SOUTHERN AFRICA. 99 
to a colicction of books, but the pursuits of tlie pi incipal part 
of the members are druiking, smoking, and gaming. Under 
the direction of the church is a library, which was left by an 
individual for the use of the public, but it is rarely disturbed 
either by the public or by individuals. In this collection are 
some excellent books, particularly rare and valuable editions 
of the classics, books of travels and general history, acts of 
learned societies, dictionaries, and church history. Books are 
rarely found in Cape Town to constitute any part of the fur- 
niture of a house. So little value do they set on education, 
that neither Government, as I before observed, nor the church, 
nor their combined efforts, by persuasion or extortion, could 
raise a sum sufficient to establish a proper public school in the 
colony ; and few of the natives are in circumstances to enable 
them to send their children for education to Europe. But 
those few who have had this advantage generally, on their re- 
turn, relapse into the common habits of the colonists, finding 
how unnecessary in this country are the exertions of body or 
mind for procuring a subsistence. I repeat, that if the mea- 
.sure of general prosperity was to be estimated according to 
the ease of procuring abundance of food, tlie people of the 
Cape may be considered as the most prosperous on earth, for 
there is not a beggar in the whole colony, ailH 00 instance of 
any person having suffered for want of the common necessaries 
of life. 
By habitual indolence, excess of food, and fondness for in- 
dulging in sleep, they become no less gross in their persons, 
than they are vulgar in their manners. A young lady de- 
scribed the Cape and its inhabitants in very few words : " De 
o 2 
