1 S6 On the Condition of the Tnhalitanls 



teeding day is a repetition of the past, whose i)-k:?otnfe 

 sam^pness is vai-ied only by the accidental call of a travellel", 

 the less welcome visits of the Cosjcsnians, or the terror of 

 being- put lo death by tlieir own slaves, or the Hottentots 

 •in their employ. The only counterpoise to this wearisome 

 and miserable state of existence, is a aiiperfiuity of thfe ne- 

 cessaries of life, as far as regards the support of the animal 

 functions, which all, of every description among the colo- 

 nists, have the means of acquiring with little exertlou either 

 of body or mind. 



A short skeitch of the circtimstances and resources of the 

 several classes of the colonists will be sufficient to convey a 

 tretieral idea of their respective conditions. The twenty- 

 two thousand Chri.-*tian inhabitants that compose the popu- 

 lation of this colony niavbe reduced into four classes: 



1. People of the town. 



2. Vine-growers. 



3. Grain-farmers. 

 '4i Graziers. 



1 . The people of the town we have already observed to 

 be an idle, dissolute race of men, subsisting chiefly by the 

 labour of their slave?. In order to derive a fixed income, 

 and to avoid anv trouble, they require each slave to bring' 

 ihem a certain sum at the end of every week ; all that he 

 can earn above this sum is for himself, and many are in- 

 dustrious cnoucfli to raise as much money in a few years as 

 is sufiicient to pufchAse their freedom, and sometimes that 

 of their children. The price of provisions, and the price of 

 labour, bear no sort of proportion : Butchers' meat is only 

 about twopence a pound, ilnd good brown bread, such as 

 all the slaves eat, one penny a pound. A common labour- 

 ing slave oets from tu o shillings to half-a-crov/n a day, and 

 & mechanic or artificer fi\'e and six shillings a day. The 

 pe )ple of Cape Town are slmost all of them petty dealers, 

 and they have a remarkable propensity for public vendues. 

 Not a day passes wllhout several of these being held both 

 before and after dinnti-. And it is no uncommon thing to 

 sec the same identical articles exposed at two different sales 

 the same day. In fact, a vend\ie is a kind of lottery. A 

 mm buys a set of g"(K)ds in the morning which he again 

 eXj)Oses to sale in the evening, sometimes gaining, and 

 sometimes losiTig. Yet all moveable property on sale by 

 public auction is liable to a duty of 'iwc per cent, 3\ of 

 which the auctioneer is accountable for to government; the 

 remainder is ibr himself. I cannot give a stronger instance 

 of the rage fur vendues than by observing that, in four suc- 

 cessive 



