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in incredible swarms, devour every green thing that falls in their way; this dreadful scourge however is not of frequent occur

rence.

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Another objection has been started on the ground of the new settlers being obliged to mix with the old colonists, to learn the Dutch and German languages, and, in fact, to become Dutch and Germans, as it would contradict all experience to expect that the imitation will take place on the side of the old inhabitants, and the majority.' This also proceeds from entire ignorance of the state of the colony. The number of new settlers about to proceed to the Zuureveld amounts, we understand, to 4000; while the number of Dutch and Germans in the whole of that district falls short of 400: on the objector's own principle of majority,' therefore, the new settlers, having the advantage of ten to one, will be able to stand their ground against both. We conceive it a most fortunate circumstance for the emigrants, that they are to be set down in the midst of a people in the possession of numerous flocks and herds, and, instead of being turned into a wilderness, and exposed to the perils of a toilsome and precarious existence, placed at once in a land which may literally be said to flow with milk and honey.

The want of markets will be felt only when the settlers shall begin to accumulate a surplus produce; and as that produce will be a saleable commodity in Europe, it will no doubt find its way thither, either through the Cape, by means of a coasting trade already put into activity, or direct from the bays and harbours of the colony. To render this advantageous however, the government at home must stretch forth its protection, and instead of considering it as a foreign country, place it on the footing of the British plantations in North America. Its bounty has already been experienced in the reduction of the duties on wine; the same encouragement might, we think, be beneficially extended to the exportation of wool: above all, we should rejoice to see the present restrictions of the corn-laws removed or qualified, as far as regards the produce of the Cape. This may not unreasonably be expected; for while England is compelled to purchase large quantities of wheat from foreign nations, and to pay for it principally in money, the settlers of the Cape will take, in full return for theirs, which, in point of quality, is far superior, the manufactures of England. Tobacco, too, if duly encouraged, would become one of the great staples of the Cape; and when to this and the former articles, we have added hides and skins, dressed and undressed, whalebone, oil and brandies, and dried fruits, wax, aloes, and perhaps barilla, we are not sure that we have not enume

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rated all the produce that is likely to be sent to the mothercountry in any considerable quantities.

We have been thus particular, because a species of delusion has been held forth with regard to the articles of commerce, which are expected to be raised in the new settlement; and expectations excited which never can be realized. Cotton-wool, for instance, (not that which 'grows on the Cape sheep,') we are told by Mr. Colquhoun, 'can certainly be cultivated with the same. advantage as in South Carolina and Georgia. Certainly it can not. The ، sea-islands on the coast, and in Saldanha bay, on which, it is added, the finest cotton may be produced,' have, in fact, no existence, if we except a few rocks at the entrance of the bay, as bare as the Table Mountain itself. The cotton-plant will unquestionably grow at the Cape: but the point to be determined is, whether it can be cultivated there to advantage? We say again, decidedly not;-for while a yard of cotton cloth can be purchased for sixpence or eight-pence, and a pair of cotton stockings for a shilling in the shops of London, there will be but little encouragement for the planter of the Cape to attempt the introduction of a new article, which, from the price of labour and the uncertainty of the crop, he could not afford at five times its current price in the

market.

The same observation will apply to the cultivation of hemp and flax, both of which will undoubtedly grow in several parts of the colony ;-so indeed they will in England, Scotland and Ireland, and yet it is found more advantageous to go to other countries for them than to cultivate them at home. But there is no end to these idle speculations:-thus, because there happen to be two. tea-plants and one coffee-tree in a garden at the foot of the Table Mountain, the Cape is one day to supply us with those articles of luxury! We are also, in future, to be served with rice from those well-watered plains, akin to the bogs of Allen' which Mr. Fisher discovered in this all-productive colony; and ivory and feathers, for use and for ornament, are to pour in upon us in overwhelming quantities, from the ostriches and elephants whose numbers are to increase with the increasing popula tion!

The hostility of the natives has been mentioned as an objection, but it is a mere bugbear. From the Hottentots nothing whatever is to be apprehended; they are living quietly with the farmers, or at the several missions. The Bosjesmen are some hundred miles removed from the new settlers, and the Caffres are not very likely to attack people who never offended them, and who possess nothing that can tempt them to hostilities. We have besides little

doubt

doubt that a friendly communication will be opened immediately with these people, to the mutual benefit of both parties; and it would be wise, in the first instance, to announce to both tribes of Caffres the nature of the intended settlement, with assurances of peace and friendship.

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We should hardly have deemed it necessary to class the wild beasts among the objections' to the new settlement, had we not seriously been assured that several worthy families had been deterred from embarking solely from this consideration. We do indeed recollect reading, in one of the Morning Papers, a most bitter philippic by that eminent young statesman, John Cam Hobhouse, Esq. on the atrocity of ministers in voting 50,000l. to enable British subjects to transport themselves to Africa, under a burning sun, for the purpose of fighting the jackalls and tigers of that country.' It is undoubtedly true that some of the emigrants may have the misfortune to fall in with and to fight a tiger; but the Cape jackall, like the jackall of some other countries, will yelp and make a great noise and be as mischievous as his limited faculties will let him; but he will not fight, and is not overfond of facing his antagonist. We wish that we could say as much of the tiger, or, more properly speaking, the leopard, for the striped tiger does not exist in the colony. This beautiful creature is, perhaps, the most ferocious of his tribe; he does not merely spring and make a stroke with his paw, and, if unsuccessful, retire, like his more powerful brother of Bengal, but returns to the charge, and never quits his object until he conquers or is killed. The savage and pertinacious ferocity of the Cape leopard is well described in the following account given to Mr. Latrobe by the missionary Schmitt, who had the misfortune to encounter one of them, in an expedition against the wolves.

