and afterwards produced a crop o f feed. O f this fpecies of graft,
horfes are extravagantly fond, and it will remain green nearly
through the winter. The encouragement Af the culture o f all
thefe would be of the greateft importance to the intereft ©f the
colony. The Sefamum plant promife.s very fair to become ufeful
in giving a fupply o f vegetable oil for the table, an article that
is at prefent very much wanted in the Cape. Tea, coffee, and
fugar, might all be cultivated with fuccefs. But that which in
a commercial point of view is likely hereafter to render the
colony o f the Cape moll valuahle to the ftate on which it may
be dependent, is the facility with which the cultivation of the
different kinds of hemp for cordage and canvafs, may be carried
on to an unlimited extent. The Cannabis Jativa, or common
hemp, has been long planted here as a fubftitute for tobacco, but
the idea was never extended to make it ufeful in any other way.
It grows to a fort of branching Ihrub, lofing entirely that habit of
fpringing up in a fingle Hem as it always' appears in Europe ;
this, however, is entirely owing to its being planted fingly.
When fown thick on the ground as in Europe, it grows exa&ly
in the fame manner, afcends to about the height of eight feet, and
gives to all appearance a fibre of equal ftrength and tenacity of
that where it is uiually cultivated, and it requires very little
trouble in keeping clean on the ground. The different plants of
India, that are generally cultivated there for the purpofes of
■hemp, have been found to grow here, as well in every reipeit
as in their native foiL O f thefe the moil common are the
Robtma cannabina, giving a durable fibre in the water, and on
that account ufed in the eaftfor fifhing-nets and tackle. The
Jute of India, Corchorus oliiorius, thrives very well, as does alfo
the
the Hibifcus cannabinus, whofe leaves of a delicate fubacid
tafte ferve as a ftllad for the table, and the. fibres of the
item are manufaAtured into cordage. A native fpecies of
hibifcus that I brought from the vicinity of Plettenberg’s
bay, yields a hemp of .an excellent quality, little perhaps
inferior to that of the cannabis, or common hemp, which
is moil unqueftionably the beil material yet difcovered for
the manufacture o f ilrong cordage. The Janap of India,
Crotularia juncea, from which a ilrong coarfe iluff is manu-
fa&ured under the name of Gunney, feems to thrive very well
in the climate of the Cape. Cotton and indigo may both be
produced in any quantity in this colony ; but the labor neceffary
in the preparation of the latter, and the enormous price o f ilaves,
or the hire of free workmen, would fcarcely be repaid to the
cultivator. That fpecies o f cotton plant called the birfutum
feems. to fuilain the fouth-eall blafts o f wind with the leail degree
of injury; but the Bourbon eottOn, originally from the Weft
Indies, will thrive juil as well in the interior parts of the country
where the fouth-eafters extend not with that degree of ftrength
fo as to caufe any injury to vegetation. Mod of the India and
China fruits, that have yet been brought into the garden, feem
to bid fair for fuccefs. In flhort, there is not, perhaps, in the
whole world, a place f° well adapted for concentrating the
various produfts of the vegetable kingdom, as the Southern angle
of Africa.
Crofting the Berg river, I entered Zwartland, where, in con-
fequence of a fliower of rain, the inhabitants were bufily employed
in ploughing the ground, which the long drought this
3 G year