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The zebra, which naturalists have described as altogether untractable, captain Percival has seen quietly grazing in the fields above the town. I can myself, he says, contradict the accounts of this animal's untamable disposition, from having seen him, with my own eye, as gentle and as inoffensive as the patient ass, picking up thistles by the side of the road. The ostrich also was domesticated. He often saw nine or ten grazing round the town, and in the streets picking up any thing that came in their way. They would let the little black boys get on their backs, and ride them about; and every evening they returned to their owner's house as regularly as cows would to their milking place. It is positively asserted by many that the unicorn is found in the deserts of Caffraria. "I often" says captain Percival," endeavoured to ascertain the much disputed existence of this animal; my repeated inquiries, however, ended only in increasing my doubts of the fact, for I could never find out any person who had seen it with his own eyes, or heard it described by a person who had. The horn which is often shewn as belonging to the unicorn, is that of a large and peculiar species of antelope, which I have frequently scen in India, and which in this particular much resembles what the unicorn is described to be, having one large horn growing in the middle of his forehead." It is very curious that in this very passage, wherein the author implies his disbelief of the existence of the unicorn, he should himself establish the fact; for if there be a

large and peculiar species of antelope having one large horn growing in the middle of his forehead, no person can doubt that this is what is meant by the unicorn, unless they want an animal after the pattern of the king's arms, with the horn gilt, and a chain round his neck. Such a unicorn was at Cochin, in 1780, in the possession of general Moens, the Dutch go

vernor. It was like a deer in make and colour, beautifully made, with fine black eyes, and of a timid appear ance; the horn about three feet in length. There can be no doubt that this must be the animal which captain Percival has seen, and which the Boschmen have carved in the caverns, as represented in Mr. Barrow's very excellent Travels in South Africa.

The Dutch pay little attention to the culture of potatoes; they think it requires too much trouble, and that their

soil is not adapted for it, an opinion altogether groundless; but they are unconquerably obstinate, and never wish to be taught by their neighbours. However, where prejudices can be commuted for schillens, the Dutch are ever open to conviction. It was their custom to throw away the heads of their cattle; but seeing the Scotch soldiers carry them away to make soup, they inquired if any use was made of them, and finding this to be the case, immediately set a price upon them, and at length introduced them at their own tables. They rear little pork, for in general they detest the hog; perhaps for the same reason that the Esquimaux abhor monkeys, as being too strikingly like themselves. Large fields of carrots are planted for the sheep and horses; a bunch or two of carrots being reckoned equal to a feed of corn with us. The sugar-cane grows wild, yet they have never cultivated it. On this subject captain Percival has made some remarks which will be worthy of attention if ever, as we hope and trust, the Cape should again become an English possession.

"Every European nation acknowledges the importance of the West India islands, from the two great staple commodities of shed between the different powers, in the sugar and rum. How ninch blood has been conquest and attainment of them; while numberless lives have fallen victims to the unhealthy climate. Properties to an immense amount, consisting of large plantations of sugar canes, have often been destroyed in one night by furious hurricanes and tornadoes. Insects and vermin destroy another great proportion; while the heat is so intolerable that the planter cannot oversee his own works, much less assist by any exertion of his own. Those disadvantages are, however, still borne up against from the value of the sugar and rum which they afford. The Cape of Good Hope labours under none of those disadvantageous circumstances. Though they never arise to that degree as the tornait is sometimes subject to violent winds, yet

does in the West Indies; nor are their conis mild, temperate, and healthy; the soil sequences to be at all compared. The climate clean, and not subjet to those weeds and other obstructions usually found in tropical climates, which suddenly spring up and choak the tender plants. Insects and vermin do but little damage, compared to what is experienced in other parts of the world which can afford the same produce. The planter here can stand the wliole day exposed to the sun without any ill consequences, and can assist with his own bodily labour, if his circumstances require it, or inclination prompt

him. When the sugar cane grows so well spontaneously, it is surely capable of being brought to much more perfection by the care and culture of man.

