38o . .TRAVELS IN 
the houfe was deterrnlned by fome fpring or water-courfe, the 
ftake was fo placed that the circumference of the circle de- 
fcribed left a fpace between the new, and fome adjoining, farm 
of one, two, or more miles in diameter. This intermediate 
fpace, if lefs than three miles in diameter, was confidered as 
not tenable, and, confequently, if any perfon ^^willing to pay 
the eftablilhed rent for a fmaller quantity of land than Govern- 
ment allowed) applied for fuch intermediate piece of ground, his 
application was fure to be rejected. Whether the Government 
had any defign of difperfmg the people by fuch an abfurd fyf- 
tem, under the idea of keeping them more eafily in fubje£tion, 
I can't pretend to fay, but it thought proper to encourage the 
continuance of the fyftem, which is in full force to this mo- 
ment. 
The difputes about thefe flakes or baakens, as they call them, 
are endlefs ; and partly through accident, but frequently by de- 
fign, the ftakes are fo placed that, on an average throughout 
the whole colony, the farms are at twice the diftance, and con- 
fequently contain four times the quantity of land allowed by 
Government. 
The number of thefe loan farms regiftered in the office of 
the receiver of the land revenue, on clofmg the books in 1798, 
were, 
In the the diftrid of the Cape - no 
Stellenbofch and Drakenftein - 689 
Carried forward 
799 
