmus of the Cape, component parts
of = Z
shells found on o .
of Suez, remark on = <
Fudicature, Court of ° .
Furisprudence, system of x
Fustice, retributive, striking instance
of ° 1
Ik
Et.
19
1 FS
Lea!
\ oon ee oo ee ee |
SP eel e'e =~ ete 28.5, «6
Fustice— VOL. PAGE
how administered between a white
and a black - su belie AZ
Ivory, an article of exportation - IT. 334
r
K
Kaffers, preparations for visiting their
country - aa si tas’
Kaffer women characterised a Jeg
their frank and agreeable manners id. ib.
men possessed of great strength
and symmetry - De 20s ag 7
instance of their superior size - I. 122
their dress - mia etely 20"
interview with some Kaffer chiefs,
and conversation respecting
boundaries - I. 122. 125
articles of request among the Kaf-
fers - = li Deina6
their ornaments = I ape a 7
interview with their king =. Li 146
articles of agreement that were the
fruit of the conference other
character of the Kaffers vindicated,
and particular instances of
their humanity related I. 149, 150
person and character of the king I. 151,
152
dress of the females - - id. ib.
huts described ~ at (415 352
their agriculture - - id. ib.
their weapons - - J. 153
their government andemployments I. 155
those of the women Ot ey
a fine race of men, andthe reasons I, 158
do not, in person, resemble the ne-
gro ° =. §d, ib.
342
INDEX.
364
Kaffer— VOL. PAGE
their marriages » a ilad cela U0)
crimes and punishments ADT OO
their arts = ah el Or
rather a pastoral than agricultural
nation = - I. 162
unacquainted with fishing =, 2164
probably of Arabic origin mi) he TOS
practise circumcision =. tds th.
their religious notions I. 168, 169
their notions in astronomy Dane Han ian
their language - Si Bowl 2
their funeral rites - avi Kanga
hostilities between them and the
British troops - =» Sele B 4.
chiefs, character of ay nao
stature of . - I. 406
probably of Arabic origin - I. 408
extent of country occupied by - I. 410
Baroloos, a tribe of an Welty T
children and dogs of ~, EF. 4x
marked with the small pox - I. 408
attack the British troops - Eqns
conduct of one shot through the
body - er Py Bayer kr)
attack the English camp ~ ode Abd
one broiled alive by the boors - I. 382
Karroo plains, what : ee ey
F397
productive quality of when wa-
tered * - id. ib.
further notices of - - TL 6
or Great Desert, journies. across
the - I, 37. 285
sufferings of the party from want
of water - I, 286. 292
Keiskamma rivers its mouth & ) De 1g9
Khamies berg, winter more early, and
severe in the 2 of i 340
Khamies berg—
its inhabitants migrate into the
plains - -. I. 340,
Kicherer, missionary, remarkable zeal
of = - T. 376s
Knysna, plan and remarks of - I. 300-
a favourable station for the South-
ern Whale Fishery - IL. 350
Koranas, a tribe of Bosjesmans, their
predatory and quarrelsome
disposition: - I. 356, 357°
Kraal of the Bosjesmans entered by
surprise 2 ~ I aate
its construction and inside, ac-
count of > ESS 2.
L
L? Aguillas Bank, once part of the
continent - te cone la
tremendous storms on - IE. 2ag2:
a dangerous point for the India
ships ~ - II. 266.
Land, different tenures of - He 8%
Landrost of Graaf Reynet threatened
by the boors - - I. 364.
Lange Kloof -- a «) dee goa.
Language of the Hottentots, its use
of dental and palatial sounds. Ti rr
often imitates the sounds of objects.
expressed Wunder ve ~ id. ih.
curious instance of this- =. abe, £79
acquired by Europeans. without;
much difficulty ids ib:
of the Kaffers described > L ye
list of some of its vocables en hs, eRe
Lascars unfit for long voyages - Il. 27§;
sickness.in ships navigated by + II..176
VOL. PAGE
iN DEX.
