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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from the Cape, by Lady Duff Gordon
+
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+Title: Letters from the Cape
+
+Author: Lady Duff Gordon
+
+Release Date: April, 1997  [EBook #886]
+[This file was first posted on April 24, 1997]
+[Most recently updated: May 11, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LETTERS FROM THE CAPE ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1921 edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk.  Second proof by Margaret Price.
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS FROM THE CAPE
+
+
+
+
+LETTER I--THE VOYAGE
+
+
+
+Wednesday, 24th July.
+Off the Scilly Isles, 6 P.M.
+
+When I wrote last Sunday, we put our pilot on shore, and went down
+Channel.  It soon came on to blow, and all night was squally and
+rough.  Captain on deck all night.  Monday, I went on deck at
+eight.  Lovely weather, but the ship pitching as you never saw a
+ship pitch--bowsprit under water.  By two o'clock a gale came on;
+all ordered below.  Captain left dinner, and, about six, a sea
+struck us on the weather side, and washed a good many unconsidered
+trifles overboard, and stove in three windows on the poop; nurse
+and four children in fits; Mrs. T- and babies afloat, but good-
+humoured as usual.  Army-surgeon and I picked up children and
+bullied nurse, and helped to bale cabin.  Cuddy window stove in,
+and we were wetted.  Went to bed at nine; could not undress, it
+pitched so, and had to call doctor to help me into cot; slept
+sound.  The gale continues.  My cabin is water-tight as to big
+splashes, but damp and dribbling.  I am almost ashamed to like such
+miseries so much.  The forecastle is under water with every lurch,
+and the motion quite incredible to one only acquainted with
+steamers.  If one can sit this ship, which bounds like a tiger, one
+should sit a leap over a haystack.  Evidently, I can never be sea-
+sick; but holding on is hard work, and writing harder.
+
+Life is thus:- Avery--my cuddy boy--brings tea for S-, and milk for
+me, at six.  S- turns out; when she is dressed, I turn out, and
+sing out for Avery, who takes down my cot, and brings a bucket of
+salt water, in which I wash with vast danger and difficulty; get
+dressed, and go on deck at eight.  Ladies not allowed there
+earlier.  Breakfast solidly at nine.  Deck again; gossip; pretend
+to read.  Beer and biscuit at twelve.  The faithful Avery brings
+mine on deck.  Dinner at four.  Do a little carpentering in cabin,
+all the outfitters' work having broken loose.  I am now in the
+captain's cabin, writing.  We have the wind as ever, dead against
+us; and as soon as we get unpleasantly near Scilly, we shall tack
+and stand back to the French coast, where we were last night.
+Three soldiers able to answer roll-call, all the rest utterly sick;
+three middies helpless.  Several of crew, ditto.  Passengers very
+fairly plucky; but only I and one other woman, who never was at sea
+before, well.  The food on board our ship is good as to meat,
+bread, and beer; everything else bad.  Port and sherry of British
+manufacture, and the water with an incredible borachio, essence of
+tar; so that tea and coffee are but derisive names.
+
+To-day, the air is quite saturated with wet, and I put on my
+clothes damp when I dressed, and have felt so ever since.  I am so
+glad I was not persuaded out of my cot; it is the whole difference
+between rest, and holding on for life.  No one in a bunk slept at
+all on Monday night; but then it blew as heavy a gale as it can
+blow, and we had the Cornish coast under our lee.  So we tacked and
+tumbled all night.  The ship being new, too, has the rigging all
+wrong; and the confusion and disorder are beyond description.  The
+ship's officers are very good fellows.  The mizen is entirely
+worked by the 'young gentlemen'; so we never see the sailors, and,
+at present, are not allowed to go forward.  All lights are put out
+at half-past ten, and no food allowed in the cabin; but the latter
+article my friend Avery makes light of, and brings me anything when
+I am laid up.  The young soldier-officers bawl for him with
+expletives; but he says, with a snigger, to me, 'They'll just wait
+till their betters, the ladies, is looked to.'  I will write again
+some day soon, and take the chance of meeting a ship; you may be
+amused by a little scrawl, though it will probably be very stupid
+and ill-written, for it is not easy to see or to guide a pen while
+I hold on to the table with both legs and one arm, and am first on
+my back and then on my nose.  Adieu, till next time.  I have had a
+good taste of the humours of the Channel.
+
+29th July, 4 Bells, i.e. 2 o'clock, p.m.--When I wrote last, I
+thought we had had our share of contrary winds and foul weather.
+Ever since, we have beaten about the bay with the variety of a
+favourable gale one night for a few hours, and a dead calm
+yesterday, in which we almost rolled our masts out of the ship.
+However, the sun was hot, and I sat and basked on deck, and we had
+morning service.  It was a striking sight, with the sailors seated
+on oars and buckets, covered with signal flags, and with their
+clean frocks and faces.  To-day is so cold that I dare not go on
+deck, and am writing in my black-hole of a cabin, in a green light,
+with the sun blinking through the waves as they rush over my port
+and scuttle.  The captain is much vexed at the loss of time.  I
+persist in thinking it a very pleasant, but utterly lazy life.  I
+sleep a great deal, but don't eat much, and my cough has been bad;
+but, considering the real hardship of the life--damp, cold, queer
+food, and bad drink--I think I am better.  When we can get past
+Finisterre, I shall do very well, I doubt not.
+
+The children swarm on board, and cry unceasingly.  A passenger-ship
+is no place for children.  Our poor ship will lose her character by
+the weather, as she cannot fetch up ten days' lost time.  But she
+is evidently a race-horse.  We overhaul everything we see, at a
+wonderful rate, and the speed is exciting and pleasant; but the
+next long voyage I make, I'll try for a good wholesome old
+'monthly' tub, which will roll along on the top of the water,
+instead of cutting through it, with the waves curling in at the
+cuddy skylights.  We tried to signal a barque yesterday, and send
+home word 'all well'; but the brutes understood nothing but
+Russian, and excited our indignation by talking 'gibberish ' to us;
+which we resented with true British spirit, as became us.
+
+It is now blowing hard again, and we have just been taken right
+aback.  Luckily, I had lashed my desk to my washing-stand, or that
+would have flown off, as I did off my chair.  I don't think I shall
+know what to make of solid ground under my feet.  The rolling and
+pitching of a ship of this size, with such tall masts, is quite
+unlike the little niggling sort of work on a steamer--it is the
+difference between grinding along a bad road in a four-wheeler, and
+riding well to hounds in a close country on a good hunter.  I was
+horribly tired for about five days, but now I rather like it, and
+never know whether it blows or not in the night, I sleep so
+soundly.  The noise is beyond all belief; the creaking, trampling,
+shouting, clattering; it is an incessant storm.  We have not yet
+got our masts quite safe; the new wire-rigging stretches more than
+was anticipated (of course), and our main-topmast is shaky.  The
+crew have very hard work, as incessant tacking is added to all the
+extra work incident to a new ship.  On Saturday morning, everybody
+was shouting for the carpenter.  My cabin was flooded by a leak,
+and I superintended the baling and swabbing from my cot, and
+dressed sitting on my big box.  However, I got the leak stopped and
+cabin dried, and no harm done, as I had put everything up off the
+floor the night before, suspicious of a dribble which came in.
+Then my cot frame was broken by my cuddy boy and I lurching over
+against S-'s bunk, in taking it down.  The carpenter has given me
+his own, and takes my broken one for himself.  Board ship is a
+famous place for tempers.  Being easily satisfied, I get all I
+want, and plenty of attention and kindness; but I cannot prevail on
+my cuddy boy to refrain from violent tambourine-playing with a tin
+tray just at the ear of a lady who worries him.  The young soldier-
+officers, too, I hear mentioned as 'them lazy gunners', and they
+struggle for water and tea in the morning long after mine has come.
+We have now been ten days at sea, and only three on which we could
+eat without the 'fiddles' (transverse pieces of wood to prevent the
+dishes from falling off).  Smooth water will seem quite strange to
+me.  I fear the poor people in the forecastle must be very wet and
+miserable, as the sea is constantly over it, not in spray, but in
+tons of green water.
+
+3d Aug.--We had two days of dead calm, then one or two of a very
+light, favourable breeze, and yesterday we ran 175 miles with the
+wind right aft.  We saw several ships, which signalled us, but we
+would not answer, as we had our spars down for repairs and looked
+like a wreck, and fancied it would be a pity to frighten you all
+with a report to that effect.
+
+Last night we got all right, and spread out immense studding-sails.
+We are now bowling along, wind right aft, dipping our studding-sail
+booms into the water at every roll.  The weather is still
+surprisingly cold, though very fine, and I have to come below quite
+early, out of the evening air.  The sun sets before seven o'clock.
+I still cough a good deal, and the bad food and drink are trying.
+But the life is very enjoyable; and as I have the run of the
+charts, and ask all sorts of questions, I get plenty of amusement.
+S- is an excellent traveller; no grumbling, and no gossiping,
+which, on board a ship like ours, is a great merit, for there is ad
+nauseam of both.
+
+Mr.--is writing a charade, in which I have agreed to take a part,
+to prevent squabbling.  He wanted to start a daily paper, but the
+captain wisely forbade it, as it must have led to personalities and
+quarrels, and suggested a play instead.  My little white Maltese
+goat is very well, and gives plenty of milk, which is a great
+resource, as the tea and coffee are abominable.  Avery brings it me
+at six, in a tin pannikin, and again in the evening.  The chief
+officer is well-bred and agreeable, and, indeed, all the young
+gentlemen are wonderfully good specimens of their class.  The
+captain is a burly foremast man in manner, with a heart of wax and
+every feeling of a gentleman.  He was in California, 'HIDE
+DROGHING' with Dana, and he says every line of Two Years before the
+Mast is true.  He went through it all himself.  He says that I am a
+great help to him, as a pattern of discipline and punctuality.
+People are much inclined to miss meals, and then want things at odd
+hours, and make the work quite impossible to the cook and servants.
+Of course, I get all I want in double-quick time, as I try to save
+my man trouble; and the carpenter leaves my scuttle open when no
+one else gets it, quite willing to get up in his time of sleep to
+close it, if it comes on to blow.  A maid is really a superfluity
+on board ship, as the men rather like being 'aux petits soins'.
+The boatswain came the other day to say that he had a nice carpet
+and a good pillow; did I want anything of the sort?  He would be
+proud that I should use anything of his.  You would delight in
+Avery, my cuddy man, who is as quick as 'greased lightning', and
+full of fun.  His misery is my want of appetite, and his efforts to
+cram me are very droll.  The days seem to slip away, one can't tell
+how.  I sit on deck from breakfast at nine, till dinner at four,
+and then again till it gets cold, and then to bed.  We are now
+about 100 miles from Madeira, and shall have to run inside it, as
+we were thrown so far out of our course by the foul weather.
