CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



flimatp. 



ward; and the banks of the d Kr.crare 



covered with shrubbery of the most beuuiiful and va- 

 :tfd foliage, and enlivened with numcroin birds, 

 and a variety of game, particularly of ttie antelope 

 kind. There arc also some fertile spots on the west- 

 ern coast, particularly between Berg river and S:il- 

 danha bay, and in some parts of the Cape peninsula. 

 The climate of the Cape is considered as very sa- 

 lubrious, and many invalids from India have been resto- 

 red to health by its salutary influence. The year is 

 here divided by the inhabitants into two periods, the 



ood and the bad monsoon. The first commences in 

 eptcmber, and answers to our summer. It is then 

 the south-east winds prevail. They sometimes blow 

 in squalls with great violence, and then every door 

 and window in Cape Town is carefully closed up, to 

 keep out the dust and heat. During the continuance 

 of the storm, the Abbe de la Caille observed, that 

 " the stars look larger, and seem to dance ; the 

 moon has an undulating tremor ; and the planets 

 have a sort of beards like comets." These winds are 

 of a dry and blasting quality, and destroy the foliage 

 and blossoms of such fruit trees as are not sufficient- 

 ly sheltered. The inhabitants also suffer from their 

 baneful influence, as they relax and fatigue the 

 powers both of the body and mind, and render them 

 almost entirely incapable of exertion. But they are 

 of great service in keeping up a constant circulation 

 of the air, which in some measure counteracts the 

 reflected heat from the face of the Table Mountain, 

 which would otherwise be insupportable. The morn- 

 ings, during this season, are in general hot and sul- 

 try, but the breeze springs up about mid- day, and, 

 dying away towards the evening, leaves the atmo- 

 sphere cool and refreshing. The thermometer, in 

 the hottest months, varies from 70 to 90 ; but often 

 remains for days at 83 or 84, and has sometimes 

 risen to 105 in the shade. On the approach of 

 winter, the south-east wind becomes less frequent 

 and violent, and is at length succeeded by the north- 

 west, which is generally attended with thick fogs 

 and heavy rains. Thunder storms are also not un- 

 frequent, and often last for two or three days. The 

 raina descend in torrents, sometimes for many days, 

 without the least interruption, particularly during 

 the months of June and July. Such torrents have 

 fallen after a thunder-storm, that in a few hours the 

 water has been some feet deep in the road leading in- 

 to Cape Town. It frequently occurs in the eastern 

 part of the province, that what is called a river, is dry 

 for perhaps eleven months in the year, and becomes 

 an impassable torrent in a few hours. The air then 

 feels chilly, raw, and disagreeable ; and the common 

 temperature of this season is from 50 at sunrise, to 

 60 at noon. It, however, sometimes falls so low as 

 4-0 ; and on the more elevated Karroo plains, it is 

 generally below the freezing point by night, and 



from 70 to 80 at mid-day. In the division of Rog- 

 gevelds, tin- cold is very intense. The mercury in 

 tin.- b.ij.>mi-ter oftt-ii rises h'^hi-r in the clear cold 

 days of winter than in the serene weather of sum* 

 mer ; and its range in the former season is from 

 'i to 30.35 inches, while in the latter it is only 

 from 29.74- to 30.10. One considerable inconveni- 

 ence of this climate, which cannot but prove in some 

 measure prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants, 

 is the sudden change of temperature. It is not un- 

 usual for the thermometer to rise 30 in the course 

 of live or six hours ; and, indeed, the frequency of 

 consumptive complaints, is, by many, ascribed to 

 these vicissitudes.* The most fatal diseases, how- 

 ever, which are common to the natives, arise from a 

 different cause, and may, in general, be attributed to 

 their excess at table, and want of exercise. Many of 

 the inhabitants in the remote parts of the province, 

 habitually use animal food three times a day, seldom 

 accompanying iheir repasts with any portion of ve- 

 getables, and frequently without bread ; and when an 

 excess of ardent spirits is combined with such perni- 

 cious habits of life, affections of the liver and other 

 diseases are the result. An instance of longevity is 

 rarely to be met with, and few even exceed the age of 

 sixty. The annual mortality at Cape To-.vn, taken on 

 an average of eight years, ending 1797, was about two 

 and a half in the hundred among the white inhabi- 

 tants, and under three in a hundred among the slaves. 

 This latter class, however, who live in the country, 

 from their coarse food and hard labour, and from 

 their being exposed in all seasons, in the fields, to the 

 severity of the climate, are very subject to bilious 

 fevers, which annually carry off considerable num- 

 bers. 



This colony is divided into five districts, or Droos- 

 dys, viz. the CAPE, STELLEXBOSCH, DRAKEX.STEIN, ' n . to ^ 

 ZWELLENDAM, and GRAAF REYNET. Of these the tr 

 Cape, in which the principal town of the settlement 

 is contained, although the smallest in extent, is by far 

 the most populous and productive. Besides the pe- 

 ninsula, j- it includes the country lying north of Table 

 bay, as far as the mouth of the Berg River in St He- 

 lena-bay, being about eighty miles in length, and 

 twenty-five in breadth, and containing nearly 2000 

 square miles. Scarcely a fifteenth part, however, of 

 its surface is under cultivation, and its most valuable 

 productions are chiefly confined to the vicinity of the 

 town. There, most of the European, and many of 

 the tropical fruits, are cultivated with great success. 

 Oranges, peaches, apricots, figs, grapes, guavas, 

 pomegranates, quinces, and medlars, are very plenti- 

 ful and good. Apples and pears, though they are 

 abundant, are generally inferior in quality to what 

 might be expected, probably from want of attention 

 in propagating the best sorts. Almonds, walnuts, 

 chesnuts, and excellent mulberries, grow in great 



Division 



In Canada, however, the range is infinitely greater; on the 18th January 1810, the thermometer, about six p. *., was 

 wavering from 34 to 32 ; at three A. M. next morning, the cold was intense, and the mercury stood about 15 below ; 

 and at eight *. M. on the 20th, it had v m ,k U) 330 Mow Qo . vct no ma lady ensued that could be ascribed to it. 



it a prevailing bypothette among authors, that the Cape Peninsula must have been originally separated from the con- 

 nt of Africa ; and Lord Valentia ailinns, without hesitation, that the isthmus between Table and False Bay was formerly 

 :overcd by tl e sea. Mr Barrow, however, thinks otherwise, and is decidedly of opinion that the sea is rather encroaching 

 the land than retreating from it, and that the whole of L'Aguillas bank, stretching from Cape Point across the entrance 

 I False Bay to the mouth of the Great Fish River, has once formed a part of the continent. See his TVarcfr, vol. ii. p. 63- 



