welcome from the old boer. The wife and family were busily engaged in slicing apples, to be dried in the sun as winter stock -a practice universal in the fruit-growing parts of the colony. Before we got seated, we had to answer a long string of questions, put in almost unintelligible Dutch, and to write our names, under which our good host subscribed Hendrich Dewet in a passable hand. In Mr Dewet we found a good specimen of the Dutch farmer, being kind to strangers, and of the usual staid and unimpassioned demeanour of his people. This sedate manner is particularly observable in the females, who speak little, seldom smile, and walk slowly and erectly through the house with the precision of automatons. Whilst his daughters were preparing supper, Mr Dewet took us out to view his vineyard and garden: we found everything in first-rate condition; and as our host had fifteen children, most of whom were on the farm, their assistance tended no doubt much to his comfort and ease. After a pleasant night, and a hearty breakfast next morning, we were shown the way to the farm of Major S- a Scotchman, to whom I had letters of introduction.

Arrived at Muirton-for so the proprietor has named his estate-we found it a fair, or rather favourable, specimen of a Cape sheep-farm. It is upwards of 10,000 acres in extent, and cost, together with stocking, about £4000. At the time of our visit, there were 3320 sheep of the improved breed on it; which were thriving so well, that for the preceding year the average amount of deaths from all causes did not exceed 3 per cent. The farm in moderate seasons. -that is, when receiving the average supply of rains-is capable of supporting a much larger number; but at that time, from the unusual drought, was barely yielding the flock a sustenance. The returns from the estate in 1845 were upwards of £1100, leaving, after deducting working expenses and interest of capital, the handsome profit of £570. It is not to be expected that every year is to yield an equal return, but even considerably less would be good gain. The proprietor's whole business and attention is his sheep; his garden, vineyard, and everything else being neglected on their account. Attached to the sheep-pens or kraals, are thatched sheds for shelter to the ewes and lambs during bleak winds and rainy weather, a convenience of much service in preserving the increase. There is no natural timber in this part of the country; but poplars having been planted alongside the stream that supplies the farm, they have, by throwing out suckers, increased to a brake, from which saplings are cut for rafters, poles, and other purposes. The foreman or overseer, a little thick-set man, had been a "juvenile emigrant," and was much esteemed by his master for his activity and trustworthiness. He came in while we were there, after a long search for some stray sheep, which he had happily recovered. His wages were £35 a year, with rations, and a promise of an annual advance. Although necessarily

debarred from many of the comforts and enjoyments of his class in Britain, yet the old major seemed to live happily, and to enjoy the patriarchal life of a sheep-farmer. Nor did his wife, an amiable and well-bred lady, appear at all to hanker after the enjoyments of the society she had relinquished.

Our journey from Muirton to Swellendam occupied several days, during which we passed over a bushy and uneven country, fitted more for pastoral than for agricultural operations; and yet, on several of the low-lying grounds, there were scattered crops of wheat, barley, Scotch bear, and potatoes, that would have done credit to our own island. Timber was everywhere scarce, or rather there was none; and for this reason few of the farms could boast of proper housing either for servants or for the bestial. From the long-continued drought, the surface had a parched appearance; and the only natural vegetation that seemed to luxuriate was the euphorbias, opuntias, aloes, and other succulents, which shot up their fantastic stems from among the brush and boulders that cover the soil in the neighbourhood of Swellendam. We crossed numerous rivers, or rather rivercourses, for most of them exhibited the merest thread of running water, or only a number of disconnected pools, with shoals of gravel and worn banks between. And here I would caution the reader to modify his notion of South African rivers; for be they termed Kleine (little), Groet (great), Breede (broad), or Zondereinde (without end), they chiefly exhibit the same featuresthirsty water-courses during drought, and tumbling torrents during rain, seldom partaking of a permanent or navigable character. With the exception of a startled spring-bok (Cape antelope), or a land-tortoise sunning itself by the wayside, all the animals observed on the route were the domesticated stock of the neighbouring farmers. The population of the district seemed extremely motley-English, Scotch, Irish, and Dutch, with a large proportion of Hottentot or coloured servants. Our reception at the farms we visited was various: here hospitably feasted, there dryly rebuffed; here sleeping in the best apartment, there obliged to seek the shelter of the sheep-kraal; at one time refused by a wealthy farmer, and at another boisterously welcomed to the hut of an Irishman, delighting, as at home, in rags, pigs, and potatoes.

