efteem manure is very evident from the heaps of dung piled up
about the houfes in thofe places where the cattle, in order to
preferve them from beafts of prey, are pent up at nights. Thefe
are circular or fquare fpaces, fhut in by dead branches of the
thorny mitnofa, and are called kraals, a name which they have
alfo thought proper to transfer to the colle£ted huts of the Hottentots
or Kaffers. The beds o f fome o f thefe kraals were
twelve feet deep of dung, unmixed with any other material;
and this is not the only nor the leaft offenfive nuifance with
which the hovel o f a Dutch peafant is ufually furrounded.
The great fertility of the land in this part of the colony can
be no inducement for the farmers to extend the cultivation of
grain beyond the prefent limited quantity, as they can have no
demand for their produce unlefs a coafting trade ihould be efta-
bliihed. They would be very glad to find a market for their
grain at a contrail: price o f two ihillings and eight-pence for a
Winchefter bufhel delivered at Zwart-kop’s bay.' The wheat of
the Cape is a large full grain, weighing ufually from fixty-one
to fixty-five pounds a buihel. Since the capture of the Cape
a final] cargo was fent to Europe which fold in Mark-lane market
at a higher price than the beft Engliih wheat that appeared
on the fame day.
The valley through which the Zwart-kop’s river meanders
in its courfe to the bay, is a fertile trait of country, the greateft
part o f it capable o f being laid under water. It is twenty miles
in length and between two and three in width. The hills, that
on each fide rife with an eafy flope, exhibit an unbroken foreft
of
of evergreen plants holding a middle rank, in point o f fize, between
fhrubs and trees. The tree crajfula, feveral fpecies of the
aloe, the euphorbia, and other fucculent plants, were alfo mixed
with the ihrubbery. The whole valley is divided between four
families, each having not lefs than five thoufand acres of land
independent of the enclofing hills covered with wood. Yet not
fatisfied with this enormous quantity, they have made feveral
attempts to burn down the foreft, that the cattle might more
conveniently come at the hefts of fweet grafs that abound
within it. Hitherto all their endeavours have proved fruitlefs.
The moment that the fucculent plants, particularly the great
aloes and euphorbia, became heated, the expanded air within
them burft open the ftems, and their juices, ruihing out in
ftreams, extinguifhed the fire.
In one part o f the valley was a morafs of confiderable extent,
that by one fingle drain might be converted into a very beautiful
meadow. The vaft numbers of the Egyptian and the
Mountain goofe, of teals, and feveral fpecies o f ducks, that harboured
in the reeds by which the fwamp was covered, were
beyond credibility, and the damage they did to the corn was
very confiderabje. I have feen a field literally covered with
them; and they were too bold to be driven away by Ihooting
at them. The buffalos alfo defcend from the thickets at night,
and commit great depredations among the corn. Thefe, however,
are much more eafily chafed away than the geefe, and
retire at the report o f a mufquet.
The