The colonists r.f this settlement are divided into four classes, 1.I.0 iW umhrtant, of the Cape Town, consisting of the eiN of gLeVer11111C111., most 111 C11111111M the arts; them oltivaturs of the vine ; the grain farmers, and the graze- rs.
The culture of the vine requires a greater capital than the other two branches of husbandry, Iron' the labour necessary iu ',tuning and dia ssing it, as well as tlw ex pensive utensils reqoi.io for 'waking wine, consequently the wine makers are tl e nto,t opulent. By their vicihity to the tow n, and their freqmmt r xcursio,is thither w ith the produce of their %ftsut c, tic% Late au opportumIN of procuring many comforts, which the buors in tnt eastet in districts of the colony have not the means of ob taining,. laity of them are desermled from tl e Frei ch families, who took refuge here from the religious per secutions of tilt it bigotted countrymen upon the revoca tion or the edict of Nantes, and were the first who intro duced the vine into this country. They still retain some of t he peculiarities of their nation. They arc mot e social and communicative than the Dutch ; one another with great familiarity, or take a summer jaunt into the country in their tent waggons drawn by a team of six or eight horses. Their houses are in general well built, and their domestic affairs are managed with considera ble economy and cleanliness. Toe produce of their farm, which invariably exceeds their annual expendi ture, enables them to support a style of living com paratively affluent. Their only public burdens consist in a small capitation tax for repairing the streets and avenues leading to Cape town, and the lion and tiger money for the exigencies of the district. The former of these, however, is tither very ill applied, or very insufficient for the purpose, as the roads OVCC the Cape isthmus are so wretched, that it requires fourteen or six teen oxen to draw two tuggers of wine, about 24 ton weight. The tax upon their produce is also %cry moderate, being three rix-dollars for every Icgger of wine or brandy that is brought to the Cape market. All that is consumed at home, or sold to the other boors, is free. The grain farmers arc next in rank and civilization to the wine-growers ; and chiefly inhabit the districts near the town, from which they are seldom dis tant more than two or three clays journey. Many of them are in easy and even affluent circumstances. They have not much intercourse with each other. Seldom, indeed, arc they agreed about the boundaries of their respective properties ; and the privilege of a spring or a water-course, is often a fertile source of quarrel and litigation. This continual jarring is a great to general improvement. The mut of this class are in general very tall and corpulent, but loose in their joints, clumsy, and awkward. Cold and phlegmatic in their temper, and 'le% et. raised to exertion by the fear of want or the desire of gain, their lives are in the most listless inactivity. The same indolence extends to the women. The mistress of the family remains fixed to her chair, with a coffee-pot constantly boiling before her, from morning, to Cs C11111g, as if she constituted a part of the furniture ; and her daughters sit beside her, equally indolent and idle. The year is varied by no incident that can awaken their anxiety or their hopes. 'racy have no fairs, no visiting parties, no dancing, no music nor amusement of any sort. The history of a day is the his tory of their whole lives, and their only topics of conversa tion are, a journey to the city or church, a marriage, and the depredations of the locusts and Bosjesmans. Their style of farming is miserable in the extreme. The land is merely scratched with a huge unwieldy plough, drawn by eight horses, or a dozen of oxen. A rude har row follows the sower, which always leaves the field in a rougher state than the coarsest lea-ploughing in Bri tain. They use no manure, except a little for barley, though the kraals, or pens, in which their cattle stand are as full of dung as the stable of Augeus ; and after this wretched preparation, they calculate upon a return of fifteen fold. In low situations, near rivulets, where they have a command of water, they usually reap from thirty to forty for one. Their public burdens are the same as those of the wine-growers ; and the duty upon the grain which is carried to Cape town amounts to nearly a tenth of its value. The graziers are by far the rudest of the Cape colonists, and can scarcely be said to be superior, either in intelligence, in manners, or in comforts, to ma ny of the uncivilized hordes of savages that surround them ; many of them, especially towards the northern and eastern boundaries of the settlement, have no fixed habitations, but wander about from place to place, and sleep with their families in waggons, or build temporary reed huts like the Hottentots. Those even who are sta tionary arc scarcely better accommodated. Their huts being only destined for temporary accommodation, until a fountain dries up, or their flocks have consumed the pasture in its neighbourhood, are generally constructed of clay baked in the sun, or sods, covered with a thatch of rushes, carelessly put together, rarely water-proof, and protected only by a door of reeds matted together. They have seldom more than one apartment, and here the peasants, with their children, and the house Hotten tots, arc huddled together during the night. The mas ter's bed, which is an oblong frame of wood, standing on four feet, and reticulated with thongs of undressed leather, which supports a wool mattress or featherbed; a great chest which contains all their moveables, and serves for a table ; a few chairs, and a large iron pot, for preparing their provisions, are their principal articles of furniture. The dress of the men consists of a blue shirt, leather pantaloons, a broad brimmed hat, and a pair of shoes of raw hide. The women have a short jack et and petticoat, a thick quilted cap tied under the chin and falling down upon the shoulders, no stockings, and seldom shoes. Their principal food is mutton, which is served up three times a day. They have very little milk and butter, and but few vegetables. The master carves the meat with a large pocket-knife, and then every one helps himself. Wine is rarely seen at their tables, though