+
+9th Aug.--Becalmed, under a vertical sun.  Lat. 17 degrees, or
+thereabouts.  We saw Madeira at a distance like a cloud; since
+then, we had about four days trade wind, and then failing or
+contrary breezes.  We have sailed so near the African shore that we
+get little good out of the trades, and suffer much from the African
+climate.  Fancy a sky like a pale February sky in London, no sun to
+be seen, and a heat coming, one can't tell from whence.  To-day,
+the sun is vertical and invisible, the sea glassy and heaving.  I
+have been ill again, and obliged to lie still yesterday and the day
+before in the captain's cabin; to-day in my own, as we have the
+ports open, and the maindeck is cooler than the upper.  The men
+have just been holystoning here, singing away lustily in chorus.
+Last night I got leave to sling my cot under the main hatchway, as
+my cabin must have killed me from suffocation when shut up.  Most
+of the men stayed on deck, but that is dangerous after sunset on
+this African coast, on account of the heavy dew and fever.  They
+tell me that the open sea is quite different; certainly, nothing
+can look duller and dimmer than this specimen of the tropics.  The
+few days of trade wind were beautiful and cold, with sparkling sea,
+and fresh air and bright sun; and we galloped along merrily.
+
+We are now close to the Cape de Verd Islands, and shall go inside
+them.  About lat. 4 degrees N. we expect to catch the S.E. trade
+wind, when it will be cold again.  In lat. 24 degrees, the day
+before we entered the tropics, I sat on deck in a coat and cloak;
+the heat is quite sudden, and only lasts a week or so.  The sea to-
+day is littered all round the ship with our floating rubbish, so we
+have not moved at all.
+
+I constantly long for you to be here, though I am not sure you
+would like the life as well as I do.  All your ideas of it are
+wrong; the confinement to the poop and the stringent regulations
+would bore you.  But then, sitting on deck in fine weather is
+pleasure enough, without anything else.  In a Queen's ship, a
+yacht, or a merchantman with fewer passengers, it must be a
+delightful existence.
+
+17th Aug.--Since I wrote last, we got into the south-west monsoon
+for one day, and I sat up by the steersman in intense enjoyment--a
+bright sun and glittering blue sea; and we tore along, pitching and
+tossing the water up like mad.  It was glorious.  At night, I was
+calmly reposing in my cot, in the middle of the steerage, just
+behind the main hatchway, when I heard a crashing of rigging and a
+violent noise and confusion on deck.  The captain screamed out
+orders which informed me that we were in the thick of a collision--
+of course I lay still, and waited till the row, or the ship, went
+down.  I found myself next day looked upon as no better than a
+heathen by all the women, because I had been cool, and declined to
+get up and make a noise.  Presently the officers came and told me
+that a big ship had borne down on us--we were on the starboard
+tack, and all right--carried off our flying jib-boom and whisker
+(the sort of yard to the bowsprit).  The captain says he was never
+in such imminent danger in his life, as she threatened to swing
+round and to crush into our waist, which would have been certain
+destruction.  The little dandy soldier-officer behaved capitally;
+he turned his men up in no time, and had them all ready.  He said,
+'Why, you know, I must see that my fellows go down decently.'  S-
+was as cool as an icicle, offered me my pea-jacket, &c., which I
+declined, as it would be of no use for me to go off in boats, even
+supposing there were time, and I preferred going down comfortably
+in my cot.  Finding she was of no use to me, she took a yelling
+maid in custody, and was thought a brute for begging her to hold
+her noise.  The first lieutenant, who looks on passengers as odious
+cargo, has utterly mollified to me since this adventure.  I heard
+him report to the captain that I was 'among 'em all, and never sung
+out, nor asked a question the while'.  This he called 'beautiful'.
+
+Next day we got light wind S.W. (which ought to be the S.E.
+trades), and the weather has been, beyond all description, lovely
+ever since.  Cool, but soft, sunny and bright--in short, perfect;
+only the sky is so pale.  Last night the sunset was a vision of
+loveliness, a sort of Pompadour paradise; the sky seemed full of
+rose-crowned amorini, and the moon wore a rose-coloured veil of
+bright pink cloud, all so light, so airy, so brilliant, and so
+fleeting, that it was a kind of intoxication.  It is far less grand
+than northern colour, but so lovely, so shiny.  Then the flying
+fish skimmed like silver swallows over the blue water.  Such a
+sight!  Also, I saw a whale spout like a very tiny garden fountain.
+The Southern Cross is a delusion, and the tropical moon no better
+than a Parisian one, at present.  We are now in lat. 31 degrees
+about, and have been driven halfway to Rio by this sweet southern
+breeze.  I have never yet sat on deck without a cloth jacket or
+shawl, and the evenings are chilly.  I no longer believe in
+tropical heat at sea.  Even during the calm it was not so hot as I
+have often felt it in England--and that, under a vertical sun.  The
+ship that nearly ran us and herself down, must have kept no look-
+out, and refused to answer our hail.  She is supposed to be from
+Glasgow by her looks.  We may speak a ship and send letters on
+board; so excuse scrawl and confusion, it is so difficult to write
+at all.
+
+30th August.--About 25 degrees S. lat. and very much to the west.
+We have had all sorts of weather--some beautiful, some very rough,
+but always contrary winds--and got within 200 miles of the coast of
+South America.  We now have a milder breeze from the SOFT N.E.,
+after a BITTER S.W., with Cape pigeons and mollymawks (a small
+albatross), not to compare with our gulls.  We had private
+theatricals last night--ill acted, but beautifully got up as far as
+the sailors were concerned.  I did not act, as I did not feel well
+enough, but I put a bit for Neptune into the Prologue and made the
+boatswain's mate speak it, to make up for the absence of any
+shaving at the Line, which the captain prohibited altogether; I
+thought it hard the men should not get their 'tips'.  The
+boatswain's mate dressed and spoke it admirably; and the old
+carpenter sang a famous comic song, dressed to perfection as a
+ploughboy.
+
+I am disappointed in the tropics as to warmth.  Our thermometer
+stood at 82 degrees one day only, under the vertical sun, N. of the
+Line; ON the Line at 74 degrees; and at sea it FEELS 10 degrees
+colder than it is.  I have never been hot, except for two days 4
+degrees N. of the Line, and now it is very cold, but it is very
+invigorating.  All day long it looks and feels like early morning;
+the sky is pale blue, with light broken clouds; the sea an
+inconceivably pure opaque blue--lapis lazuli, but far brighter.  I
+saw a lovely dolphin three days ago; his body five feet long (some
+said more) is of a FIERY blue-green, and his huge tail golden
+bronze.  I was glad he scorned the bait and escaped the hook; he
+was so beautiful.  This is the sea from which Venus rose in her
+youthful glory.  All is young, fresh, serene, beautiful, and
+cheerful.
+
+We have not seen a sail for weeks.  But the life at sea makes
+amends for anything, to my mind.  I am never tired of the calms,
+and I enjoy a stiff gale like a Mother Carey's chicken, so long as
+I can be on deck or in the captain's cabin.  Between decks it is
+very close and suffocating in rough weather, as all is shut up.  We
+shall be still three weeks before we reach the Cape; and now the
+sun sets with a sudden plunge before six, and the evenings are
+growing too cold again for me to go on deck after dinner.  As long
+as I could, I spent fourteen hours out of the twenty-four in my
+quiet corner by the wheel, basking in the tropical sun.  Never
+again will I believe in the tales of a burning sun; the vertical
+sun just kept me warm--no more.  In two days we shall be bitterly
+cold again.
+
+Immediately after writing the above it began to blow a gale
+(favourable, indeed, but more furious than the captain had ever
+known in these seas),--about lat. 34 degrees S. and long. 25
+degrees.  For three days we ran under close-reefed (four reefs)
+topsails, before a sea.  The gale in the Bay of Biscay was a little
+shaking up in a puddle (a dirty one) compared to that glorious
+South Atlantic in all its majestic fury.  The intense blue waves,
+crowned with fantastic crests of bright emeralds and with the spray
+blowing about like wild dishevelled hair, came after us to swallow
+us up at a mouthful, but took us up on their backs, and hurried us
+along as if our ship were a cork.  Then the gale slackened, and we
+had a dead calm, during which the waves banged us about
+frightfully, and our masts were in much jeopardy.  Then a foul
+wind, S.E., increased into a gale, lasting five days, during which
+orders were given in dumb show, as no one's voice could be heard;
+through it we fought and laboured and dipped under water, and I
+only had my dry corner by the wheel, where the kind pleasant little
+third officer lashed me tight.  It was far more formidable than the
+first gale, but less beautiful; and we made so much lee-way that we
+lost ten days, and only arrived here yesterday.  I recommend a
+fortnight's heavy gale in the South Atlantic as a cure for a blase
+state of mind.  It cannot be described; the sound, the sense of
+being hurled along without the smallest regard to 'this side
+uppermost'; the beauty of the whole scene, and the occasional crack
+and bear-away of sails and spars; the officer trying to 'sing out',
+quite in vain, and the boatswain's whistle scarcely audible.  I
+remained near the wheel every day for as long as I could bear it,
+and was enchanted.
+
+Then the mortal perils of eating, drinking, moving, sitting, lying;
+standing can't be done, even by the sailors, without holding on.
+THE night of the gale, my cot twice touched the beams of the ship
+above me.  I asked the captain if I had dreamt it, but he said it
+was quite possible; he had never seen a ship so completely on her
+beam ends come up all right, masts and yards all sound.
+
+There is a middy about half M-'s size, a very tiny ten-year-older,
+who has been my delight; he is so completely 'the officer and the
+gentleman'.  My maternal entrails turned like old Alvarez, when
+that baby lay out on the very end of the cross-jack yard to reef,
+in the gale; it was quite voluntary, and the other newcomers all
+declined.  I always called him 'Mr. -, sir', and asked his leave
+gravely, or, on occasions, his protection and assistance; and his
+little dignity was lovely.  He is polite to the ladies, and
+slightly distant to the passenger-boys, bigger than himself, whom
+he orders off dangerous places; 'Children, come out of that; you'll
+be overboard.'
+
+A few days before landing I caught a bad cold, and kept my bed.  I
+caught this cold by 'sleeping with a damp man in my cabin', as some
+one said.  During the last gale, the cabin opposite mine was
+utterly swamped, and I found the Irish soldier-servant of a little
+officer of eighteen in despair; the poor lad had got ague, and
+eight inches of water in his bed, and two feet in the cabin.  I
+looked in and said, 'He can't stay there--carry him into my cabin,
+and lay him in the bunk'; which he did, with tears running down his
+honest old face.  So we got the boy into S-'s bed, and cured his
+fever and ague, caught under canvas in Romney Marsh.  Meantime S-
+had to sleep in a chair and to undress in the boy's wet cabin.  As
+a token of gratitude, he sent me a poodle pup, born on board, very
+handsome.  The artillery officers were generally well-behaved; the
+men, deserters and ruffians, sent out as drivers.  We have had five
+courts-martial and two floggings in eight weeks, among seventy men.
+They were pampered with food and porter, and would not pull a rope,
+or get up at six to air their quarters.  The sailors are an
+excellent set of men.  When we parted, the first lieutenant said to
+me, 'Weel, ye've a wonderful idee of discipline for a leddy, I will
+say.  You've never been reported but once, and that was on sick
+leave, for your light, and all in order.'
