SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
the Hibifcus carinab'mus^ whofe leaves of a delicate fubacid 
tafte ferve as a falLd for the table, and the fibres of the 
ftem are manufactured 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 manufacture of ftrong cordage. The Jaiiap of India, 
Crotularia juncea^ from vs^hich a ftrong coarfe fluff is manu- 
factured 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 birfutum 
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 products of the vegetable kingdom, as th€ Southern angle 
of Africa. 
#» 
Croifing the Berg river, I entered Zwartland, where, in con- 
fequence of a fhower of rain, the inhabitants were bufily em- 
ployed in ploughing the ground, which the long drought this 
3 G year 
