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town was not deemed a place of strength; there were several other 

 batteries in different situations. 



The public gardens, adjoining the town, were much frequented 

 by the inhabitants, and formed a delightful resort for strangers. 

 They contained five walks, half a mile long, shaded by oaks, and 

 perfumed by hedges of myrtle on each side; which separated 

 them from square orchards and gardens, divided by formal nar- 

 row walks and hedges; but richly stored with standard peaches, 

 apricots, figs, apples, pears, and other European and Indian fruits, 

 planted amidst a profusion of roots and vegetables for the use of 

 the hospital, and ships belonging to the Dutch East India com- 

 pany. Two enclosures before the governor's house, are appro- 

 priated to flowers, and curious plants. The garden was terminated 

 by a large menagerie, containing the most remarkable beasts and 

 birds indigenous to Africa, or brought from other parts of the 

 world. 



The inhabitants of Cape-town have generally a good com- 

 plexion, and some of the young women are pretty; but they soon 

 incline to corpulency, and lose the elegant symmetry so attractive 

 in the female form. The men are perhaps less phlegmatic than 

 the Hollanders in Europe. Descended from an heterogeneous 

 mixture of Dutch, Germans, French, and other emigrants, they 

 have, in some measure, lost the peculiar traits of national charac- 

 ter, and by a constant intercourse with foreigners, have acquired 

 more affability aud courtesy than we usually meet with. The 

 colonists had mostly large families, matrimony was encouraged, 

 luxury and dissipation discountenanced; there were then no 

 theatres, casinos, nor public exhibitions of any kind. The morn- 



