177 



the social delights of a returning sabbath, the generality of these 

 people had descended, or rather degenerated, into an almost savage 

 state, and were given up to ignorance, cruelty, and animal gratifi- 

 cation. The moral and political laws of Holland, and even the 

 by-laws of the colony, had little influence in regions so remote 

 from the seat of government; every head of a family found him- 

 self at liberty to act without control; and his conduct generally 

 evinced, that unrestrained power, whether exercised in the durbar 

 of an Asiatic sovereign, or usurped by a Dutch boor in the wilds 

 of Africa, has always a fatal tendency. 



In the colonial farms it is not uncommon to have a hundred 

 oxen for the plough, thirty or forty milch-cows, eighty horses, and 

 a thousand sheep: I was told of some that fed ten or twelve thou- 

 sand sheep, with horses, oxen, slaves, and Hottentots in propor- 

 tion; the oxen are particularly serviceable in drawing large 

 waggons over the indifferent roads in those extensive regions. 



Many vineyards in advantageous situations produce a hundred 

 pipes of wine at a vintage. The vines were originally brought from 

 France and Germany; but, except from the two vineyards at Con- 

 stantia, the Cape wines are not much esteemed. The principal 

 inhabitants drink those imported from Madeira and Bourdeaux. 

 and prefer Dutch ale and English porter to the best malt liquor 

 brewed at the Cape. As the duties were not exorbitant, theTene- 

 riffe and Madeira wines were drank at a moderate expense; 

 noj was there any want of brandy, rum, or Batavia arrack. 



On every account, the Cape of Good Hope is one of the finest 

 places in the world for ships to refresh at. Advantageously situ- 

 ated midway between Europe and Asia, they here meet with most 

 vol. ir. 2 a 



