Letters of a late Adventurer to the Cape of Good Hope 



V28 



any decisive opinion whether, under 

 all circumstances, they could be ma- 

 terially amended, considering the ge- 

 neral ignorance of the people, the rude 

 conitruction of their utensils, the 

 apparent carelessness of the culti- 

 vators and (iperalors, and that general 

 want of finis!), of neatness, of accu- 

 racy, of (if i may say,) perfection, 

 which the eye of an Englishman in- 

 stantly discerns in most foreign manu- 

 facturing processes. If the people, 

 however, are unenlightened, they are 

 not therefore a whit more honest in 

 managing the staple article of trade 

 than their neiglibours in other places. 

 I have been informed of many tricks 

 played with it, though pretty strict re- 

 gulations to the contrary exist against 

 such practices ; here, as in other 

 places, different qualities of the same 

 article are produced, — some, indeed, 

 very bad ; and these are too often mix- 

 ed with the very best qualities. It is 

 also undoubted, that the mercantile 

 houses here engaged in the trade, — of 

 which there are several, — offend in the 

 same way to a considerable extent; 

 and, therefore, though you buy wine in 

 the island, it by no means follows, as 

 with port-wine at Oporto, that it must 

 necessarily be good. 



An instance of the influence of 

 friendship in this trade occurred not 

 long before I left London. Mr. G — , 

 a merchant there, a particular inti- 

 mate of one of the partners of an emi- 

 nent house here, wrote for two pipes of 

 the best, for his own use, by a vessel 

 in which he was partly concerned : 

 the wine arrived, — was waited forwith 

 impatience, valued by anticipation as 

 a rare acquisition ; but, alas ! though 

 one pipe proved merely tolerable, the 

 other was actually so bad as to be un- 

 fit for their private use, and was sold 

 for something more than half its ori- 

 ginal cost, without reckoning ex- 

 penses. 



By some of the merchants the pro- 

 duce of the vineyard is contracted for 

 when on the ground ; and, having 

 many others in the same way, and 

 from different districts, and of course 

 of various qualities, qualify them as 

 they think proper. It is, 1 believe, not 

 denied, that the wine of no one parti- 

 cular vineyard or vintage can be pro- 

 cured perfectly genuine; and the 

 practice is justilied, by its tending to 

 improve the whole. 



'J'he Malmsey is certainly delicious ; 

 especially when drank, as I happened 



[March 1, 



to do more than once, from a private 

 cellar, where it had been mellowing to 

 a good old age. Tliere is another 

 species, uncommonly rare, and of 

 course higiily prized ; the name does 

 not: occur to me at this moment; it 

 was principally reserved for the use of 

 the royal family of Portugal, a few of 

 the nobility, and some of the governor's 

 friends. Very little reached England, 

 though I recollect having heard of it 

 twice at noblemen's tables on parti- 

 cular occasions, where a few odd bot- 

 tles were prized as a great treat. 

 Malmsey is commonly sold from 90?. 

 to 110/. per pipe ; London particular 

 Madeira from 60Z. to 751. ; London 

 Madeira about 50/. 



We did not touch at any other place, 

 but saw the Canary islands at a dis- 

 tance ; the w ine of which, I may re- 

 mark, — at least some particular spe- 

 cies of it, — is often substituted for 

 Madeira in England, and on the con- 

 tinent of Europe ; and occasionally 

 requires a good judge to distinguish 

 the difference. 



The land of Southern Africa was a 

 welcome object after such a continued 

 monotony of sky and water. Our 

 amusements had little variety : catch- 

 ing sharks, albicore, and bonetta; now 

 and then some large sea-birds, with a 

 hook and line kept floating astern; 

 pacing the deck ; eating and drinking; 

 and listening to the songs, and some 

 long-winded stories, of the sailors, 

 which smacked not a little of the mar- 

 vellous. It was remarkably fine when 

 we first saw the land, (toward the end 

 of September,) and fully calculated on 

 getting in ne'xt day. At day-light, 

 however, when not far from Robin 

 island, which lies in the mouth of 

 Table-bay, a violent soutii-east wind 

 came gushing directly out of the bay 

 like a torrent ; and, continuing for 

 two days, drove us back considerably, 

 till the captain found out he was in 

 the vicinity of Saldanha-bay, in which 

 we afterwards anchored for a short 

 time. This is a dreary part, and tend- 

 ed to give mean unfavourable opinion 

 of the country. The anchorage is a 

 poor one, and the country around a 

 barren sand, studded here and there 

 with fern, a lew green spots intermix- 

 ed, like so many rocks in the sea; 

 some huts at a distance, most of them 

 untenanted, except by jackals, wolves, 

 and other wild beasts, at night, and 

 occasionally by stray cattle, and be- 

 M ildered sportsmen or hotteutots, too 

 fatigued 