+
+
+Cape Town, Sept. 18.
+
+
+We anchored yesterday morning, and Captain J-, the Port Captain,
+came off with a most kind letter from Sir Baldwin Walker, his gig,
+and a boat and crew for S- and the baggage.  So I was whipped over
+the ship's side in a chair, and have come to a boarding house where
+the J-s live.  I was tired and dizzy and landsick, and lay down and
+went to sleep.  After an hour or so I woke, hearing a little
+gazouillement, like that of chimney swallows.  On opening my eyes I
+beheld four demons, 'sons of the obedient Jinn', each bearing an
+article of furniture, and holding converse over me in the language
+of Nephelecoecygia.  Why has no one ever mentioned the curious
+little soft voices of these coolies?--you can't hear them with the
+naked ear, three feet off.  The most hideous demon (whose
+complexion had not only the colour, but the precise metallic lustre
+of an ill black-leaded stove) at last chirruped a wish for orders,
+which I gave.  I asked the pert, active, cockney housemaid what I
+ought to pay them, as, being a stranger, they might overcharge me.
+Her scorn was sublime, 'Them nasty blacks never asks more than
+their regular charge.'  So I asked the black-lead demon, who
+demanded 'two shilling each horse in waggon', and a dollar each
+'coolie man'.  He then glided with fiendish noiselessness about the
+room, arranged the furniture to his own taste, and finally said,
+'Poor missus sick'; then more chirruping among themselves, and
+finally a fearful gesture of incantation, accompanied by 'God bless
+poor missus.  Soon well now'.  The wrath of the cockney housemaid
+became majestic:  'There, ma'am; you see how saucy they have grown-
+-a nasty black heathen Mohamedan a blessing of a white Christian!'
+
+These men are the Auvergnats of Africa.  I was assured that bankers
+entrust them with large sums in gold, which they carry some hundred
+and twenty miles, by unknown tracks, for a small gratuity.  The
+pretty, graceful Malays are no honester than ourselves, but are
+excellent workmen.
+
+To-morrow, my linen will go to a ravine in the giant mountain at my
+back, and there be scoured in a clear spring by brown women,
+bleached on the mountain top, and carried back all those long miles
+on their heads, as it went up.
+
+My landlady is Dutch; the waiter is an Africander, half Dutch, half
+Malay, very handsome, and exactly like a French gentleman, and as
+civil.
+
+Enter 'Africander' lad with a nosegay; only one flower that I know-
+-heliotrope.  The vegetation is lovely; the freshness of spring and
+the richness of summer.  The leaves on the trees are in all the
+beauty of spring.  Mrs. R- brought me a plate of oranges, 'just
+gathered', as soon as I entered the house--and, oh! how good they
+were! better even than the Maltese.  They are going out, and DEAR
+now--two a penny, very large and delicious.  I am wild to get out
+and see the glorious scenery and the hideous people.  To-day the
+wind has been a cold south-wester, and I have not been out.  My
+windows look N. and E. so I get all the sun and warmth.  The beauty
+of Table Bay is astounding.  Fancy the Undercliff in the Isle of
+Wight magnified a hundred-fold, with clouds floating halfway up the
+mountain.  The Hottentot mountains in the distance have a fantastic
+jagged outline, which hardly looks real.  The town is like those in
+the south of Europe; flat roofs, and all unfinished; roads are
+simply non-existent.  At the doors sat brown women with black hair
+that shone like metal, very handsome; they are Malays, and their
+men wear conical hats a-top of turbans, and are the chief artisans.
+At the end of the pier sat a Mozambique woman in white drapery and
+the most majestic attitude, like a Roman matron; her features large
+and strong and harsh, but fine; and her skin blacker than night.
+
+I have got a couple of Cape pigeons (the storm-bird of the South
+Atlantic) for J-'s hat.  They followed us several thousand miles,
+and were hooked for their pains.  The albatrosses did not come
+within hail.
+
+The little Maltese goat gave a pint of milk night and morning, and
+was a great comfort to the cow.  She did not like the land or the
+grass at first, and is to be thrown out of milk now.  She is much
+admired and petted by the young Africander.  My room is at least
+eighteen feet high, and contains exactly a bedstead, one straw
+mattrass, one rickety table, one wash-table, two chairs, and broken
+looking-glass; no carpet, and a hiatus of three inches between the
+floor and the door, but all very clean; and excellent food.  I have
+not made a bargain yet, but I dare say I shall stay here.
+
+Friday.--I have just received your letter; where it has been
+hiding, I can't conceive.  To-day is cold and foggy, like a baddish
+day in June with you; no colder, if so cold.  Still, I did not
+venture out, the fog rolls so heavily over the mountain.  Well, I
+must send off this yarn, which is as interminable as the 'sinnet'
+and 'foxes' which I twisted with the mids.
+
+
+
+LETTER II
+
+
+
+Cape Town, Oct. 3.
+
+I came on shore on a very fine day, but the weather changed, and we
+had a fortnight of cold and damp and S.W. wind (equivalent to our
+east wind), such as the 'oldest inhabitant' never experienced; and
+I have had as bad an attack of bronchitis as ever I remember,
+having been in bed till yesterday.  I had a very good doctor, half
+Italian, half Dane, born at the Cape of Good Hope, and educated at
+Edinburgh, named Chiappini.  He has a son studying medicine in
+London, whose mother is Dutch; such is the mixture of bloods here.
+
+Yesterday, the wind went to the south-east; the blessed sun shone
+out, and the weather was lovely at once.  The mountain threw off
+his cloak of cloud, and all was bright and warm.  I got up and sat
+in the verandah over the stoep (a kind of terrace in front of every
+house here).  They brought me a tortoise as big as half a crown and
+as lively as a cricket to look at, and a chameleon like a fairy
+dragon--a green fellow, five inches long, with no claws on his
+feet, but suckers like a fly--the most engaging little beast.  He
+sat on my finger, and caught flies with great delight and
+dexterity, and I longed to send him to M-.  To-day, I went a long
+drive with Captain and Mrs. J-:  we went to Rondebosch and Wynberg-
+-lovely country; rather like Herefordshire; red earth and oak-
+trees.  Miles of the road were like Gainsborough-lane, on a large
+scale, and looked quite English; only here and there a hedge of
+prickly pear, or the big white aruns in the ditches, told a
+different tale; and the scarlet geraniums and myrtles growing wild
+puzzled one.
+
+And then came rattling along a light, rough, but well-poised cart,
+with an Arab screw driven by a Malay, in a great hat on his
+kerchiefed head, and his wife, with her neat dress, glossy black
+hair, and great gold earrings.  They were coming with fish, which
+he had just caught at Kalk Bay, and was going to sell for the
+dinners of the Capetown folk.  You pass neat villas, with pretty
+gardens and stoeps, gay with flowers, and at the doors of several,
+neat Malay girls are lounging.  They are the best servants here,
+for the emigrants mostly drink.  Then you see a group of children
+at play, some as black as coals, some brown and very pretty.  A
+little black girl, about R-'s age, has carefully tied what little
+petticoat she has, in a tight coil round her waist, and displays
+the most darling little round legs and behind, which it would be a
+real pleasure to slap; it is so shiny and round, and she runs and
+stands so strongly and gracefully.
+
+Here comes another Malay, with a pair of baskets hanging from a
+stick across his shoulder, like those in Chinese pictures, which
+his hat also resembles.  Another cart full of working men, with a
+Malay driver; and inside are jumbled some red-haired, rosy-cheeked
+English navvies, with the ugliest Mozambiques, blacker than Erebus,
+and with faces all knobs and corners, like a crusty loaf.  As we
+drive home we see a span of sixteen noble oxen in the marketplace,
+and on the ground squats the Hottentot driver.  His face no words
+can describe--his cheek-bones are up under his hat, and his meagre-
+pointed chin halfway down to his waist; his eyes have the dull look
+of a viper's, and his skin is dirty and sallow, but not darker than
+a dirty European's.
+
+Capetown is rather pretty, but beyond words untidy and out of
+repair.  As it is neither drained nor paved, it won't do in hot
+weather; and I shall migrate 'up country' to a Dutch village.  Mrs.
+J-, who is Dutch herself, tells me that one may board in a Dutch
+farm-house very cheaply, and with great comfort (of course eating
+with the family), and that they will drive you about the country
+and tend your horses for nothing, if you are friendly, and don't
+treat them with Engelsche hoog-moedigheid.
+
+Oct. 19th.--The packet came in last night, but just in time to save
+the fine of 50l. per diem, and I got your welcome letter this
+morning.  I have been coughing all this time, but I hope I shall
+improve.  I came out at the very worst time of year, and the
+weather has been (of course) 'unprecedentedly' bad and changeable.
+But when it IS fine it is quite celestial; so clear, so dry, so
+light.  Then comes a cloud over Table Mountain, like the sugar on a
+wedding-cake, which tumbles down in splendid waterfalls, and
+vanishes unaccountably halfway; and then you run indoors and shut
+doors and windows, or it portends a 'south-easter', i.e. a
+hurricane, and Capetown disappears in impenetrable clouds of dust.
+But this wind coming off the hills and fields of ice, is the Cape
+doctor, and keeps away cholera, fever of every sort, and all
+malignant or infectious diseases.  Most of them are unknown here.
+Never was so healthy a place; but the remedy is of the heroic
+nature, and very disagreeable.  The stones rattle against the
+windows, and omnibuses are blown over on the Rondebosch road.
+
+A few days ago, I drove to Mr. V-'s farm.  Imagine St. George's
+Hill, and the most beautiful bits of it, sloping gently up to Table
+Mountain, with its grey precipices, and intersected with Scotch
+burns, which water it all the year round, as they come from the
+living rock; and sprinkled with oranges, pomegranates, and camelias
+in abundance.  You drive through a mile or two as described, and
+arrive at a square, planted with rows of fine oaks close together;
+at the upper end stands the house, all on the ground-floor, but on
+a high stoep:  rooms eighteen feet high; the old slave quarters on
+each side; stables, &c., opposite; the square as big as Belgrave
+Square, and the buildings in the old French style.
+
+We then went on to Newlands, a still more beautiful place.  Immense
+trenching and draining going on--the foreman a Caffre, black as
+ink, six feet three inches high, and broad in proportion, with a
+staid, dignified air, and Englishmen working under him!  At the
+streamlets there are the inevitable groups of Malay women washing
+clothes, and brown babies sprawling about.  Yesterday, I should
+have bought a black woman for her beauty, had it been still
+possible.  She was carrying an immense weight on her head, and was
+far gone with child; but such stupendous physical perfection I
+never even imagined.  Her jet black face was like the Sphynx, with
+the same mysterious smile; her shape and walk were goddess-like,
+and the lustre of her skin, teeth, and eyes, showed the fulness of
+health;--Caffre of course.  I walked after her as far as her swift
+pace would let me, in envy and admiration of such stately humanity.
