SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
of these are fieehold property, that were granted, in the early 
stages of the Settlement, for certain sums of money, or by 
favor, or for particular services. They consist each of sixty 
7norgcns of land, or 120 English acres, and the possessors 
claim the privilege of the intermediate waste^land to turn 
their cattle upon. This is a great abuse, which perhaps would 
best be checked by obliging the proprietors to inclose their 
just portion of 120 acres, and would certainly be the means 
of greatly improving the country. The whole valley is con- 
vertible into excellent arable land ; yet very little corn is 
cultivated except for home consumption. The principal pro- 
duce is wine. The whole tract of country indeed that stretches 
along the feet of the great chain of mountains from the 
Paarl to False Bay, including the two Drakensteens, Fransche 
Hoek, the Drosd}^ of Stellenbosch, and Hottentots Holland, is 
chiefly em ployed in raising wine and fruits for the Cape-market. 
Hitherto there have been few speculators among the Dutch 
planters ; the spirit of improvement and experiment never 
entered into their minds ; and it may be a matter of doubt, 
had not the French Protestants, who sought an asylum here 
from the religious persecutions of their once bigoted country- 
men, introduced and cultivated the vine, whether at this time 
the whole colony w^ould have produced a single leaguer of 
wine. The sugar-cane grows with health and vigor in several 
parts of the colony ; yet not one of the planters has ever pro- 
duced a pound of sugar. On asking a farmer, who com- 
plained that the canes had overrun his garden, why he did. 
not turn them to some account ; he replied with that noncha- 
lance which characterizes the nation, tliat it served to aniu?c 
VOL. T. D 
