356 cook's first voyage afril, 



of improvement, which together bear about the 

 same proportion to the whole as one to one thousand, 

 are laid out in vineyards, orchards, and kitchen- 

 grounds ; and most of these little spots lie at a con- 

 siderable distance from each other. There is also 

 the greatest reason to believe, that, in the interior 

 parts of this country, that which is capable of cul- 

 tivation does not bear a greater proportion to that 

 which is incorrigibly barren ; for the Dutch told us, 

 that they had settlements eight-and-twenty days' 

 journey up the country, a distance equal to at least 

 nine hundred miles, from which they bring provi- 

 sions to the Cape by land ; so that it seems reason- 

 able to conclude that provisions are not to be had 

 within a less compass. While we were at the Cape, 

 a farmer came thither from the country, at the dis- 

 tance of fifteen days' journey, and brought his young 

 children with him. We were surprised at this, and 

 asked him, if it would not have been better to have 

 left them with his next neighbour. Neighbour ! said 

 the man, 1 have no neighbour within less than five 

 days' journey of me. Surely the country must be 

 deplorably barren in which those who settle only to 

 raise provisions for a market, are dispersed at such 

 distances from each other. That the country is 

 every where destitute of wood appears to demonstra- 

 tion ; for timber and planks are imported from Ba- 

 tavia, and fuel is almost as dear as food. We saw 

 no tree, except in plantations near the town, that 

 was six feet high ; and the stems, that were not 

 thicker than a man's thumb, had roots as thick as 

 an arm or a leg ; such is the influence of the winds 

 here to the disadvantage of vegetation, setting the 

 sterility of the soil out of the question. 



The only town which the Dutch have built here 

 is, from its situation, called Cape Town, and con- 

 sists of about a thousand houses, neatly built of brick, 

 and in general whited on the outside ; they are, 

 however, covered only with thatch, for the violence 

 of the south east-winds would render any other roof 