VOL. PAGE
Ecad ore, vein of, noticed = velar
its uncommon richness a Cie or OD
Eectakoo, a city of northern Kaffers 1. 407
Leopard of the country described - I. 221
Leucophea, a species of antelope - I. 371
Lines thrown up by the French - II. 225
Lion’s Rump, importance of = Tl. 2247
plan of Sir J. Craig respecting - id. ib.
objection started against it - II, 228
Zion, may be domesticated when
young - a oor
remarkable account of a Hotten-
tot’s escape from T.. 346, 347
“his insidious qualities aa eaereys
his battles with the buffalo de-
scribed - ae eS
prefers the fiesh of the Hottentot,
and of the horse: I, 220. 348
Loan-lands - - th. 84.
from Government to. the subject If. 132
Locusts, their depredations I. 196, 203, 212
mode of destroying them i ee
Zocust-eater, bird of that name de-
scribed = Kd eb sant
their immense numbers Spe AMG at)
Lombard bank, nature of - II. 129
London market injured by making
the Cape an emporium - Tf 303
Loxia orix, or Cardinal of the Cape,
notices respecting the - I. 197
ucern.thrives well at the Cape - II. 52
M
Macartney, Fark of, departure from
the Cape - = i. 362
appointment of as Governor, = IL, 167
365
Macartney, Earl of — VOL. PAGE
letter of to Mr. Dundas = Large
observations of respecting the
Cape - = If. 270
Madeira wine supplied from the
Cape to the West India ©
islands - - II. 308
Madness, canine, unknown in South
Africa - = | L408
Madras, best water near the beach
of - ls ae
Malabar coast, observationson - II. 208
Malay staves preferred to Hottentots I. 373
Malta, in the hands of France = LL 200
Manilla, a dangerous point to the
China trade - - II. 265-
Markets, establishment of at the
Cape - - IL. r97
Marriages of the colonists, absurd
law respecting the - «Is 206
Matrimonial affairs, court of - ID, 142
Mead, Doctor, his opinion of the
small pox - - Lf. 409
Melville, Lord, plans of for govern-
ing the Cape - - FI. 166
Mediterranean trade not equal to that
of the East - - IL. 210
Milford harbour, flourishing state of II. 345
Military-station, importance of the
Cape as. - - II. 162
extent of the term - =, If... 179
department, expence of at the
Cape - -. If. 194
Milk, the food of the Kaffers - I. 407
quantity of given by African
cows - - D. \84y.
always used by the Kaffers in a
coagulated state - I. 125
probable reason for this - id. ib.
366 | INDEX.
VOL. PAGE
Milk baskets, of what texture - I. 120
Millet, species of, introduced at the
Cape - =) 1. 360
Mineralogy of the Cape peninsula - Il. 43
Mine, silver, pretended to be found
at the Cape - teh Pas
Miser, Dutch, and his domestic eco-
nomy described - I. 336,
337
Missionaries European, their attempt
to propagate Christianity
among the Kaffers and Bos-
jesmans - I. 308. 353
different kinds of - ai las
Mode of life in Cape Town - IIL. 100
Mooring-chains in Table Bay apa Laie.
Moravian missionaries, plan of =" 1.1372
account of their establishment at
Bavian’s kioof - mel) ME ors)
beneficial effects of their labours
among the Hottentots - L 309
divine service, decent performance
of - = ek, Sato
their mode of introducing civiliza-
tion - Seti fey sine
not encouraged by the Dutch co-
lonists - eh A
offer their services among the Bos-
jesmans - Bs ehiad bee ois
Mortality among seamen at the Cape
trifling - - If. 257
Mossel Bay, notices and chart of - II. 285
Mouilhé battery - = e226
Mouniains in South Africa, nature
of = ii) ES suerte
further notices of - ents oy
Muscles in Mossel Bay = 286
Mysore, effects of the conquest of - II. 208
N
VOL. PAGE
Namaaquas, preparations for a jour-
ney into their country = da aie
greatly diminished by the en-
croachments of the Dutch - I. 340
their persons and language de-
scribed a = vol asataie
breasts of the females large and
. pendent - I. 342, 343
their huts described - - id. ib.
