CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
429 
dividends to the proprietors. It gratified me to learn that the public 
of Cape Town is chiefly indebted to Isaac Chase, Esq., the United 
States consul, for the adoption of this banking system. I had many 
interesting conversations with him on the subject, and also conversed 
with others, inhabitants of the colony, who expressed themselves 
highly pleased with the success of these institutions, while at the 
same time they acknowledged their obligations to our commercial 
agent. 
Wine is the great staple of the colony; but many of the vine- 
growers have been ruined, in consequence of the vacillating policy 
pursued by the home government, with regard to this branch of 
industry. Trusting to the promises made by the government, a vast 
amount of capital was invested in the business, and the annual pro¬ 
duction was in a short time tripled. This state of things continued 
for about ten years; but in the year 1825 a change of policy took 
place, and the protection was diminished more than one-half; and at 
the same time a further reduction was proposed in the bounty. As a 
natural consequence, a depreciation in all the wine estates took place, 
and the loss of much property ensued. This was made more un¬ 
pleasant to the Cape colonists by a proposition to put a duty on Cape 
wines, that would have the effect of placing them at a higher duty 
than those of foreign wines. The colonists are still very sensitive 
upon the subject of wine, and the treatment they have received; not 
only have they to complain of bad faith on the part of the government, 
but the constant efforts of others to decry their wines, some of which 
are produced of as fine a quality as those in any other part of the 
world; but there is some foundation for the disparaging reports that 
have been circulated, for quantities have certainly been sent abroad 
that had been very much adulterated. 
The Cape colony, both as to soil and climate, is well adapted to the 
raising of all descriptions of wines, from the light German and French, 
to those of Madeira and Sherry. 
In consequence of the reverses the colonists have met with in the 
wine trade, they have begun to turn their attention to the raising of 
sheep; the colony has been found to be well adapted to those producing 
fine wool, and the investments that have been made in them bid fair to 
be profitable. 
Wheat and maize are also cultivated, particularly on the mountains 
near the Cape, where these grains grow in great perfection, and are 
raised in sufficient quantities to meet the consumption of the colony, 
and to be exported in considerable quantity to the Mauritius. The 
wheat now used is of a hard and flinty kind, and effectually resists 
