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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 withdrawinfj 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 vrouws. 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 



