CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



fiirds. 



Cape of still traverse the plains of Graaf Reynet in flocks, 

 Good consisting of many thousands. The gnoo, whose 

 ' pe ' generic character is so indistinctly marked, or, we 

 may more accurately say, the gnoo, which possesses 

 those characteristics by which naturalistshave thought 

 proper to draw limits between the families of nature, 

 and have by them been assigned to different families, 

 is one of the most beautiful animals that have been 

 found in Africa, to whatever genus he may belong. 

 His head bears some resemblance to that of the Afri- 

 can buffalo ; he has an erect mane, and a mane, if we 

 may call it so, under the neck, descending from the 

 breast between the fore legs ; his shoulders and body 

 are somewhat like those parts of the horse ; while 

 he has the elegant limbs of the antelope. But he 

 has what he ought not to have had, if he had been a 

 good naturalist, he has the subocidar sinus, which, 

 by all the laws of natural history, is the exclusive 

 property of antelopes. There are also several spe- 

 cies of hares ; and in the mountains to the eastward 

 is found the das, or rock. rabbit, with short ears and 

 no tail. Among the birds are eagles, vultures, kites, 

 pelicans, flamingos, spoon-bills, cranes, ibises, wild 

 geese and ducks, teals, snipes, quails, bustards, and 

 partridges. Turtle doves, of many sorts, thrushes, 

 humming birds, and an immense variety of other small 

 birds, of the most exquisitely beautiful plumage, are 

 found in the woods. Ostriches in considerable num- 

 bers inhabit the Karroo plains ; their eggs are less 

 strong in taste than the eggs of ducks or geese. 

 It k a remarkable peculiarity in the natural history 

 of the ostrich, that it not only is gregarious, in 

 the ordinary sense of the term, but it very often 

 happens that two or three females deposit their 

 eggs in a common nest, and incubate together, at- 

 tended by the fathers of the brood. It is not un- 

 usual to find thirty six eggs in a nest, the common 

 stock of three females. Along the coast are various 

 kinds of sea-fish, such as perches, stone-breams, rock- 

 fish, mackerel, soles, and skate ; and abundance of 

 Domestic m scles and oysters. The domestic animals of the 

 #nimals. Cape are not numerous, as none are reared but 

 what are absolutely necessary. Their horses are 

 not indigenous, but were first introduced from Java. 

 Those from South America, however, are preferred, 

 both for their beauty and hardiness; and though 

 small are capable of sustaining grea't labour. A 

 scientific English breeder would say, that the oxen 

 at the Cape run to waste too much in their make, 

 that is to say, they have long legs, long horns, and 

 high shoulders. The sheep are remarkable for 

 their broad, flat, and massy tails, usually weighing 

 about six pounds, though, in some rare instances, 

 they have amounted to 14 ; they have long legs, 

 pendulous ears, and a small scraggy neck. The wool 

 is hairy, and of no value ; but that of the mixed 

 breed of Spanish, and English, which was first in- 

 troduced into the colony by Colonel Gordon, is very 

 beautiful, and might be rendered a very profitable ar- 

 ticle of commerce. The African goat is a very pro- 

 lific and valuable animal. Hogs are almost unknown, 

 and poultry is very scarce. 



The colonists of this settlement are divided into 

 four classes, viz. the inhabitants of the Cape Town, 

 consisting of the civil servants of government, those 



Fish. 



engaged in commerce and the arts ; the cultivators of Cape of 

 the vine ; the grain farmers, and the graziers. Good 



The culture of the vine requires a greater capital * Hope, 

 than the other two branches of husbandry, from the ^""TV"""'' 

 labour necessary in pruning and dressing it, as well i 1 * lva * 

 as the expensive utensils requisite for making wine, 

 consequently the wine makers are the most opulent. 

 By their vicinity to the town, and their frequent ex- 

 cursions thither with the produce of their vintage, 

 they have an opportunity of procuring many comforts, 

 which the boors in the eastern districts of the colony 

 have not the means of obtaining. Many of them are 

 descended from the French families, who took re- 

 fuge here from the religious persecutions of their 

 bigotted countrymen upon the revocation of the 

 edict of Nantes, and were the first who introduced 

 the vine into this country. They still retain some 

 of the peculiarities of their nation. They are more 

 social and communicative than the Dutch ;, visit 

 one another with great familiarity, or take a sum- 

 mer jaunt into the country in their tent waggons 

 drawn by a team of six or eight horses. Their hou- 

 ses are in general well built, and their domestic af- 

 fairs are managed with considerable economy and 

 cleanliness. The produce of their farm, which inva- 

 riably exceeds 1 their annual expenditure, enables them 

 to support a style of living comparatively affluent. 

 Their only public burdens consist in a small capita- 

 tion tax for repairing the streets and avenues leading 

 to Cape town, and the lion and tiger money for the 

 exigencies of the district. The former of these, how- 

 ever, is either very ill applied, or very insufficient for 

 the purpose, as the roads over the Cape isthmus are so 

 wretched, that it requires fourteen or sixteen oxen to 

 draw two leggers of wine, about 2| ton weight. The 

 tax upon their produce is also very moderate, being 

 three rix-dollars for every legger of wine or brandy 

 that is brought to the Cape market. All that is 

 consumed at home, or sold to the other boors, is duty 

 free. The grain farmers are next in rank and civili- 

 zation to the wine-growers ; and chiefly inhabit the ram ai 

 districts near the town, from which they are seldom 

 distant more than two or three days journey. Many 

 of them are in easy and even affluent circumstances. 

 They have not much intercourse with each other. 

 Seldom, indeed, are they agreed about the boundaries 

 of their respective properties; and the privilege of a 

 spring or a water-course, is often a fertile source of 

 quarrel and litigation. This continual jarring is a 

 great impediment to general improvement. The men 

 of this class are in general very tall and corpulent, but 

 loose in their joints, clumsy, and awkward. Cold and 

 phlegmatic in their temper, and never raised to exer- 

 tion by the fear of want or the desire of gain ^ their lives 

 are spent in the most listless inactivity. The same in- 

 dolence extends to the women. The mistress of the 

 family remains fixed to her chair, with a coffee-pot con- 

 stantly boiling before her, from morningto evening, as 

 if she constituted a part of the furniture ; and her 

 daughters sit beside her, equally indolent and idle. 

 The year is varied by no incident that can awaken 

 their anxiety or their hopes. They have no fairs, no 

 visiting parties, no dancing, no music nor amusement 

 of any sort. The history of a day is the history of 

 their whole lives, and their only topics of converse 