+
+The ordinary blacks, or Mozambiques, as they call them, are
+hideous.  Malay here seems equivalent to Mohammedan.  They were
+originally Malays, but now they include every shade, from the
+blackest nigger to the most blooming English woman.  Yes, indeed,
+the emigrant-girls have been known to turn 'Malays', and get
+thereby husbands who know not billiards and brandy--the two
+diseases of Capetown.  They risked a plurality of wives, and
+professed Islam, but they got fine clothes and industrious
+husbands.  They wear a very pretty dress, and all have a great air
+of independence and self-respect; and the real Malays are very
+handsome.  I am going to see one of the Mollahs soon, and to look
+at their schools and mosque; which, to the distraction of the
+Scotch, they call their 'Kerk.'
+
+I asked a Malay if he would drive me in his cart with the six or
+eight mules, which he agreed to do for thirty shillings and his
+dinner (i.e. a share of my dinner) on the road.  When I asked how
+long it would take, he said, 'Allah is groot', which meant, I
+found, that it depended on the state of the beach--the only road
+for half the way.
+
+The sun, moon, and stars are different beings from those we look
+upon.  Not only are they so large and bright, but you SEE that the
+moon and stars are BALLS, and that the sky is endless beyond them.
+On the other hand, the clear, dry air dwarfs Table Mountain, as you
+seem to see every detail of it to the very top.
+
+Capetown is very picturesque.  The old Dutch buildings are very
+handsome and peculiar, but are falling to decay and dirt in the
+hands of their present possessors.  The few Dutch ladies I have
+seen are very pleasing.  They are gentle and simple, and naturally
+well-bred.  Some of the Malay women are very handsome, and the
+little children are darlings.  A little parti-coloured group of
+every shade, from ebony to golden hair and blue eyes, were at play
+in the street yesterday, and the majority were pretty, especially
+the half-castes.  Most of the Caffres I have seen look like the
+perfection of human physical nature, and seem to have no diseases.
+Two days ago I saw a Hottentot girl of seventeen, a housemaid here.
+You would be enchanted by her superfluity of flesh; the face was
+very queer and ugly, and yet pleasing, from the sweet smile and the
+rosy cheeks which please one much, in contrast to all the pale
+yellow faces--handsome as some of them are.
+
+I wish I could send the six chameleons which a good-natured parson
+brought me in his hat, and a queer lizard in his pocket.  The
+chameleons are charming, so monkey-like and so 'caressants'.  They
+sit on my breakfast tray and catch flies, and hang in a bunch by
+their tails, and reach out after my hand.
+
+I have had a very kind letter from Lady Walker, and shall go and
+stay with them at Simon's Bay as soon as I feel up to the twenty-
+two miles along the beaches and bad roads in the mail-cart with
+three horses.  The teams of mules (I beg pardon, spans) would
+delight you--eight, ten, twelve, even sixteen sleek, handsome
+beasts; and oh, such oxen! noble beasts with humps; and hump is
+very good to eat too.
+
+Oct. 21st.--The mail goes out to-morrow, so I must finish this
+letter.  I feel better to-day than I have yet felt, in spite of the
+south-easter.
+
+Yours, &c.
+
+
+
+LETTER III
+
+
+
+28th Oct.--Since I wrote, we have had more really cold weather, but
+yesterday the summer seems to have begun.  The air is as light and
+clear as if THERE WERE NONE, and the sun hot; but I walk in it, and
+do not find it oppressive.  All the household groans and perspires,
+but I am very comfortable.
+
+Yesterday I sat in the full broil for an hour or more, in the hot
+dust of the Malay burial-ground.  They buried the head butcher of
+the Mussulmans, and a most strange poetical scene it was.  The
+burial-ground is on the side of the Lion Mountain--on the Lion's
+rump--and overlooks the whole bay, part of the town, and the most
+superb mountain panorama beyond.  I never saw a view within miles
+of it for beauty and grandeur.  Far down, a fussy English steamer
+came puffing and popping into the deep blue bay, and the 'Hansom's'
+cabs went tearing down to the landing place; and round me sat a
+crowd of grave brown men chanting 'Allah il Allah' to the most
+monotonous but musical air, and with the most perfect voices.  The
+chant seemed to swell, and then fade, like the wind in the trees.
+
+I went in after the procession, which consisted of a bier covered
+with three common Paisley shawls of gay colours; no one looked at
+me; and when they got near the grave, I kept at a distance, and sat
+down when they did.  But a man came up and said, 'You are welcome.'
+So I went close, and saw the whole ceremony.  They took the corpse,
+wrapped in a sheet, out of the bier, and lifted it into the grave,
+where two men received it; then a sheet was held over the grave
+till they had placed the dead man; and then flowers and earth were
+thrown in by all present, the grave filled in, watered out of a
+brass kettle, and decked with flowers.  Then a fat old man, in
+printed calico shirt sleeves, and a plaid waistcoat and corduroy
+trousers, pulled off his shoes, squatted on the grave, and recited
+endless 'Koran', many reciting after him.  Then they chanted
+'Allah-il-Allah' for twenty minutes, I think:  then prayers, with
+'Ameens' and 'Allah il-Allahs' again.  Then all jumped up and
+walked off.  There were eighty or a hundred men, no women, and five
+or six 'Hadjis', draped in beautiful Eastern dresses, and looking
+very supercilious.  The whole party made less noise in moving and
+talking than two Englishmen.
+
+A white-complexioned man spoke to me in excellent English (which
+few of them speak), and was very communicative and civil.  He told
+me the dead man was his brother-in-law, and he himself the barber.
+I hoped I had not taken a liberty.  'Oh, no; poor Malays were proud
+when noble English persons showed such respect to their religion.
+The young Prince had done so too, and Allah would not forget to
+protect him.  He also did not laugh at their prayers, praise be to
+God!'  I had already heard that Prince Alfred is quite the darling
+of the Malays.  He insisted on accepting their fete, which the
+Capetown people had snubbed.  I have a friendship with one Abdul
+Jemaalee and his wife Betsy, a couple of old folks who were slaves
+to Dutch owners, and now keep a fruit-shop of a rough sort, with
+'Betsy, fruiterer,' painted on the back of an old tin tray, and
+hung up by the door of the house.  Abdul first bought himself, and
+then his wife Betsy, whose 'missus' generously threw in her bed-
+ridden mother.  He is a fine handsome old man, and has confided to
+me that 5,000 pounds would not buy what he is worth now.  I have
+also read the letters written by his, son, young Abdul Rachman, now
+a student at Cairo, who has been away five years--four at Mecca.
+The young theologian writes to his 'hoog eerbare moeder' a fond
+request for money, and promises to return soon.  I am invited to
+the feast wherewith he will be welcomed.  Old Abdul Jemaalee thinks
+it will divert my mind, and prove to me that Allah will take me
+home safe to my children, about whom he and his wife asked many
+questions.  Moreover, he compelled me to drink herb tea, compounded
+by a Malay doctor for my cough.  I declined at first, and the poor
+old man looked hurt, gravely assured me that it was not true that
+Malays always poisoned Christians, and drank some himself.
+Thereupon I was obliged, of course, to drink up the rest; it
+certainly did me good, and I have drunk it since with good effect;
+it is intensely bitter and rather sticky.  The white servants and
+the Dutch landlady where I lodge shake their heads ominously, and
+hope it mayn't poison me a year hence.  'Them nasty Malays can make
+it work months after you take it.'  They also possess the evil eye,
+and a talent for love potions.  As the men are very handsome and
+neat, I incline to believe that part of it.
+
+Rathfelder's Halfway House, 6th November.--I drove out here
+yesterday in Captain T-'s drag, which he kindly brought into
+Capetown for me.  He and his wife and children came for a change of
+air for whooping cough, and advised me to come too, as my cough
+continues, though less troublesome.  It is a lovely spot, six miles
+from Constantia, ten from Capetown, and twelve from Simon's Bay.  I
+intend to stay here a little while, and then to go to Kalk Bay, six
+miles from hence.  This inn was excellent, I hear, 'in the old
+Dutch times'.  Now it is kept by a young Englishman, Cape-born, and
+his wife, and is dirty and disorderly.  I pay twelve shillings a
+day for S- and self, without a sitting-room, and my bed is a straw
+paillasse; but the food is plentiful, and not very bad.  That is
+the cheapest rate of living possible here, and every trifle costs
+double what it would in England, except wine, which is very fair at
+fivepence a bottle--a kind of hock.  The landlord pays 1 pound a
+day rent for this house, which is the great resort of the Capetown
+people for Sundays, and for change of air, &c.--a rude kind of
+Richmond.  His cook gets 3 pounds 10s. a month, besides food for
+himself and wife, and beer and sugar.  The two (white) housemaids
+get 1 pound 15s. and 1 pound 10s. respectively (everything by the
+month).  Fresh butter is 3s. 6d. a pound, mutton 7d.; washing very
+dear; cabbages my host sells at 3d. a piece, and pumpkins 8d.  He
+has a fine garden, and pays a gardener 3s. 6d. a day, and black
+labourers 2s.  THEY work three days a week; then they buy rice and
+a coarse fish, and lie in the sun till it is eaten; while their
+darling little fat black babies play in the dust, and their black
+wives make battues in the covers in their woolly heads.  But the
+little black girl who cleans my room is far the best servant, and
+smiles and speaks like Lalage herself, ugly as the poor drudge is.
+The voice and smile of the negroes here is bewitching, though they
+are hideous; and neither S- nor I have yet heard a black child cry,
+or seen one naughty or quarrelsome.  You would want to lay out a
+fortune in woolly babies.  Yesterday I had a dreadful heartache
+after my darling, on her little birthday, and even the lovely
+ranges of distant mountains, coloured like opals in the sunset, did
+not delight me.  This is a dreary place for strangers.  Abdul
+Jemaalee's tisanne, and a banana which he gave me each time I went
+to his shop, are the sole offer of 'Won't you take something?' or
+even the sole attempt at a civility that I have received, except
+from the J-s, who, are very civil and kind.
+
+When I have done my visit to Simon's Bay, I will go 'up country',
+to Stellenbosch, Paarl and Worcester, perhaps.  If I can find
+people going in a bullock-waggon, I will join them; it costs 1
+pound a day, and goes twenty miles.  If money were no object, I
+would hire one with Caffres to hunt, as well as outspan and drive,
+and take a saddle-horse.  There is plenty of pleasure to be had in
+travelling here, if you can afford it.  The scenery is quite beyond
+anything you can imagine in beauty.  I went to a country house at
+Rondebosch with the J-s, and I never saw so lovely a spot.  The
+possessor had done his best to spoil it, and to destroy the
+handsome Dutch house and fountains and aqueducts; but Nature was
+too much for him, and the place lovely in neglect and shabbiness.