On our route we witnessed the process of treading out grain; for although thrashing-mills have been introduced, the difficulty of keeping them in repair in a country where mechanics are so few, renders their use the exception, and the treading-floor the rule. This was at the farm of Dr Hutcheson, near the thriving village of Caledon, noted for its warm baths. As the reader may have never witnessed this primitive process of husbandry, pray let me introduce him to the tramp-floor hard by::-Observe that circular patch of level ground freely exposed to the passing breeze, and enclosed with a low fence to keep out cattle. It is

about twenty yards in diameter, and has been clayed all over, to make a hard and even surface. Something else, however, seems necessary to render it more tenacious, so as to withstand the stamp of horse-hoofs; and this is found close at hand, in á mixture of sheep-dung and water, which, in a very thin paste, has been poured all over the floor, and the refuse swept out at the gateway. The hot sun on the one hand, and the thirsty clay on the other, soon dissipate the moisture; and a tough, stable surface is obtained, ready for the reception of the grain sheaves. The stack, in the form of a broad low dome, is close by, and the sheaves are pitched from it into the tramp-floor, where the bands are loosened, and the straw spread evenly along the surface. Whilst these preparations have been going on, a servant has been despatched for the mares, about a score of which have just come to hand, and are forthwith driven into the enclosure. No rest now for the animals, which are driven furiously about in all directions over the floor, till they have trodden the straw to chaff; then they are let out to rest, till another floor of grain is ready for parade. A fine breeze of wind has opportunely sprung up for winnowing, and several servants with pronged sticks enter the floor, where, casting the mixture of grain and chaff into the air, the latter is driven off, while the former settles down at their feet. By repeating the process, and sifting, the grain is soon separated, and ready for the sack.

After leaving the hospitable doctor, the next farm we called at was that of Karn-milk Rivier (Churn-milk River), the property of the Messrs M'F- three brothers from the Highlands of Perthshire, to whom I had letters of introduction, and by whom I was kindly invited to spend the night. Here was presented a specimen of what can be accomplished in the colony by perseverance and industry, even without the aid of capital, or at least with very little aid therefrom. This place, which is half of an original large farm, was sold by its late proprietor by public sale, and knocked down to a person for whom a gentleman in the neighbourhood became security. The buyer, finding he could not enter on his purchase advantageously, gave it up to his surety, with whom at that time the elder brother MF. lived as overseer. By this gentleman the bargain was offered to, and accepted by, Mr M'F., who forthwith sent for his two brothers, and with them and his wife entered into occupancy. The price was £1500, to be paid by instalments. It was then two years since the new owners commenced operations, and so assiduously have they striven to clear off incumbrances, that one-half of the price was paid up; and with a look of commendable pride, the elder brother told me he hoped in another two years to have the farm entirely free. As wheat grows generally in the district without irrigation, the Messrs M'F. plough a considerable breadth, and transport the produce to Cape Town. Canary seed is also an article of produce with them, and, together

with potatoes, pumpkins, onions, fruits, and other garden stuffs, is transferred to the same market. They also rear sheep, according to the limits of the farm, and are altogether successful, as they are careful and industrious. Acquainted as the brothers were with the best agricultural modes, I was somewhat surprised to find them adopting the old Dutch modes and implements*the ponderous wooden plough, worked by three men and a span of oxen, the tramp-floor with its natural winnowing breeze, the bullock-wagon, and the like; but when one considers that improved implements are difficult to be had, and are liable to get out of order, without mechanics to repair them, a ready excuse is found for following the old fashion of the colony. Such things, however, will pass away, and men like the M'F.'s will be first to set the example of a better system.