"The Dutch, in exculpation of their own want of enterprise, allege that it would require more slaves than they can afford, or would risk introducing into the colony; and that those already in their possession are only sufficient for their household and domestic purposes, These reasonings, with regard to foreign slaves, may hold good; but there is a still greater benefit to be derived from extirely evading that objection, and employing the Hottentots and other natives of the interior. By this means the valuable articles in question might be raised, and at the same time the natives brought to a degree of civilization and to habits of industry, from which comfort to themselves, and wealth to their employers, would speedily arise. When I talked to the Dutch on this subject, they became silent and chagrined, and seemed to think their reasons unanswerable,"

The inhabitants of Cape Town are well described.

"The men rise early in the morning, and make their appearance in a loose robe and night-cap before their doors; then walk or sit in the porch for an hour or two with a pipe in their mouths, and a slave by their side, holding a glass and a small decanter of gn, from which the master every now and then takes his soupkie, or glass. Let an Englishman rise ever so early, he will see Mynheer sitting in his stoop or porch, or parading the front of his house, in the manDer I have described. There are many who get up two or three times in the night to enjoy a pipe; and so much are they accustomed to this luxury that they cannot on any account dispense with it. About eight they dress, first smoking their quantum; after which they sit down to breakfast, which generally consists of a quantity of gross food, Besides coffee, tea, and fruit of all kinds. They then saioke another pipe, and go to their mercantile concerns till about one delock, when dinner commences, which so consists of a quantity of gross and city dressed meat, with fruit, &c. as a dessert. A mere particular deseription of their tables I shall give presently. When they have re

aled themselves another hour with their

Laling pipe, they lie down to their nap,
which continues ull evening; they then rise,
perhaps take a walk, or pay formal visits,
but are always sure to smoke wherever they
pa, Coffee and gin sucreed, accompanied
with their pipe till about nine, when
is introduced; and when that is finished,
after another hour's fumigating, they retire
to bed, corged with heavy food, and perhaps
destined to spend the remainder of the night

supper

in all the horrors arising from indigestion."

front doors are locked to prevent interAs soon as any meal is announced, the ruption; dinner over, neither the bottle, nor the delightful fruits of the country can tempt the Dutch-African; he calls for his hat, his pipe, and spitting-pan, and composes himself to enjoy, not his own thoughts, but the sense of his own existence and the tobacco. No books, but a Bible and hymn book, are to be found among them; there is no printing press in the colony, except one for stamping, their paper currency. compared to the boors of the interior, they are a civilized and polished people.

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"Oxen he has in abundance, but rarely any for food; milk and butter overflow with him, yet he seldom tastes them; wine is so cheap, so easily procured, where almost every farm produces it, he rarely or never drinks. His house is poor, mean, and incommodious; although it might easily be rendered comfortable, even without his own bodily labour, as he has always a sufficient number of slaves for all his purposes. The rooms are dirty, and smoky in the extreme; the walls covered with spiders, and their webs of an enormous size; vermin and filth are never removed from the floors, till absolute necessity compels the indolent inhabitants to this exertion. The articles of furniture are but few; an old table, two or three broken chairs, a few plates and kitchen utensils, with a couple of large chests, comIndifferent monly comprise the whole. bread and vegetables, stewed in sheep's fat, are their usual fare; and when they eat meat, masses of mutton are served up in grease; this luxury they devour in great quantities, bolting it down as some of our porters would for a wager. Smoking all the morning, and sleeping after dinner, constitute the great luxury of the boor; unwilling to work himself, he lords it over his slaves and hired Hottentots. At a middling are he is carried off by a dropsy, or some disease contracted by indolence and eating to excess. When he drinks, he constantly uses that poisonous hot spirit called brandy-wine, or geneva when he can procure it.'

