It is remarkable that the Dutch, being fo fond of fat, ihould
not pay more attention to increafe the breed of hogs. Except
a few, that are fhamefully fuffered to wallow about the ihores of
Table Bay, where, indeed, they are fo far ufeful as to pick up
dead fiih and butchers’ offals, that are feattered along the ftrand,
the hog is an animal that is fcarcely known as food in the colony.
Yet, from the vaft quantities of fruit, the produdive
crops of barley, of peas, beans, and other vegetables, they might
be reared at a fmall expence; whereas, from the manner in
which they are at prefent fed in Cape Town, no one thinks of
eating pork.
Salt, in the greateft abundance, is fpontaneoully produced
within a few miles of Cape Town, by the evaporation of the
water in the lalt lakes that abound along the weft coaft of the
colony. Two kinds of fiih, the Hottentot and the Snook, are
fplit open, falted, and dried in the fun in large quantities, principally
for the ufe of the flaves who are employed in agriculture,
to corredt the bilious effe&s of bullocks’ livers and other offals
that conftitute a great part of their food. They are eaten alfo
by the inhabitants of the town, when boifterous weather prevents
the fifhing-boats from going out; for a Dutchman feldom
makes a meal without fiih. Small quantities are fometimes
taken as fea-ftock, but fo inconfiderable as hardly to deferve
mentioning.
Salt butter is a very material article both for the confumption
of the town, the garrifon, and the navy, as alfo for exportation.
The quality greatly depends on the degree of cleanlinefs that has
i been
been employed in the dairy, and more particularly on the pains
that have been taken in'working the butter well, to free it from
the milky particles, which, if fuffered to remain, very foon communicate
a ftrong rancid tafte that is highly offenfive. That
which comes from the Snowy Mountains is accounted the beft;
but, to fay the truth, very little deferves the appellation of good.
Under the Dutch Government it was ufually fold from fourpence
to fixpence a pound, but, of late years, it was feldom to be pur-
chafed under a fhilling a pound.
S o a p and C a n d l e s .
The firft of thefe articles is manufactured by almoft every farmer
in the country, and, in fome of the diftriCts, furnifhes a con-
fiderable part of their furplus revenue, which is appropriated to
the purchafe of clothing and other neceffaries at their annual
vifit to Cape Town. The undtuous part is chiefly derived from
the fat of iheeps’ tails, and the potaih or barilla is the lixiviated
allies procured from a fpecies of Salfola or fait wort that grows
abundantly on thofe parts of the Karroo, or deferts, that are
interfered by periodical ftreams of water. The plant is known
in the colony by the Hottentot name of Canna. With this
alkaline lye and the fat of fheep, boiled together over a How fire
for four or five days, they make a very excellent foap, whieh generally
bears the fame price as fait butter. Being moftly brought
from the diftant diftriCt of Graaf Reynet at the fame time with
the butter, they rofe and fell together according to the quantity
in the market, and the demand there might happen to be for
them.