CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 457 



boned, with immense horns; and their gait, instead of a slow walk, is 

 often a trot. 



The whole of the foreign trade of the colony passes through Cape 

 Town. The value of imports is estimated at one and a half millions 

 sterling, and that of exports amounts to upwards of a million. The 

 vessels engaged in this trade number about six hundred, whose ton- 

 nage amounts to one hundred and eighty thousand tons. The total 

 revenue from customs, in the year 1840, was forty-two thousand eight 

 hundred and seventy-seven pounds. The exports consist of wine, 

 wool, ivory, whale-oil, hides, tallow, and aloes. These are either 

 brought to Cape Town from the interior in wagons, or in small vessels 

 from Algoa Bay. They are sold by auction, in the market-place, 

 every Saturday. This mode of effecting sales is almost universal. 

 The services of auctioneers are of course in request, and in addition 

 to their legitimate trade they receive deposits and make advances on 

 merchandise committed to their charge. The government taxes on 

 sales by auction amount to a large sum, and no article can be sold 

 unless a tax is paid ; for any infraction of this law there is a heavy 

 penalty, to be collected by the market-master, who is appointed by 

 the government, and who superintends the collection of the dues 

 according to a tariff which is published. 



There is a great want of labourers in the colony ; and since the 

 abolition of slavery, this scarcity has very much increased, for it is 

 found that those who have been manumitted are not disposed to work 

 more than is necessary to provide themselves with food. The attempt 

 has been made, and arrangements I believe were in progress, or con- 

 templated, to bind as apprentices the captured slaves brought into the 

 island of St. Helena, to those who were willing to receive them, at 

 the Cape of Good Hope. The governor of St. Helena, Colonel H. 

 Trelawny, was well disposed to this plan, and it w T as understood was 

 co-operating with the authorities of the Cape to carry it fully into 

 effect. Five years is to be the term of apprenticeship. However 

 much the authorities incline to this plan, the wisdom of it is much 

 doubted by a large number of the inhabitants of the colony, who 

 allege, that although it may answer the purpose of giving relief, yet 

 this benefit will not be permanent, and in a few years they may be 

 overburdened with a population of blacks, who will be little inclined 

 to labour, and may be a great impediment to the introduction of a 

 class of free labourers, who might be permanently beneficial to the 

 towns as well as to the interior. 



VOL. V. 115 



