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hither for the re-establishment of their health : such are the 

 lights of the picture; the shades are furnished from the 

 coasts of Africa and the Indian Archipelago. 



" In a society so constructed, the manners must be as 

 varied as the materials of which it is composed; and ages 

 must elapse ere they can amalgamate and assume a national 

 form. This renders the Colonists peculiarly prone to adopt 

 the customs of strangers ; and as these adoptions are oftener 

 the fruit of caprice than of sound judgment, they are apt 

 sometimes to excite a smile. Can there be conceived, for 

 instance, a more awkward or more ludicrous object than a 

 huge boor heaving up his ponderous shoulders in imitation 

 of a Parisian, twisting his neck, and drawling out, " Ik wit 

 neit," whilst his utmost endeavours cannot throw the corres- 

 ponding expression into a countenance where the muscles 

 are so deeply imbedded in blubber, that even the convulsions 

 of death could not produce any visible derangement of 

 features. 



" No difference of ranks exists at the Cape : and if the 

 population be not occasionally reinforced from Europe, the 

 distinction of colour will soon vanish. The intermixture of 

 African with Europsean blood can already be traced in some 

 of the first-rate families in the Colony : the hue of the skin 

 and the lineaments of the countenance unequivocally betray- 

 ing their origin. The abolition of the Slave Trade, and the 

 facility with which the poorest inhabitants can, by ordinary 

 activity and perseverance, obtain a competency, will acce- 

 lerate this union, and it is probable that before two centuries 

 shall have elapsed, all the colours will be blended in one. 



" The complexion of the Cape ladies is, in general, fair, 

 perhaps too fair. It is of that sickly delicate tint which indi- 

 cates exclusion from the air and light. It is altogether 

 deficient in the lively bloom which gentle exercise and ex- 

 posure to the elements diffuse over the cheeks of the British 

 fair. Great care is taken, while young and single, of their 

 figures : they are accordingly then light and elegant in their 

 form : but they are no sooner married than they begin to 

 neglect their persons, and, by indulging in the pleasures of 



