GOOD 
jH;aving of grapes as this of Conftantia, althougli from 
negligence overlooked. The quantity of wine made at 
Conllantia, on an average, is about feventy-five leagers 
a-year, each leager containing upwards of one luindred 
and fifty gallons of our meal'ure. It is even liere ex- 
cedively dear and difficult to be procured, and muft 
be often befpoke a confidcrable time. Tlie captains of 
vefTels touching at the Cape, who have wifhed to pro¬ 
cure a quantity of it, have beeiiTiequently obliged to 
contradt for it a year or two before the wine was made. 
Under the Dutch government the farmer divided the 
produce into three parts; one.third lie was obliged to 
turnifli, at a certain price, to the Dutch Ea/t-India 
Company, who fent it to the government in Holland. 
Another proportion was furnillicd to certain of the in¬ 
habitants of Cape Town, chiefly the people in hi|^i 
office and power, at the fame rate ; and the remaining 
quantity he was at liberty to difpofe of at what price 
he could to the pall’engers, and captains of Ihips of all 
nations. The Dutch inhabitants in Cape Town, at 
whofe houfes and tables the palfengers are accommo¬ 
dated, rarely ever produce a drop of tliis wine, except 
upon very extraordinary occafions. The next wine in 
eftimation to the Conllantia is a kind of Mufcadel, or 
as they call it here Cape Madeira. The colour of this 
wine is a deep violet, and the appearance thick and 
muddy. Cape Madeira is a heavy,‘ fvveetilli, wine, 
with a ftronger body than the generality of what is 
made here ; for the various kinds of white wines at the 
Cape are moftly thin, light, and acid : it is this wine 
which is generally ufed at the tables of the colonills. 
Except the red Conllantia, no wine made at the Cape 
is ever fo high-coloured as port or claret. 
The whole fpace acrofsthe ifthmus from Table Bay to 
Falfe Bay, is interfpeifed with fummer houles, and beau¬ 
tiful habitations, where tliey cultivate vegetables, fruits, 
and vines. The moll elleemed, and whofe produce ap¬ 
proaches the nearelt to the wine of Conllantia, are thofe of 
Becker and Hendrick. The Cape wine-merchants pur- 
chafe thefe, and obtrude them upon the ignorant for real 
Conllantia. Befides their fweet w'ines, other cantons of the 
colony, as Perle, Stellembofch, and Dragellein, furniffi 
thofe dry wines, which are in fo great eliimation. Stellem- 
bolch, Drageltein,Franfche-Hoeek, Perle, and Dutch Hot¬ 
tentot, otherwife called Hottentot Holland, are different 
cantons, fituated between the Cape and a great chain of 
mountains; thefe furniffi abundance of fruit and wine. 
The Stellembofch diltridt has a little town, where feve- 
ral inhabitants have retired from the Cape, who culti¬ 
vate their own lands; they have a church and a miniller 
ot their own. The Franfehe-Hoeek, in the heart of the 
mountains, between the Stellembofch and the Dragef- 
tein, has received its name from Ibme French refugees 
that fettled there about the end of the fixteenth century, 
and who then firll introduced the wine into this colony. 
The land here is good, and furnilhes plenty of corn and 
wine. The. divilion called Hottentot Holland, is fo 
named becaufe this canton (originally inhabited by Hot¬ 
tentots) was the firll tliat the Dutch violently feized 
upon. It furniflies vegetables, fruit, and cqrn; the 
Stellembofch bounds it on the north, a chain of 
mountains on the eafl, Falfe Bay on the well, and the 
mountains where the native Hottentots Hill retain fome 
habitations, on the fouth. 
The firll chain of mountains that are feen from Table 
Bay, are called the Tiger Mountains ; on them are 
Icattered excellent plantations for the growth of corn, 
which covering the hills, is a beautiful view from the 
town in the harvell feafon ; their fruitfulnefs having 
given them the name of corn magazines to tlie whole 
colony. The farms on the.other fide of thefe mountains 
are but partially cultivated, as not being thought very 
profitable ; whilft thofe in the neighbourhood of Cape 
Town are very profitable, on account of the eafe with 
which they convey their vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk, 
VoL. Vlll. No. 535. 
hope. <>3i 
and all other neceffary provilions to the market, an ad¬ 
vantage which thofe at a greater diftance do not enjoy. 
