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Article REVIEW or NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 7 of 10 →
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Review Or New Publications.
that a town may be one day founded in the district of the Twenty-four rivers . Situated in the most fertile part of the colony , it would soon , from the pleasantness of its situation and climate , surpass the Cape itself ; and having the ready means of exportation , the cultivation of lands would ne' cessarily increase with the population of the country . Its grain and its fruits , as well as the grain of a part of Swart-Land , might be conveyed in . flat-bottomed boats by the Berg-rivier to the Bay of St Helen ; and it would
be easy to establish store houses on the banks , and at the mouth of the Berg . At the Bay itself there , might be a magazine for the coasting trade ; and this trade might he carried on with the Cape by means of sloops , which , embracing the moment of favourable winds , would soon get thither with their merchandise , and would thus supply with provisions , very advantageously , and at a cheaper rate , both the town itself , and all the ships from India and Europe which miht put into Table Bay . From the abundance of pastures
g ' in the distriit , great numbers of cattle might also be raised in it . This fertile country , so highly favoured by nature , would furnish even timber for building ; since the trees , having less to suffer in this quarter from the violence of the south-east winds , could not fail to thrive , if the inhabitants would only take care to form proper plantations . Saldanha Bay might serve likewise as a central magazine for all that part of Swart-land which lies near it , and which is too far from the Berg to send its grain down that river . This
magazine , besides the utility it would be of the planters in the interior parts of the settlement , would become a real . benefit to the ships of all nations , which , driven from their course by the contrary winds , and unable to enter Table Bay , might take shelter in that of Saldanha , certain of finding there the refreshments necessary to enable them to continue their voyage . ' The wish which I here form for the conveniency of the planters , and the benefit of navigators in general , will doubtless long remain unaccomplished ;
for has the commercial policy of privileged companies ever been known to unite their private interest to the interest of the public , when that ardent thirst of gold , which rules so powerfully the merchants of all nations , commands them , in so imperious a manner , to oppose , from mistaken selfish motives , every thing that does not tend to increase the advantages which their greedy avr . rice leads them to expeit ? It is also , for another reason , scarcely to be expected that the East India Company will soon carry into execution
either the establishment in question , or those I have mentioned respecting the bays of the delightful country of Auteniqua , however evident it may appear that they would promote the good and prosperity of the colonies ; since ironi the fear it is continually under , that the captains in its service may sell , for tneir own behoof , a part of its commodities , and particularly the spicevies with which the ships that return from India are loaded , the Company obliges them to touch at the Cape , where it is supposed they are watched
more narrowly than they could be at any of the other adjacent bays . This suscion , which certainly does little honour to the officers it employs , is even carried so far that a captain dares not take upon him to touch at a foreign port , without the most urgent reasons ; and every person desirous afterwards of commanding- a vessel , would be obliged , in this respect , to be still more scrupulous . 1 have myself experienced a melancholy proof of the severity of these orders : for on ray return from the Capeduring a most unfortunate
, passage , having struggled nearly six months against contrary winds , andbein ^ - in u ant of provisions , our captain would not venture to stop , even for a moment , at one of the Canaries , which we passed within cannon shot . ' One day , however , the Company may perhaps deign to examine my plan , and order it to be put in execution ; but till it is accomplished , I shah sincerely regiet that so fine a country should be suffered to remain almost a desert : and that for want of hands and cultivation it should lost the benefit of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Or New Publications.
that a town may be one day founded in the district of the Twenty-four rivers . Situated in the most fertile part of the colony , it would soon , from the pleasantness of its situation and climate , surpass the Cape itself ; and having the ready means of exportation , the cultivation of lands would ne' cessarily increase with the population of the country . Its grain and its fruits , as well as the grain of a part of Swart-Land , might be conveyed in . flat-bottomed boats by the Berg-rivier to the Bay of St Helen ; and it would
be easy to establish store houses on the banks , and at the mouth of the Berg . At the Bay itself there , might be a magazine for the coasting trade ; and this trade might he carried on with the Cape by means of sloops , which , embracing the moment of favourable winds , would soon get thither with their merchandise , and would thus supply with provisions , very advantageously , and at a cheaper rate , both the town itself , and all the ships from India and Europe which miht put into Table Bay . From the abundance of pastures
g ' in the distriit , great numbers of cattle might also be raised in it . This fertile country , so highly favoured by nature , would furnish even timber for building ; since the trees , having less to suffer in this quarter from the violence of the south-east winds , could not fail to thrive , if the inhabitants would only take care to form proper plantations . Saldanha Bay might serve likewise as a central magazine for all that part of Swart-land which lies near it , and which is too far from the Berg to send its grain down that river . This
magazine , besides the utility it would be of the planters in the interior parts of the settlement , would become a real . benefit to the ships of all nations , which , driven from their course by the contrary winds , and unable to enter Table Bay , might take shelter in that of Saldanha , certain of finding there the refreshments necessary to enable them to continue their voyage . ' The wish which I here form for the conveniency of the planters , and the benefit of navigators in general , will doubtless long remain unaccomplished ;
for has the commercial policy of privileged companies ever been known to unite their private interest to the interest of the public , when that ardent thirst of gold , which rules so powerfully the merchants of all nations , commands them , in so imperious a manner , to oppose , from mistaken selfish motives , every thing that does not tend to increase the advantages which their greedy avr . rice leads them to expeit ? It is also , for another reason , scarcely to be expected that the East India Company will soon carry into execution
either the establishment in question , or those I have mentioned respecting the bays of the delightful country of Auteniqua , however evident it may appear that they would promote the good and prosperity of the colonies ; since ironi the fear it is continually under , that the captains in its service may sell , for tneir own behoof , a part of its commodities , and particularly the spicevies with which the ships that return from India are loaded , the Company obliges them to touch at the Cape , where it is supposed they are watched
more narrowly than they could be at any of the other adjacent bays . This suscion , which certainly does little honour to the officers it employs , is even carried so far that a captain dares not take upon him to touch at a foreign port , without the most urgent reasons ; and every person desirous afterwards of commanding- a vessel , would be obliged , in this respect , to be still more scrupulous . 1 have myself experienced a melancholy proof of the severity of these orders : for on ray return from the Capeduring a most unfortunate
, passage , having struggled nearly six months against contrary winds , andbein ^ - in u ant of provisions , our captain would not venture to stop , even for a moment , at one of the Canaries , which we passed within cannon shot . ' One day , however , the Company may perhaps deign to examine my plan , and order it to be put in execution ; but till it is accomplished , I shah sincerely regiet that so fine a country should be suffered to remain almost a desert : and that for want of hands and cultivation it should lost the benefit of