before shipment, and where the delays interposed by the length of the voyage before it could reach the market were so considerable, a great fall in values led to changes in price disastrous to the exporter. In November 1842 his firm write that they will make no further shipments of wine, owing to the ruinous price of 81. per pipe. In 1842 they write, in acknowledging the sales of wine: 'White wines per Martha Jane at 81. per pipe, less brokerage, and 44 hogsheads per Deborah at 77. 10s. This is miserable indeed.' In consequence of these continued losses we find that he determines to abandon mercantile affairs for a time.

He had embarked his capital and his energy in this business; he had attempted to open up new markets both in England and on the Continent and in the East, but all to no purpose; the business had not the elements of success in it, and he saw this in time. He writes: 'In consequence of the continued depression in the wine trade we have determined to abandon it, and have now taken the necessary steps to bring our business to a close at the end of this year; after which time any outstanding transactions will be settled by our chief, Mr. J. C. Molteno, to whom be good enough to address after the receipt of this letter.'

He finally closed his relations with Mr. Witherby on the 8th of March, 1843. As before said, it is my intention to give up, at any rate for the present, all mercantile pursuits. As I leave town in a few days and shall not return for some time, you will not perhaps hear from me so regularly as you otherwise might have done. Regretting, as I most sincerely do, that our long and pleasant correspondence should be brought to a close under circumstances so painful and, to me, I might add, so disastrous.'

Mr. Molteno found that the principal export of the Cape Colony was failing it; some new product must be developed, and the land must be made to yield some return in articles of exportable value to Europe, if business were to be carried

on at all.

He now believed that in wool such an article

was to be found. In the early part of August, 1840, he had, in company with other gentlemen from Cape Town, paid a visit to the district of Beaufort West, where a considerable sale of land by the Beaufort Grazing Company was to take place. At that time there were no roads into the interior, the mountain ranges had not yet been pierced, the rivers were all unbridged. Twenty days by ox waggon were passed on a journey which is now accomplished in as many hours by the railway subsequently authorised under Mr. Molteno's Government.

But before we proceed to this new chapter in his career we must say a few words as to the life in Cape Town which he was about to abandon. Englishmen

were comparatively few in the Cape Colony, and were in consequence drawn together and formed a little community to some extent by themselves. Martin, who had visited the Cape on several occasions about this time, describes the Englishmen he met there as being 'shrewd, generally intelligent, solicitous for political liberty, careful of its preservation, hospitable to strangers, and enterprising in their commercial pursuits.'' Quinn, Grissold, Fredrickson, Ebden, and Prince were men with whom Mr. Molteno was associated, and whose names were well known at the Cape. Some of them formed a society in the same house together.

Mr. Molteno wrote home to his mother about this time:

The seasons do indeed come fast round; I have now been upwards of eleven years away from you. I did think that in this time I should so far have succeeded as to be able to see you all again, if still alive, but in this I have been greatly disappointed. The chance of my returning home seems now more distant than ever. Although I have not succeeded in pecuniary matters, I have gained what is of infinitely more value-sound views on religion and a firm conviction of the vain and transitory nature of

'See Martin's British Colonies, vol. iv.

the things of this life. Used as I generally am to writing merely on matters of business, I confess I am often at a loss in writing private letters in this I find I am not singular). You need, my dear mother, I trust, be under no apprehension as to my religious views, although it is true I do not often write much on the subject; but you must not therefore come to the conclusion that I think little on it; quite the contrary. I hope and trust that no act or deed of mine is uninfluenced by religion.

Mr. Molteno was always devoted to animals; his dogs and his horses were his intimate friends. His favourite exercise was riding. All through his life he was addicted to plenty of fresh air, and to a certain amount of solitude, which appeared to be favourable, if not necessary, to the full working of his intellect and character. His kind, energetic nature was appreciated by his four-footed friends, and there existed a vigorous attachment for him on their part. He was always an early riser. His dogs would rush up to his room as soon as the house-door was opened, and never rest until they were admitted. His horses were always of the highest spirit, indeed even unridable by any other.

Those who knew him at this time speak of the energy and activity with which he worked, and the determination to succeed which moved him. But, as we have seen, the nature of things was against him by reason of the continuous fall in the value of Cape products. He now abandoned mercantile affairs for nearly ten years. It was not until the year 1852 that he again started a business, which became eminently successful under his initiation and management.

Acquires Land at Nelspoort-His Marriage-Journey to Nelspoort-Physical

Features of Country- The great Karoo-Its Climate-Isolation of LifeDeath of his Wife-Life on the Farm.

MR. MOLTENO's position was somewhat disheartening, for he had lost a considerable portion of his capital in his mercantile undertakings. But, while still engaged in business, he had acquired a considerable area of country in the Beaufort district. He had watched the development of the export of wool, and he determined to place his main reliance on this staple product.

There was at that time no woolled sheep in that part of the country, the native sheep being a hairy animal with the well-known broad, fat tails, and there were only one or two isolated flocks of merino sheep in the Colony. As far back as 1841, Mr. Molteno had imported two Saxon merino rams for his property at Beaufort West, and he now determined to move thither. Upon its purchase it had been managed by Mr. Naylor, and subsequently by Mr. Alexander Ross. Before finally leaving for Beaufort he visited Grahamstown, in the early part of 1843, and closed his business in that district. The remainder of this year he was occupied in closing his Cape Town business, and preparing for his departure to Beaufort. His great warehouses in Roeland Street were purchased by the Government.

He now married a lady with whom he had been acquainted for many years, and she accompanied him up the country. His mother was not yet reconciled to his residence in South Africa, though it was now thirteen years since he had left England; while he had become attached to the country, and rather resented any suggestion of its not being in every way most desirable, as the following letter shows :

I hope, my dear mother, you will in future entertain a better opinion of the Cape: believe me, it is by no means what you would suppose it. With regard to my wife, I have every reason to be satisfied with my choice. She was a member of the same family I resided with for the last eight years, and, consequently, we understood each other's tempers and dispositions perfectly. Although she never resided out of Cape Town, she is perfectly happy and contented with our country life; indeed, I may truly say (and in being able to do so I humbly thank God) we are both

I perfectly happy; and depend upon it, dear mother, happiness is not confined to any particular part of the world, but the Almighty has so ordered it that it is just as easily found in the wilds of Africa (as you are pleased to term this colony) as it is in England. • The best society is of virtuous thoughts; no evils can deprive a man of this city; no prison of this society; no pillage of these riches; no bondage of this liberty.' I much wish you could obtain a good account of the Cape; perhaps you may be able to get the loan of some recent work, as there are several. If you were so fortunate as we are at the Cape in having a Public Library of 30,000 volumes to resort to, you would experience no difficulty in this respect.

In order to obtain some idea of the isolation of the life to which he was now committing himself, we may describe the physical features of the country, and the difficulties which presented themselves in the way of communication. We shall thus further be enabled to obtain some knowledge of the barriers to trade and development, in the removal of which Mr. Molteno spent a considerable part of his life. The surface of the Cape Colony rises in a succession of precipitous terraces to an elevation of 3,000 or 4,000 feet. Each terrace is bounded towards the south by an elevated wall of bare and rocky mountains, pierced at infrequent intervals by “poorts,' or passages which permit the drainage of the higher plateaux to pass on to the terrace below.