their employment pastoral = Nd ah.
great apparent age of a female
Namaaqua “Hi 7 LG ata 353
Naticns commercial, advantage to by
; the Cape being English - II. 203
Naval station, the Cape considered
as . - Ii.*@36
Navigation, encouraged by colonies II. 240
strength of the British empire - II. 342
Navy of Britain, importance of - II. 220
Negro, difference between him and a
white - -\, Le eg
Nests of birds, how constructed in
Southern Africa I. 281. 347
New South Wales, trade between and
the Cape - - II. 308
Nicuweld mountains, their height,
and component parts my Rates
Nitre, how procured by the Author I. 42
its probable influence on the tem- '
perature of the air rte 7
native in the Snowy Mountains - II. 77
Notions, the name of an American
cargo - - II. 202
Nymphz, elongation of, universal
among the Bosjesmans and
the Hottentot females 1. 235. 237
INDEX.
Nymphe— VOL, PAGE
a similar appearance in parts of ;
Egypt - = 7 de 228
Nymphaea, two speciesof - - I. 389
O
Objections against the Cape as an em-
porium - = / LT. 303
Oil and bone, articles of export - II. 324
an indispensable article =. Th. 344
Oldenburg, Danish ship of war,
lost - = II,'a%
Opgaaff list for the-Cape district - II. 48
for Stellenbosch - = Rite S66
for Zwellendam - salle 73
for Graaf Reynet - =9 OL 82
Opinions with regard to India «Meh. 3:98
Orange river, account of = tp De aig
252. 254
pebbles on its banks - =i Devons
Ores of iron at Plettenberg’s Bay - I. 387
Origin of the Hottcntots, conjectures
respecting the ° aM 7L280
Orphan Chamber - - ID. 3144
Ostade, a subject forthe pencilof - I. 370
Ostrich feathers, an article of export II. 324
remarks on the - = ear
a polygamous bird = Sh dees
itseggsadelicacy = = mi legde Webs
Otioman empire, destruction of aimed
at by the French = LTS 220
Overtures for purchasing the Cape - II. 250
Oxen (draught ), sometimes brutally
treated by the colonists - I. 133
shocking instances of this Ts 1325 033
Oysters found at Mossel Bay - Il. 286
367
VOL. PAGE
2?
Paarlberg, a remarkable mountain,
account of - - SI,
Palmiet River - me lis
Paper money, profit on to Govern-
ment - =i SETS
Patrick, Mr., unfortunate fate of - I.
Paul, Emperor, wild scheme of = -
Peasantry of the Cape, condition of I.
SI
of what people composed -
Peninsula of the Cape, observations
on - = DP,
Perim, island of 4 208
Phenomenon, curious, in natural his-
tory = 1! PEs
Pigmies of the ancients, traces of re-
semblance between them and
the Bosjesmans - =) We
Plan, military, of the Cape penin-
sula - = «EE
Plans for the government of the
Cape - Sais
Plants, useful, to be found in the
country about the Cape I. 302,
that might be introduced -with
success - - id,
Plettenberg’s Bay, cross the moun-
tains to . 2 ee
forests in the neighbourhood of I
products of the country near - ‘I,
chart of - = Sls
country around, described I.. 2905
landing -place near - a &
Polygamous birds - Bs iv
IGE
Population of the Cape district >
8
368 INDEX.
Population VOL. PAGE
of Stellenbosch “ a OS Moy)
of Zwellendam . =I 79
of Graaf Reynet : = Eee
Ports, intermediate, necessary to most
nations - - II. 242
least so to English seamen . = II. 245
Position, geographical, of the Cape II. 200
with respect to other countries - II. 262
favourable to commerce with the
East : - =) T2169
Potatoes, disliked by the planters - I. 68
Powers of Europe, danger that
threatens them - =) ALlue29
Precedency, struggle for between two
ladies - = L1. 103
Pringle, Admiral, opinion of respect-
ing mooring chains siete. 274
Privileges cranted to the East India
Company - sh Il. 167
Produce of the Cape for exportation II. 310
Property frequently changes hands II. 8&9
Provisions, moderate prices of - II. 189
salt - - dln 2ka
Punishment inflicted on the boors - I. 395
Punishments, public, at the Cape - II. 14
DQ.