After sunset, on the 8th February, we arrived at Swellendam, chief town of the so-named district. The town contains upwards of 100 houses, scattered along the margin of a stream which, rising at the foot of the mountains adjacent, winds very tortuously through the hills beyond the town, and then joins the river Breede. The architecture is of a similar character to that already mentioned as usual in African houses; and there is a nice modest, clean-looking church, where the Rev. Dr Robertson, the pastor, holds services in Dutch and English. Several large stores seem to indicate that business to some extent is carried on: one in particular, belonging to a Mr Barry, contains a vast assortment of goods in hardware, software, haberdashery, and crockery ware-everything, in short, as a sailor would say, from a needle to an anchor. There is but one medical practitioner in the place, whose range of employment extends fifty miles around. In the neighbourhood, large quantities of the medicinal aloe grow, and give employment to many persons at a certain season in collecting the extract. The plant varies in appearbut all the varieties are comprehended between two species -A. ferox, and A. spicata. The short-leafed prickly varieties are usually rejected by the aloe gatherer-the preference being given to spicata and its allies. Neither the Socotrine nor Barbadoes species, so far as I have seen, grow in the colony in a wild state; but they exist in Baron Ludwig's garden, to whom I presented specimens of both. The medicine is collected in the beginning of summer (September and October), when the rains and heat have rendered the plants turgid with sap. A place is

ance;

Not only in their farming, but likewise in their domestic economy, did our countrymen seem to follow the customs of the Dutch; for at meals a young girl stood up behind back, asking a blessing, and returning thanks, in the peculiar monotonous manner of that people.

Amongst the articles sold were tobacco and snuff-articles of which the coloured population are extravagantly fond. I was surprised to hear the shopman, on snuff being requested by a Hottentot girl, ask her whether it was for the nose or the mouth: she wished the latter sort, and immediately on getting it, took a hearty sup, and thrust it into her cheek.

selected where the plant is growing in great abundance; and to this the collector repairs, provided with a sharp knife and a few sheep-skins. A round hole is now dug in the ground, and a skin laid over and pressed into it, thus forming a convenient receptacle for the juice. The leaves are then cut off from the plant close to the stem, and brought to the little pit, where they are arranged in a circle, with their cut ends resting on the edge of the cavity: another circle of leaves, similarly disposed, is placed above this, then another, tier above tier, but gradually contracting, till a hollow cone is formed, closed in at the top. The cut extremities of the leaves are thus all resting over the skin in the ground, into which the sap flows. When one cone of leaves ceases to yield any more juice, it is replaced by another, and a third and fourth if need be, till the skin is full enough for removal. As many of these cones are being built and replaced as keeps a person employed; and the produce of the day is carried home, boiled down to the proper consistence in iron pots, and poured into large square boxes, in which it goes to market. The price obtained for this drug from the merchant in Africa is only about 24d. or 3d. a pound, not exceeding a tenth of the price of the Barbadoes and Socotrine article. It would be very interesting to discover whether this worthlessness of the Cape aloe, compared with that of Socotra and Barbadoes, depended on the nature of the plant used, or in the mode of preparation. I am rather disposed to think it chiefly owing to the latter cause. In gathering the leaves at too early a period, with more juice certainly, but less concentrated, and in boiling it down with too much haste, and too little care, rendering the produce empyreumatic, will be found the main causes of the inferiority. Dr White of Swellendam, to whom I was introduced, showed me an experiment which he was conducting relative to this point, and so far as he had gone, was succeeding in the preparation of a beautiful specimen of the drug. Some well-contrived and well-conducted experiments are certainly much needed for the African aloe, to ascertain its true medicinal value. The climate is so suitable for the growth of this plant, that thousands, I may say millions, of acres of land are thickly studded with it; and if the native species refuse to yield a proper drug, other sorts might be readily introduced, and without doubt would thrive well.

FROM SWELLENDAM TO GEORGETOWN.

Our next stage, after leaving Swellendam, was about sixteen miles, to a farm called Lismore, the property of Mr H—, a gentleman recently from Cape Town. We left in the afternoon, expecting to reach our destination before sunset; but, as we had before experienced, found the colonial miles of inordinate length, and did not arrive at Lismore till past eight in the evening. The aspect of the country during our ride east was richer and more