SOUTHERN AFRICA. 3S7 
a day pafles without feveral of thefe being held both before and 
after dinner. And it is no uncommon thing to fee the fame 
identical articles expofed at two different fales the fame day. 
In fa£t, a vendue is a kind of lottery. A man buys a fet of 
goods in the morning, which he again expofes to fale in the 
evening, foraetiraes gaining and fometimes lofmg. Yet all 
moveable property, on fale by public audion, is liable to a duty 
of 5 per cent., 3 1 of which the aud:ioneer is accountable for to 
Government ; the remainder is for himfelf. I cannot give a 
ftronger inftance of the rage for vendues than by obferving 
that in four fucceffive months of the year 1801, the amount of 
property fold by public auction was 1,500,000 rix dollars, a 
fum equal to the whole quantity of paper money in circulation, 
which, indeed, may be confidered as the only money, of late 
years, that has circulated in the country. In what manner, 
thierefore, thefe articles were to be paid for Is a fort of myftery, 
which, however, the declining ftate of the colony may before 
this have explained. 
The better fort of people are thofe who are employed in the 
different departments of Government, but their falaries were fp 
fmall that mod of them were petty merchants. Others have 
■eflates in the country and derive a revenue from their produce. 
Others again are a fort of agents for the country boors, and 
keep houfes to lodge them when they make their annual viiit 
to the town. Thefe are a kind of Jew brokers, who live en- 
tirely by defrauding the fimple boors in difpofing of their pro-^ 
duce, and purchafing for them neceffaries in return. A boor in 
the Cape can do nothing for himfelf. Unaccuftomed to any 
3 D 2 fociety 
