i8 
TRAVELS IN 
been in the country, but totally negleded. It is a hardy fhrub, 
which when once planted is not eafily eradicated ; and the foil, 
the chmate, and general face of the country, bear a ftrong ana- 
logy to thofe provinces of China to which it is indigenous. 
Three years ago a fmall coffee plant was brought from the ifland 
of Bourbon, and is now in full berry, and promifes to fucceed 
remarkably well ; the fugar cane equally fo. Flax will give 
two crops in the year ; and hemp, called by the hottentots 
Dacha, is produced in great quantities ; not, hov/ever, for the 
purpofe of being manufactured into cordage or cloth, but 
merely for the fake of the leaflets, flowers, and young feeds 
which are ufed by the flaves and hottentots as a fuccedaneum for 
tobacco. The dwarf mulberry grows here as well as in China ; 
but the common filk worm is not in the colony. Several fpecies 
of wild moths, however, fpin their coccoons among the fhrubby 
plants of Africa. Among thefe there is one fpecies, nearly as 
large as the Atlas, and anfwers to the defcription of the Paphia 
of Fabricius, which feeds upon the Protea argentea, the witte- 
boom or filver tree of the Dutch, and might probably be turned 
to fome account by cultivation. Dr. Roxburgh is of opinion 
that it is precifely the fame infeCt which fpins the ftrong filk 
known in India by the name of Tuflfach. The palma chrifti, 
from the feed of which is expreflfed the caftor oil, and the aloe, 
whofe juice produces the well known drug of that name, are 
natives of the country, and are met with almofl; everywhere 
in great plenty ; as is alfo the cape olive, fo like in habit and 
appearance to the cultivated plant of Europe, that there can 
be little doubt as to the fuccefs of the latter ; it is the more 
aftonifhing that this tree has not been introduced, fmce no ve- 
getable 
