386 TRAVELS IN 
have the means of acquiring with little exertion either of body 
or mind. 
A fhort Iketch of the circumftances and refources of the fe- 
veral claffes of the colonifts will be fufhcient to convey a general 
idea of their refpedive conditions. The 22,000 Chriftian in- 
habitants that compofe the population of this colony may be re- 
duced into four clalfes. 
1. People of the town. 
2. Vine-growers. 
3. Grain-farmers. 
4. Graziers. 
I. The people of the town we have already obferved to be an^ 
idle diifolute race of men, fubfifting chiefly by the labour of 
their flaves. In order to derive a fixed income and to avoid 
any trouble, they require each Have to bring them a certain 
fum at the end of every week ; all that he can earn above this 
fum is for himfelf, and many are induftrious enough to raife as 
much money in a few years as is fufficient to purchafe their 
freedom, and fometimes that of their children. The price of 
provifions and the price of labour bear no fort of proportion. 
Butcher^s meat is only about twopence a pound,, and good brown 
bread, fuch as all the flaves eat, one penny a pound. A com- 
mon labouring flave gets from two fhillings to half a crown a 
day, and a mechanic or artificer five and fix Ihillings a day. 
The people of Gape Town are alraoft all of them petty dealers,- 
and they have a remarkable propenfity for public vendues. Not 
a day 
