540 TRAVELS IN 
colonial produce and imported goods, which have been dis- 
posed of, the shops and warehouses at the evacuation of the 
colony were so full, that it was calculated there were then Eu- 
ropean and Indian articles sufficient for three years' consump- 
tion, and the capital of slaves imported was augmented nearly 
to the amount of 180,000/. 
It appears then, that five-sixths of the trade of the Cape of 
Good Hope has been occasioned by the consumption of the 
garrison and the navy. And, consequently, that unless a very 
considerable garrison be constantly stationed there, or some 
other channel be opened for the export of their produce, the 
colonists, by having increased their capitals in the days of 
prosperity, and especially of slaves, which is a consuming in- 
stead of a productive capital, will rapidly sink into a state of 
poverty much greater than that they werein atthecapture of the 
colony. The present garrison consists only of about one third 
of the garrison and navy kept there by Great Britain ; and 
they will, most assuredly, not consume one fifth of the quan- 
tity of colonial produce and imports ; so that some new vent 
must be discovered for the remaining four-fifths, or the colony 
will be impoverished. What then must be the condition of 
this place if the garrison, small as it is, should be supported 
at the expence of the inhabitants ? It must, obviously, very 
speedily consume itself, and the majority of the inhabitants 
will be reduced to the necessity of clothing themselves, as be- 
fore the capture, with sheep-skins. It is obviously, therefore, 
the interest of the colonists that the Cape should remain in 
the hands of the English ; the truth of which, indeed, they felt 
and loudly expressed, before the Dutch flag had been flying 
