SOUTHERN AFRICA. 97 
tlie merchant iato the very lowest order of their society. The 
Dutch have a remarkable propcnsitj for public vendues. Not 
a day passes vv ithout several of these being held in the town 
both before and after dinner. And it is no uncommon thin£r 
to see the same identical articles exposed at two different sales 
on the same day. In fact, a vendue is a kind of lottery. A 
man buys a set of goods in the morning, which he again ex- 
poses to sale in the evening, sometimes gaining and sometimes 
losing. Yet all moveable property, on sale by public auction.,> 
is liable to a duty of 5 per cent.. Si of which the auctioneer is 
accountable for to Government ; the remainder is for himself. 
] cannot give a stronger instance of the rage for vend ues than 
by observing that in four successive months of the year 1801, 
the ansount of property sold by public auction was 1,500,000 
rix dollars, a sum equal to the whole quantity of paper money 
in circulation, which, indeed, may be considered as the only 
money, of late years, that has circulated in the country. 
In what manner, therefore, these articles weie to be paid 
for is a sort of mystery, M'hich, however, the declining state 
of the colony may long before this have sufficiently ex- 
plained. 
The better sort of peoj^le are those who arc employed in ihe 
different departments of government. Many have estates in 
the country, and derive a revenue from their produce. Others 
again are a sort of agents for the country boors, and keep 
houses to lodge them when they make their annual visit to the 
town. These men are a sort of Jew brokers, w^ho live entirely 
by defrauding the simple boors in disposing of their produce, 
VOL. II. o 
