TRAVELS IN 
Wine and Brandy. 
Thefe two articles, with thofe above mentioned, may be con- 
fidered as the ftaple commodities of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Grapes grow with the greateft luxuriancy in every part of this 
extenfive colony ; but the cultivation of the vine is little under- 
ftood, or, to fpeak more properly, is not attended to with that 
diligence which in other countries is beftowed upon it. Hence 
the vs'ines are fufceptible of great improvement, and the quan- 
tity of being increafed indefinitely. 
Ten or twelve diftind kinds of wine are manufa£lured at the 
Cape, and each of thofe have a different flavour and quality at 
the different farms on which they are produced. From differ- 
ence of foil, from fituation, and management, fcarcely any two 
vineyards, of the fame kind of grape, give the fame wine. By 
throwing under the prefs the ripe and unripe grapes, together 
with the f^:alk, moft of the wines have either a thinnefs and a 
flight acidity, or, for want of a proper degree of fermentation, 
and from being preffed when over ripe, acquire a fickly faccha- 
rine tafle. An inilance of the former is perceptible in that 
called Steefi, which refembles the Rhenifh wines ; and of the 
latter, in that which is known by the name of Conjlantia. It 
is generally fuppofed that this wine is the produce of two farms 
only, of that name ; whereas, the fame grape, the mufcadel, 
grows at every farm ; and at fome of them in Drakenflein the 
^vine preffed from it is equally good, if not fuperior, to the 
Con- 
