Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/26

18 English plough has been introduced; the Spanish breed of sheep, which proves extremely advantageous, is rapidly increasing; and the manner of dressing the vines, as practised on the Rhine, has been adopted, in some of the vintages, with success. Nothing indeed appears to be wanting to the welfare of the colony, except an increase of population, which an extraordinary fatality, prevailing among children, seems to render hopeless without some external assistance; but every attempt of this nature has not been attended hitherto with the expected advantages. It is a curious fact, that the male population exceeds the female in every class of inhabitants in this settlement; the surplus on the male side amounting altogether to about 1600.

I found that Lord Caledon had not confined his views solely to the improvement of the settlement itself, but that he had also sent a mission to the interior; in the well-founded expectation that new discoveries might be made, interesting in a general point of view, as well as tending ultimately to the advantage of the colony. Mr. Cowan, a medical gentleman, was the person entrusted with the charge of this mission, who had previously evinced considerable ability in a journal he had written of an expedition to the Karroo, and he was accompanied by Lieutenant Donovan, with a sufficient number of attendants for the management of two wagons, in which the party set out on its expedition. At the time of my being at the Cape, letters had been just received from Mr. Cowan, bearing a recent date; at which time he and his companions had penetrated much farther north than any preceding travellers. The information already obtained appeared interesting; the country through which the party had passed was rich and fertile, and intersected by numerous rivers, all shaping their course to the west; the native tribes, which they had met with, were peaceably inclined, and it seems not unlikely, from Mr. Cousin's opinion, might be induced to open an intercourse with the Cape.

At the latter end of May preparations were made for our departure from this settlement, which were suddenly retarded by the occurrence of an accident which threatened to bring our voyage to an unpleasant termination.