330 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
regularly built in straight lines, and intersecting 
each other at right angles. Between the town 
and the Table mountain are situated a number of 
neat country houses, with gardens and plantations. 
Most of the European and tropical fruits are cul- 
tivated with success, and the market is tolerably 
supplied with vegetables. The chief want is tim- 
ber, either for building or firing. Most families are 
compelled to keep a slave for the sole purpose of 
climbing the neighbouring mountains in search of 
faggots. To purchase these in sufficient quantity 
to maintain a fire in the kitchen alone, costs forty 
or fifty pounds a year. The botanical produc- 
tions of the Cape district surpass, perhaps, in va- 
riety and beauty, those of any other part of the 
w^orld. In the bulbous rooted plants, particular- 
ly, it is quite unrivalled. 
The Dutch inhabitants of the Cape display the 
phlegm and apathy of their countrymen in Europe, 
without their persevering industry. They de- 
volve all labour upon the slaves, and spend their 
time in eating to excess of high seasoned dishes, 
drinking raw ardent spirits, and smoking tobacco. 
As they carefully avoid every species of bodily 
exertion, their health inevitably suffers, and few 
exceed the age of sixty. The ladies do not share 
this phlegmatic character ; they are pretty, lively, 
and good-humoured, easy in their manners, and 
fond of social intercourse. They are allowed an 
