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 