+
+Now I will tell you my impressions of the state of society here, as
+far as I have been able to make out by playing the inquisitive
+traveller.  I dare say the statements are exaggerated, but I do not
+think they are wholly devoid of truth.  The Dutch round Capetown (I
+don't know anything of 'up country') are sulky and dispirited; they
+regret the slave days, and can't bear to pay wages; they have sold
+all their fine houses in town to merchants, &c., and let their
+handsome country places go to pieces, and their land lie fallow,
+rather than hire the men they used to own.  They hate the Malays,
+who were their slaves, and whose 'insolent prosperity' annoys them,
+and they don't like the vulgar, bustling English.  The English
+complain that the Dutch won't die, and that they are the curse of
+the colony (a statement for which they can never give a reason).
+But they, too, curse the emancipation, long to flog the niggers,
+and hate the Malays, who work harder and don't drink, and who are
+the only masons, tailors, &c., and earn from 4s. 6d. to 10s. a day.
+The Malays also have almost a monopoly of cart-hiring and horse-
+keeping; an Englishman charges 4 pounds 10s. or 5 pounds for a
+carriage to do what a Malay will do quicker in a light cart for
+30s.  S- says, 'The English here think the coloured people ought to
+do the work, and they to get the wages.  Nothing less would satisfy
+them.'  Servants' wages are high, but other wages not much higher
+than in England; yet industrious people invariably make fortunes,
+or at least competencies, even when they begin with nothing.  But
+few of the English will do anything but lounge; while they abuse
+the Dutch as lazy, and the Malays as thieves, and feel their
+fingers itch to be at the blacks.  The Africanders (Dutch and negro
+mixed in various proportions) are more or less lazy, dirty, and
+dressy, and the beautiful girls wear pork-pie hats, and look very
+winning and rather fierce; but to them the philanthropists at home
+have provided formidable rivals, by emptying a shipload of young
+ladies from a 'Reformatory' into the streets of Capetown.
+
+I am puzzled what to think of the climate here for invalids.  The
+air is dry and clear beyond conception, and light, but the sun is
+scorching; while the south-east wind blows an icy hurricane, and
+the dust obscures the sky.  These winds last all the summer, till
+February or March.  I am told when they don't blow it is heavenly,
+though still cold in the mornings and evenings.  No one must be out
+at, or after sunset, the chill is so sudden.  Many of the people
+here declare that it is death to weak lungs, and send their
+poitrinaires to Madeira, or the south of France.  They also swear
+the climate is enervating, but their looks, and above all the
+blowsy cheeks and hearty play of the English children, disprove
+that; and those who come here consumptive get well in spite of the
+doctors, who won't allow it possible.  I believe it is a climate
+which requires great care from invalids, but that, with care, it is
+good, because it is bracing as well as warm and dry.  It is not
+nearly so warm as I expected; the southern icebergs are at no great
+distance, and they ice the south-east wind for us.  If it were not
+so violent, it would be delicious; and there are no unhealthy
+winds--nothing like our east wind.  The people here grumble at the
+north-wester, which sometimes brings rain, and call it damp, which,
+as they don't know what damp is, is excusable; it feels like a DRY
+south-wester in England.  It is, however, quite a delusion to think
+of living out of doors, here; the south-easters keep one in nearly,
+if not quite, half one's time, and in summer they say the sun is
+too hot to be out except morning and evening.  But I doubt that,
+for they make an outcry about heat as soon as it is not cold.  The
+transitions are so sudden, that, with the thermometer at 76
+degrees, you must not go out without taking a thick warm cloak; you
+may walk into a south-easter round the first spur of the mountain,
+and be cut in two.  In short, the air is cold and bracing, and the
+sun blazing hot; those whom that suits, will do well.  I should
+like a softer air, but I may be wrong; when there is only a
+moderate wind, it is delicious.  You walk in the hot sun, which
+makes you perspire a very little; but you dry as you go, the air is
+so dry; and you come in untired.  I speak of slow walking.  There
+are no hot-climate diseases; no dysentery, fever, &c.
+
+Simon's Bay, 18th Nov.--I came on here in a cart, as I felt ill
+from the return of the cold weather.  While at Rathfelder we had a
+superb day, and the J-s drove me over to Constantia, which deserves
+all its reputation for beauty.  What a divine spot!--such kloofs,
+with silver rills running down them!  It is useless to describe
+scenery.  It was a sort of glorified Scotland, with sunshine,
+flowers, and orange-groves.  We got home hungry and tired, but in
+great spirits.  Alas! next day came the south-easter--blacker,
+colder, more cutting, than ever--and lasted a week.
+
+The Walkers came over on horseback, and pressed me to go to them.
+They are most kind and agreeable people.  The drive to Simon's Bay
+was lovely, along the coast and across five beaches of snow-white
+sand, which look like winter landscapes; and the mountains and bay
+are lovely.
+
+Living is very dear, and washing, travelling, chemist's bills--all
+enormous.  Thirty shillings a cart and horse from Rathfelder here--
+twelve miles; and then the young English host wanted me to hire
+another cart for one box and one bath!  But I would not, and my
+obstinacy was stoutest.  If I want cart or waggon again, I'll deal
+with a Malay, only the fellows drive with forty Jehu-power up and
+down the mountains.
+
+A Madagascar woman offered to give me her orphan grandchild, a
+sweet brown fairy, six years old, with long silky black hair, and
+gorgeous eyes.  The child hung about me incessantly all the time I
+was at Rathfelder, and I had a great mind to her.  She used to
+laugh like baby, and was like her altogether, only prettier, and
+very brown; and when I told her she was like my own little child,
+she danced about, and laughed like mad at the idea that she could
+look like 'pretty white Missy'.  She was mighty proud of her
+needlework and A B C performances.
+
+It is such a luxury to sleep on a real mattrass--not stuffed with
+dirty straw; to eat clean food, and live in a nice room.  But my
+cough is very bad, and the cruel wind blows on and on.  I saw the
+doctor of the Naval Hospital here to-day.  If I don't mend, I will
+try his advice, and go northward for warmth.  If you can find an
+old Mulready envelope, send it here to Miss Walker, who collects
+stamps and has not got it, and write and thank dear good Lady
+Walker for her kindness to me.
+
+You will get this about the new year.  God bless you all, and send
+us better days in 1862.
+
+
+
+LETTER IV--JOURNEY TO CALEDON
+
+
+
+Caledon, Dec. 10th.
+
+I did not feel at all well at Simon's Bay, which is a land of
+hurricanes.  We had a 'south-easter' for fourteen days, without an
+hour's lull; even the flag-ship had no communication with the shore
+for eight days.  The good old naval surgeon there ordered me to
+start off for this high 'up-country' district, and arranged my
+departure for the first POSSIBLE day.  He made a bargain for me
+with a Dutchman, for a light Malay cart (a capital vehicle with two
+wheels) and four horses, for 30s. a day--three days to Caledon from
+Simon's Bay, about a hundred miles or so, and one day of back fare
+to his home in Capetown.
+
+Luckily, on Saturday the wind dropped, and we started at nine
+o'clock, drove to a place about four miles from Capetown, when we
+turned off on the 'country road', and outspanned at a post-house
+kept by a nice old German with a Dutch wife.  Once well out of
+Capetown, people are civil, but inquisitive; I was strictly cross-
+questioned, and proved so satisfactory, that the old man wished to
+give me some English porter gratis.  We then jogged along again at
+a very good pace to another wayside public, where we outspanned
+again and ate, and were again questioned, and again made much of.
+By six o'clock we got to the Eerste River, having gone forty miles
+or so in the day.  It was a beautiful day, and very pleasant
+travelling.  We had three good little half-Arab bays, and one brute
+of a grey as off-wheeler, who fell down continually; but a Malay
+driver works miracles, and no harm came of it.  The cart is small,
+with a permanent tilt at top, and moveable curtains of waterproof
+all round; harness of raw leather, very prettily put together by
+Malay workmen.  We sat behind, and our brown coachman, with his
+mushroom hat, in front, with my bath and box, and a miniature of
+himself about seven years old--a nephew,--so small and handy that
+he would be worth his weight in jewels as a tiger.  At Eerste River
+we slept in a pretty old Dutch house, kept by an English woman, and
+called the Fox and Hound, 'to sound like home, my lady.'  Very nice
+and comfortable it was.
+
+I started next day at ten; and never shall I forget that day's
+journey.  The beauty of the country exceeds all description.
+Ranges of mountains beyond belief fantastic in shape, and between
+them a rolling country, desolate and wild, and covered with
+gorgeous flowers among the 'scrub'.  First we came to Hottentot's
+Holland (now called Somerset West), the loveliest little old Dutch
+village, with trees and little canals of bright clear mountain
+water, and groves of orange and pomegranate, and white houses, with
+incredible gable ends.  We tried to stop here; but forage was
+ninepence a bundle, and the true Malay would rather die than pay
+more than he can help.  So we pushed on to the foot of the
+mountains, and bought forage (forage is oats au natural, straw and
+all, the only feed known here, where there is no grass or hay) at a
+farm kept by English people, who all talked Dutch together; only
+one girl of the family could speak English.  They were very civil,
+asked us in, and gave us unripe apricots, and the girl came down
+with seven flounces, to talk with us.  Forage was still ninepence--
+half a dollar a bundle--and Choslullah Jaamee groaned over it, and
+said the horses must have less forage and 'more plenty roll' (a
+roll in the dust is often the only refreshment offered to the
+beasts, and seems to do great good).
+
+We got to Caledon at eleven, and drove to the place the Doctor
+recommended--formerly a country house of the Dutch Governor.  It is
+in a lovely spot; but do you remember the Schloss in Immermann's
+Neuer Munchausen?  Well, it is that.  A ruin;--windows half broken
+and boarded up, the handsome steps in front fallen in, and all en
+suite.  The rooms I saw were large and airy; but mud floors, white-
+washed walls, one chair, one stump bedstead, and praeterea nihil.
+It has a sort of wild, romantic look; I hear, too, it is
+wonderfully healthy, and not so bad as it looks.  The long corridor
+is like the entrance to a great stable, or some such thing; earth
+floors and open to all winds.  But you can't imagine it, however I
+may describe; it is so huge and strange, and ruinous.  Finding that
+the mistress of the house was ill, and nothing ready for our
+reception, I drove on to the inn.  Rain, like a Scotch mist, came
+on just as we arrived, and it is damp and chilly, to the delight of
+all the dwellers in the land, who love bad weather.  It makes me
+cough a little more; but they say it is quite unheard of, and can't
+last.  Altogether, I suppose this summer here is as that of '60 was
+in England.
+
+I forgot, in describing my journey, the regal-looking Caffre
+housemaid at Eerste River.  'Such a dear, good creature,' the
+landlady said; and, oh, such a 'noble savage'!--with a cotton
+handkerchief folded tight like a cravat and tied round her head
+with a bow behind, and the short curly wool sticking up in the
+middle;--it looked like a royal diadem on her solemn brow; she
+stepped like Juno, with a huge tub full to the brim, and holding
+several pailfuls, on her head, and a pailful in each hand, bringing
+water for the stables from the river, across a large field.  There
+is nothing like a Caffre for power and grace; and the face, though
+very African, has a sort of grandeur which makes it utterly unlike
+that of the negro.  That woman's bust and waist were beauty itself.