Cape is the most detestable: no race of Of all human beings the boor of the savages has ever yet been discovered so utterly destitute of all honourable and all good feelings. Mr. Barrow mentions one who used to regulate the punishment of his slaves, not by the number of stripes, but by the number of pip s which he should smoke while the pu nishment was inflicting in his presence.

He speaks of another who could at any time start his team into a full gallop, by taking out his knife and whetting it. Nor is this to be regarded as a solitary instance: it is the common custom of these accursed wretches, when their cattle slacken pace, or stop from fatigue or inability, to draw out a great knife, and score the flesh, or even cut off slices without mercy. The wretched animals, says captain Percival, seem to know their cruel master's intentions; for their

fear and agitation become excessive when they observe him taking out this instrument, and rubbing it on the waggon, as if making it ready for the purpose of tormenting them. The poor Hottentots, themselves the most injured and oppressed of the human race, express their pity and horror at such barbarity, and endeavour, as far as lies in their power, to alleviate the miseries of

these uufortunate animals.

These unoffending people, who, by a singular fatality, have been considered as the most brutal of savages, even till their name has become a proverbial reproach, while in fact they are, of all uncivilized people, the most gentle and the most docile, have of late years been considerably reduced in numbers, chiefly by the cruelty of their Dutch oppressors. The iron has entered into their souls; and they seem now, says this author, to consider themselves as designed by nature merely to serve and to suffer.

"A Dutch farmer claims all the children born of a Hottentot woman by another father than one of her own tribe, as slaves; even those arising from their own connection with a Hottentot woman; and also all the children which spring from the connection of a Hottentot man with a slave woman of any denomination. But the Dutch masters went still farther; for the children of Hottentots living with them as hired servants, although both father and mother belonged to that race, were yet retained as slaves till they arrived at the age of twenty-five years; and although the laws in favour of the Hottentots obliged the Dutch to register such children at the Cape, and to give them their freedom at this age, yet the period of their liberty was in reality little nearer than before, unless they deserted into the wild and uncultivated parts of the interior, far beyond the reach of their masters. Many arts were employed to retain them beyond the age of twenty-five years; it was usual to keep them in ignorance of the date of their birth, and thus make them continue to work till their strength began to fail them. When become old, feeble, and exhausted wtih labour, they were at last dis

charged, and turned out to misery, without being allowed to carry with them any thing which they had obtained during their servi

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in the service of a Dutch farmer, when they Those unhappy wretches who engage wish to depart, often find their children de

tained from them. Hence arises that indifference to marriage and the propagation of children, for which this race of people is distinguished. It is not uncommon with many Hottentots to deprive themselves before marriage of the power of procreation, in despite of their masters, to disappoint which many of the women in particular do their oppressors, and prevent themselves from having the mortification of beholding their unfortunate offspring born to slavery and wretchedness."

The Dutch-Africans, like their fellow Christians the worthy assembly of Barbadoes, justify their conduct to themselves by asserting that the Hottentots are little better than brutes. WhenDutchman any question concerning them, ever, says captain Percival, I asked a he looked as if he thought the subject too contemptible to deserve an answer. With regard to these poor people our government, while in possession of the Cape, behaved with exemplary, and we would say characteristic, humanity, if our transactions in West Africa did not recur to remembrance. The good effect of this conduct will be felt should the conquest of this colony be again effected, and this benefit we expect from lord Melville.

"Our government abolished, as much as it was in their power to abolish, the baleful traffic of slavery. By the capitulation entered into on getting possession of the Cape, we could not deprive the Dutch of those slaves already in their possession, as private property of all sorts was secured to them; but we suffered no more to be added to the number of this unhappy class of people. Our detestation of slavery, and the cruelty practised against the poor wretches, did not escape the penetration of the Hottentots. Though on our first coming they were led to believe us a race of cannibals, who would. destroy them without mercy, by the invidious, arts of the Dutch; yet these people soon formed a favourable impression of the humane and liberal spirit of the new power they had fallen under, and many entered into our service a short time after its capture. A little more knowledge and acquaintance with the character and conduct of Englishmen. soon-taught them to be disgusted with their late masters, the Dutch. And on finally giving up the Cape by the late treaty of peace, the Hottentots and slaves beheld our depar ture with extreme sorrow. I have been told

