The soil of this country is in general of a stiff clay, or light sand, which requires nothing but water to make it most fertile in every vegetable production. Wherever springs are found, their vicinity is always enriched with the most luxuriant verdure ; but these are so very rare, particularly in the northern part of the colony, that they scarcely interrupt the prospect of uniform sterility, and serve only to render more dreary the surrounding wil derness. The immense plains, called Karroo, are, for many months, completely devoid of every appearance of vegetation ; and the Great Karroo, which extends nearly 300 miles in length, and SO in breadth, is uninhabited by a human creature, and scarcely ever moistened with a shower. Its unvaried surface of clay, sprinkled over with sand, is only broken by hills still more barren ; and, should a blade of grass, or a stinted shrub, meet the eye, during the hot season, its parched appearance betrays the poverty of its parent earth, which can scarcely afford it sufficient nourishment to preserve its existence. Yet it is astonishing to behold the genial influence of the rains in clothing them with rich verdure, and then they are resorted to by the various sorts of antelopes, which again are followed by lions. In these Karroo plains, the botanist will find his choicest harvest of succulent and many other plants. The belt of land, however, which is inclosed by the southern range of mountains and the sea, possesses a deep and fertile soil, which, being refreshed by frequent rains, is clothed with grass, and in many places well wooded with fruit and forest trees ; and, from its proximity to the ocean, it enjoys a more mild and equable temperature than the northern plains. The beauty and fertility of the country increase as we advance eastward ; and the banks of the Great Fish River are covered with shrubbery of the most beau tiful and variegated foliage, and enlivened with nume rous birds, and a variety of game, particularly of the antelope kind. There are also some fertile spots on the western coast, particularly between Berg river and Sal danha bay, and in some parts of the Cape peninsula.
The climate of the Cape is considered as very salubri ous, and many invalids from Thdia have been restored to health by its salutary influence. The year is here divid ed by the inhabitants into two periods, the good and the bad monsoon. The first commences in September, and an swers to our summer. It is then the south-cast winds prevail. They sometimes blow in squalls with great violence, and then every door and window in Cape Town is carefully closed up, to keep out the dust and heat. During the continuance of the storm, the Abbe de la Caille observed, that " the stars look larger, and seem to dance ; the moon has an undulating tremor ; and the planets have a sort of beards like comets." These winds arc of a dry and blasting quality, and destroy the foliage and blossoms of such fruit trees as are not sufficiently sheltered. The inhabitants also suffer from their bane ful influence, as they relax and fatigue the powers both of the body and mind, and render them almost entirely incapable of exertion. But they are of great service in keeping up a constant circulation of the air, which in some measure counteracts the reflected heat from the face of the Table Mountain, which would otherwise be insupportable. The mornings, during this season, are
in general hot and sultry, but the breeze springs up about mid-day, and, dying away towards the evening, leaves the atmosphere cool and refreshing. The ther mometer, in the hottest months, varies from 70° to 90° ; but often remains for clays at 83° or and has some times risen to 105° in the shade. On the approach of winter, the south-east wind becomes less frequent and violent, and is at length succeeded by the north-west, which is generally attended with thick fogs and heavy rains. Thunder storms are also not unfrequent, and often last for two or three days. The rains descend in torrents, sometimes for many days, without the least interruption, particularly during the months of June and July. Such torrents have fallen after a thunder-storm, that in a few hours the water has been some feet deep in the road leading into Cape Town. It frequently occurs in the eastern part of the province, that what is called a river, is dry for perhaps eleven months in the year, and be comes an impassable torrent in a few hours. The air then feels chilly, raw, and disagreeable ; and the common temperature of this season is from 50° at sunrise, to at noon. It, however, sometimes falls so low as 40° ; and on the more elevated Karroo plains, it is generally below the freezing point by night, and from 70° to 80° at mid-clay. In the division of Roggevelds, the cold is very intense. The mercury in the barometer often rises higher in the clear cold days of winter than in the serene weather of summer ; and its range in the former season is from 29.46 to 30.35 inches, while in the latter it is only from 29.74 to 30.10. One considerable inconvenience of this climate, which cannot but prove in some measure preju dicial to the health of the inhabitants, is the sudden change of temperature. 1t,is not unusual for the ther mometer to rise 30° in the course of five or six hours; and, indeed, the frequency of consumptive complaints is, by many, ascribed to these vicissitudes.* The most fa tal diseases, however, which are common to the natives, arise from a different cause, and may, in general, be at tributed to their excess at table, and want of exercise. Many of the inhabitants in the remote parts of the pro vince, habitually use animal food three times a clay, sel dom accompanying their repasts with any portion of vege tables, and Frequently without bread ; and when an excess of ardent spirits is combined with such pernicious habits of life, affections of the liver and other diseases are the result. An instance of longevity is rarely to be met with, and few eN en exceed the age of sixty. The annual mor tality at Cape Town, taken on an average of eight years, ending 1797, was about two and a half in the hundred among the white inhabitants, and under three in a hundred among the slaves. This latter class, however, who live in the country, from their coarse food and hard labour, and from their being exposed in all seasons, in the fields, to the Se\ erity of the climate, are very subject to bilious fevers, which annually carry off considerable, numbers.