they live in the midst of a soil and climate most favour able for the cultivation of the grape. A glass of strong ardent spirits is the favourite debauch of a Dutch Afri can Boor, and his greatest luxury is his pipe, which ne ver quits his mouth except when he eats or sleeps. Such are the comforts and situation of many a peasant who possesses several thousand sheep, and as many hundreds of cattle. Indolence is the predominant feature in his character. It is only by the most urgent necessity that he can be brought to exert himself, even for his own convenience or interest. But though indolent in what concerns his own comfort, he is active in oppression to wards the miserable Hottentots who are under his au thority. Of these helpless beings, each family in Graaf Reynet possesses, on an awl age, about thirteen, who are, in general, treated with the most brutal inhumanity. The west trifling fault is visited with the severest pun ishments. The husband is frequently separated from his wife and children, and driven from his habitation, is compelled to join his persecuted, but still independent countrymen, among the mountains.* Their cruelty is also extended to the Caffres and Bosjesmans, with whom they are almost constantly at war. From the latter of these, however, they often experience the most terrible retaliation ; and, consequently, the murder of one of them is proclaimed by the Dutch as a most meritorious action. " A boor from Graaf Reynet," say s Alr Barrow, ‘6 being ask ed in the secretary's office, a few days before we left the town (Cape,) if the savages were numerous or trouble some on the road, replied, he had only shot four, with as much composure and indifference as if he had been speak ing of four partridges. I myself have heard one of the humane colonists boast of having destroyed, with his own hands, near three hundred of these unfortunate wretches." Many of the farmers in the eastern parts of the settle ment can neither read nor write. Their ignorance, how ever is more to be lamented than to be wondered at, when the means of instruction within their reach are consi dered. The habitations are too widely scattered over the country to admit of the establishment of public schools ; and the means of individuals are too circum scribed to admit of their hiring competent teachers in their families ; for who, that hal received a tolerable education, would bury his knowledge in the hut of an African peasant, whose supply, even of tbe necessaries of life, are often but scanty. A disbanded soldier, who had served the Dutch long enough to obtain his stipulated discharge, generally becomes the preceptor of a Boor's children; and he is frequently paid for his instructions in sheep and clothing. If sober, which is not always the case, he amasses enough to become a farmer himself. The principal occupation of the greater part consists in learning to shoot, to drive a waggon, and to crack and use with dexterity an enormous whip. Notwithstanding their ignorance, however, they all affect to be very re ligious ; and, though their religion seems to have very little influence in awakening feelings of benevolence and humanity towards their fellow -creatures, they are scru pulously exact in the observance of its forms. They are regular in their attendance at church, though it costs some of them a journey of several days ; and such as are it fortnight or three weeks journey from the nearest place of worship, generally go It ills their families once year. They always begin their meals with a long grace, pronounced by the y oungest oldie company ; and every morning, before day-light, one of William Sluiter'se is sung by the whole Having enu merated those depravities u hick tarnish the charai ter of the African Boor, we turn with pleasure to a more ami able part or his charm ter, the hospitality which he cheer fully exercises to those strangers who visit his abode. I his door is open to all who come; and, 11 ithmit a ques tion being asked, the stranger is invited, in the laconic style of Dutch politeness, to much !ft: is made wolrome to his share of the repast, to a bed, or to a part of a bed, if the house only affords that accommodation; and " in the morning," says Alr Itarrow, « after a solid break fast, he takes his glass or orders his slave, or I lot tentot, to saddle the horses, shakes hand with the men, and kisses the women ; he wishes them health, and they wish hint a good journey. In this manner a trat eller might pass through the whole country." Under such a climate, where the means of subsistence are so easily produced, where the country hut inhabited, and the Iribitations are so distant front each otht r, and so far ived from the scat of government, as often to place their IA mutts beyond the reach of law, we are lint surprised to find, that the vicious propensi ties have too often predominated over those of the oppo site character, in men who have not originated from the Dutch, or from any common source, but have sprung Front most of the nations of Europe. \Viten they com mitted crimes, the threateni:igs or a distant and feeble authority, without the power of putting them in execu tion, sell ed rather to encourage than to deter them from prosecuting their schemes of plunder ; and the only hardship result'»g from their disobedience, was their being debarred tisiting the Cape. Thus many of them became perry( t robbers, and lived in a state of al most constant hostility with the surrounding tribes. Li able to be attacked in their turn, they were compelled to wander from place to place, and to be continually on the watch: thus deprived or many comforts and conve niences which a state of peaceful society affords, and ha bituated to scenes of cruelty inseparable front such a warfare. Those who afterwards became stationary, did not think of renewing those comforts to which they had been long unaccustomed, and were content with little more than the bare necessaries of savage life. The same system of plunder still continues in some of the distant parts of the colony ; and many of the boors are under sentence of outlawry, on account of their depredations and disobedience.