'These animals having done much mischief at Groenekloof, where they even entered the yard and took away a sheep, and worried several beasts belonging to the Hottentots, we determined at length to attempt to find out their haunts, and, if possible, to destroy them. For that purpose, the missionaries Bonatz and Schmitt, with about thirty Hottentots, set out early in the morning, towards the Lauweskloof hill, where they are mostly met with. One of these animals was seen and lamed by a shot, but escaped and entered the bushes. The Hottentots followed; but the missionaries, not expecting to succeed, were returning, when the party called to them, that the wounded wolf was in the thicket. Brother Schmitt rode back, and alighting, entered with a Hottentot of the name of Philip Moses. The dog started some animal, which those within the bushes could not see; but the Hottentots remaining on the outside, perceiving it to be a tiger, called aloud to the missionary to He therefore, with Philip, began to retreat backwards, point

return.

ing his gun, and ready to fire, in case the animal made his appearance. Suddenly a tiger sprang forward, but from a quarter not expected, and by a flying leap over the bushes, fastened upon the Hottentot, seizing his nose and face with his claws and teeth. I measured the distance of the place, from whence the tiger made his spring, to that on which the Hottentot stood, and found it full twenty feet, over bushes from six to eight feet high. Brother Schmitt observed, that if it had not been for the horror of the scene, it would have been a most amusing sight, to behold the enraged creature fly, like a bird, over that length of ground and bushes, with open jaw and lashing tail, screaming with the greatest violence. Poor Philip was thrown down, and in the conflict lay now upon, and then under, the tiger. The missionary might easily have effected his escape, but his own safety never entered his thoughts. Duty and pity made him instantly run forward to the assistance of the sufferer. He pointed his gun, but the motions of both the Hottentot and the tiger, in rolling about and struggling, were so swift, that he durst not venture to pull the trigger, lest he should injure Philip. The tiger, perceiving him take aim, instantly quitted his hold, worked himself from under the Hottentot, and flew like lightning upon Brother Schmitt. As the gun was of no use in such close quarters, he let it fall, and presented his left arm, to shield his face. The tiger instantly seized it with his jaw, Brother Schmitt with the same arm catching one of his paws, to prevent the outstretching claws from reaching his body. With the other paw, however, the tiger continued striking towards his breast, and tearing his clothes. Both fell in the scuffle, and, providentially, in such a position, that the missionary's knee, without design, came to rest on the pit of the tiger's stomach. At the same time, he grasped the animal's throat with his right hand, keeping him down with all his might. The seizure of his throat made the tiger let go his hold, but not before Brother Schmitt had received another bite, nearer the elbow. His face lay right over that of the tiger's, whose open mouth, from the pressure of his wind-pipe, sent forth the most hideous, hoarse, and convulsive groans, while his starting eyes, like live coals, seemed to flash with fire.

'In this situation, Brother Schmitt called aloud to the Hottentots, to come to his rescue, for his strength was fast failing, rage and agony supplying to the animal extraordinary force, in his attempts to disengage himself. The Hottentots at length ventured to enter the thicket, and one of them, snatching the loaded gun, which lay on the ground, presented it and shot the tiger, under the missionary's hand, right through the heart. His death was instantaneous, his eyes shut, his jaw fell, and he lay motionless. Had any life been left, his dying struggles might yet have proved fatal to some of his assailants.'-p. 306–308.

The lion is far less ferocious in his disposition than the leopard. Sluggish, timid, and we might almost say, cowardly, he seldom, if ever, attacks, unless hard pressed by hunger, or severely wounded. While he remains erect there is no danger, as he al

ways

ways crouches before he makes his spring; and it is at this moment that the Dutch boor usually takes his aim, and rarely misses him. It is confidently asserted by these people that he will not attack a man who stands still and looks him steadfastly in the face. This experiment, we suspect, has not often been made; but it is certain that the number of boors or Hottentots who have perished by lions are few in comparison with those who have suffered from leopards.

The elephant is an object of terror rather from his immense bulk than his ferocity. But the race have mostly been destroyed; and instead of five hundred, of eighteen feet high, being seen in a troop, as idly asserted by Lichtenstein, we may safely venture to affirin, that there are not in the whole range of the colony fifty of these creatures remaining, and of these the tallest is not nine feet. The buffalo is a large, powerful, and savage animal, but rarely attacks unless he be hunted. On being disturbed, he takes to the thickets, where he remains quietly if not driven out of them. The rhinoceros appears to have no animosity against mankind, and seldom shews himself on the open plain. The hippopotamus has disappeared from the rivers within the colony, but is found in the Great Fish River; and almost the whole of the larger kind of antelopes have been destroyed or driven beyond the present boundary of the colony. We do not therefore apprehend that, with the exception of some partial accidents from the leopards or panthers, the wild beasts will occasion any great annoyance to the new settlers; still, however, this may be fairly set down as a grievance which will ask some care to avoid, (by avoiding the thickets,) and a denser population effectually to remove.

Englishmen may fairly be allowed to feel an objection to the present government and laws of the colony. We are all of us more or less the creatures of prejudice, and an Englishman, perhaps, feels none so strongly as that in favour of trial by jury; he has been in the habit, from infancy, of hearing so much of its blessings, that he thinks it unnecessary to inquire into its merits, and sets down that as a most unhappy country to which it is denied.----We granted to the Dutch the exercise of their laws and their religion by capitulation; we have continued them this indulgence to the present day; and we are not aware that any Englishman has yet had just cause to complain of the oppression or injustice of the one, or the intolerance of the other. If any such complaint occur, we doubt not it will be heard and redressed; in the mean time it must be satisfactory to the new comers to know, that the chief magistrate of the district in which they are to be settled is an Englishman. The first step to the general introduction of our laws and manners will be that of introducing the

English

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