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/107

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at an easier rate than at present, if the settlements did not extend so far into the country, from whence the products must be brought to the Table bay by land carriage, on roads which are almost impassable. The intermediate spaces of uncultivated land between the different settlements are very extensive, and contain many spots fit for agriculture; but one of the chief reasons why the colonists are so much divided and scattered throughout the country, is to be met with in another regulation of the company, which forbids every new settler to establish himself within a mile of another. It is evident that if this settlement were in the hands of the commonwealth, it would have attained to a great population, and a degree of opulence and splendor, of which it has not the least hopes at present: But a private company of East-India merchants find their account much better in keeping all the landed property to themselves, and tying down the colonist, lest he should become too great and powerful.

The wines made at the Cape are of the greatest variety possible. The best, which is made at M. Vander Spy's plantation of Constantia, is spoken of in Europe, more by report than from real knowledge; thirty leagres at the utmost are annually raised of this kind, and each leagre sells for about fifty pounds on the spot. The vines from which it is made were originally brought from