

CAP 4 



a circumstance which results in a considerable degree 

 . id- rrpuhliean law of the province, by which 

 property inherited is equally divided amongst chil- 

 dren, male and female, without regard to ex or pri- 

 i.iture. From the operation of this law, much 

 family feud and dissension have often arisen, from the 

 children becoming rivals and competitors for the ef- 

 fects of a parent at a public sale. 



Such luxuries as are imported from Europe or In- 

 dia are costly ; but the necessaries of life may be pro- 

 cured at a moderate price. While a labouring slave 

 earns from 2s. to 2s. (3d. a-day, and a mechanic or arti- 

 ficer from .-3s. to 6s. a-day, the pound of butcher's meat 

 is seldom above 2d. ; even in the year 1800, when the 

 demand was increased by the addition of 5000 troops 

 and SOU seamen, the supply for the garrison was ne- 

 ver higher than at the rate of 2 pounds for 6d. A 

 pound of wholesome bread sells for Id. ; a pint of 

 good wine for 3d. ; and all kinds of fruits and ve- 

 getables are abundant and cheap. 



The inhabitants of this town have a remarkable 

 propensity for public sales, and many of them live 

 entirely by such traffic, exposing to sale in the even- 

 ing what they probably bought at the same place in 

 the morning. All property, however, sold by pub- 

 lic auction, is liable to a duty of 5 per cent. ; and 

 such was the rage for vendues, that during four suc- 

 cessive months of 1801, the value of property sold 

 in this way amounted to 1,500,000 rix dollars ; ' a 

 bum," says Mr Barrow, " equal to the whole quan- 

 tity of paper money in circulation ; which, indeed, 

 may be considered as the only money of late years 

 that has circulated in the country." 



The slaves used in this colony are imported from 

 the west coast of Africa, from Mozambique, the 

 Malay Islands, or they are the offspring of slaves 

 born in the country. The African negroes are the 

 best adapted to field labour ; the Malays are esteem- 

 ed the most acute in point of intellect, and the most 

 docile ; the artizans, therefore, are generally taken 

 from this class ; but they are capricious and vindic- 

 tive ; they set so little value upon their own lives, 

 that they do not hesitate to commit the most atro- 

 cious and unprovoked murders, to gratify their re- 

 venge for injuries received or supposed. Their dis- 

 positions were so well known to the Dutch govern- 

 ment, that the colonists were prohibited from having 

 Malay slaves ; but many evaded the law, and forfeit- 

 ed their lives for their temerity. 



It has been observed, that slaves at the Cape of 

 Good Hope are well treated by their masters, a po- 

 sition which we are the less disposed to controvert, 

 because we suppose it to have been founded on com- 

 parison of the condition of the most unlbrtunate of 

 our fellow creatures in this and other countries, where 

 the horrors of the slav_--trade exist ; but since it is 

 self-evident, that the comfort and happiness of the 

 slave must necessarily depend upon the temper, ha- 

 bits, and character of his master, we need not cite 



examples to demonstrate, that cruelty it the aectMaty 



and ins* parable concomitant of lavtry, even in its Cpa 



mildest form. For the commerce and y """ 



Cape Town, we must refer to tlr < article, 



and the authorities thereto subjoined, h. l,ai. 33* 



55' 42", E. Long. 18 28' 15". * (/>) 



CAPELLA, a star of the first nuigi.itude, in the 

 left shoulder of Auriga. See ASTRONOMY, p. 747. 



CAPIAS, in the law of England, is a writ or pro. 

 cess, of which there are several kinds. 



Capias ad responden-lum, i a writ sued out before 

 judgment, where an on^i/nilis taken out, &c. to take 

 the defendant, who had neglected to appear in the 

 previous process, and make him answer the plaintiff. 

 If, therefore, the defendant, being summoned, makes 

 default, or if the sheriff returns a nihil, or that the 

 defendant hath nothing whereby he nriy be summon- 

 ed, attached, or distrained, the capias usually issues, 

 commanding the sheriff to take the body of the de- 

 fendant, and keep him, so as he may present him in 

 court on the day of the return. This writ, and all 

 others subsequent to the original, not issuing out 

 of chancery, but from the court >..to which the ori- 

 ginal was returnable, grounded on what has passed in 

 that court, in couucquence of the sheriff's return, is- 

 suing under the private eal of that court, and not 

 under the great seal of England ; and teste'd, not in 

 the king's name, but in that of the chief justice only, 

 are called judicial, not original, writs. And these 

 several writs must respectively bear date, the same 

 day on which the writ immediately preceding was 

 returnable. But it is now the usual practice to sue 

 out the capias, in the first instance, upon a supposed 

 return of the sheriff ; and, afterwards, a fictitious ori- 

 ginal ia drawn up, and a proper return thereupon, 

 in order to give the proceedings a colour of regu- 

 larity. 



U the sheriff of the county, in which the injury it 

 supposed to be committed, and :he action is laid, can- 

 not find the defendant in his jurisdiction, he returns 

 lion est inventus; upon which another writ issues, cal- 

 led a te.staium capias, directed to the sheriff of the 

 county wuere the defendant is supposed to reside. 

 But in this case, also, it is usual to make out a testa- 

 turn capias at the first, on the supposition that not 

 only an original, but a previous capias had bee 

 granted, although in reality they never were. When 

 a defendant absconds, however, and the plaintiff 

 would proceed to an outlawry against him, an origi- 

 nal writ must be sued out regularly, and after that a 

 capias. And if the sheriff returns a non est inventus 

 upon the first capias, then there issues an alias, and 

 after that a plaries writ ; and if a non est invenJus be 

 returned upon all of these, then a writ of exigent 

 may be sued out in order to outlawry. 



Such is the first process in the Court of Common 

 Pleas. In the King's Bench, also, they may, and 

 frequently do, proceed by original writ, with attach- 

 ment and capias, particularly in actions of ejectment 



* Such of our readers as are acquainted with the different works which contain an account of the Cape of Good Hope, will 

 readily percei- e that we have had access to much valuable and original information which has never been published, and that 

 we have thus been enabled to correct nvmy errors which the latent writers have committed. For these important communica- 

 tions, the Editor has been indebted to WILLIAM SOMEWVILLE, Esq. Inspector of Military Hospitals, who spent many years .it the 

 Cape, and who was peculiarly fitted, both by his situation and talents, to obtain the most correct information respecting that 

 important colony. We trust that in many other parts of our work we shall have occasion to acknowledge assistance from the 

 ame quarter; and in the mean time we look forward with much impatience to the publication of that gentleman's Travel* 

 intg the interior of Africa, which we hope he will soon be induced to give to the world. ED. 



