194 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, 



dullness, and an eager desire of gain. The minds of every class seem 

 to be wholly bent on trade, yet none are opulent, though many are in 

 easy circumstances. There are no beggars in the whole colony, and 

 but a few who are the objects of public charity. The ladies of the 

 Cape, it has been remarked by most travellers, are pretty, lively, and 

 good-humoured ; possessing little of that phlegmatic temper which 

 so distinguishes the other sex. They are expert at the needle, at all 

 kinds of lace knotting and tambour work ; and in general make up 

 their own dresses, following the prevailing fashions of England, 

 brought from time to time by the female passengers bound to India. 

 The Dutch planters or farmers farther up the country, are remarka- 

 ble for their indolence and sensuality, and too many of them for their 

 moroseness, and the severity and cruelty with which they treat the 

 Hottentots, their slaves. They, however, possess one virtue, that of 

 hospitality to strangers, in an eminent degree, and in general are, or 

 affect to be, very religious. 



Cape-town, the capital of this colony, and indeed the only assem- 

 blage of houses which deserves the name of a town, is pleasantly situ- 

 ate at the head of Table Bay, on a sloping plain that rises with an 

 easy ascent to the feet of the Devil's Hill, the Table Mountain, and 

 the Lion's Head before mentioned. The town, consisting of about 

 1100 houses, built with regularity, and kept in neat order, is disposed 

 into straight and parallel streets, intersecting each other at right an- 

 gles. Many of the streets are open and airy, with canals of water run- 

 ning through them, walled in, and planted on each side with oaks j 

 others are narrow and ill-paved. Three or-four squares give an open- 

 ness to the town. In one is held the public market ; another is the 

 common resort of the peasantry with their waggons ; and a third, near 

 the shore of the bay, and between the town and the castle, serves as 

 a parade for exercising the troops. The barracks originally intended 

 for an hospital, for corn magazines, and wine cellars, is a large, well 

 designed, regular building, which, with its two wings, occupies part 

 of one of the sides of the great square. The upper part of this build- 

 ing is sufficiently spacious to contain 4.000 men. The castle affords 

 barracks for 1000 men, and lodgings for all the officers of one regi- 

 ment; magazines for artillery, stores and ammunition ; and most of 

 the public officers of government are within its walls. The other 

 public buildings are a Calvinist and a Lutheran church ; a guard- 

 house, in which the burgher-senate, or the council of burghers, meet 

 for transacting business relative to the interior police of the town ; a 

 large building in which the government slaves, to the number of 330, 

 are lodged ; and the court of justice, where civil and criminal causes 

 are heard and determined. The population of the town is estimated 

 at about 6000 whites, inclusive of the military, and 12,000 slaves : that 

 of the whole colony, exclusive of the town, is estimated at only 

 15,000 whjtes. Between the town and Table Mountain are scattered 

 over the plain a number of neat houses surrounded by plantations and 

 gardens. Of these the largest and nearest to town, is that in which 

 the government-house is erected. It is in length near 1000 yards, 

 and contains about 40 acres of rich land, divided into almost as many 

 squares by oak hedges.* 



i The government of the Cape is administered by a Dutch governor 

 and lieutenant-governor, assisted by a council. Over each, of the four 



* Barrow. 



