[Blount Edward] NOTES ON THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 207 pages, original full leather with decorative gilt

207 pages, original full leather with decorative gilt on the covers, red title label gilt on the spine, rebacked preserving the original back strip, marbled end papers, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol. 1 page 290: The anonymous author* evidently did not remain long in the Cape, but he gives an interesting account of the state of the country at the time of his visit. He remarks on the opposition of the "Dutch Boers" to the settlement of the Cape by Europeans, and observes, "With still greater animosity and alarm do they contemplate the extensive plan of colonisation now about to be carried out by the British Government." Much is related concerning the habits of the Dutch, whose manners, it is stated, "are prepossessing to travellers," although in other respects their habits are severely criticised.

Some parts of the country are recommended to settlers who possess a substantial sum of money with which to commence farming, and the Knysna district, in particular, is well spoken of for this purpose. As to the agriculture of the Boers, reference is made to the aversion of these people to any new machinery to assist the culture of the land.

Complaints are also made against the legal system in vogue, and it is stated that "impartial justice is not to be obtained, and there is a leaning to the side of the Dutch." By no means a pleasing picture is drawn of the morals of the inhabitants, and the writer was certainly not enthusiastic as to the advantages of the Cape. There are some " remarks on the rivers and coast between Cape Recife and the mouth of the Keiskahama," &c, by Captain Fairfax Moresby, C.B.

*Now known as Edward Blount.

A South African Bibliography vol. 1 page 221. The name of the author from an article by A. Godon Brown in Africana Notes and News volume 1 no 1 page 22 December 1943.