SOUTHERN AFRICA. 155 
mon are the Robiiiia cannahina, affording a fibre tliat is durable 
under water, and on that account used in the east for fishing- 
nets and tackle. The Jute of India, Corchoriis olitorius, 
thrives very well, as does also the Hibiscus cannabinus, whose 
leaves, of a delicate subacid tas,te, serve as a sallad for the 
table, and the fibres o-f the stem as a flax fit for the manufac- 
ture of cordage. A native species of hibiscus which I brought 
from the vicinity of Plettenberg's bay yields a hemp of an ex- 
cellent quality, perhaps little inferior to that of the cannabis, 
or common hemp, which is most unquestionably the best ma- 
terial yet discovered for the manufacture of strong cordage. 
The Janap of India, Crotularia juncea, from which a strong 
coarse stufi^is manufactured under the name of Gunney, seems 
to thrive very well in the climate of the Cape in sheltered 
situations ; but its slender stem is unequal to the violence of 
the south-easterly gales of wind. Cotton and indigo may 
both be produced in any quantity in this colony ; but the 
labor necessary in the preparation of the latter, and the enor- 
mous price of slaves, or the hire of free workmen, would 
scarcely be repaid to the cultivator. That species of cotton 
plant called the hvi-siitim seems to sustain the south-east blasts 
of wind with the least degree of injury ; but the Bourbon cot- 
ton, originally from the West Indies, has been found to thrive 
just as well in the interior parts of the country, where the 
south-easters extend not with that degree of strength so as to 
cause any injury to vegetation, as on the island from whence 
it takes its name. Many of the India and China fruits are pro- 
duced in the colony, and others introduced since it came into 
our hands, seem to bid fair success. But the article of produce, 
which is best suited for the soil and the climate of the Cape, 
