the village green, now totally unknown ; and cheerfulneis and
converfation would fucceed to the prefent ftupid lounging about
the houfe, fullen filence, and torpid apathy. The acquaintance
with new objeCts would beget new ideas, roufing the
dormant powers of the mind t-o energy, and of the body to action.
By degrees, as he became more civilized by fodal inter-
courfe, humanity as well as his intereft would teach him to give
encouragement to the Hottentots in his employ to engage in
ufeful labour, and to feel, like himfelf, the benefits ariiing from
boneft induftry.
The eftablifhtnent of villages in an extepfive country thinly
peopled may Be confidered as the firft ftep to a higher ftate
o f civilization. A town or a village, like the heart in the
animal frame, colleâs, receives, and difperfes the mod Valuable
produits o f the country of which it is the centre, giving- life
and energy and activity by the confiant circulation which it
promotes. Whereas while men continue to be thinly fcattered
over a country, although they may have within their reach all
the neceffaries of life in a fuperfluity, they will have very few of
its comforts or even of its moil ordinary conveniences. Without
a mutual intercourfe and afiSftance among men, life would be a
confiant fucceffion of make-lhifts and fubftitutions.
Thé good effeCts refulting from fuch meafures are not to be
expectedas the work of a day, but they are fuch as might, in
time, be brought about. It would not, however, be attended
with much difficulty to bring the people clofer together, and to
3. furnilh
furniih them with the means of fuitable education for their
children. To open them new markets for their produce, and,
by frequent intercourfe with one another, to make them feel
the comforts and the conveniences of focial life. Whether the
Dutch will be able to fucceed in doing this, or whether they will
give themfelves the trouble of making the experiment, is doubtful,
but ihould it once again become a Britifh fettlement, thefe
or fimilar regulations would be well deferving the attention of
Government.
But, above all, the eftabliihment of a proper public fchool
in the capital, with mailers from Europe qualified to undertake
the different departments of literature, demands the firft attention
of the Government, whether it be Dutch or Engliih. Fqr
as long as the fountain-head is fuffered to remain troubled and
muddy, the attempt would be vain to purify the ftreams that
iffue from it. It is painful to fee fo great a number of pro-
mifing young men as are to be found in Cape Town, entirely
ruined for want of a fuitable education. The mind of a boy
of fourteen cannot be fuppofed to remain in a ftate of inactivity,
and if not employed in laying up a ftock of ufeful knowledge,
the chances are it will imbibe a tafte for all the vices with
which it is furrounded, and of which the catalogue in this colony
is by no means deficient.
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