usually high, especially among the company slaves.It was very high indeed
during intermittent epidemics of smallpox and other diseases.
Fourth, there was nothing like the plantation system that prevailed in
parts of North America, the Caribbean, and Brazil. At the Cape, privately
owned slaves were distributed among numerous owners in small groups.
By the third quarter of the eighteenth century, over 50 percent of the free
burghers owned slaves, but few other than the most senior officials and a
few successful farmers owned large numbers. The largest holding was
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