23 



the next fleet, which took them up and replaced them with 

 others in the same state. The upper floor of this building 

 could accommodate two thousand sick; and the ground floor 

 served as a magazine of wine and provisions for the fleets. As 

 both floors are now occupied by troops, it affords ample 

 accommodation for three thousand men. 



" There are two squares in Capetown. That which is 

 termed the Market Square is in the centre of the town, and 

 is occupied during the day as a fruit-market. The Boeren 

 Plein, or Hottentot Square, is situated in the upper part of 

 the town, and is appropriated to the use of the farmers, who 

 resort thither with their wa<To;ons. It is suri'ounded with 

 houses for the reception of these people, who dispose of their 

 country produce to the landlords in exchange for such goods 

 as they have occasion to purchase. In this barter, the advan- 

 tage is said to be greatly in favour of the citizens, who are 

 accused of imposing grossly on the simplicity of their country 

 customers. 



" The government garden is surrounded by a wall, built 

 at the time Sir George Younge was governor of the Cape, 

 and which is said to have cost the public ten thousand pounds. 

 The enclosure consists of forty acres of land, and is divided 

 into about half as many compartments, by walks or alleys, 

 which, after the Dutch fashion, cross each other at right 

 angles. The principal walk, running along the centre of 

 the garden, is covered with gravel, and shaded with two rows 

 of oak trees. Alono; each side of it, there is a small stream 

 of water, bordered by a hedge of broad-leaved myrtle. 



" There is a particular division, allotted for a Botanical 

 Garden ; but since our arrival no steps have been taken to 

 keep it in order, or to enrich it with the rarer productions of 

 the African Continent. Sir David Baird loved drill better 

 than he loved Botany; and his present Excellency, in so far 

 as his affections have yet developed themselves, seems to love 

 his money better than either. It is beyond a doubt, at least, 

 that the best cultivated portions of the garden are those 

 which yield vegetables for his table, or provender for his 

 cattle. At the upper end of the garden there is a menagerie, 



