1 823.] Letteri of a late Adventurer to the Cape of Good Hope. 



127 



ted in money, but in merchandize and 

 manufactures; for it is, I believe, an 

 undoubted fact, that for several years 

 past we have imported bullion from 

 the Continent in much greater quan- 

 tity than in the several years pre- 

 ceding. The circumstance of these 

 non-residents living abroad cannot, 

 then, account for the diminution of the 

 circulating medium. It is very true 

 that, if they were all at once to return 

 to this country, tlie consumption of 

 agricultural produce must be some- 

 what increased ; but, I conceive, not 

 sufficiently for the prices to be sensibly 

 affected by it; and Common Sense 

 himself will, I think, acknowledge, that 

 the effe<?t which would thereby be 

 produced would not restore prices to 

 the standard at which they were four 

 or five years ago. Besides which, as 

 the great reduction of prices has taken 

 place in this period, in looking for the 

 cause of it we must direct our atten- 

 tion to some circumstance which has 

 occurred, or, at least, which has been 

 brought into operation during this 

 time ;* and will Common Sense advo- 

 cate the opinion, that the number of 

 the tax and rent receivers, who reside 

 in and near London, and out of the 

 kingdom, has so much increased du- 

 ring the last four or five years, as to 

 have occasioned the very great altera- 

 tion in prices which has taken place in 

 that time ? The idea appears to me pre- 

 posterous ; and yet, unless it be seri- 

 ously entertained, it appears to me 

 that the position of Common Sense is 

 untenable. J. S. M. 



Jan. 9, 1823. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 



OKIGINAL LETTERS of a late ADVEN- 

 TURER to the CAPE of GOOD HOPE. 



IT may be necessary to premise, that 

 the writer of the following is an 

 intelligent man, who has seen much of 

 the world, without profiting by it in a 

 pecuniary way. He has a good ac- 

 quaintance with agriculture, a general 



• It is extraordinary that our reasoning 

 correspondent does not perceive, tiiat the 

 absence of loans and tiie suspension of con- 

 tracts is tlie pt'cnliar cause in question. A 

 loan of twenty millions spent over the na- 

 tion is equivalent to the local residence of 

 the tax-receivers; and, to keep up prices, 

 we must have local residence, or loans 

 spent hy contractors, to countei-art the 

 drain of taxes from the provinces to Lon- 

 don.— Editor. 



knowledge of trade ; and, having pass- 

 ed a year or two in the wine-countries 

 on the Rhine some time ago, thought 

 of turning his knowledge to account, 

 and pushing his fortune at the Cape, 

 by endeavouring to improve the wines 

 of that colony, should he find encou- 

 ragement from the native vine-growers. 



Nov. 20, 1821. 



Since I have been here, I have 

 found the unfavourable anticipations 

 of your friend H — partly realized, 

 though certainly, I will admit, not to 

 the extent he asserted ; yet, as far as 

 respects myself, 1 have little to say in 

 favour of this country from personal 

 success, — from which the generality 

 of people form their judgments, and 

 pronounce sentence accordingly. I 

 am not, however, one of those who are 

 speedily cast down ; my spirits, thank 

 heaven, are as buoyant as ever, or I 

 should have sunk long ago under the 

 pressure of what I must still esteem 

 misfortune rather than imprudence; 

 notwithstanding of * * * *, who 

 should have given me more assistance 

 in life than they have done: but 1 have 

 done with complaining. 



I need not say much of the voyage 

 hither ; though I suppose something is 

 requisite in order to satisfy you all, 

 and carry you with me in idea across 

 the Atlantic. It lasted just eleven 

 weeks ; some calms near the line hav- 

 ing retarded our progress for ten days, 

 which was infinitely more tolerable 

 than some stiff breezes, as the sailors 

 say, though 1 should call them gales, 

 experienced just after quitting the 

 English Channel. 



We touched at Madeira, and re- 

 mained four days, seeing all that was 

 to be seen, and taking in about twenty 

 tons of wine, mostly for the private 

 use of the owners of the Isabella. It 

 is certainly a picturesque island, and 

 the climate is doubtless very fine ; but 

 the cultivated portion is not near what 

 I expected : the soil is of a sandy or 

 light red colour, the hills steep, and 

 their sides, perhaps for this reason, 

 better adapted to the vine, which, ac- 

 cording to all accounts, came origi- 

 nally from the island of Candia, in the 

 Mediterranean. The vineyards are 

 not so numerous as, from the quantity 

 of wine called after the island, might 

 be supposed ; neither are they large, 

 nor, in my apprehension, well con- 

 ducted; though I have not had. I must 

 confess, sufficient ojjportunity to form 



any 



