30 



the table, acquire a degree of obesity that renders them 

 objects of disgust. The habit of using vegetable acids as 

 seasoning to every article of food, soon destroys the teeth. 

 So universal indeed is this defect, that a fine set of teeth never 

 enters as an item into the catalogue of female beauty : and the 

 total neglect of the brush renders such as they have offensive 

 to the sight of any person of delicacy. 



" Almost every private house in Capetown is open for the 

 accommodation of such strangers as have occasion to take 

 lodgings for any time in the town. This custom supersedes 

 the use of taverns : but as it was originally the offspring of 

 poverty and necessity, it will fall into disuse in proportion as 

 the inhabitants become more opulent. The town may, at 

 present, be aptly con)pared to a large inn on a well-frequented 

 road. The same incessant routine of arrivals and departures; 

 the same chaotic medley of characters; and the same insa- 

 tiable thirst of gain, and disregard of I'eputation in the manner 

 of acquiring it, are characteristic of both. 



*' There is a constant succession of Venduties, or public 

 gales, in Capetown. These sales are a species of lottery, in 

 which every person, but especially the old women, engage 

 with astonishing avidity ; though the chance of gain is fully 

 as precarious as in the speculation that goes more properly by 

 that name. Not a day passes without several auctions; and 

 it is by no means uncommon that an article purchased in the 

 morning at one, should be exposed in the course of the day 

 for sale at another. The more considerable sales are adver- 

 tised in the Cape Gazette, but the minor ones are announced 

 by a crier, who goes about the streets beating a brass plate 

 to attract notice. All the idlers run to those places, where 

 they are sure to hear the politics and the scandal of the day 

 discussed : at the same time, the low price at which they see 

 articles knocked down, tempts them to stake their money, as 

 they would at hazard or lansquenet. If the purchases are 

 not of sufficient magnitude to authorize a sale at home, tiiey 

 send them to the first auction that takes place in their neigh- 

 bourhood, where they must run the risk of meeting with 

 profit or loss. On this principle, every inhabitant of either 



