Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/103

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tants at the Cape have sometimes from 20 to 30 slaves, which are in general treated with great lenity, and sometimes become favourites with their masters, who give them very good cloathing, but oblige them to wear neither shoes nor stockings, reserving these articles to themselves. The slaves are chiefly brought from Madagascar, and a little vessel annually goes from the Cape thither on that trade; there are however, besides them, a number of Malays and Bengalese, and some negroes. The colonists themselves are for the greatest part Germans, with some families of Dutch, and some of French protestants. The character of the inhabitants of the town is mixed. They are industrious, but fond of good living, hospitable, and sociable; though accustomed to hire their apartments to strangers, for the time they touch at this settlement, and used to be complimented with rich presents of stuffs, &c. by the officers of merchant ships. They have no great opportunities of acquiring knowledge, there being no public schools of note at the Cape; their young men are therefore commonly sent to Holland for improvement, and their female education is too much neglected. A kind of dislike to reading, and the want of public amusements, make their conversation uninteresting and too frequently