For twelve leagues round Cape Town the colonills 
do not fo much employ Hottentots, as Negro, Mofam- 
bique, and Malay, flaves ; but further inland, the Ho. 
tentots are atmoft the only (laves; but to all of them 
the Dutch appear to have been in the habit of exer- 
cifing the greateft cruelties. The Malay (laves are faid 
to be the moft ablive and docile, faitliful and honed, 
but dangerous on account of their impetuous temper. 
Mr. Barrow relates an inftance of refinement of revenge 
in one of thefe people, which is very extraordinary ; a 
Malay (lave, conceiving that he not only had ferved his 
mader fufficiently long, and with great fidelity, but had 
al(o paid him feveral films of money, he was tempted to 
demand his liberty, and met with a refufal. The fol¬ 
lowing morning the Malay murdered his fellow-fiave. 
On being taken and brought up for examination before 
a commiffion of the court of judice, he acknowledged 
that the boy he had murdered was his friend; but lie 
had confidered that the mod cftedtual way to be re¬ 
venged of his mader was, not by taking av;ay his life, 
but by robbing him of the value of.a thoufand rix-dol- 
lars, by the lofs of the boy, and another thoufand by 
bringing himfelf, in fo doing, to the gallows ; the re¬ 
collection of which would prey upon his avaricious 
mind for the remainder of his life !—Many other in¬ 
dances of fullen and outrageous conduCl in tlie flaves is 
likewife mentioned ; but when the cruelties of their 
Dutch maders are confidered, we mud not wonder that 
human nature fhould revolt. We have however to re¬ 
mark, with heart-felt exultation, that theufe of the tor¬ 
ture was aboliflied by the Englilh governor, immediate¬ 
ly on his taking poffeffion of the Cape. Among the im¬ 
plements of death employed by the Dutch, were found 
many difgraceful indruments of torture, all of which 
were dedroyed by our people, as a reproach to human 
nature. 
The mode of travelling and conveying merchandize 
at Good Hope, is in waggons. No object, fays captain 
Percival, foonerattraCls the eye of a dranger at the (jape, 
than the condruClion of thefe waggons, the number of 
cattle yoked to them, the uncommon manner in which 
they are driven, and the adonifliing dexterity of the 
drivers. Thefe waggons are made extremely large and 
drong ; all great journies are undertaken in them ; and 
for fize and accommodation they may be compared to tra¬ 
velling houfes; while the very uneven and rugged 
roads require them to be very drong, and of great foli- 
dity. The body of the waggon reds on an axle or pole, 
running lengthwife ; below, it is not unlike a coach, ex- 
cept that the body is feldoin hung on fprings. They 
are made broad, to prevent overturning, when driven 
over rocks and declivities at full gallop ; it being a 
principle with the drivers never to (pare the poor cat¬ 
tle. The infide is roomy and fpacious, with platforms 
and benches, which are employed for fitting on, for bed- 
deads, or for holding goods. At one end they are fur- 
niflied with a place for cooking. The (ides are con- 
firu6ted with Itrong boards well put together, and fe- 
cured by drong pieces of wood placed perpendicularly. 
The roof is formed of boards, or thick fail-cloth, well 
tarred, to keep out the rain. The Dutch planters, who 
inhabit the interior, during their long journies to Cape 
Town, entirely live in thefe moving habitations ; whilll 
at night, or when they (lop to bait and refrelh their cat¬ 
tle, their flaves find (belter under the waggon, and tlie 
cattle quietly graze hard by, in a fpot that has been 
pitched upon for its herbage, this being the only method 
of procuring provender in that country. In general the 
horfes and oxen are well made, drong, and deady. 
From four to ten or twelve pair of hoi fes or oxen are 
yolked to one w'aggon. The horfes, though a (mail 
race, do a great deal of work on little food, and are ca¬ 
pable of enduring great fatigue, A bunch or two of 
8 L carrots 
