Glasgow Courier. — 1850-11-09 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

PORT-NATAL.  [The following letter is from Mr. Milne, CE., a gentleman well known here, as well as in Edinburgh, and his nude is a sufficient guarantee for the faithfulness of the account he gives of this new colony.—En. N. B. M.]  " D'Urban, Port-Natal, South Africa, May 18, 1850.  "We landed here on the 2d November last, after a passage of eighty days. I was far from well on board, but am now quite well again. Indeed, the climate appears to be as healthful as the , nature of man seems to admit of. The heat in January last was about an average of 84 deg.; at present it is only 60 deg., the ' freezing point at Nat ii. The country is beautiful, but as yet little cultivated. In general the soil is not rich. Little or no timber fit for house building, and no lime-stone of which to make mortar. In general, the houses are of basket- work, plastered outside and inside with clay, and thatched with reeds. No draught horses are used in the coldly; nothing but oxen for plough or waggon, for which last twelve or fourteen oxen are yoked to draw a load of one ton. Boyce, all horse harness brought out here—and there are lots of it—is useless, and can be bought for less than half its cost. Ploughs, harrows, carts, guns, rifles, Crates, fenders, fire-irons,&c. are also superabundant, and far below par—a great many intended farmers having betaken themselves to trafficking with the natives. By far too many of the emigrants are labourers, for whom there Is not employment, and for whom I think it is doubtful if ever their expectations will be realised—as at all times they will have to contend with the natives, who work pretty well for 12s. per month. I have about 100 of them in my employment at present. What we want much are farmers of skill, and with, say £350 is their pockets, wherewith to buy a farm—to stock it, and raise a crop before he meets with any remuneration. As already noticed, busing cheap and selling dear "are all the go" just now, to the ahnost entire neglect of the soil. In short, we live by plucking one another ; but how long this will last I cannot conjecture. I imagine it will not last long—the money slipping away very quickly to the Cape for food. Bread about Is. ad. per 41b. loaf; butter, Is. 41 per lb.; potatoes, 12s. per muid of 180Ibs.; inaise, 14s. per amid; eggs, is. per doz.; beef, front 2d. to 3d. per lb., but then it is very lean —the cows , being the breed of Phaorah's lean cattle; and then the grass is not nutritious; although rank and seemingly luxuriant, it is not of the , right kind. The native blacks or Zoolo tribe—of whom there are upwards of 100,000 in the colony, chiefly as refugees front their murdering King Panda—are a gentle, well-behaved, merry race, without religion of any kind, and with as little superstition. "Please obtain for me two or three cwts. of best Irish ham, curd in the best mariner for exporting to a warm climate, and of being kept in package four months on the voyage. Send in close casks, or other strong packages capable of resisting damp and surf in landing here, snail such goods must for some time be landed in surf-boats, through a heavy broken sea. " I am engaged by Government as engineer for the harbour here, and as many things require to be attended to immediately, I have had no leisure to look out a bit of land, as I intended; nor have I been able to build any Other house than one made of the boards of my packing-boxes, and which, although it is airy, is quite warm enough.—Yours truly,  "