430 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 diificulties to surmount, by the fact that fourteen 

 pair of oxen are frequenily 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- 



