4i 
THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
Mr. Hemmy very obligingly offered to make up this lofs, 
by giving me a Spanifh ram, out of fome that he had fent 
for from Lifbon. But I declined the offer, under a perfua- 
fion that it would anfwer my purpofe full as well, to take 
with me fome of the Cape rams: the event proved, that I 
was under a miftake. This Gentleman has taken fome 
pains to introduce European fheep at the Cape; but his en¬ 
deavours, as he told me, have been fruftrated by the obfti- 
nacy of the country people, who hold their own breed in 
greater eftimation, on account of their large tails, of the fat 
of which they fometimes make more money than of the 
whole carcafs befides * ; and think that the wool of Euro¬ 
pean fheep will, by no means, made up for their deficiency 
in this refpe6t. Indeed, I have heard fome fenfible men 
here make the fame obfervation. And there feems to be 
foundation for it. For, admitting that European fheep were 
to produce wool of the fame quality here as in Europe, 
which experience has fhewn not to be the cafe, the Dutch 
have not hands, at the Cape of Good Hope, to fpare for the 
manufacturing even their own clothing. It is certain that, 
were it not for the continual importation of llaves, this fet- 
tlement would be thinner of people than any other inha¬ 
bited part of the world. 
While the fhips were getting ready for the profecution 
of our voyage, fome of our officers made an excurfion to 
* “ The moft remarkable thing in the Cape fheep, is the length and thicknefs of their 
tails, which weigh from fifteen to twenty pounds. The fat is not fo tallowifh as that 
of European mutton, and the poorer fort ufe it for butter.” Kolben’s Cape of Good 
Hope [ Englifh tranflation ], Vol. IE p. 65. De la Caille, who finds every thing 
.wrong in Kolben, fays, the weight of the tails of the Cape fheep is not above five or fix 
pounds. Vyage de la Caille , p. 343. If the information given to Captain Cook may 
be depended upon, it will prove that, in this inflance at leaft, Kolben is unjuflly accufed 
of exaggeration. 
I. G take 
1776. 
November. 
*--v— 
