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 



