their fields, that are still bound in the chains of winter, to pasture their flocks on the brief vegetation of the smiling desert.

There is a species of amphibious lizard found in some of the rivers from three to six feet long, but as harmless as the common lizard of the desert. Venomous serpents are numerous, such as the cobra-capella, puff-adder, and berg-adder; but their great enemy, the serpent-eater, or secretary-bird, is likewise at hand, who crushes them under the sole of his foot, or flies up with them into the air, and drops them upon the ground-as Marco Polo's roc does the elephants! In the animal kingdom are included the lion, the elephant, the leopard, the hyena and his relation the wild dog, the buffalo, the antelope, the quagga, and the baboon. The Cape leopard is peculiarly ferocious; but the hyena and wild dog are more destructive to the flocks. The buffalo is a most formidable animal; but his haunts, as well as those of the elephant, have been much circumscribed by the hunters.

The commission of inquiry states that notwithstanding the various diseases to which cattle are liable, from the effects of noxious herbage at certain seasons, the difficulty of obtaining water for them in the summer season, and the depredations of wild animals and of the border tribes, their number had more than trebled from the year 1806 to 1824. The increase still goes on, and on the eastern frontiers the Cape graziers have been the pioneers of the settlement, migrating farther and farther in quest of pasture, till they are now extensively settled in the Natal country. The butchers of Cape Town, it is said, send overland six hundred miles for slaughter cattle and sheep. Under all circumstances, the exportation of horns and hides may be expected to become a great

business.

The Cape sheep is distinguished by its hairy fleece and the enormous accumulation of fat in the tail-sometimes amounting to twenty pounds weight. This kind of sheep, however, is now in progress of supersession by the saxo-merino breed, and a trade in wool has thus been commenced which promises to be of great importance to the colony. In 1824 the number of sheep of all kinds at the Cape was one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand three hundred and two; and in 1841 the returns were three million eight hundred and twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and seventy. Up to 1834 the exports of wool were under a hundred thousand pounds: at present they are a million and a half or about one-eighth part of the exports of the Australian colonies. In consequence of the rapid increase of colonial wool, the supplies Great Britain was in the habit of receiving from Germany (in 1836 amounting to nearly thirty-two million pounds!) have now greatly fallen off, and eventually the trade will perhaps be extinguished altogether. In order to show the vast industrial field there is before our Australian and Cape settlers and our Indian farmers, we may add on this subject that, independently of the fleeces of thirty-two million sheep of her own, Great Britain imports from fifty to sixty million pounds of wool per annum. The trade, notwithstanding, may still be said to be in its infancy, as it has gradually increased to that amount from nine hundred thousand pounds imported in the year 1800.

Goats are likewise a considerable stock at the Cape; and horses of a mixed breed are rising in numbers and value. These animals, it is said, are capable of bearing so much fatigue that a journey of one hundred and twenty miles on two successive days is a common occurrence. There are likewise swine, poultry of all kinds, and bees

on every farm. Besides wool, hides, and horns, the other principal exports are goat and sheep skins, salted beef, pork, and fish, aloes, ivory, tallow, flour, whale oil, whale bone, and wine.

The capital embarked in wine cultivation was said in 1843 to be nearly two millions sterling; and the quantity exported to England averages from five to six hundred thousand gallons. The liqueur wine, Constantia, is well known, or rather well talked about, for it is too scarce and too dear to be within the reach of more than a few; but, with this exception, the wines of the Cape, pronounced execrable by the first English conquerors, retain their character to the present day. It should not be said that they are entirely unimproved, for they have lost in some measure their peculiar earthy taste; but still they are so inferior to the wines of Europe that they are never seen upon the table -under their own name. It is curious that no one asks in parliament what becomes of the half million gallons which are imported, since there is not an individual of that august body who ever saw a bottle of " Cape Madeira" in his life! The fact is, the British Government could not conceive why we should not have as good wine from Southern Africa as from continental Europe, since it is well known that the grapes of the former country are among the finest in the world; and in order to encourage the colonists to turn their attention to the article, they gave them a discriminative duty of about fifty per cent. in their favour. The consequence is, that the same quality of wine continues to be made at the Cape, and imported into England; where, as nobody will drink it pure, the dealers are compelled to mix it with other wines, and sell it at twice its value. The difference of duty is thus taken out of the pockets of the people in another shape, and government pays it over again in the loss sustained by the

revenue.

The trade with the Kafirs commenced in 1822, and in two years ivory and hides were received by the colonists, to the amount of nearly 30,0007 in exchange for beads, buttons, and brass wire. Commerce, however, had its usual effect; and having tasted of the fruit of knowledge, the eyes of the African barbarians were opened, and they saw that they wanted duffels, blankets, iron-pots, and other manufactures. The mother country, therefore, came to participate in the advantages of the trade, which, at the time of the outbreak in 1834, amounted to 40,000l. per annum in imports alone, for the value sent into Kafir land had not been ascertained. This traffic, of course, disappeared during the war and for some time after, but is now gradually recovering, and is at present estimated at about half the above amount. But the war was not without its advantages even so far as industry was concerned, for it released from Kafir slavery, and threw upon the British frontier, a people called Fingos, who supplied the most important desideratum of the colonists-labour. The Fingos numbered altogether about 10,000 souls, and proved to be a quiet, temperate, provident, and industrious race. Some of the tribes dispersed by the Zoolahs have likewise been found useful as herdsmen; and the phrensied tumults among the northern nations are perpetually driving refugees across the Gariep to take service with the colonists.

It is curious that Barrow, who wrote in 1798, is still the great authority as to the productive capabilities of the country. The tea plant thrives as well as in China; successful experiments have been tried with coffee; sugar, he tells us, would likewise succeed; and Percival (1804) mentions that the cane grows spontaneously in many parts of the colony. The soil is exactly suited to the mulberry; and "remembering wool, let it not be thought a rash expectation that Cape silk

will yet vie with China, India, Modena, or Valencia, or Brussa." Besides the common silkworm, Barrow mentions, likewise, a large moth nearly as large as the atlas, resembling the Indian insect which spins the strong silk known by the name of tussack. Cotton, indigo, tobacco, all have been tried, and tried successfully; but we need hardly add to this enumeration that experiments on a small scale, however fortunate, give no pledge as to the adaptation of the article for the purposes of the merchant.

There is at the Cape, as in all the other colonies, a great outcry for Labour; but government perhaps acts wisely in yielding nothing to enthusiasm. The experiment tried on so liberal a scale in 1820 proves that the progress of this settlement will not be brilliant, but that, if moderately slow, it will be sure. One of the most distinguished of the emigrants, both for talent and virtue, was the late Thomas Pringle,-a name which the author of these pages cannot recall without feelings of admiration and regret,-and his Narrative, to which the beautiful truthfulness of the man gives a Crusoe-like interest, traces the destiny of the colony in that of the small family band of which he was the leader. "Without having any pretensions to wealth," he concludes, "and with very little money among them, the Glen Lynden settlers (with some exceptions) may be said to be in a thriving, and, on the whole, in a very enviable condition. They are no longer molested by either predatory Bushmen or Kafirs; they have abundance of all that life requires for competence and for comfort; and they have few causes for anxiety about the future. Some of them who have now acquired considerable flocks of merino sheep have even a fair prospect of attaining to moderate wealth."