+The Caffres are also very clean and very clever as servants, I
+hear, learning cookery, &c., in a wonderfully short time.  When
+they have saved money enough to buy cattle in Kaffraria, off they
+go, cast aside civilization and clothes, and enjoy life in naked
+luxury.
+
+I can't tell you how I longed for you in my journey.  You would
+have been so delighted with the country and the queer turn-out--the
+wild little horses, and the polite and delicately-clean Moslem
+driver.  His description of his sufferings from 'louses', when he
+slept in a Dutch farm, were pathetic, and ever since, he sleeps in
+his cart, with the little boy; and they bathe in the nearest river,
+and eat their lawful food and drink their water out of doors.  They
+declined beer, or meat which had been unlawfully killed.  In
+Capetown ALL meat is killed by Malays, and has the proper prayer
+spoken over it, and they will eat no other.  I was offered a fowl
+at a farm, but Choslullah thought it 'too much money for Missus',
+and only accepted some eggs.  He was gratified at my recognising
+the propriety of his saying 'Bismillah' over any animal killed for
+food.  Some drink beer, and drink a good deal, but Choslullah
+thought it 'very wrong for Malay people, and not good for Christian
+people, to be drunk beasties;--little wine or beer good for
+Christians, but not too plenty much.'  I gave him ten shillings for
+himself, at which he was enchanted, and again begged me to write to
+his master for him when I wanted to leave Caledon, and to be sure
+to say, 'Mind send same coachman.'  He planned to drive me back
+through Worcester, Burnt Vley, Paarl, and Stellenbosch--a longer
+round; but he could do it in three days well, so as 'not cost
+Missus more money', and see a different country.
+
+This place is curiously like Rochefort in the Ardennes, only the
+hills are mountains, and the sun is far hotter; not so the air,
+which is fresh and pleasant.  I am in a very nice inn, kept by an
+English ex-officer, who went through the Caffre war, and found his
+pay insufficient for the wants of a numerous family.  I quite
+admire his wife, who cooks, cleans, nurses her babes, gives singing
+and music lessons,--all as merrily as if she liked it.  I dine with
+them at two o'clock, and Captain D- has a table d'hote at seven for
+travellers.  I pay only 10s. 6d. a day for myself and S-; this
+includes all but wine or beer.  The air is very clear and fine, and
+my cough is already much better.  I shall stay here as long as it
+suits me and does me good, and then I am to send for Choslullah
+again, and go back by the road he proposed.  It rains here now and
+then, and blows a good deal, but the wind has lost its bitter
+chill, and depressing quality.  I hope soon to ride a little and
+see the country, which is beautiful.
+
+The water-line is all red from the iron stone, and there are hot
+chalybeate springs up the mountain which are very good for
+rheumatism, and very strengthening, I am told.  The boots here is a
+Mantatee, very black, and called Kleenboy, because he is so little;
+he is the only sleek black I have seen here, but looks heavy and
+downcast.  One maid is Irish (they make the best servants here), a
+very nice clean girl, and the other, a brown girl of fifteen, whose
+father is English, and married to her mother.  Food here is scarce,
+all but bread and mutton, both good.  Butter is 3s. a pound; fruit
+and vegetables only to be had by chance.  I miss the oranges and
+lemons sadly.  Poultry and milk uncertain.  The bread is good
+everywhere, from the fine wheat:  in the country it is brownish and
+sweet.  The wine here is execrable; this is owing to the prevailing
+indolence, for there is excellent wine made from the Rhenish grape,
+rather like Sauterne, with a soupcon of Manzanilla flavour.  The
+sweet Constantia is also very good indeed; not the expensive sort,
+which is made from grapes half dried, and is a liqueur, but a
+light, sweet, straw-coloured wine, which even I liked.  We drank
+nothing else at the Admiral's.  The kind old sailor has given me a
+dozen of wine, which is coming up here in a waggon, and will be
+most welcome.  I can't tell you how kind he and Lady Walker were; I
+was there three weeks, and hope to go again when the south-easter
+season is over and I can get out a little.  I could not leave the
+house at all; and even Lady Walker and the girls, who are very
+energetic, got out but little.  They are a charming family.
+
+I have no doubt that Dr. Shea was right, and that one must leave
+the coast to get a fine climate.  Here it seems to me nearly
+perfect--too windy for my pleasure, but then the sun would be
+overpowering without a fresh breeze.  Every one agrees in saying
+that the winter in Capetown is delicious--like a fine English
+summer.  In November the southeasters begin, and they are
+'fiendish'; this year they began in September.  The mornings here
+are always fresh, not to say cold; the afternoons, from one to
+three, broiling; then delightful till sunset, which is deadly cold
+for three-quarters of an hour; the night is lovely.  The wind rises
+and falls with the sun.  That is the general course of things.  Now
+and then it rains, and this year there is a little south-easter,
+which is quite unusual, and not odious, as it is near the sea; and
+there is seldom a hot wind from the north.  I am promised that on
+or about Christmas-day; then doors and windows are shut, and you
+gasp.  Hitherto we have had nothing nearly so hot as Paris in
+summer, or as the summer of 1859 in England; and they say it is no
+hotter, except when the hot wind blows, which is very rare.  Up
+here, snow sometimes lies, in winter, on the mountain tops; but ice
+is unknown, and Table Mountain is never covered with snow.  The
+flies are pestilent--incredibly noisy, intrusive, and disgusting--
+and oh, such swarms!  Fleas and bugs not half so bad as in France,
+as far as my experience goes, and I have poked about in queer
+places.
+
+I get up at half-past five, and walk in the early morning, before
+the sun and wind begin to be oppressive; it is then dry, calm, and
+beautiful; then I sleep like a Dutchman in the middle of the day.
+At present it tires me, but I shall get used to it soon.  The Dutch
+doctor here advised me to do so, to avoid the wind.
+
+When all was settled, we climbed the Hottentot's mountains by Sir
+Lowry's Pass, a long curve round two hill-sides; and what a view!
+Simon's Bay opening out far below, and range upon range of crags on
+one side, with a wide fertile plain, in which lies Hottentot's
+Holland, at one's feet.  The road is just wide enough for one
+waggon, i.e. very narrow.  Where the smooth rock came through,
+Choslullah gave a little grunt, and the three bays went off like
+hippogriffs, dragging the grey with them.  By this time my
+confidence in his driving was boundless, or I should have expected
+to find myself in atoms at the bottom of the precipice.  At the top
+of the pass we turned a sharp corner into a scene like the crater
+of a volcano, only reaching miles away all round; and we descended
+a very little and drove on along great rolling waves of country,
+with the mountain tops, all crags and ruins, to our left.  At three
+we reached Palmiet River, full of palmettos and bamboos, and there
+the horses had 'a little roll', and Choslullah and his miniature
+washed in the river and prayed, and ate dry bread, and drank their
+tepid water out of a bottle with great good breeding and
+cheerfulness.  Three bullock-waggons had outspanned, and the Dutch
+boers and Bastaards (half Hottentots) were all drunk.  We went into
+a neat little 'public', and had porter and ham sandwiches, for
+which I paid 4s. 6d. to a miserable-looking English woman, who was
+afraid of her tipsy customers.  We got to Houw Hoek, a pretty
+valley at the entrance of a mountain gorge, about half-past five,
+and drove up to a mud cottage, half inn, half farm, kept by a
+German and his wife.  It looked mighty queer, but Choslullah said
+the host was a good old man, and all clean.  So we cheered up, and
+asked for food.  While the neat old woman was cooking it, up
+galloped five fine lads and two pretty flaxen-haired girls, with
+real German faces, on wild little horses; and one girl tucked up
+her habit, and waited at table, while another waved a green bough
+to drive off the swarms of flies.  The chops were excellent, ditto
+bread and butter, and the tea tolerable.  The parlour was a tiny
+room with a mud floor, half-hatch door into the front, and the two
+bedrooms still tinier and darker, each with two huge beds which
+filled them entirely.  But Choslullah was right; they were
+perfectly clean, with heaps of beautiful pillows; and not only none
+of the creatures of which he spoke with infinite terror, but even
+no fleas.  The man was delighted to talk to me.  His wife had
+almost forgotten German, and the children did not know a word of
+it, but spoke Dutch and English.  A fine, healthy, happy family.
+It was a pretty picture of emigrant life.  Cattle, pigs, sheep, and
+poultry, and pigeons innumerable, all picked up their own living,
+and cost nothing; and vegetables and fruit grow in rank abundance
+where there is water.  I asked for a book in the evening, and the
+man gave me a volume of Schiller.  A good breakfast,--and we paid
+ninepence for all.
+
+This morning we started before eight, as it looked gloomy, and came
+through a superb mountain defile, out on to a rich hillocky
+country, covered with miles of corn, all being cut as far as the
+eye could reach, and we passed several circular threshing-floors,
+where the horses tread out the grain.  Each had a few mud hovels
+near it, for the farmers and men to live in during harvest.
+Altogether, I was most lucky, had two beautiful days, and enjoyed
+the journey immensely.  It was most 'abentheuerlich'; the light
+two-wheeled cart, with four wild little horses, and the marvellous
+brown driver, who seemed to be always going to perdition, but made
+the horses do apparently impossible things with absolute certainty;
+and the pretty tiny boy who came to help his uncle, and was so
+clever, and so preternaturally quiet, and so very small:  then the
+road through the mountain passes, seven or eight feet wide, with a
+precipice above and below, up which the little horses scrambled;
+while big lizards, with green heads and chocolate bodies, looked
+pertly at us, and a big bright amber-coloured cobra, as handsome as
+he is deadly, wriggled across into a hole.
+
+Nearly all the people in this village are Dutch.  There is one
+Malay tailor here, but he is obliged to be a Christian at Caledon,
+though Choslullah told me with a grin, he was a very good Malay
+when he went to Capetown.  He did not seem much shocked at this
+double religion, staunch Mussulman as he was himself.  I suppose
+the blacks 'up country' are what Dutch slavery made them--mere
+animals--cunning and sulky.  The real Hottentot is extinct, I
+believe, in the Colony; what one now sees are all 'Bastaards', the
+Dutch name for their own descendants by Hottentot women.  These
+mongrel Hottentots, who do all the work, are an affliction to
+behold--debased and SHRIVELLED with drink, and drunk all day long;
+sullen wretched creatures--so unlike the bright Malays and cheery
+pleasant blacks and browns of Capetown, who never pass you without
+a kind word and sunny smile or broad African grin, SELON their
+colour and shape of face.  I look back fondly to the gracious soft-
+looking Malagasse woman who used to give me a chair under the big
+tree near Rathfelders, and a cup of 'bosjesthee' (herb tea), and
+talk so prettily in her soft voice;--it is such a contrast to these
+poor animals, who glower at one quite unpleasantly.  All the hovels
+I was in at Capetown were very fairly clean, and I went into
+numbers.  They almost all contained a handsome bed, with, at least,
+eight pillows.  If you only look at the door with a friendly
+glance, you are implored to come in and sit down, and usually
+offered a 'coppj' (cup) of herb tea, which they are quite grateful
+to one for drinking.  I never saw or heard a hint of 'backsheesh',
+nor did I ever give it, on principle and I was always recognised
+and invited to come again with the greatest eagerness.  'An
+indulgence of talk' from an English 'Missis' seemed the height of
+gratification, and the pride and pleasure of giving hospitality a
+sufficient reward.  But here it is quite different.  I suppose the
+benefits of the emancipation were felt at Capetown sooner than in
+the country, and the Malay population there furnishes a strong
+element of sobriety and respectability, which sets an example to
+the other coloured people.
