“It is generally observed that hospitality is the virtue most practised in the earliest stage of society, and that it declines as the conveniences of life multiply, and accommodations are provided for travellers on the road, by persons who look to them as the means of acquiring property. This is undoubtedly true, but it appears in the colony to have out-lived its term, and to continue to flourish where the absolute necessity for it has passed away; for such are the arrangements made for travelling by means of tents and beds fitted to wagons, and the custom of making a bivouac on the open heath, that no person undertakes a journey without the means of being independent in the course of it; and should there be an invincible repugnance to passing the night without the shelter of a roof, and a sure defence against wild beasts, there are farm houses of an inferior description, where admittance might be obtained on the payment of a small sum. It is true there are not many of them, for the principle of hospitality descends to the lowest class of farmers. Arrangements however may be made of this description, so as to prevent the necessity of intruding upon the domestic privacy of respectable families. Notwithstanding this, the master of the house near which respectable travellers should find themselves, expects that they would unhesitatingly come to him; and on their doing so, evinces the utmost readiness to accommodate them. Every effort is made by the whole family to shew that their hospitality comes from the heart; and the traveller, his servants, and his horses, are liberally provided for. No matter at what hour he arrives, a sumptuous, or at least an abundant repast is prepared for him, with the best of everything the house affords, and the best bed-room for his accommodation. At whatever hour the traveller proposes to continue his journey, he is sure to find his horses and his breakfast ready for him, with warm demonstrations of friendship and invitations to come again, should he return by the same road. This was the reception and hospitality that we met with, not only from Mr. ——, but in almost every part of the country; not always upon the scale of comfort which we experienced here, but with the warmest welcome according to the means possessed of offering it.
“On the 29th we continued our route, and as the day’s journey was to be a very long one, Mr. —— kindly supplied us with a span of oxen to take the wagon as far as the Zout kraal, by which our horses were greatly spared. We arrived about two o’clock on the banks of the Salt lake, and dined on its banks. The water in this lake is too salt for use; and that which we procured from an adjacent farm was so brackish as to be scarcely drinkable; but this quality in water is by no means objectionable to those who are accustomed to it; on the contrary, persons visiting Cape Town from these districts have been known to put salt to the water to render it palatable before they could drink it.
“We traversed extensive plains this day, and saw abundance of game, consisting of stein bocks, riebocks, partridges, pavus, koar hens, &c. the two last a species of the bustard, and very good eating, resembling the Turkey in size, but of a fine wild flavour. We arrived in the evening at the extensive farm of Mr. Odendals, a most respectable and hospitable gentleman, whose estate lies on the western side of the Potteberg, a minor range of hills diverging from the Swartberg, and terminating near the S.E. coast.
“We were here received with the utmost hospitality, and every provision made for our comfort, not only for the night, but for the day and night following, as the day of our arrival was Saturday. We were delighted with the manner in which the family passed the sabbath, no church being within many miles of them. Mr. Odendals read the service to his household in the great hall, which appeared to be the constant practice. He had five children who bid fair to be a comfort to him.
“The farm was a very extensive and most productive one, and had it been cultivated to its full extent, would have yielded a very large supply of grain for the colonial market; but the want of vent for the produce prevented this being done. The distance from the farm to Cape Town required four days to perform it, and a wagon with two men, or a man and a boy, with sixteen oxen, could only take one load of corn, which taking the average prices of grain whilst I was residing at the Cape, may be taken at about sixty rix dollars, or £6 sterling, by far too small a sum to remunerate the farmer for his seed, his labour, the rent of his land, and the absence of his people, oxen and wagon nine days, independent of the probable loss of one or more oxen on the road, and the wear and tear of the wagon. It is true they brought back from Cape Town the articles of European produce required for the consumption of the family, but this was to a very small amount.
“What renders this want of a market more surprising is, that on the other side of the Potteberg, at a distance of only a few hours from this farm, was a river, with a safe port at its entrance, into which vessels of from 70 to 100 tons might enter with safety, and receive cargoes of grain, or other rural produce, lying in perfect security during the whole of the summer, and within two days’ sail of Simon’s Bay or Table Bay. Had a coasting trade existed, and a magazine been erected at the mouth of the Bride River, this district might have furnished a very large supply of grain; and had similar measures been adopted in other parts of the colony where the same advantages existed, not only would this valuable possession of Great Britain have abounded with corn for its own consumption, but it might have had a valuable article of export even to the mother country. It is to be hoped that British enterprize may before this time have laid the foundation of a very extensive coasting trade, which shall at once be the means of bringing into cultivation much valuable land now entirely neglected; whilst it supplies the interior of the colony with every article of European manufacture, of which it stands in need, at a moderate price. It may not be amiss to give here, by anticipation, a calculation which I made some weeks afterwards at George, when conversing with the leading inhabitants upon the subject of a coasting trade as indispensable to the prosperity of this new town.
“A merchant of George is supposed to order a ton of goods, either Manchester, or Birmingham, or Sheffield, (as it may be) from England, for the purpose of supplying the wants of his neighbourhood. These goods are accordingly shipped to his consignment in London, and arrive at the Cape in the course of ten or twelve weeks afterwards, paying a freight to the Cape of £l 10s. per ton. These goods have now to be carried by land to the town of George, a distance of scarcely two hundred miles from Cape Town, and for the freight for this distance, not less than the sum of £9 sterling must be paid, and enormous as this sum must appear, it cannot be done for less, as the following calculation will shew.
“To bring one ton of goods from Cape Town to George would require one man, one boy, one wagon, and sixteen oxen, and the freight charged by the farmer, is five rix dollars per cwt., or one hundred rix dollars for the ton.
“A whole month is required for the journey, including the days of departure and arrival, and one day loading the wagon, in Cape Town, at little more than three rix dollars per day.
“But under the supposition that he might carry a load of the produce of his farm, say corn to Cape Town, the highest price of which in the market would be one hundred rix dollars, he could only estimate the freight at ten rix dollars at the utmost, making one hundred and ten rix dollars for freight going and returning.