CHAPTER V.

Cape of Good Hope-Progress of the Colony-Cape District-Districts of Stellenbosch, Worcester, Swellendam, George, Uitenhage, Albany, Somerset, and Graaf Rainet-Population Table—Imports and Exports-Judiciary Establishment-Postoffice-Humane and Religious Institutions-Revenue, Military, &c.—The Caffres -Captain Stout's Character of them-The Hottentots-Progress of Education among them.

THE British colonial establishment at the Cape of Good Hope is rapidly improving, and is unquestionably destined, at no very late period, to become of much importance to the mother country, and collaterally, to the commercial world. The settlements are rapidly extending towards the interior, there being no less than ten districts at this time composing the colony.

The Cape District has been much extended of late, embracing the Residency of Simon's Town. The north point of the district extends to Verlone Valley, one hundred and ninety miles from Cape Point, but in no part does the district exceed thirty miles in breadth. This district is divided into eleven divisions, one of which is Constantia, so celebrated for its wines. There are no streams which serve for irrigation, and the crops depend almost wholly on the periodical rains. In this district there are several fine turnpike-roads, the tolls on which, in the year 1830, amounted to 18637., while the repairs during the same period amounted to 14007. In this district is Saldanha Bay, in 33° 8' south latitude, which is one of the finest in the whole colony, and will in time become the anchorage to the seat of justice for another district. Captain Morrell was in this bay in 1829, in the schooner Antarctic, and is quite full in his description.

There are thirty thousand acres cultivated, seven hundred and forty thousand waste, and two thousand acres planted with vines, giving two millions six hundred and one thousand six hundred and fifty plants, yielding one thousand four hundred and sixty leaguers,*

* A leaguer of wine is one hundred and fifty-two gallons

or two hundred and twenty-two thousand and seventy-two gallons of wine.

The district of Stellenbosch contains four thousand six hundred square miles, and is situated in the western division of the Cape of Good Hope, and about twenty-five miles from Table Bay The chief produce of Stellenbosch is wine, and the average quantity made is twelve thousand five hundred leaguers, and six hundred leaguers of brandy, per annum; grain and fruits are abundant, when the season is favourable to farmers, though the district is not adapted for grazing.

The district of Worcester, also, on the western part of the cape, is one of the most extensive in the colony, being two hundred and sixty miles long, and, in one place, one hundred and thirty in width. It is divided into no less than twenty divisions; the six first produce wine, grain, and cattle, and the remainder are only grazing farms. The cedar is found only in this district, and is procured from the mountains with great labour.

The district of Swellendam once belonged to Stellenbosch, and was separated from it in the year 1745. It is estimated to contain nearly nine thousand square miles. The chief products are butter, tallow, soap, aloes, cattle, and a small quantity of grain and wine. The horses of this section of the country are celebrated for draught and saddle, and some of the finest wool of the colony has been produced at Joetendal's Valley. But the capacities of this district seem best adapted to grain; and, by proper industry and labourers, immense quantities might be produced for exportation. At this time, it is said, there are not less than eighteen thousand five hundred acres under cultivation; one hundred only in vines, one million four hundred and sixteen thousand in pasturage, and four millions two hundred and forty-eight thousand five hundred and twenty-nine uncultivated. At a village called Caledon, there are two warm medicinal springs, and their heat is 92°. These baths have been found useful in chronic rheumatism, diseases of the skin, and scorbutic ulcers.

On the southeastern coast of the colony is situated the district of George, adapted only to the raising of grain and cattle. Near the mouth of Courits and Small Brak rivers are a few small salt lakes, though not very productive in this useful article. Spanish sheep succeed well, and Small Brak river abounds in the greatest

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variety of choice fish, near its confluence with Mossel Bay; next to Simon's, this is the best and safest bay on the east coast of the colony, and is suited to vessels of all descriptions. A whale-fishery is carried on in this place with tolerable success. few small divisions of this district are productive in wheat of the best quality; also wine, brandy, and tobacco, are cultivated to a limited extent; there are fine groves of timber in the mountains, and many of the border settlers are employed in getting it out. There are ten thousand acres under cultivation, embracing all kinds of productions. This district is large, embracing one million four hundred and twenty-four thousand one hundred and thirty-three acres.

The district of Uitenhage is situated on the east coast of South Africa, and is skirted on the south by the Southern Ocean. It has two bays and several fine rivers, and is about five hundred miles from Cape Town. Algoa Bay is the principal port, and its trade is rapidly increasing; vessels from the east, in the winter season, often stop in this bay, though Port Elizabeth may be considered the principal on the east part of the colony. Uitenhage, the capital of the district, is one of the most flourishing towns of the colony, and was formerly the headquarters of the frontier; but the Caffres having made frequent incursions into the district, it was found necessary to remove the troops to Graham's Town, upwards of a hundred miles further in advance.

