83 
TRAVELS IN 
on waste .ground, from which he now siippUes the town and 
garrison with fuel ; and for which he refused the offer of be- 
tween three and four thousand pounds as it stood on the spot. 
Estates in the Cape remain but a short time in the same fa- 
mily. Their descent is seldom settled, as by the laws of the 
colony all the children are entitled to equal shares of the pro- 
perty at the death of the parents. The advantages to which 
primogeniture in some countries entities, are here entirely un- 
known. Superior in point of equity, as such a rule must be ac- 
knowledged to be, the consequence of it is an indifference to all 
improvement of estates beyond what will be productive of im- 
mediate profit. The proprietor endeavours to enrich himself by 
lending out money, increasing his stock of slaves, of cattle, 
and furniture, or by purchasing other estates, but he rarely 
thinks of improving them. He is little ambitious of leaving 
a name behind him, or of settling any branch of his family 
upon the same spot that raised him to independence and af- 
fluence. Old Cloete, the late proprietor of Constantia, forms 
a solitary exception from this remark. Having raised himself 
from the situation of trumpeter of u regiment into affluence, 
his whole attention was directed to the improvement of his 
estates, which he divided among his children. His favourite 
Constantia he left to the son who bore his own name, and it is 
provided, in his will, that this estate shall descend directly in 
the male line to him who bears his Christian name, or collate- 
rally to the nearest of kin to his own Christian name and a 
Cloete. The consequence of which is, that Constantia is the 
most improving estate in the colony. 