uack, an Irish, imposes on the cre-
Q P
dulity of the Dutch farm-
ers - -. aling28
Quadrupeds account of = UA EGE ers chy}
Quartz, its change into clay fre-
quently visible in the African
mountains - - A. 182
Quit-rents, what * - LIL. .86
R
VOL. PAGE
Rank, inhabitants of the Cape tena-
cious of = -
Raisins, more transportable than
wine = -
Ratel, of the species of Viverra, no-
ticed - -
Ration, expence of atthe Cape =
Red Sea, dangerous navigation of -
Recruits, fate of when sent to India
direct - a
Reflections on missionaries of the gos-
pel - 2
Refraction of the air, curious effect
of - =
Repoicings at the Cape, on the surren-
der, not viclent = o
Religion of the Cape - -
Reptiles of the Cape : =
Retreat of the sea partial =
Revenue, public, heads and amount
of - Tie
Rice, Lieutenant, surveys of -
River, Endless = =
beds of sunk deep - ~
Camtoos appearance of the coun-
try near - -
those of the Cape enumerated -
Rivers that cross the Karroo, ob-
servations respecting the -
how passed by the Dutch peasants
Robben Island x E
Rock in False Bay discovered a
Rogge Bay battery - <
Roode sand, walley of, described =
mountains beyond, account of ~
II,
102
IN DE &X:
ro
VOL. PAGE
Saint Helena, a dangerous point to
our Indian trade - - II. 267
inadequate to the supply of con-
voys = Soh Foy tt
Saint Helena Bay - - Il. 285
Saldanha Bay, account of TA 3085-319
frequented by whales - = hp les giQ
its conveniences and disadvantages
as a harbour, and means of
removing the latter I. 319, 320, 321
appearance of the country in its
neighbourhood > =pay ls 326
Salt, an inexhaustible fund of, near
Algoa Bay - Seen 20d.
provisions, cured at the Cape - II. 328
Salt-water lake, remarkable, described I. 75.
268
supposition concerning the cause
of its saltness - I. 75, 76
probable cause - ain Vm
Sand, crystallized, pyramidal columns
of - L. 324. 326
probably the ruins of vast moun-
tains - - IL. 327
Savages, not always averse to la-
bour - gd A 3
II. 276
Sceptre man of war, loss of A
Schoolmasters, who, and what their
situation among the planters I.
Sea gaining on the land in South
Africa - <ig el weer
voyages unfavourable to prompt
action - Pee OSS Bis)
Seamen of France, Holland, and
England - - IT. 241
promotion of by fisheries = 1h 342
VOL. Ii.
309
VOL. PAGE
Sea-sand, conjectures respecting: its
origin - =p he 327
Sea-shells, why found so high above
the level of the sea = yi dey bd
Seasons, view of, at the Cape AU) ies ees
Secretary of governor Jansen’s ac-
count of the boors rt BR 7c)
Sepulchral heaps, origin of = T5930
Serpents, most of them thought
noxious - Sy er sie)
a fascinating power ascribed to
them - - id. ib
vulgar antidotes against their poi-
son - mii haded «20
curious method of destroying, by
the Hottentots - = i Ieee:
Scitlement of the Cape not expensive II. 3197
Sheep, description of the Cape breed I. 67
their wool, of what kind Sat ot OS
broad tailed — - = all. 254
Shells, no proof of the presence of
the sea = Se ed 9
Shellfish, carried inland by birds - II, 39
Ships cleared out at the Cape in four
years - =e TE za
of war belonging to the Dutch - II. 23%
mortality of in those of the Dutch II. 244
easily destroyed in the bays of the
Cape - - Il, 2973
Shoemaker’s Hovel, description of - TI, 368
Shrubbery, natural, described awl. 72
Simon’s Bay - - II. 276
Skins, an article of export - IT. 323
Slavery, its pernicious effects - Il. 95
Slaves, punishment of for murder = I, 136
preferred to Hottentots oT 373
vices inseparable from the condi-
tion of - e I. 403
3B
sae
Slaves—
IN DE X.
