50 
some ingenuity in the construction, and taste in the interior 
decoration. Several are furnished with a hand-mill or 
quern for grinding their corn, and an oven for baking. 
Their inmates were decently dressed, cleanly in their appear- 
ance, and all employed in some useful occupation. In 
others, however, we could remark a strong predilection for 
the sheepskins and wigwams of their ancestors; but this, we 
were given to understand, was confined to the more recent 
recruits, and it was expected that the example of the others 
would soon wean them from their ancient habits. 
* The number of Hottentots at present on the list of the 
institution, was stated to us at thirteen hundred souls. A 
portion of land equal to one farm, or three miles square, is 
allotted for their support. "This allotment, which gives about 
one hundred and forty-four souls for every square mile, though 
more liberal than what obtains either in France or England, 
is by far too scanty, considering the poverty of the soil in 
general; and forms a singular contrast with that which pre- 
vails throughout the Colony, where it is estimated that the 
square miles are to the souls in the ratio of two to one. 
This restriction has, however, one good effect; it prevents 
the Hottentots from withdrawing altogether from the service 
of the farmers, a step which would create much embarass- 
ment during the busy periods of spring and autumn. The 
greater part of the able-bodied men, accordingly, quit the 
village at those seasons, and hire themselves out to work on 
the neighbouring farms. 
* Some of the young Hottentot girls are instructed by the 
matrons in needle-work, and the produce of their industry is 
in great demand among the country erowws. Strangers, also, 
who casually visit the establishment, provide themselves with 
specimens of these articles, as well. as of the cutlery-work, 
executed here with uncommon neatness, for the purpose of "| 
showing their friends what a Hottentot can do. All this is 
very foolish. The world is now pretty well satisfied that 
nature has not measured the human intellect by the colour of 
the skin, or the degrees of latitude; and that the African 
requires nothing but instruction to render his intellectual, as 
