J82J.] Communication from a Settler in Southern Africa . ZJ87 
stage of cultivation for the growth of 
grain, and in gardening it is more im¬ 
portant still, to have the power of turn¬ 
ing on the water, therefore a situation 
which will admit this operation, is of 
the utmost importance ; the very neces¬ 
sary objects of good water, good land 
and convenient situation for forming a 
farm with any prospect of success, be¬ 
ing so scarce, it is impossible many good 
farms can be formed. I shall endea¬ 
vour to describe the spot upon which 
we are placed. It is a long lofty hill, 
the summit a ridge of broken, scattered 
rocks, about half way down runs a vein 
of rock, which is covered generally 
with soil about four inches deep, in 
many places the rock is quite barege- 
tween the top and this vein the soil is a 
light sandy earth, such as I have heard 
called in Suffolk a hungry sand; be¬ 
low the stony girdle the same light sand 
is found, and though near the bottom 
the soil is more moist it is still sandy; 
when dug up and exposed to the action 
of the atmosphere, it exhibits the ap¬ 
pearance of black sea sand. The sides 
of the hill were covered with a very thin 
coat of grass, a variety of plants of 
the heath kind and several kinds of 
aloe, which is particularly fond of a 
strong barren soil and lofty situation. 
At the foot of the hill runs a brook of 
good water, and opposite rises another 
bill of equal length and altitude, hav¬ 
ing nearly the same characters; the 
breadth of the valley at the bottom, 
between the two bills, is only the width 
of the brook, for as soon as you cease 
to descend on one side and step over the 
brook, you begin to ascend on the other. 
The hill from its rocky summit and 
barren aspect, has acquired the name 
of Sloney Ridge; its aspect is north¬ 
easterly—here we were pitched. A 
space of about an acre and a half was 
measured out and assigned to each per¬ 
son, on which to build his house and 
form his garden ; there is no wood on 
the hill or in the valley, bu tthere are 
one or two ravines running into the op¬ 
posite hill from which we are allowed 
to cut wood for building; the ravines 
or bloofs as they are called, are narrow, 
rocky, precipitous and deep; the labour 
of procuring timber from them is ex¬ 
cessive,—yet, spite of the difficulty of 
getting timber; spite of the naked, wild 
and comfortless appearance of the hills; 
spite of the barren, bleak, and chilling 
aspect of all nature around us, whose 
dreary wildness was sufficient to damp 
the warmest hopes, such wag the en¬ 
thusiasm, that several houses were built 
in a short time and many more are in 
progress ; the ground, notwithstanding 
the title promise it gave of returns, was 
turned up in various places, and seeds 
of almost every kind were sown. No 
toil, no exertions were spared, and 
every hardship, every privation was 
borne not only without a murmur, 
but with cheerfulness and. alacrity; 
every one strove to fence in his lot and 
get it into the best cultivation lie was 
able ; no one seemed to fear any tiling 
but being behind bis neighbour in in¬ 
dustry and application ; a scene of ge¬ 
neral activity was exhibited that pro¬ 
mised every thing. What lias been the 
result? the corn came up scantily, but 
the consoling idea that, next year with 
manure it will do better, still kept up 
our spirits. Harvest came, and a total 
blight crushed all our hopes, dilated 
our fears, depressed our spirits, and 
shewed us nothing but dark and dreary 
prospects of incessant labour with slen¬ 
der, uncertain, fickle and precarious re¬ 
muneration, Our method was to at¬ 
tend to the cattle, the only hope, to 
become graziers ; and indeed" the coun¬ 
try is far better suited to a pastoral than 
to an agricultural people. Our atten¬ 
tion was turned to the cattle, every one 
took all the means in his power to aug¬ 
ment his herd or his flock, and hopes 
were entertained that when the facility 
of obtaining rations ceased, we might 
live by our "cattle and sheep. We were 
deceived: notwithstanding our misfor¬ 
tunes and disappointments from natu¬ 
ral causes, our harvest blighted, and 
our hopes destroyed, we were called 
on for a tax on every head of cattle and 
upon our sheep, crowning the whole 
with a poll tax upon every inhabitant; 
thus wringing bis hard earned pittance 
from the poor settler, whose undertak¬ 
ing at the best is precarious, full of 
difficulty and danger, exposed to hard¬ 
ships, privations and distresses, to the 
attacks of savages, and more ferocious 
human savages, whose territories border 
on ours, and, in addition to our other 
misfortunes, to be ground by the hard 
hand ofinsatiable taxation. Such is our 
present state without hope of allevia¬ 
tion. 
When first located upon our hill, we 
were informed that each person should 
have an hundred acres of land assigned 
to him independent of his homestead 
or town lot; but the land in the vici- 
nity 
