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Article REVIEW or NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 4 of 10 →
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Review Or New Publications.
New Travels into lie Interior Parts of Africa , hy the Way of the Cape of G .-nl Hebe , in the iears 1783 , S . ( , 0 , 11 / 85 . TianJ . alei from tie French of La Vaiiiant . 3 vol . Svo . pages about 1000 . Price 2 << i . boards . Robhv- 'or . s .
[ CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST . ] WE resume , with much pleasure , our account of the new travels of the philanthropic M . Le Vaillant . The recent acquisition of the Cape of Good Hope to the British empire , induces us to allot more room to cur review of this work , than we , perhaps , might otherwise do ; though we must confess that , independent of that circumstance , no notice we could bestow would express a higher sense than we reall y entertain of its merits .
Our traveller examined whatever he met with , as a philosopher and a scholar ; and his account of the various classes of colonists at the Cape , and then- domestic manners , must prove instructive to ' our readers , who now regard that place as a British Colony . The following is M . Le Vaillant ' s account of the classes of the inhabitants : — ' The planters of the Cape may be divided into three classes ; those who reside 111 the vicinity of the Cape , within a distance of live or six
leagues ; those who live farther off , in the interior parts of the colony ; and , lastly , those who , more distant still , are found at the extremity of the frontiers , among the Hottentots . ' The first , who are opulent proprietors , and have handsome countryhouses , may be likened to what was formerly called in France petit s seigneurs terriers , and differ extremel y from the other planters in ease and luxury , and particularl y in their mannerswhich are haughty and disdainfulSuch is the
, . result of wealth . The second , simple , kind , hospitable , are cultivators , who live upon the fruits of their labour . Here we have an example of the ¦ good eflefts of mediocrity . The last , poor enough , yet too indolent to derive subsistence from the soil , have no other resource than the produce of some cattle , which they feed as they can . Like the Beduin Arabs , they think much of the trouble of driving them from canton to canton , and from one pasturage to another . This wandering life prevents them from building settled habitations
any . When their flocks oblige them to sojourn for a while in the same place , they construct , in haste , a rude kind of hut , which they cover with mats , after the manner of the Hottentots , whose customs they have adopted , and from whom they in no respeft differ , but in their complexion and features . And here the evil is , that there is no precise situation in social life to which these miserable beings belon" . ' These sluggish tribes are held in horror by their industrious nei ghbours , who dread their approach , and remove as far from them as they can ; because , having no property of their own , they steal without scruple that of others , anil , when in want of pasturage for their cattle , conduft them secretly to
the first cultivated piece of ground that comes in their way . They flatter themselves they shall not be discovered , and they remain till every tmng is devoured . If detefted in their thefts , squabbles and contentions ensue , and afterwards a suit at law , in which , recourse is had to the magistrate ( drotssart ) , and which commonl y terminates in making three men enemies , the robber , the person robbed , and the judge . ' Nothing can be so mean and cringing as the conduit of the first descri
ption of p lanters , when they have any thing to transaft with the principal officers of the company , who may have some influence over their lot . ; ancl nothing so absurdly vain and so superlativel y insolent as their behaviour to persons from whom they have nothing to hope and nothing to fear . Proud of their wealth , spoiled b y residing near a town , from whence they have imbibed onl y a luxury that has corrupted , and vices that have degraded them ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Or New Publications.
New Travels into lie Interior Parts of Africa , hy the Way of the Cape of G .-nl Hebe , in the iears 1783 , S . ( , 0 , 11 / 85 . TianJ . alei from tie French of La Vaiiiant . 3 vol . Svo . pages about 1000 . Price 2 << i . boards . Robhv- 'or . s .
[ CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST . ] WE resume , with much pleasure , our account of the new travels of the philanthropic M . Le Vaillant . The recent acquisition of the Cape of Good Hope to the British empire , induces us to allot more room to cur review of this work , than we , perhaps , might otherwise do ; though we must confess that , independent of that circumstance , no notice we could bestow would express a higher sense than we reall y entertain of its merits .
Our traveller examined whatever he met with , as a philosopher and a scholar ; and his account of the various classes of colonists at the Cape , and then- domestic manners , must prove instructive to ' our readers , who now regard that place as a British Colony . The following is M . Le Vaillant ' s account of the classes of the inhabitants : — ' The planters of the Cape may be divided into three classes ; those who reside 111 the vicinity of the Cape , within a distance of live or six
leagues ; those who live farther off , in the interior parts of the colony ; and , lastly , those who , more distant still , are found at the extremity of the frontiers , among the Hottentots . ' The first , who are opulent proprietors , and have handsome countryhouses , may be likened to what was formerly called in France petit s seigneurs terriers , and differ extremel y from the other planters in ease and luxury , and particularl y in their mannerswhich are haughty and disdainfulSuch is the
, . result of wealth . The second , simple , kind , hospitable , are cultivators , who live upon the fruits of their labour . Here we have an example of the ¦ good eflefts of mediocrity . The last , poor enough , yet too indolent to derive subsistence from the soil , have no other resource than the produce of some cattle , which they feed as they can . Like the Beduin Arabs , they think much of the trouble of driving them from canton to canton , and from one pasturage to another . This wandering life prevents them from building settled habitations
any . When their flocks oblige them to sojourn for a while in the same place , they construct , in haste , a rude kind of hut , which they cover with mats , after the manner of the Hottentots , whose customs they have adopted , and from whom they in no respeft differ , but in their complexion and features . And here the evil is , that there is no precise situation in social life to which these miserable beings belon" . ' These sluggish tribes are held in horror by their industrious nei ghbours , who dread their approach , and remove as far from them as they can ; because , having no property of their own , they steal without scruple that of others , anil , when in want of pasturage for their cattle , conduft them secretly to
the first cultivated piece of ground that comes in their way . They flatter themselves they shall not be discovered , and they remain till every tmng is devoured . If detefted in their thefts , squabbles and contentions ensue , and afterwards a suit at law , in which , recourse is had to the magistrate ( drotssart ) , and which commonl y terminates in making three men enemies , the robber , the person robbed , and the judge . ' Nothing can be so mean and cringing as the conduit of the first descri
ption of p lanters , when they have any thing to transaft with the principal officers of the company , who may have some influence over their lot . ; ancl nothing so absurdly vain and so superlativel y insolent as their behaviour to persons from whom they have nothing to hope and nothing to fear . Proud of their wealth , spoiled b y residing near a town , from whence they have imbibed onl y a luxury that has corrupted , and vices that have degraded them ,