438 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE CHAP, xix 



the country in general, that the mere supply of food should 

 make it necessary for men to spread themselves over such 

 an immense tract of country, in order to find fertile spots 

 capable of producing it. How far distant such spots are 

 from each other may be concluded from what one farmer 

 told us while there. On being asked why he brought his 

 young children with him to the Cape, from whence he lived 

 fifteen days' journey, and told that he had better have left 

 them with his next neighbour : " neighbour," said he, " my 

 nearest neighbour lives five days' journey from me." 



Nor does the country in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the Cape give any reason to contradict the idea of immense 

 barrenness which must be formed from what I have said. 

 The country in general is either bare rock, shifting sand, or 

 grounds covered with heath, etc., like the moors of Derby- 

 shire and Yorkshire, except the very banks of the few 

 rivulets, where are a few plantations chiefly utilised, if well 

 sheltered, for raising garden stuff, and if rather less sheltered 

 as vineyards ; but if exposed nothing can stand the violence 

 of the wind, which blows here through the whole summer 

 or dry season. During my whole stay I did not see a tree 

 in its native soil as tall as myself; indeed housekeepers 

 complain of the dearness of firewood, as almost equal to that 

 of provisions, nothing being burnt here but roots, which must 

 be dug out of the ground. What, indeed, proves the influence 

 of the wind in prejudice to vegetation is that a stem not 

 thicker than my thumb (and thicker they never are) will 

 have a root as thick as my arm or leg. 



As their distant settlements are directly inland, and the 

 whole coast either is, or is thought to be, totally destitute of 

 harbours, their whole communication is carried on by land 

 carriage. Waggons drawn by oxen are employed in that 

 service: they are, however, very light, and the cattle so 

 much more nimble than ours in Europe, that they assured 

 us that they sometimes travelled at the rate of eight miles 

 an hour. Travelling is also very cheap. As there are no 

 inns upon the roads, every one must carry his own provisions 

 with him, and the oxen must live upon the heath or ling 



