28 
TRAVELS IN 
land divided into almost as many squares by oak hedges. The 
public walk runs up the middle, is well shaded by an avenue 
of oak trees, and enclosed on each side by a hedge of cut 
myrtles. The Dutch of late years had entirely neglected 
this excellent piece of ground; but the spirit of improvement 
that has always actuated the minds of the English in all their 
possessions abroad, will no doubt shew itself at this place, 
and convert the public garden into a place not only orna- 
mental to the town but useful to the country. A part of it, 
in fact, has already been appropriated, by order of the 
Earl of Macartney, for the reception of scarce and curious 
native plants, and for the trial of such Asiatic and Euro- 
pean productions as may seem most likely to be cultivated 
with benefit to the colony. 
Of native plants, that which is the most cultivated, in the 
vicinity of the town, is the Protea argentea, the Wittehoom^ 
or silver tree of the Dutch. Whole woods of it stretch 
along the feet of the eastern side of the Table Moun- 
tain, planted solely for fuel. The Conocarpa, another 
species of Protea, the Kreupel boom of the Dutch, is 
also planted along the sides of the hills : its bark is employed 
in tanning leather, and the branches for fire wood. The 
grandijlora, speciosa et mell/fera, different species of the same 
genus, grow every where in wild luxuriance, and are collected 
for fuel, as are also the larger kinds of Ericas or heaths, phi/l- 
licas, Bru7iias, polygalas, the Oka Capensis, Euclea racemosa^ 
Sophora, and many other arboreous plants that grow in great 
abundance both on the hills of the peninsula., and on the 