+
+Harvest is now going on, and the so-called Hottentots are earning
+2s. 6d. a day, with rations and wine.  But all the money goes at
+the 'canteen' in drink, and the poor wretched men and women look
+wasted and degraded.  The children are pretty, and a few of them
+are half-breed girls, who do very well, unless a white man admires
+them; and then they think it quite an honour to have a whitey-brown
+child, which happens at about fifteen, by which age they look full
+twenty.
+
+We had very good snipe and wild duck the other day, which Capt. D-
+brought home from a shooting party.  I have got the moth-like wings
+of a golden snipe for R-'s hat, and those of a beautiful moor-hen.
+They got no 'boks', because of the violent south-easter which blew
+where they were.  The game is fast decreasing, but still very
+abundant.  I saw plenty of partridges on the road, but was not
+early enough to see boks, who only show at dawn; neither have I
+seen baboons.  I will try to bring home some cages of birds--Cape
+canaries and 'roode bekjes' (red bills), darling little things.
+The sugar-birds, which are the humming-birds of Africa, could not
+be fed; but Caffre finks, which weave the pendent nests, are hardy
+and easily fed.
+
+To-day the post for England leaves Caledon, so I must conclude this
+yarn.  I wish R- could have seen the 'klip springer', the mountain
+deer of South Africa, which Capt. D- brought in to show me.  Such a
+lovely little beast, as big as a small kid, with eyes and ears like
+a hare, and a nose so small and dainty.  It was quite tame and
+saucy, and belonged to some man en route for Capetown.
+
+
+
+LETTER V--CALEDON
+
+
+
+Caledon, Dec. 29th.
+
+I am beginning now really to feel better:  I think my cough is
+less, and I eat a great deal more.  They cook nice clean food here,
+and have some good claret, which I have been extravagant enough to
+drink, much to my advantage.  The Cape wine is all so fiery.  The
+climate is improving too.  The glorious African sun blazes and
+roasts one, and the cool fresh breezes prevent one from feeling
+languid.  I walk from six till eight or nine, breakfast at ten, and
+dine at three; in the afternoon it is generally practicable to
+saunter again, now the weather is warmer.  I sleep from twelve till
+two.  On Christmas-eve it was so warm that I lay in bed with the
+window wide open, and the stars blazing in.  Such stars! they are
+much brighter than our moon.  The Dutchmen held high jinks in the
+hall, and danced and made a great noise.  On New Year's-eve they
+will have another ball, and I shall look in.  Christmas-day was the
+hottest day--indeed, the only HOT day we have had--and I could not
+make it out at all, or fancy you all cold at home.
+
+I wish you were here to see the curious ways and new aspect of
+everything.  This village, which, as I have said, is very like
+Rochefort, but hardly so large, is the chef lieu of a district the
+size of one-third of England.  A civil commander resides here, a
+sort of prefet; and there is an embryo market-place, with a bell
+hanging in a brick arch.  When a waggon arrives with goods, it
+draws up there, they ring the bell, everybody goes to see what is
+for sale, and the goods are sold by auction.  My host bought
+potatoes and brandy the other day, and is looking out for ostrich
+feathers for me, out of the men's hats.
+
+The other day, while we sat at dinner, all the bells began to ring
+furiously, and Capt. D- jumped up and shouted 'Brand!' (fire),
+rushed off for a stout leather hat, and ran down the street.  Out
+came all the population, black, white, and brown, awfully excited,
+for it was blowing a furious north-wester, right up the town, and
+the fire was at the bottom; and as every house is thatched with a
+dry brown thatch, we might all have to turn out and see the place
+in ashes in less than an hour.  Luckily, it was put out directly.
+It is supposed to have been set on fire by a Hottentot girl, who
+has done the same thing once before, on being scolded.  There is no
+water but what runs down the streets in the sloot, a paved channel,
+which brings the water from the mountain and supplies the houses
+and gardens.  A garden is impossible without irrigation, of course,
+as it never rains; but with it, you may have everything, all the
+year round.  The people, however, are too careless to grow fruit
+and vegetables.
+
+How the cattle live is a standing marvel to me.  The whole veld
+(common), which extends all over the country (just dotted with a
+few square miles of corn here and there), is covered with a low
+thin scrub, about eighteen inches high, called rhenoster-bosch--
+looking like meagre arbor vitae or pale juniper.  The cattle and
+sheep will not touch this nor the juicy Hottentot fig; but under
+each little bush, I fancy, they crop a few blades of grass, and on
+this they keep in very good condition.  The noble oxen, with their
+huge horns (nine or ten feet from tip to tip), are never fed,
+though they work hard, nor are the sheep.  The horses get a little
+forage (oats, straw and all).  I should like you to see eight or
+ten of these swift wiry little horses harnessed to a waggon,--a
+mere flat platform on wheels.  In front stands a wild-looking
+Hottentot, all patches and feathers, and drives them best pace, all
+'in hand', using a whip like a fishing-rod, with which he touches
+them, not savagely, but with a skill which would make an old stage-
+coachman burst with envy to behold.  This morning, out on the veld,
+I watched the process of breaking-in a couple of colts, who were
+harnessed, after many struggles, second and fourth in a team of
+ten.  In front stood a tiny foal cuddling its mother, one of the
+leaders.  When they started, the foal had its neck through the
+bridle, and I hallooed in a fright; but the Hottentot only laughed,
+and in a minute it had disengaged itself quite coolly and capered
+alongside.  The colts tried to plunge, but were whisked along, and
+couldn't, and then they stuck out all four feet and SKIDDED along a
+bit; but the rhenoster bushes tripped them up (people drive
+regardless of roads), and they shook their heads and trotted along
+quite subdued, without a blow or a word, for the drivers never
+speak to the horses, only to the oxen.  Colts here get no other
+breaking, and therefore have no paces or action to the eye, but
+their speed and endurance are wonderful.  There is no such thing as
+a cock-tail in the country, and the waggon teams of wiry little
+thoroughbreds, half Arab, look very strange to our eyes, going full
+tilt.  There is a terrible murrain, called the lung-sickness, among
+horses and oxen here, every four or five years, but it never
+touches those that are stabled, however exposed to wet or wind on
+the roads.
+
+I must describe the house I inhabit, as all are much alike.  It is
+whitewashed, with a door in the middle and two windows on each
+side; those on the left are Mrs. D-'s bed and sitting rooms.  On
+the right is a large room, which is mine; in the middle of the
+house is a spacious hall, with doors into other rooms on each side,
+and into the kitchen, &c.  There is a yard behind, and a staircase
+up to the zolder or loft, under the thatch, with partitions, where
+the servants and children, and sometimes guests, sleep.  There are
+no ceilings; the floor of the zolder is made of yellow wood, and,
+resting on beams, forms the ceiling of my room, and the thatch
+alone covers that.  No moss ever grows on the thatch, which is
+brown, with white ridges.  In front is a stoep, with 'blue gums'
+(Australian gum-trees) in front of it, where I sit till twelve,
+when the sun comes on it.  These trees prevail here greatly, as
+they want neither water nor anything else, and grow with incredible
+rapidity.
+
+We have got a new 'boy' (all coloured servants are 'boys,'--a
+remnant of slavery), and he is the type of the nigger slave.  A
+thief, a liar, a glutton, a drunkard--but you can't resent it; he
+has a naif, half-foolish, half-knavish buffoonery, a total want of
+self-respect, which disarms you.  I sent him to the post to inquire
+for letters, and the postmaster had been tipsy over-night and was
+not awake.  Jack came back spluttering threats against 'dat domned
+Dutchman.  Me no WANT (like) him; me go and kick up dom'd row.
+What for he no give Missis letter?' &c.  I begged him to be
+patient; on which he bonneted himself in a violent way, and started
+off at a pantomime walk.  Jack is the product of slavery:  he
+pretends to be a simpleton in order to do less work and eat and
+drink and sleep more than a reasonable being, and he knows his
+buffoonery will get him out of scrapes.  Withal, thoroughly good-
+natured and obliging, and perfectly honest, except where food and
+drink are concerned, which he pilfers like a monkey.  He worships
+S-, and won't allow her to carry anything, or to dirty her hands,
+if he is in the way to do it.  Some one suggested to him to kiss
+her, but he declined with terror, and said he should be hanged by
+my orders if he did.  He is a hideous little negro, with a
+monstrous-shaped head, every colour of the rainbow on his clothes,
+and a power of making faces which would enchant a schoolboy.  The
+height of his ambition would be to go to England with me.
+
+An old 'bastaard' woman, married to the Malay tailor here,
+explained to me my popularity with the coloured people, as set
+forth by 'dat Malay boy', my driver.  He told them he was sure I
+was a 'very great Missis', because of my 'plenty good behaviour';
+that I spoke to him just as to a white gentleman, and did not
+'laugh and talk nonsense talk'.  'Never say "Here, you black
+fellow", dat Misses.'  The English, when they mean to be good-
+natured, are generally offensively familiar, and 'talk nonsense
+talk', i.e. imitate the Dutch English of the Malays and blacks; the
+latter feel it the greatest compliment to be treated au serieux,
+and spoken to in good English.  Choslullah's theory was that I must
+be related to the Queen, in consequence of my not 'knowing bad
+behaviour'.  The Malays, who are intelligent and proud, of course
+feel the annoyance of vulgar familiarity more than the blacks, who
+are rather awe-struck by civility, though they like and admire it.
+
+Mrs. D- tells me that the coloured servant-girls, with all their
+faults, are immaculately honest in these parts; and, indeed, as
+every door and window is always left open, even when every soul is
+out, and nothing locked up, there must be no thieves.  Captain D-
+told me he had been in remote Dutch farmhouses, where rouleaux of
+gold were ranged under the thatch on the top of the low wall, the
+doors being always left open; and everywhere the Dutch boers keep
+their money by them, in coin.
+
+Jan. 3d.--We have had tremendous festivities here--a ball on New
+Year's-eve, and another on the 1st of January--and the shooting for
+Prince Alfred's rifle yesterday.  The difficulty of music for the
+ball was solved by the arrival of two Malay bricklayers to build
+the new parsonage, and I heard with my own ears the proof of what I
+had been told as to their extraordinary musical gifts.  When I went
+into the hall, a Dutchman was SCREECHING a concertina hideously.
