equal to thofe of Rio de Janeiro. The grape w’e could only tafte from the
bottle ; that o f Conftantia, fo much famed, has a veryfine, rich, and pleafant
flavour, and is an excellent cordial; but much o f the wine that is fold under
that name was never made o f the grape of Conftantia ; for the vineyard is but
final!, and b^is credit for a much greater produce than it could poffibly yield r
this reminds us of thofe eminent .mafters in the art of painting, to whom more
originals are afcribed than the labour of the longeft life o f man could produce.
Wines of their own growth formed a confiderable article of traffic here ; and
the neatnefs,. regularity, and extent of their wine-vaults, were extremely pleafing
to the eye ; but a ftranger Ihould not vifit more than one of them in a- day ; for
almoft every calk has fome peculiarity to recommend it, and its contents muflj
be tailed.
We found the paper currency herevery inconvenient, from its lightnefs; as
more than one inftance occurred among ourfelves during our ftay, of its being
torn from our hands by the violence of the' fouth-eaft wind, when we were about
to make a payment in the ftreet, or .even at the.door of a lhop.
The meat of the Cape was excellent; the black cattle were large, very ftrong,
and remarkable for the great fpace between their horns. It was not uncommon
to fee twelve, fourteen, or fixteen oxen yoked in pairs to a waggon, and galloping
through the ftreets of the town,, preceded by a Hottentot boy, who accompanied
them on foot, conducting the foremoft couple by a leathern-thong;
which caution they are compelled to obferve by an order o f government, fome
accidents having formerly happened from fome o f thefe large teams having been
imprudently driven through the ftreets without any one to lead them ; the lalh
o f the charioteer, (for the.driver of fuch a team deferves a more honourable appellation
than that of waggoner) had been fometimes heard, we were told, on
board of fhips in the bay.
The Iheep are fat, well-flavoured, and remarkable for the weight and fize of
their tails. Wonders.have been related of them by travellers; but travellers
from this part o f the world are privileged to exaggerate in their narrations, if
they choofe fo to do ; the truth however is, that their tails weigh from eight to
fixteen pounds; fome few perhaps may be heavier, by a pound or two ; but
though the Iheep itfelf will very welt endure the voyage to Europe, yet its tail
confiderably decreafes in fize and weight during the paffage..
Strangers coming into the, bay are ferved with beef, mutton, &c..by the Com:
pany’s butcher, who contracts, to fupplyfthe Company, its- officers and flaps, with
meat at a certain price, which , is fixed at about three halfpence per pound, although
he may have to purchafe the cattle.at three or four times that fum ; but
in return for this exaftion, he has the foie permiflion of felling to ftrangers, and
at a much higher price, though even in that inftance .his^demand. is not allowed
ta
to exceed a certain quota. Four-pence per pound was the price given for all the
meat ferved to our fhips after we came in.
During our ftay here we made frequent vifits to the Company’s garden, plea-
fantly fituated in the midft of the town. The ground on each fide o f the principal
walk, which was from eight to nine hundred paces in length, was laid out
in fruit and kitchen gardens, and at the upper end was a paddock where we faw
three large oftriches, and a few antelopes. Behind this paddock was a menagerie,
which contained nothing very curious :— a vicious zebra, an eagle, a calfinvary,
a falcon, a crowned falcon, two of the birds called fecretaries, a crane, a tiger,
an hyaefla, two wolves, a jackall, and a very large baboon, compofed the entire
catalogue o f its- inhabitants.
In thé town are two churches, one for the Calvinifts, and another for the followers
of Luther. In the firft of thefe was a handfome organ ; four large plain
columns fupported the roof, and the Walls were ornamented with efcutcheona
and armorial quarterings. The body of the church was filled with chairs for the
women, the men fitting in pews round the fides. By the pulpit ftood an hour-
glafs, which, we were told, regulated the duration o f the minifter’ s admonition to
his congregation. In the church-yards the grave-ftones, inftead o f bearing the
names o f the deeeafed, were all numbered, and the names were regiftered in a
book kept - for the purpofe.
Weddings were always folemnized on a Sunday at one or other o f thefe
churches, and the parties were habited in fables, a drefs finely more congenial
with the fenfations felt on the laft than on the firft day of fuch an union.
To the care of an officer belonging to a regiment in India, who was returning
to Europe In a Danifh veffel, Captain Phillip committed his difpatches; and by
this flfip every officer gladly embraced the laft opportunity of communicating
with their friends and connexions, until they fhould be enabled to renew their
correfpondenee from the new world to which they were now bound..
Nothing remaining to be done that need detain the convoy longer in this port,
every article having been procured that could tend to the prefent refrelhment of
the colonifts, or to the future advantage of the colony, the Sirius was unmoored,
in the evening of Sunday the n th , Captain Phillip purpofing to put to fea the
following morning ; but the wind at that time not being favourable, the boats-
from the Sirius were once more fent on lhore for a load of water, in order that
no veffel whifch could be filled with an article fo effential to the prefervation of the
flock might be taken to fea empty.
The fouth-eaft wind now beginning, to blow, the fignal' was made for weighing,
and at ten minutes before two in the afternoon of Monday the 1 ath of November
the whole fleet was under fail Handing out with a frelh of wind to the
northward of Robin Illand.
f It