io8 
TRAVELS IN 
former are clumsy in their shape, awkward in their carriage? 
and of an unsociable disposition ; whilst the latter are gene- 
rally of a small delicate form, below the middle size, of easy 
and unaf?ected manners, well dressed, and fond of social inter- 
course, an indulgence in which they are seldom restrained by 
their parents, and which they as seldom turn to abuse. They 
are here indeed less dependant on, and less subject to, the ca- 
price of parents than elsewhere. Primogeniture entitles to na 
advantages ; but all the children, male and female, share alike 
in the family property. No parent can disinherit a child 
"without assigning, on proof, one at least of the fourteen rea- 
sons enumerated in the Justinian Code, By the law of the 
colony, a community of all property, both real and personal, 
is supposed to take place on the marriage of two persons, un- 
less the contrary should be particularly provided against by 
special contract made before marriage. Where no such con- 
tract exists, the children, on the death of either parent, are 
entitled to that half of the joint property which was supposed 
to belong to the deceased, and which cannot be withheld on 
application after they are come of age. 
It is but justice to the young females of the Cape to remark, 
that many of them have profited, much more than could be 
expected from the limited means of education that the place 
affords. In the better families, most of them are taught music^ 
and some have acquired a tolerable degree of execution. 
Many understand the French language, and some have made 
great proficiency in the Enghsh. They are expert at the 
needle, at all kinds of lace, knotting, and tambour work, 
and in general make up their own dresses, following the pre^ 
