SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 119 



in the wool-growing zone. The following description of it is by Rev- 

 Robert Moflfat, for twenty-three years a resident of it as the agent of the 

 London Missionary Society :* 



" The Colony extends from west to east about six hundred miles, its average breadth being 



about two hundred Between the coast and the vast chain of mountains, beyond which 



lie the Karoo, the country is well watered, fertile and temperate. The other portions of 

 the Colony, with few exceptions, and without a change in the seasons, appear to be doomed 

 to perpetual sterility and drouth. The Karoo country, which is in the background of the 

 Colony, is, as Lichstenstein correctly describes it, a parched and arid plain, stretching out to 

 such an extent that the vast hills by which it is terminated, or rather which divide it from 

 other plains, are lost in the distance. The beds of numberless little rivers, (in which 

 water is rarely to be found) cross, like veins, in a thousand directions, this enormous space. 

 The course of them might, in some places, be clearly distinguished by the dark green of the 

 mimosas spreading along their banks. Excepting these, aslar as the eye can reach, no tree 



or shrub is visible But even on these hills and sunburnt plains thousands of sheep 



pasture on a thin sprinkling of verdure and esculents The entire country, extending 



in some places hundreds of miles on each side of the Orange River, and from where it empr 

 ties itself in the Atlantic, to beyond the 24th degree of east longitude, appears to have the 

 curse of Gilboa resting upon it. It is rare that rains to any extent or quantity fall in those 

 regions. Extreme drouth continues for years together. The fountains are exceedingly few, 

 precarious, and latterly many of these have been dried up altogether." 



According to Barrow, nearly seven-tenths of the Colony are destitute 

 of vegetation during a greater part of the year. Sand drives before the 

 winds, exercising an unfavorable influence on sheep and wool. Lions, 

 tigers, wolves, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, etc., are numerous on the very 

 skirts of the settlements, making much vigilance necessary for the protec- 

 tion of the sheep ; and they must be nightly driven into the settlements to 

 be folded. But the natives have proved a vastly more destructive enemy 

 than these.t The sheep introduced by the English colonists will probably 

 eventually considerably increase beyond their present number in a country 

 of so great extent, but we are scarcely authorized to believe that the Cape 

 will ever take a high rank among the wool-producing countries of the 

 world. 



That great island, or continent, known as New South Wales, or Aus- f 

 tralia, has a superficial area equaling that of the United States. But a 

 limited portion of it, however, is included in the wool zone. All of Van 

 Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, is in that zone. The export of Wool from 

 these countries, as will be seen from the Table,J reached nearly ten million 

 pounds in 1840 nearly half that of Germany, including Austria and 

 Prussia, and almost eight times that of Spain ! Here, as at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, there are no woolen manufactories, and being Colonies of 

 England, their export to that country exhibits their whole production. 



The soil, products, &c. of Australia are thus spoken of by Mr. McCul- 

 loch:|| 



" The fertility of the soil in most parts of New-Holland that have been explored with any 

 care, is very far indeed from corresponding with the glowing descriptions of some of its casual 

 visitors, whose imaginations seem to have been dazzled by the magnificence of its botanical 

 productions and the clearness and beauty of the climate. The truth is that the bad land 

 bears a much greater proportion to the good in New-Holland than in almost any other coun- 

 try with which we are acnuainted Of course it is not to be supposed but that in a 



country of such vast extent there must be some fertile districts ; but along the east coast, with 

 which we are best acquainted, these seem to be much more confined than might have been 

 expected ; and the little experience we have had on the west side, at Swan River and other 

 places, does not seem to lead to any more favorable conclusions." 



After stating that if the Government price of lands " is not a great deal 



* Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa, pp. 2324. t See Letter V., and Note. 



J Including Port Philip, Swan River, and Soutb Australia, the export* of which are carried out separatehr 

 61 Table 8. 

 || McCulloch's Com. Die. Art. Sydney. 



