SOUTHERN AFRICA. 85 
churn without suffering it to stand and cast the cream, 
operates generally against its being so ; and the management 
of the dairy being entrusted to the care of a Hottentot, whoso 
cleanliness is not the most prominent feature in her character, 
does not enhance its goodness either in idea or reality. 
The country about Zwart-kop's bay seems to be well 
adapted for the cultivation of grain. The farmers here give 
themselves no trouble to manure the land, yet reckon upon 
a return of twenty-five, thirty, and even forty, for one, espe- 
cially if a stream of water can occasionally be turned upon 
the ground. On stiff clayey land a small quantity of sheep's 
dung is sometimes employed to prevent the fragments from 
clogging together, and to make their parts less tenacious. 
The little value they attach to manure is obvious from the 
heaps of dung that are piled up about the houses in those 
places where the cattle, in order to preserve them from beasts 
of prey, are pent up at nights. These consist of circular or 
square spaces, shut in by dead branches of the thorny mi- 
mosa, which are called kraals, a name they have also thought 
proper to transfer to the collected huts of the Hottentots or 
Kaffers. The beds of some of these kraals were not less than 
twelve feet deep of dung, unmixed with any other material ; 
but this is neither the only nor the least offensive nuisance with 
which the hovel of a Dutch peasant is usually surrounded. 
The great fertility of the land in this part of the colony is not 
however any inducement for the farmer to extend thecultivation 
of grain beyond the present limited quantity, as he can have no 
demand for his produce unless a regular coasting trade were 