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by an officer, who left it on the evacuation, that the Hottentots asked the English for ammunition and arms to drive the Dutch out. We will give you,' said they, the country if you stay; it is ours and ours only; the Dutch have no right to any but a small territory round False and Table Bay; that we will take from them and give to you, if you will only supply us with arms and ammunition. Many of the Hottentot soldiers cried, and shewed every symptom of the deepest regret on parting with us. Should the Cape be attacked again by the English, the Dutch will find them unsteady allies; and, in all probability, will receive but lit

the assistance from them in its defence."

The corps of Hottentots in our service, are described as fine, active, and soldier-like fellows; well-disciplined, and exhibiting a pride in their gait which would do credit to an European soldier; they were faithful and obedient when on actual service, and behaved well in every sense of the word.

The slaves at Cape Town are of various races; the native Hottentots, the negroes of the Guinea Coast, slaves from Bengal and Malabar, Malays from Batavia and the eastern isles of India, the blacks of Madagascar, the Buganese half Malay and half African, and a more monstrous mixture between Hottentot and Hollander, more monstrons for every child so born is born to slavery. The Dutch ladies encourage, or even compel, their slave girls to prostitution in hopes of profiting by its consequences! It often happens that the master has his own child his slave, who is sold by the heirs or executors, if the father dies without having enfranchised him.

Our conquest of the Cape was fortunate for the wealthier inhabitants; if we may credit captain Percival, a jacobin insurrection was on the point of breaking out, in which the slaves were to have been let loose upon their masters. Certain it is, that every Dutchman therein, of every description, both high and low, gained by the residence of the English among them. Their prices, greatly and exorbitantly as they increased them, were never disputed; their property was se cured, their laws and religion left unaltered, and the arrears of rent and taxes due from many individuals to their own government, had been remitted to them by the British government, on pleading distress or inability, while their own rulers would on no account abate one dollar due from any of them. Their paper money, miserably as it had been

depreciated, was upheld by the English, and a considerable quantity of silver dollars sent there from India and from England, by which means new spirit was given to their trade, which had been almost completely put to a stand for want of specie. Yet these benefits could not reconcile the Dutch to the conquerors, nor prevent them from regard ing them with hatred. That the boors should cherish this aversion is not surprising; the English would not permit them to torture or murder their slaves, and, like the Barbadoes planters, they resented this attack upon their rights, as an insult. In the event of a reconquest, this animosity will still continue to exist; they may however be kept from revolt by the bayonet, and from murder by the gallows. Cogent arguments, and of that personal nature which they require, and time, may gradually improve the race. The inhabitants of Cape Town may more probably be induced to remember us with better feelings, to regret the miserable imbecility which surrendered our most important conquest, and to welcome us once more as their benefactors. This will be facilitated by the many intermarriages which took place between British officers and the Dutch ladies, the best and wisest policy which the conquerors could have adopted, though wholly unconnected with any political motives. The conduct of the French officers, in attempting to intrigue with the wives of their hosts, is as likely to be renewed as to be remembered, and cannot but excite a comparison with the conduct of a more moral and more honourable nation. Our language too was becoming fashion. able among the women, a thing of no trifling importance.

The political importance of this settlement to our Indian possessions is briefly, but forcibly, enumerated and insisted on in this volume. It is a matter, he says, absolutely required by political prudence, that we should lose no time in regaining this colony. During a war the safety of our East India trade can no otherwise be secured; and equally in peace and in war, the Cape may be made use or for such preparations as may afterwards be employed to wrest from us our most valuable possessions. If report may indeed be believed, the French have already begun to collect at this point a force, which must cause the more uneasiness. and

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probably damage, as this is the station, in all the world where we can least watch its motions, and counteract its operations. It is unnecessary to enter farther into the subject, as it has been so fully investigated by Mr. Barrow.

