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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
the attacks of insects, as well as the rust, which were formerly 
troublesome. 
The other chief productions are fruit, oil, and provisions. 
One great obstacle is opposed to this colony ever becoming a great 
producer of wool, and that is the immense distances and the almost 
total want of communications. So bad are the roads and so great the 
hindrances that the wonder is, not that there is so little internal trade, 
but how transportation is effected at all. Were it not for the energy 
and perseverance of the early colonists, and the hardy breed of cattle 
that they possess, communication between distant parts of the colony 
would be nearly impossible. Some opinion may be formed of the state 
of the roads and the difficulties to surmount, by the fact that fourteen 
pair of oxen are frequently attached to a small wagon. 
The ox used in Africa seems to me to be of an entirely different 
breed from the animal we are accustomed to see in our country. Their 
legs are much longer in proportion to their bodies, lank and bare-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 com¬ 
mitted 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- 