VOL. PAGE
proportion of to whites - IT. 163
African, in the colony “peal. g2
Malay, sometimes dangerous - id. ib.
Small-pox, whence derived - I. 409
Sneuwherg, mountains of, their com-
ponent parts, and vegetable
productions *
destitute of shrubbery, and the
reason -
productions of this district, and
its advantages and inconveni-
ences - -
character of its colonists -
Svap, how formed at the Cape -
from train-oil - -
and candles made at the Cape -
Soda, might be procured in abun-
dance at the Cape -
Soil, its fertility in various places -
Soils, nature of - -
Somerville and Triiter, expedition of
to the Booshuanas -
South America, trade to from the
Cape = -
condition of the inhabitants of -
South Sea Yishery 2 =
at the Cape - -
Sparmannia, near Plettenberg’s Bay
Spiders, remarkable account of —-
Spring-bok, destroyed in great num-
bers as game - a
Springs, scarcity of explained -
medicinal, noticed = é
Squadron, expenditure of at the
Cape - %
Stalactites, account of amassof = >
State of the Cape since the surrender
Statistical sketch of the Cape colony
1200;
ES 20n5
202
VOL. PAGE
Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, district
of - =
18 pt
drosdy and divisions of oN SE. ee
population and produce of = El, 266
Storms on L’ Aguillas Bank = Li es2
Stream, hot, account of - 1.624, 26
Strelitzia - - I: 389
Stuurman Klas, a Hottentot chief - I. 394
reasoning of on their present con-
dition ° - I. 403
Suez, remark concerning the isthmus
of - SI Oe)
difficulties of sending an expedi-
tion from - - IL ar,
Suffrein, advantages derived by at the
Cape - - IL. 170
maintained his ground in India by
them E - Iie 2es
Sugar-cane, wild and uncultivated - I, 17
Sunda, Straits of, dangerous to our
trade - - £265
Sweet Milk’s Valley - Shee She oF
Hy
Table Bay, inconveniences of « Tin 294
Table Mountain, description of | - II. 40
view of its stratification «9 LES Mae
grand view from its summit Payee) 44
causes of the phenomenon of the
cloud on its summit Se 8 in
shells found on - - Lae
once skirted with trees - TI. 386
anchor found on ” =. 1, gite
mineral productions on the side of I. 389
Talleyrand and his mistress = Lama's
Tamus Elephantipes - - I. 390
ee ee eee ee
INDE X.
VOL. PAGE
Tatooing prevalent among the Kaffers I.
Taxes of the inhabitants - <5 ULE,
Temperature, remarkable variation of I.
Tenures of land © =) LM,
Theory of springs in South Africa - II.
Thermometer, its remarkable varia-
tions = eres
probable cause - - ad
Thrushes, many kinds of, in Southern
Africa = 4
Thunder-storm described 2 Aa fe
Timber, kinds of, produced at the
Cape - 1.°82.' 207. IL.
for building, scarce and expensive II.
for fuel; mode of procuring - td.
Tobacco produced inthe Cape - II.
Topographical description of the Cape II.
Torture used by the Dutch I. 38o.. II.
Trade of the Mediterranean = UT:
to India and China - - SIt.
of the East India Company =) abh.
Traders under British capitals - II.
Trees, scarce in the Cape SO eapite
Trial of seditious boors . commis
Troglodytes, Bosjesmans resemble the,
and eat the larve of ants and
I. 239.
Troops, necessity of training before
locusts =
embarkation - = EL;
sent from the Cape to Madras - II.
sent from the Cape to the Red
Sea - - SULT;
U
Unicorn, figure of an animal resem-
bling it discovered » AZ
169
103
295
84
17
192
ib.
