126 cook's voyage to nov. 



I might think myself very well off. One of these, 

 however, was so much hurt by the dogs, that there 

 was reason to believe he would never recover. 



Mr. Hem my very obligingly offered to make up this 

 loss, by giving me a Spanish ram, out of some that 

 he had sent for from Lisbon. But I declined the 

 offer, under a persuasion that it would answer my 

 purpose full as well, to take with me some of the 

 Cape rams ; the event proved, that I was under a 

 mistake. This gentleman has taken some pains to 

 introduce European sheep at the Cape ; but his en- 

 deavours, as he told me, have been frustrated by the 

 obstinacy of the country people, who hold their own 

 breed in greater estimation, on account of their large 

 tails, of the fat of which they sometimes make more 

 money than of the whole carcass besides * ; and think 

 that the wool of European sheep will, by no means, 

 make up for their deficiency in this respect. Indeed, 

 I have heard some sensible men here make the same 

 observation. And there seems to be foundation for 

 it. For, admitting that European sheep were to 

 produce wool of the same quality here as in Europe, 

 which experience has shown not to be the case, the 

 Dutch have not hands, at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 to spare for the manufacturing even their own cloth- 

 ing. It is certain that, were it not for the continual 

 importation of slaves, this settlement would be thin- 

 ner of people than any other inhabited part of the 

 world. 



While the ships were getting ready for the prose- 



* " The most remarkable thing in the Cape sheep, is the length 

 and thickness of their tails, which weigh from fifteen to twenty 

 pounds. The fat is not so tallowish as that of European mutton, 

 and the poorer sort use it for butter." Kolben s Cape of Good 

 Hope [English translation], vol. ii. p. 65. De la Caille, who 

 finds every thing wrong in Kolben, says, the weight of the tails of 

 the Cape sheep is not above five or six pounds. Voyage de la 

 Caille, p. 343. If the information given to Captain Cook may be 

 depended upon, it will prove that, in this instance at least, Kolben 

 is unjustly accused of exaggeration. 



16 



