Voyage to the Cape of the New Seitten, 



320 



here, with a great variety of wild pea- 

 cocks, ostriclies, parrots, pelicaus, pen- 

 guins, <rormorants; divers and many 

 species of the crow kind, as also cape 

 snipes, dncks, teals, widgeons, par- 

 tridges, pheasants, grouse, quails, wood- 

 cocks, pigeons, &c. &c. ; several spe- 

 cies of small birds of the thrush, bull- 

 finch, and sparrowkind, also humming 

 birds and fly birds, remarkable for their 

 diminutive size : among the venomous 

 reptiles, are to be found the hooded- 

 snakes, the puff-adder, the spring-ad- 

 der, the boem-snake, the grass-snake, 

 and water-snake; the bite of any of 

 these is considered mortal ; scorpions, 

 and centipedes are vei-y numerous ; the 

 black spider is also reckoned among 

 the venomous creatures ; red and green 

 locusts at certain seasons of the year do 

 great damage to the vegetable produc- 

 tions. 



The botany of Southern Africa is 

 more rich and peculiar than any other 

 counliy, and most of the ^ingular and 

 beautiful inhabitants of our green- 

 houses have been hence produced ; 

 numbers, however, equally remark- 

 able, remain behind ; which, from their 

 size or from accident, or from the ne- 

 cessity of selection among a multitude, 

 are as yet strangers to European culti- 

 vation. The class of bulbous-rooted 

 plants might be selected as peculiarly 

 characteristic of tlie Cape, for no where 

 else are they found so abundant, so 

 I'arious, or so splendid. Nor is it at 

 one season of the year that this splendid 

 scene is exhibited, every month has its 

 peculiar beauties, composing scenes of 

 unrivalled magnificence, where the eye 

 wanders with delight from beauty to 

 beautj', till fatigued with splendour it 

 reposes on the light silver foliage of 

 the protes argeutia or the viogrous green 

 of the spreading oak, or still deeper 

 hue of the aspiring stone pine. The 

 myrtle grows to a great height, laurels, 

 laurentinas, geraniums, jessamins, al- 

 bucas, and liyaciuths, grow sponta- 

 neously in many places. A species of 

 indigo grows wild, the cotton-tree is to 

 be found in some parts. The cape- 

 olive is very good of its kind ; the cab- 

 bage-tree grows in gre!>t abundance, 

 the stalk of which, when boiled, re- 

 sembles our cabbage in taste. 



Among the fruits that this country 

 produces, are oi'anges, plantains, gau- 

 Toes, pum])kins, melons, scjuashes, wa- 

 ter-melons, strawberries, pomegranates, 

 &c.; peaches, apricots, apples, and pears, 

 are reai ed in great abundance, but are 



[iVlav 1, 



neither so various or so good in quality 

 as our own ; chesnuts, walnuts, and 

 almonds, grow equal if not superior to 

 other countries ; bilimbies, tamarinds, 

 and several fruits of an acid quality so 

 common in India. The vines are uot 

 suffered to grow up or spread out their 

 branches, except one or two particular 

 species, which produce the grapes used 

 at table or dried for raisins : they are 

 never suffered to grow more than three 

 feet high, and have the appearance of 

 low currant-bushes. 



The castor-oil shrub and coffee-tree 

 are to be found here. Every species 

 of game is found here, and the botanist 

 has a wide field for exercising his inge- 

 nuity ; this country is inhabited by 

 Boors, who, in their manners, habits, 

 and dispositions, seem a race entirely 

 distinct from those of the more civilized 

 parts of the colony ; and one indeed 

 sees, with surprize, the ' country 

 Dutch,' as they are called, and those 

 residing at Cape Town, and its vicinity. 

 Though this country abounds with 

 whatever can make life comfortable, 

 yet these inhabitants seem not to have 

 the power of enjoying those blessings 

 within their reach, and absolutely in 

 their possession. Oxen they have in 

 abundance, but seldom use any 

 for fowl. Milk and butter overflow 

 with them. Their houses are poor, 

 mean, and incommodious, although 

 they might easily be rendered comfort- 

 able, even without their own bodily 

 labour, as they have a sufficient num- 

 ber of slaves for all their purposes; 

 their rooms are dirty and smoaky in 

 the extreme ; their articles of furni- 

 ture are few, an old table, two or three 

 broken chairs, a few plates or kitchen 

 utensils, with a couple of large chests, 

 commonly comprise the whole. Indif- 

 ferent bread and vegetables stewed in 

 sheep's fat, are their usual fare, and 

 when they eat meat, masses of mutton 

 are served up in grease. This luxuiy 

 they devour in great quantities, bolting 

 it down as some of our porters would 

 do for a wager : smoaking all the morn- 

 ing and sleeping after dinner constitute 

 their greatest luxury, unwilling to work 

 themselves, they lord it over their slaves 

 and hired Hottentots. At a middle age 

 they are carried off by dropsy, or some 

 disease contracted by indolence and 

 eating to excess : they make use of that 

 poisonous hot spirit Cape brandy, and 

 when they cannot get that they drink 

 Geneva. The women pass a lazy, list- 

 less, and iuactive life: after having re 



galed 