The town of Uitenhage affords a number of spacious buildings, public and private; agricultural societies, reading-rooms, and a turf-club are established, and managed with spirit. A seminary was established in 1822, and has at present one hundred and thirty pupils. There are lead mines near this place, though not worked. About seven miles northeast of Uitenhage are immense beds of seashells and seashellfish, particularly oysters; these beds are about ten miles from the sea, and many hundred feet above its level.

The local advantages of the district consist in its supply of water, and great capabilities for raising black cattle. A large portion of the butter, soap, and tallow exported from Algoa Bay, is from this district, whose main resources will always arise from its grazing qualities. The value of a fat ox is about two pounds sterling, and the amount of the black and breeding cattle in the

district is estimated at sixty-four thousand two hundred and fiftytwo. In June, 1829, eighteen whales were killed in Algoa Bay, the value of which was estimated at near four thousand pounds sterling; and, in the year 1830, fifteen were taken of proportionate value.

The appearance of the district of Albany is highly pleasing, and is romantically diversified by gentle undulations, by precipitous woody ravines or kloofs, by stupendous ports or passes through the mountains, and by clumps of elegant evergreens; while the whole face of the country, with slight exceptions, is adorned by a covering of verdant pasturage, and the soil is generally of an excellent quality. It is bounded on the east by the Great Fish river, on the south by the Southern Ocean; it is sixtysix miles in extent, and from thirty to forty-six in breadth; producing wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, potatoes, peas, beans, and lentils. The animals, in 1829, amounted to one thousand seven hundred and ninety horses, three thousand and seventy horned cattle, sixty-seven thousand four hundred cape sheep, ten thousand Spanish sheep, and fourteen thousand nine hundred and fifty goats. In no part of the colony have the inhabitants manifested more zeal in the establishment of schools, than in this district. This laudable spirit is not only manifest in the establishment of common schools for the children of the settlers, of Sunday schools for the indigent, and an academy for the higher branches; but its benevolence extends to the improvement of the intellectual condition of the Caffres-the poor, degraded, and longmisrepresented Hottentot. The missionaries have laboured incessantly to improve the moral degradation and horrid barbarity of these savages, and the result has been found most encouraging. Schools have been established among them, and the number of children of the Caffres now under instruction, amounts to more than six hundred; and it is said, but for the want of teachers, the number might have been greatly increased. They are taught in the Caffre and English languages, and many of them speak the latter with considerable fluency.

The exports of this district for the year 1830, in hides, horns, sheep-skins, tallow, butter, soap, gums, ivory, ostrich feathers, and salted beef and pork, amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; which, for the number of inhabitants in a set

tlement of ten years' standing, certainly bespeaks great prosperity.

In the neighbouring district of Graaf Rainet, the number of inhabitants is fourteen thousand five hundred. The climate is equal in salubrity to any part of the colony; and, like Albany, is most favourable to grazing. In the year 1830, it had three thousand nine hundred and forty-one saddle and wagon horses; five thousand four hundred and forty-four breeding mares; eleven thousand five hundred and ninety-three oxen; fifty-two thousand one hundred and fifteen breeding cattle; three thousand Spanish sheep; nine hundred and seven thousand two hundred and sixtyseven colonial sheep; and fifteen thousand goats.

Such are the features presented by the several districts composing the present colony of the Cape of Good Hope. We have given this sketch somewhat more in detail, because the subjects appeared to possess much interest, and will at least be new to the generality of American readers. The delay of the Potomac at the Cape did not allow these remarks to be made from personal observation; but it did allow time to see much evidence of the prosperity here spoken of, and of acquiring the materials from which the picture has been drawn.

By casting an eye over the map of the world, it will be seen that the Cape of Good Hope occupies a commanding position. From Brazil and Buenos Ayres, the distance may be run in a month; while to the Dutch colonies of Surinam, Berbice, and Essequibo, it will not occupy more than six weeks. To the Red Sea, Coromandel, and Malabar, the voyage may be performed in two months.

Halfway from Europe to India, it forms a fine refreshing point for vessels engaged in the commerce of the east. During the year 1829, no less than two hundred and fifty-one vessels had entered the ports of the colony, the greater portion in Table Bay; amounting to seventy-three thousand two hundred and sixteen tons of shipping, and giving employment to five thousand and sixty-two seamen. The trade from the colony itself to England is important, considering that it does not contain more than one hundred and forty thousand free inhabitants. The following table shows how this population is distributed among the several districts: