Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/25

Rh occasion shewn to greater advantage. Sometimes eight or ten ladies, and as many gentlemen start on horseback, at the break of day, and ride six or seven miles to one of the country-seats, before breakfast, and afterwards remount their horses, extend their excursions, dine at the house of another friend, and without the slightest appearance of fatigue conclude the evening with a dance. I have enjoyed many parties like these, through the kindness of an amiable family with which I spent great part of my time; and I confess that the sensations excited on such occasions rendered them some of the happiest moments of my existence. I found on such excursions, that the feelings of my countrymen were pretty much in unison with my own; and the frequent marriages, which have ensued from the kind of intimacy, to which they give rise, do equal credit to the taste of both parties.

I have before said that it was not my intention, to enter into a description at length, of the commercial or political affairs of this colony; I shall therefore only remark in general terms, that it appeared to have greatly improved since my former visit in 1802, which is in a great measure to be attributed to the judicious conduct of Lord Caledon, whose many amiable qualities acquired him the esteem and admiration of all the valuable part of the settlement. He was indeed thought by some to have been too mild, and conciliating in his general treatment of the Dutch inhabitants, and to have listened to their opinions with too much respect; but if these be failings, they are of a description from which I hope that his successors may not be exempt, since their effects have assuredly been eminently beneficial, as the whole state of the colony sufficiently proves. The revenue has been nearly doubled, by the encouragement given to commerce; and great improvements have been gradually introduced into the judicial department; the most important of which is, an annual circuit of one of the Judges, into the more distant parts of the colony. Agriculture is daily extending its benefits; the land has become more valuable; and considerable alterations for the better have taken place, with respect to the implements of husbandry, and the general modes of cultivating the farms. The