400 



instructions in sheep and clothing. If sober, which 

 is not always the case, he amasses enough to be- 

 come a farmer himself. The principal occupa- 

 tion of the greater part consists in learning to 

 shoot, to drive a waggon, and to crack and use 

 with dexterity an enormous whip. Notwithstand- 

 ino- their ignorance, however, they all affect to be 

 very religious ; and, though their religion seems to 

 have very little influence in awakening feelings of 

 benevolence and humanity towards their fellow-crea- 

 tures, they are scrupulously exact in the observance 

 of its forms. They are regular in their attendance 

 at church, though it costs some of them a journey 

 of several days ; and such as are a fortnight or three 

 weeks journey from the nearest place of worship, 

 generally go with their families once a year. They 

 always begin their meals with a long grace, pronoun- 

 ced by the youngest of the company ; and every 

 morning, before day-light, one of William Sluiter's 

 Gesanger * is sung by the whole family. Having 

 enumerated those depravities which tarnish the cha- 

 racter of the African Boor, we turn with pleasure 

 to a more amiable part of his character, the hospi- 

 tality which he cheerfully exercises to those stran- 

 gers who visit his abode. His door is open to all 

 who come ; and, without a question being asked, 

 the stranger is invited, in the laconic style of Dutch 

 politeness, to enter. He is made welcome to his 

 share of the repast, to a bed, or to a part of a bed, 

 if the house only affords that accommodation ; and 

 " in the morning," says Mr Barrow, " after a solid 

 breakfast, he takes his glass of brandy, orders his slave, 

 or Hottentot, to saddle the horses, shakes hand with 

 the men, and kisses the women ; he wishes them 

 health, and they wish him a good journey. In this 

 manner a traveller might pass through the whole 

 ^country." 



Under such a climate, where the means of sub- 

 sistence are so easily produced, where the country is 

 but thinly inhabited, and the habitation! are so dis- 

 tant from each other, and so far removed from the 

 seat of government, as often to place their tenants 

 beyond the reach of law, we are not surprised to 

 find, that the vicious propensities have too often pre- 

 dominated over those of the opposite character, in 

 men who have not originated from the Dutch, or 

 from any common source, but have sprung from most 

 of the nations of Europe. When they committed 

 crimes, the threatenings of a distant and feeble 

 authority, without the power of putting them 

 in execution, served rather to encourage than to 

 deter them from prosecuting their schemes of plun- 

 der ; and the only hardship resulting from their diso- 

 bedience, was their being debarred from visiting the 

 Cape. Thus many of them became perfect robbers, 

 and lived in a state of almost constant hostility with 

 the surrounding tribes. Liable to be attacked in 

 their turn, they were compelled to wander from place 

 to place, and to be continually on the watch : thus 

 deprived of many comforts and conveniences which 

 a state of peaceful society affords, and habituated 

 to scenes of cruelty inseparable from such a war- 

 fare. Those who afterwards became stationary, 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



tape oi 

 Good 

 Hope. 



Commerce. 



did not think of renewing those comforts to which 

 they had been long unaccustomed, and were content 

 with little more than the bare necessaries of savage ^^ 

 life. The same system of plunder still continues in 

 some of the distant parts of the colony ; and many 

 of the boors are under sentence of outlawry, on ac- 

 count of their depredations and disobedience. 



The tenures under which the colonists hold their Tenures, 

 lands in this settlement, are of four descriptions, viz. 

 loan lands, gratuity lands, quit rents, and freeholds. 

 The first of these is the most ancient, and consists of 

 certain portions of land granted to the early settlers, 

 upon condition of paying to government an annual 

 rent of twenty-four rix- dollars. Each of these is 

 supposed to contain about nine square miles ; and, 

 though the lease was at first made out only for one 

 year, yet the payment of the rent was considered as 

 a renewal ; and, consequently, this tenure is nearly si- 

 milar to a lease held in perpetuity. Gratuity lands 

 are those which were originally granted in loan, but 

 have been since converted into a kind of customary 

 copyhold, liable to an annual rent of twenty -four rix- 

 dollars. Quit rents arise from pieces of waste land 

 occupied by the owners of the estates to which they 

 are contiguous, upon a lease of fifteen years, and at 

 an yearly rent of one shilling per acre. Freeholds 

 are such lands as were granted to the original set 

 tiers, in small portions of 120 English acres, and 

 consist of the finest land in the colony. They are 

 chiefly confined to the Cape district, and its vicinity. 

 The commerce of this settlement under the Dutch, 

 was confined almost entirely to such ships as touched 

 at the Cape for refreshments ; and a scanty supply 

 of a few European and Indian commodities for the 

 immediate use of the colony. These, however, were 

 allowed to be brought only in Dutch bottoms, all 

 traffic with the other nations being considered as con- 

 traband ; and such was the tardiness with which they 

 were furnished, that the inhabitants were sometimes 

 compelled to smuggle certain articles out of foreign 

 vessels for daily consumption. The original design 

 of its occupation, was merely as a point of commu- 

 nication between their Indian settlements and the 

 mother country ; and, though it was afterwards used 

 as a military depot, for forming and preparing their 

 troops for warmer climates, yet it has never been 

 able to profit by the advantages of its situation. 

 Were the absurd regulations, and jealous restrictions, 

 with which it has been so long fettered, completely 

 abolished, and the trade of our Indian empire thrown 

 open to all British outports, the Cape might rise to 

 be one of the first commercial cities in the world. 

 Placed at almost an equal distance from India, Eu- 

 rope, and America, it would soon become an empo- 

 rium for the manufactures and produce of each of 

 these countries, and an influx of active settlers would 

 raise it to be a most valuable colonial possession. 

 It would not only open an extensive market for Bri- 

 tish merchandise, but it might be rendered a granary 

 capable of affording us almost unlimited supplies du- 

 ring a scarcity. Little, however, can be expected 

 from its present inhabitants, whose indolence has 

 been fostered by the restrictive regulations of the 



Songs from the Bible, done into verse by William Sluiter, the Sternbold and Hopkins of Holland. 



