23 
the next fleet, which took them up and replaced them with 
others in the same state. "The upper floor of this building 
could accommodate two thousand sick; and the ground floor 
served as a magazine of wine and provisions for the fleets. As 
both floors are now occupied by troops, it affords ample 
accommodation for three thousand men. 
*'Phere are two squares in Capetown. That which is 
termed the Market Square is in the centre of the town, and 
is occupied during the day as a fruit-market. The Boeren 
Plein, or Hottentot Square, is situated in the upper part of 
the town, and is appropriated to the use of the farmers, who 
resort thither with their waggons. It is surrounded with 
houses for the reception of these people, who dispose of their 
country produce to the landlords in exchange for such goods 
as they have occasion to purchase. In this barter, the advan- 
tage is said to be greatly in favour of the citizens, who are 
accused of imposing grossly on the simplicity of their country 
customers, 
“ The government garden is surrounded by a wall, built 
at the time Sir George Younge was governor of the Cape, 
and which is said to have cost the public ten thousand pounds. 
The enclosure consists of forty acres of land, and is divided 
into about half as many compartments, by walks or alleys, 
which, after the Dutch fashion, cross each other at right 
angles. The principal walk, running along the centre of 
the garden, is covered with gravel, and shaded with two rows 
of oak trees. Along each side of it, there is a small stream 
of water, bordered by a hedge of broad-leaved myrtle. | 
* There is a particular division, allotted for a Botanical 
Garden; but since our arrival no steps have been taken to 
keep it in order, or to enrich it with the rarer productions of 
the African Continent. Sir David Baird loved drill better 
than he loved Botany; and his present Excellency, in so far 
as his affections have yet developed themselves, seems to love 
his money better than either. It is beyond a doubt, at least, 
that the best cultivated portions of the garden are those 
which yield vegetables for his table, or provender for his 
cattle. At the upper end of the garden there is a menagerie 
