Condition of the Inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope. I79 



Guanipa and du Caiy, flames burst from the earth. But 

 nature discharges me from this task. The eflects of 

 the volcanoes m this part of the world are very different 

 from those seen in Europe. Great and melancholy in their 

 consequences, they change the rocks which are exposed to 

 their action. The immense revolution of Pelileo and Ton*- 

 guragua de Zuito has not only covered the earth with 

 lava, but with clavey mud, deposited by: the sulphureous 

 water which spouted from the earth. The sulphureous 

 gypsum, the mixture of sulphureous pyrites in all the 

 rocks, even in granite, the bituminous saline clay, the 

 rock oil, or asphaltum, which every where floatson the water 

 or lies on the ground, the immeasurable quantity of rain- 

 water, and the lakes which penetrate into the earth heated 

 by the sun, the aqueous vapours and immense quantities of 

 hydroffen gas every v\here disengaged, seem to be the prin- 

 cipal causes which contribute to produce these volcanic 

 effects. 



The sulphureous pits of Guadaloupc, of Montmisene, 

 St. Christopher de I'Oualiban, St. Lucia, and Montserrat, 

 are in all probability connected with those on the coast of 

 Paria. These volcanoes, however, belong rather to the pro- 

 vince of natural philosophy than of mineralogy ; and I must 

 visit other countries before I can venture to form any opi- 

 nion on so difficult a subject. May Heaven avert from the 

 eastern side of New Andalusia such a catastrophe as that 

 which has convulsed the plains of Pelileo ! 



XXXII. Observations on the'Condition of the Inhabitants of 

 the Cape of Good Hope *. 



Af the condition of mankind was to be estimated entirely 

 by the means it possessed of supplying an abundance or 

 pre%-onting a scarcity of the necessary articles of life, and it 

 must be confessed they constitute a very essential part of its 

 comforts, the European colonists of the Cape of Good 

 Hope might be pronounced amongst the happiest of men. 

 But as all the pleasures of this world areattended with evils, 

 like roses placed on stems that are surrounded with thorns, 

 so these people, in the midst of plenty unknown in other 

 countries, can scarcely be considered as objects of envy. 

 Debarred from cvc-rv mental pleasure arising from the perusal 

 of books or the frequent convcr:?ation of tiiends, each suc- 



• rrc;m BniTfiw's Travt!?, vol. ii. 



M G cccding 