270
371
Unicorn— VOL. PAGE
considerations rendering probable
the existence of such an ani-
mal - Te 2995 275
United Provinces, views of in forming
asettlement at the Cape - II, 294
Vv
Vaillant, remarks on an assertion of
that author - I. 236, 287
his veracity called in question - I. 3 17
criticism on his books of travels - id. ib.
an erroneous assertion of, corrected I. 335
Vandeleur, Brigadier-General, expe-
dition of - - I. 365
Van Roy shoots three deserters - I, 308
murders several Hottentots = L..479
Van Vooren, a woman of extraordi-
nary bulk = - I. 410
Vander Kemp’s account of a horrid
murder - - I. 418
Vegetable productions, abundant - II. 32
account ofa varietyofthem - II. 33,
345 35
Vegetation, rapidity of after rain - I, 371
Vice-Admiralty Court, imposition on II, x 34
Villages wanted at the Cape - II. 159
account of some in the neighbour-
hood of the Cape - I. 16
Vines, culture of - IT. 32, 33
easy culture of at the Cape = ah ag
il. 32. 156
Volcanic products, no traces of at the
it, “3
I. 223
Cape - 2
Vultures, various kinds of, mentioned
Viverra, various species of that ge-
I, 185, 186
nus noticed =
3B2
3727
WwW
VOL. PAGE
Water, great want of experienced I. 72.
286. 291
when_a traveller may expect to
meet with = = NR AO
scarcity of accounted for o- FE .a6
subterraneous stream of ante is
remedy suggested for the want of
at Saldanha Bay - II. z80
Wax, vegetable - =LL. 332
Weather, view of the, at the Cape II. 11, 12
its mean temperature - ies! yA
Wees-kammer or Orphan Chamber,
forgery on - - <&. 362
further notices on - - Id. 144
Whale oil and bone = - Il. 324
Whale fishery established at the Cape II. 40
Whalers, practices of - =: 307
Wild hog of Africa described - I. 260,
Winds, prevalent at the Cape De Tis 2
at the Cape - SULT. 175
Wine, Constantia - -' TT 32
Wines, bad management in making
.of - - Sy a teyl
experiment of Mr. Pringle - 1. 385
licence for selling farmed out - II. 189
and brandy consumed and exported II. 316
quality and price of ° =) er
THE
Strahan and Preston,
NeweStreet Square, London.
IN Di Evx:
Wines— VOL. PAGE
“growers < - - If. 110
Women of the Cape, manners of - II. ror
occupation of among the Kaffers I. 157
Wood, catalogue of various sorts of,
in the colony - =: lols 297
Woods of the Cape unknown to the
inhabitants - sil. 284
Wool, an article of export - ig22
African, of what kind = Piet eee
Z
Zamia cycadis, its fruit a substitute :
for coffee - ieee erg
Zebra, remarks on the domestication
of - - Lo 44
Zoology, general view of the Cape ET egg
Zuure Veldt, plains of, their vege-
140, I4I, 142
Zwart-kop's bay, fertility of the —
table productions I.
country around - oi Togs
productive of excellent timber - I. 82
abounds in game - I. 88, 89
Zwellendam, district of, its popula-
tion and produce I. 306, 307
inhabitants of - Final ey 1,
. district and divisions of / - II. 69
population and-produce of oa aa
END.
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
7
LGeOr Pye
I. Boor’s Wife taking her Coffee - . to face Page 31
II. Portrait of a South African Sheep 5 - - 66
Il. Portrait of a Hottentot ° - : ~ 108
IV. A Waggon pafling a Kloof - . - - 132
V. Portrait of a Kaffer Woman ° ° - 167
VI. The Gnoo - - = “ - 217
VIL A Bosjesman in Armour - - - - 239
VIII, The African Rhinosceros . ° - - 348
VOL. ai.
I, General Chart - - - to face Title Page
II. Military Plan of the Cape Peninsula - - to face 223 -
Ul. Chart of Table Bay - - - - 27 4.
IV. of False Bay - ° - ° 279 ¢
V. of the Coast between Table Bay and Saldanha Bay 280
VI. of Mossel Bay - - - - 285
Vil of the Knysna - - > - 287
VIII. —— of Plettenberg’s Bay - - . 288
IX. —— of Algoa Bay - - - > eee
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