66 
TRAVELS IN 
fpirits from the fruit have produced brandy of a very good 
quality. This article is here in general very bad, evidently 
owing, in a great degree, to the manner in which it is manu- 
fadtured. In order to get as much fpirit as poffible, the mate- 
rials thrown into the ftill are of the groffeft kind, the greateft 
part being the expreffed hufks and ftalks of the grapes ; the 
apparatus is bad ; the condu<fling of the procefs is committed 
to the hands of a flave, who has little knowledge of, and lefs 
intereft in, the bufmefs he is commanded to perform : he falls 
afleep ; the fire goes out ; a rapid blaze fucceeds to make up 
for lofs of time ; the fpirit carries over with it a ftrong empy- 
reumatic flavor which it never lofes. There is, however, not- 
withftanding every precaution that has hitherto been taken, a 
very peculiar tafte in all the wines and brandies of the Cape, 
arifmg probably from the circumftance of the grapes growing 
fo very near the ground. It is well known that the exhala- 
tions from the earth are fo much imbibed by the leaves of the 
tobacco plant which grow neareft to it, that thofe leaves are 
always reje£ted as unfit for ufe ; and it is natural to fuppofe 
that the fruit of the vine hanging very near to, or even refting 
upon, the ground, will alfo receive the prevailing flavor exhal- 
ing from the foil. It is indolence alone that has hitherto pre- 
vented the colonifts from leading their vines along fl:andards, in 
which cafe they would not only improve the quality of the 
grape, but would alfo receive a double quantity from the fame 
ground. The raifins of the Cape are of fo good a quality, and 
can be afforded at fo reafonable a rate, that, in all probability, 
they will hereafter form an article of confiderable export. Al- 
monds are alfo plentiful, large, and good. 
The 
