TRAVELS IN 
District of stellenboscii axd diiakenstein". 
Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, though one district under 
the jurisdiction of one Landrost, have distinct Ilemraaden or ' 
Councils. After deducting the small district of the Cape, 
Stellenbosch and Drakenstein include the whole extent of 
country from Cape L'Aguillas, the southernmost point of 
Africa, to the River Koussie, the northern boundary of the 
colony ; a line of 380 miles in length ; and the mean breadth 
from cast to west is about 150 miles, comprehending an area, 
after subtracting that of the Cape district, equal to fifty-five 
thousand square miles. Twelve hundred families are in pos- 
session of this extensive district, so that each family, on an 
average, has forty-six square miles of land, a quantity more 
than five times that which the Dutch Government thought to 
be extensive enough to keep the settlers asunder, and suffi- 
cient to allow the houses to stand at more than twice the 
regulated distance of three miles from each other. The 
greater part, however, of this extensive surface may be con- 
sidered as of little value, consisting of naked mountains, 
sandy hills, and Karroo plains. But a portion of the re- 
mainder composes the most valuable possessions of the whole 
colony ; whether they be considered as to the fertility of the 
soil, the temperature of the climate, or their proximity to the 
Cape, which, at present, is the only market in the colony 
where the farmer has an opportunity to dispose of his pro- 
duce. The parts of the district to which I allude, are those 
divisions beginning at False Bay and stretching along the 
feet of the great chain of mountains, on the Cape side, 
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