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hither for the re-establishment of their health: such are the 
lights of the picture; the shades are furnished from the 
coasts of Africa and the Indian Archipelago. 
* In a society so constructed, the manners must be as 
varied as the materials of which it is composed; and ages 
must elapse ere they can amalgamate and assume a national 
form. This renders the Colonists peculiarly prone to adopt 
the customs of strangers; and as these adoptions are oftener 
the fruit of caprice than of sound judgment, they are apt 
sometimes to excite a smile. Can there be conceived, for 
instance, a more awkward or more ludicrous object than a 
huge boor heaving up his ponderous shoulders in imitation 
of a Parisian, twisting his neck, and drawling out, * Ik wit 
neit," whilst his utmost endeavours cannot throw the corres- 
ponding expression into a countenance where the muscles 
are so deeply imbedded in blubber, that even the convulsions 
of death could not produce any visible derangement of 
features. 
* No difference of ranks exists at the Cape: and if the 
population be not occasionally reinforced from Europe, the 
distinction of colour will soon vanish. The intermixture of 
African with Europæan blood can already be traced in some 
of the first-rate families in the Colony: the hue of the skin 
and the lineaments of the countenance unequivocally betray- 
ing their origin. The abolition of the Slave Trade, and the 
facility with which the poorest inhabitants can, by ordinary 
activity and perseverance, obtain a competency, will acce- 
lerate this union, and it is probable that before two centuries 
shall have elapsed, all the colours will be blended in one. 
* The complexion of the Cape ladies is, in general, fair, 
perhaps too fair. It is of that sickly delicate tint which indi- 
cates exclusion from the air and light. It is altogether 
deficient in the lively bloom which gentle exercise and ex- 
posure to the elements diffuse over the cheeks of the British 
fair. Great care is taken, while young and single, of their 
figures: they are accordingly then light and elegant in their 
form: but they are no sooner married than they begin to 
