There are some mountains in the neighbourhood of the Cape, which contain copper and tin. In the interior parts there is a kind of wild Hottentots, called Boshmen. They are of a colour somewhat like an orange yellow, but darker. Beysser and Vaurien, two French travellers, who penetrated nearly 300 miles into the country, describe these Boshmen as eaters of human flesh, who devour all the Europeans and Hottentots who have the misfortune to fall into their hands. Apples, pears, cherries, plums, apricots, figs, nuts, strawberries, and all the other fruits of Europe, grow wild in the interior districts[253]. The Hottentots live together in hordes; but apply neither to agriculture nor the arts, and have little or no religion. It is supposed that they worship the moon as a deity. They are entirely employed in tending cattle. Their common food is the flesh of their oxen or sheep, and a kind of mealy bulbous roots, which grow without any culture in the districts where they settle. The Dutch, who have extended their possessions 200 miles up the country, have taken every pains possible to encourage these people to apply to agriculture, but without the smallest success. The single settlements, which the Dutch have formed here and there in the country of the Hottentots, are at a great distance from each other; for as they are at liberty to choose whatever spot they think proper to reside on, they generally fix upon those where the soil is fruitful, and where they have no occasion to go far in search of water. According to the information I received, they have nearly 40,000 slaves, who are obliged to cultivate their lands; but the districts which I saw did not appear to be very fruitful. They consisted of immense forests and plains, surrounded by mountains, and intersected by marshes; and, therefore, much fitter for pasturage than for producing corn. The farmers are chiefly Germans, and for the most part have settled in valleys, where they found the soil fruitful; where they were sheltered from the wind, and had in the neighbourhood a sufficiency of wood and water. The land here, taken in general, is exceedingly fertile. The grapes, which yield the noble Constantia wine, the best of all the kinds produced at the Cape, are brought forwards by artificial manure. For that purpose deep trenches are dug, which are filled with dung, and again covered with earth. When dung fails, which is however seldom the case, the farmers mix with it leaves of trees and twigs, and suffer them both to rot. This manure communicates to the soil, and consequently to the vine plants, an extraordinary strength. In India the same process is employed to manure the rice-fields. In June and July the vines are pruned, and in January or February the grapes are collected; but the vintage must never begin till they are perfectly ripe. By these means the Constantia wine, which is produced from the best kind of grapes, acquires such excellence that it surpasses all the other