An account of the capture of the Dutch fleet at Saldanha bay by admiral Elphinstone is given by captain Percival, who was present with the land forces. We observe that Saldanha is always mispelt Saldana throughout the volume. Another trifling error of the same kind should be noted. The Cape he says was first called Cabo di Tormento, Cape Torment, from the violent winds and storms which the discoverers encountered there. The name given to it was Cabo Tormen toso, Stormy Cape. The orthography of Cabo de Diable is equally inaccurate, and coora, which is used for a snake, should be cobra.

Concerning the original natives of the country little information is here afford. ed, the author not having penetrated into the country. There is however a curious

account of their music.

"I was highly entertained by seeing a number of Hottentots dance to an instrument played on by a young woman. It was a piece of deal board, three feet long and one broad; four or five strings of brass wire were stretched along it, and supported at each end by bridges or bits of upright wood, like those of our riddles. In this rude sort of guitar, which they call a Gabowie, was inserted a piece of looking-glass, of which they are immoderately fond. It was fixed in the centre of the board; and the young woman who ployed, kopt stedfastly looking at herself in it, and grinning with great complacency at the beauty of her round hunched figure. She kept touching the wires with a quill, whilst a dozen of the men formed a ring round her, dancing and violently beating the ground with their feet and sticks; they continued also incessantly to place themselves in the most grotesque attitudes, yet still with some reference to the player. Another woman, for the females it should seem are the musicians, and the men the dancers, accompanied the fo pier on a goura. This instrument is formed by strings of dried gut, or sinews of deer, twisted into a cord and fastened to a hollow stick, about three feet in length, by a peg, which, on being turned round, brings the cord to a proper degree of tension. At the other end the cord is placed on quills; and the instrument is played on by applying the mouth to the quills, which by the suc cessive precesses of respiratio and in piration, produce a faint hoise like an Eolian harp."

The remarkable posterior protuberance of the female Hottentots has been

noticed by all travellers: it is here mentioned as a current opinion that this protuberance, which seems composed of one large loose mass of fat, will not dissolve or putrify after death like the other parts of the body, but will remain in a mass like spermaceti. The fact is probably true. To what can this singular determination of fat be ascribed?

Such are the interesting contents of the present volume. What captain Percival proposed to himself in its composition is well stated in his introductory chapter.

they occurred to a man of common observa"All he pretends to do is to describe, as tion, those scenes and facts which fell under his notice; and in doing so, he presumes to hope that he shall be enabled to point out, in plain language, the principal military and commercial advantages resulting from this settlement, as well as the distinguishing cha racteristics of its inhabitants; subjects which, he conceives, have not been preoccupied by he has alluded. His early entrance into the the more able and learned authors to whom military profession, and the consequent employments which have prevented him from pursuing any regular plan of study, are the excuses which he offered in his former work for the want of scientific language, and a more systematic mode of composition; and the reception which a candid public has given to his description, in plain and common language, of the productions of Ceylon, induces him to pursue the same plan with regard to those of the Cape of Good Hope. The man of science will find no difficulty in classifying any observation which he may look upon as useful; and the general reader will probably not be displeased to receive information at an easier rate, when divested of the more correct, but less understood, language of science. The author in some measure holds it a duty incumbent on military men, to give to their countrymen some account of those distant stations to which they are sent in the course of service; and he hopes his exertions, however fecble, may have some effect in stimulating similar efforts on the part of those officers who may find any leisure moments from their military avocations, to devote to pursuits of a similar nature. This practice has of late become very general among the officers of the French armies; and from the adoption of it among us, many national advantages must result, as both the government will become acquainted with the state of its distant possessions, and the officers of our army will become better informed and better fitted to protect or improve the stations of which they may be entrusted with the command."

To this we have only to add, that he has well executed what he had designed. The hope he expresses that our officers may, for their own sake and the coun

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