SOUTHERN AFRICA. 409 
the Hihifcus cannahinus^ whofe leaves of a delicate fubacid 
tafte ferve as a fallad for the table, and the fibres of the 
ftem are manufad:ured into cordage. A native fpecies of 
hibifcus that I brought from the vicinity of Plettenberg's 
bay, yields a hemp of an excellent quality, little perhaps 
inferior to that of the cannabis, or common hemp, which 
is moft unqueftionably the beft material yet difcovered for 
the manufadture of ftrong cordage. The Janap of India, 
Crotular'ia juncea^ from which a ftrong coarfe fluff is manu- 
fadtured under the name of Gunney^ feems to thrive very well 
in the climate of the Cape. Cotton and indigo may both be 
produced in any quantity in this colony ; but the labor neceffary 
in the preparation of the latter, and the enormous price of flaves, 
or the hire of free workmen, would fcarcely be repaid to the 
cultivator. That fpecies of cotton plant called the hh-futum 
feems to fuftain the fouth-eaft blafts of wind with the leaft degree 
of injury ; but the Bourbon cotton, originally from the Weft 
Indies, will thrive juft as well in the interior parts of the country 
where the fouth-eafters extend not with that degree of ftrength 
fo as to caufe any injury to vegetation. Moft of the India and 
China fruits, that have yet been brought into the garden, feem 
to bid fair for fuccefs. In fhort, there is not, perhaps, in the 
whole world, a place fo well adapted for concentrating the 
various produds of the vegetable kingdom, as the Southern angle 
of Africa. 
Crofting the Berg river, I entered Zwartland, where, in con- 
fequence of a fliower of rain, the inhabitants were bufily em- 
ployed in ploughing the ground, which the long drought this 
3 G year 
