Charles Dickens. ]

"CAPE" SKETCHES.

609

the farmer has two other dire enemies to con-
tend with. The one is the blight or " smut,"
which is very common; and frequently de-
stroys whole crops. Two young friends of
mine hired a farm in partnership, and, in
spite of the warnings of more experienced
persons, determined to turn their principal
attention to agriculture. They went to great
expense in the purchase of agricultural im-
plements, paid the highest wages for labourers,
and worked with their own hands as hard as
any ploughman in England. They raised a
magnificent crop, and began to indulge a
sweet reverie on the " Dollars " it was to
bring them. Alas, the " smut " came, and
the beautiful crop was destroyed, while not
one solitary dollar found its way into the
young farmers' pockets. Disappointed, but
not disheartened, they set to work again, and
next year with precisely the same result.
Luckily they were prudent fellows, and had
neither been personally extravagant, nor sunk
all their money in one enterprise. They, there
fore, purchased some sheep, cattle, and horses,
and only cultivated a very small portion of
their farm; and now they are among the
most prosperous farmers in the Colony.

Another enemy of the agriculturist at the
Cape, not less destructive than the former,
though less frequent in his attacks, is the
locust. Till I went to the Cape, I never had
a clear conception of the mischief that could
be done by this one of the " Plagues of Egypt."
They came always in clouds, and fly with the
wind. I am almost afraid to describe their
numbers. I have seen the air as full of these
creatures as of the flakes of snow in a heavy
snow-storm––in fact, literally "raining locusts."
I have been obliged to turn back on a journey
from the impossibility of getting my horse to
face them when driven against us by the wind.
I have seen immense plains one day covered
with grass, corn, and gardens; and the next
day left, after a visit of locusts, without one
solitary blade of verdure on any part of them.
I have seen millions of these insects driven by
the wind into the sea at Algoa Bay, and
washed on shore in such heaps, that their
bodies decaying have become so offensive as
to oblige the authorities of the town to employ
all the Coolies in the place in burying them.
Think of all this, grumbling farmers of
England. What corn-laws could afford you
"protection " against such an importation?
Still, I must add that during my five years'
residence at the Cape, I can only recall three
visits of these pests; nor must it be supposed
that they at any time spread over the whole
Colony. When they visit a sheep or cattle
farm, the owner has, of course, no other
alternative than to move his stock to some
place which they have not visited.

Cattle are profitable stock at the Cape;
but no Englishman seems to like them so well
as sheep. Besides, it occasionally happens
that, in a fit of caprice, every Hottentot
labourer on your farm will leave you in a day,

and you will have to be your own herdsman.
This is comparatively nothing with sheep;
but if you had a couple of hundred cows that
wanted milking you would be rather in a " fix."

Horses are also a profitable stock, and far
more suited to English taste. But the " re-
turns " are necessarily slow; and few men
can afford to wait three years for their profits.

Sheep are the best. Here is one example,
by no means extraordinary, but forming an
average sample of the fruits of sheep-farming:
–––A gentleman who was reading for the
Church, at Cambridge, found that his health
would not allow him to continue his studies;
he emigrated to Algoa Bay, with a capital of
about two thousand five hundred pounds. He
wisely listened to good advice in the selection of
a farm and the purchase of his stock of sheep.
At the end of three years I visited him, and
we talked about sheep-farming, which was
then in a bad condition. I was expressing
my wonder that so many sheep-farmers had
lately been " sold up; " and this was his
reply, " What else could you expect? Half
of them come out here without one farthing
of capital. They hire a farm; buy stock on
credit (for two or three years), live on the
sale of the wool and also on credit–––for they
live ' like fighting-cocks ' –––and then when
pay-day comes at last, they, of course, have
not a sixpence. But, look at my own case:
I have been here three years; my wool
fetches double the price that it did the first
year; my stock is just doubled in number
and vastly improved in quality; I have lived
in as much comfort as I require in the mean-
time; and I don't owe a sixpence."

The life of a Cape farmer is necessarily
solitary. His nearest neighbour is probably
seven miles off, and his only daily companions
are his stock and his labourers. A visitor
(especially if he come from one of the Towns)
is a veritable Godsend; and is safe to be
welcome as long as he chooses to remain.
He may ride his host's horses and shoot or
hunt his game, smoke his pipes, and drink his
"Cape Smoke," * as long as he pleases. But
he must be contented with very rough fare.
Mutton and goats' flesh, meal-cakes (very
similar, I fancy, to those which King Alfred
burnt), Indian com, and badly-made coffee,
will form tLe staple articles of his food. He
will sleep on a home-made sofa with goat-
skins for blankets, in a room with a mud
floor, and very probably no ceiling but the
thatch roof. The house will most likely be
built of lath and plaster, and look far more
like the stable of a third-rate country inn
than a gentleman's residence. Yet the host is
often a highly educated and sensible man,
fighting his way to competence, living a com-
paratively easy life, and, if unblessed with
luxuries, at least unharassed by cares, save
when an occasional wolf (or rather hyaena)
makes a night assault on his homestead.

* Cape Brandy.