+Presently in walked a yellow Malay, with a blue cotton handkerchief
+on his head, and a half-bred of negro blood (very dark brown), with
+a red handkerchief, and holding a rough tambourine.  The handsome
+yellow man took the concertina which seemed so discordant, and the
+touch of his dainty fingers transformed it to harmony.  He played
+dances with a precision and feeling quite unequalled, except by
+Strauss's band, and a variety which seemed endless.  I asked him if
+he could read music, at which he laughed heartily, and said, music
+came into the ears, not the eyes.  He had picked it all up from the
+bands in Capetown, or elsewhere.
+
+It was a strange sight,--the picturesque group, and the contrast
+between the quiet manners of the true Malay and the grotesque fun
+of the half-negro.  The latter made his tambourine do duty as a
+drum, rattled the bits of brass so as to produce an indescribable
+effect, nodded and grinned in wild excitement, and drank beer while
+his comrade took water.  The dancing was uninteresting enough.  The
+Dutchmen danced badly, and said not a word, but plodded on so as to
+get all the dancing they could for their money.  I went to bed at
+half-past eleven, but the ball went on till four.
+
+Next night there was genteeler company, and I did not go in, but
+lay in bed listening to the Malay's playing.  He had quite a fresh
+set of tunes, of which several were from the 'Traviata'!
+
+Yesterday was a real African summer's day.  The D-s had a tent and
+an awning, one for food and the other for drink, on the ground
+where the shooting took place.  At twelve o'clock Mrs. D- went down
+to sell cold chickens, &c., and I went with her, and sat under a
+tree in the bed of the little stream, now nearly dry.  The sun was
+such as in any other climate would strike you down, but here coup
+de soleil is unknown.  It broils you till your shoulders ache and
+your lips crack, but it does not make you feel the least languid,
+and you perspire very little; nor does it tan the skin as you would
+expect.  The light of the sun is by no means 'golden'--it is pure
+white--and the slightest shade of a tree or bush affords a
+delicious temperature, so light and fresh is the air.  They said
+the thermometer was at about 130 degrees where I was walking
+yesterday, but (barring the scorch) I could not have believed it.
+
+It was a very amusing day.  The great tall Dutchmen came in to
+shoot, and did but moderately, I thought.  The longest range was
+five hundred yards, and at that they shot well; at shorter ranges,
+poorly enough.  The best man made ten points.  But oh! what figures
+were there of negroes and coloured people!  I longed for a
+photographer.  Some coloured lads were exquisitely graceful, and
+composed beautiful tableaux vivants, after Murillo's beggar-boys.
+
+A poor little, very old Bosjesman crept up, and was jeered and
+bullied.  I scolded the lad who abused him for being rude to an old
+man, whereupon the poor little old creature squatted on the ground
+close by (for which he would have been kicked but for me), took off
+his ragged hat, and sat staring and nodding his small grey woolly
+head at me, and jabbering some little soliloquy very sotto voce.
+There was something shocking in the timidity with which he took the
+plate of food I gave him, and in the way in which he ate it, with
+the WRONG side of his little yellow hand, like a monkey.  A black,
+who had helped to fetch the hamper, suggested to me to give him
+wine instead of meat and bread, and make him drunk FOR FUN (the
+blacks and Hottentots copy the white man's manners TO THEM, when
+they get hold of a Bosjesman to practise upon); but upon this a
+handsome West Indian black, who had been cooking pies, fired up,
+and told him he was a 'nasty black rascal, and a Dutchman to boot',
+to insult a lady and an old man at once.  If you could see the
+difference between one negro and another, you would be quite
+convinced that education (i.e. circumstances) makes the race.  It
+was hardly conceivable that the hideous, dirty, bandy-legged,
+ragged creature, who looked down on the Bosjesman, and the well-
+made, smart fellow, with his fine eyes, jaunty red cap, and snow-
+white shirt and trousers, alert as the best German Kellner, were of
+the same blood; nothing but the colour was alike.
+
+Then came a Dutchman, and asked for six penn'orth of 'brood en
+kaas', and haggled for beer; and Englishmen, who bought chickens
+and champagne without asking the price.  One rich old boer got
+three lunches, and then 'trekked' (made off) without paying at all.
+Then came a Hottentot, stupidly drunk, with a fiddle, and was
+beaten by a little red-haired Scotchman, and his fiddle smashed.
+The Hottentot hit at his aggressor, who then declared he HAD BEEN a
+policeman, and insisted on taking him into custody and to the
+'Tronk' (prison) on his own authority, but was in turn sent flying
+by a gigantic Irishman, who 'wouldn't see the poor baste abused'.
+The Irishman was a farmer; I never saw such a Hercules--and beaming
+with fun and good nature.  He was very civil, and answered my
+questions, and talked like an intelligent man; but when Captain D-
+asked him with an air of some anxiety, if he was coming to the
+hotel, he replied, 'No, sir, no; I wouldn't be guilty of such a
+misdemeanour.  I am aware that I was a disgrace and opprobrium to
+your house, sir, last time I was there, sir.  No, sir, I shall
+sleep in my cart, and not come into the presence of ladies.'
+Hereupon he departed, and I was informed that he had been drunk for
+seventeen days, sans desemparer, on his last visit to Caledon.
+However, he kept quite sober on this occasion, and amused himself
+by making the little blackies scramble for halfpence in the pools
+left in the bed of the river.  Among our customers was a very
+handsome black man, with high straight nose, deep-set eyes, and a
+small mouth, smartly dressed in a white felt hat, paletot, and
+trousers.  He is the shoemaker, and is making a pair of
+'Veldschoen' for you, which you will delight in.  They are what the
+rough boers and Hottentots wear, buff-hide barbarously tanned and
+shaped, and as soft as woollen socks.  The Othello-looking
+shoemaker's name is Moor, and his father told him he came of a
+'good breed'; that was all he knew.
+
+A very pleasing English farmer, who had been educated in Belgium,
+came and ordered a bottle of champagne, and shyly begged me to
+drink a glass, whereupon we talked of crops and the like; and an
+excellent specimen of a colonist he appeared:  very gentle and
+unaffected, with homely good sense, and real good breeding--such a
+contrast to the pert airs and vulgarity of Capetown and of the
+people in (colonial) high places.  Finding we had no carriage, he
+posted off and borrowed a cart of one man and harness of another,
+and put his and his son's riding horses to it, to take Mrs. D- and
+me home.  As it was still early, he took us a 'little drive'; and
+oh, ye gods! what a terrific and dislocating pleasure was that!  At
+a hard gallop, Mr. M- (with the mildest and steadiest air and with
+perfect safety) took us right across country.  It is true there
+were no fences; but over bushes, ditches, lumps of rock,
+watercourses, we jumped, flew, and bounded, and up every hill we
+went racing pace.  I arrived at home much bewildered, and feeling
+more like Burger's Lenore than anything else, till I saw Mr. M-'s
+steady, pleasant face quite undisturbed, and was informed that such
+was the way of driving of Cape farmers.
+
+We found the luckless Jack in such a state of furious drunkenness
+that he had to be dismissed on the spot, not without threats of the
+'Tronk', and once more Kleenboy fills the office of boots.  He
+returned in a ludicrous state of penitence and emaciation, frankly
+admitting that it was better to work hard and get 'plenty grub',
+than to work less and get none;--still, however, protesting against
+work at all.
+
+January 7th.--For the last four days it has again been blowing a
+wintry hurricane.  Every one says that the continuance of these
+winds so late into the summer (this answers to July) is unheard of,
+and MUST cease soon.  In Table Bay, I hear a good deal of mischief
+has been done to the shipping.
+
+I hope my long yarns won't bore you.  I put down what seems new and
+amusing to me at the moment, but by the time it reaches you, it
+will seem very dull and commonplace.  I hear that the Scotchman who
+attacked poor Aria, the crazy Hottentot, is a 'revival lecturer',
+and was 'simply exhorting him to break his fiddle and come to
+Christ' (the phrase is a clergyman's, I beg to observe); and the
+saints are indignant that, after executing the pious purpose as far
+as the fiddle went, he was prevented by the chief constable from
+dragging him to the Tronk.  The 'revival' mania has broken out
+rather violently in some places; the infection was brought from St.
+Helena, I am told.  At Capetown, old Abdool Jemaalee told me that
+English Christians were getting more like Malays, and had begun to
+hold 'Kalifahs' at Simon's Bay.  These are festivals in which
+Mussulman fanatics run knives into their flesh, go into
+convulsions, &c, to the sound of music, like the Arab described by
+Houdin.  Of course the poor blacks go quite demented.
+
+I intend to stay here another two or three weeks, and then to go to
+Worcester--stay a bit; Paarl, ditto; Stellenbosch, ditto--and go to
+Capetown early in March, and in April to embark for home.
+
+January 15th.--No mail in yet.  We have had beautiful weather the
+last three days.  Captain D- has been in Capetown, and bought a
+horse, which he rode home seventy-five miles in a day and a half,--
+the beast none the worse nor tired.  I am to ride him, and so shall
+see the country if the vile cold winds keep off.
+
+This morning I walked on the Veld, and met a young black shepherd
+leading his sheep and goats, and playing on a guitar composed of an
+old tin mug covered with a bit of sheepskin and a handle of rough
+wood, with pegs, and three strings of sheep-gut.  I asked him to
+sing, and he flung himself at my feet in an attitude that would
+make Watts crazy with delight, and CROONED queer little mournful
+ditties.  I gave him sixpence, and told him not to get drunk.  He
+said, 'Oh no; I will buy bread enough to make my belly stiff--I
+almost never had my belly stiff.'  He likewise informed me he had
+just been in the Tronk (prison), and on my asking why, replied:
+'Oh, for fighting, and telling lies;' Die liebe Unschuld!  (Dear
+innocence!)
+
+Hottentot figs are rather nice--a green fig-shaped thing,
+containing about a spoonful of SALT-SWEET insipid glue, which you
+suck out.  This does not sound nice, but it is.  The plant has a
+thick, succulent, triangular leaf, creeping on the ground, and
+growing anywhere, without earth or water.  Figs proper are common
+here, but tasteless; and the people pick all their fruit green, and
+eat it so too.  The children are all crunching hard peaches and
+plums just now, particularly some little half-breeds near here, who
+are frightfully ugly.  Fancy the children of a black woman and a
+red-haired man; the little monsters are as black as the mother, and
+have RED wool--you never saw so diabolical an appearance.  Some of
+the coloured people are very pretty; for example, a coal-black girl
+of seventeen, and my washerwoman, who is brown.  They are
+wonderfully slender and agile, and quite old hard-working women
+have waists you could span.  They never grow thick and square, like
+Europeans.
+
+I could write a volume on Cape horses.  Such valiant little beasts,
+and so composed in temper, I never saw.  They are nearly all bays--
+a few very dark grey, which are esteemed; VERY few white or light
+grey.  I have seen no black, and only one dark chestnut.  They are
+not cobs, and look 'very little of them', and have no beauty; but
+one of these little brutes, ungroomed, half-fed, seldom stabled,
+will carry a six-and-a-half-foot Dutchman sixty miles a day, day
+after day, at a shuffling easy canter, six miles an hour.  You 'off
+saddle' every three hours, and let him roll; you also let him drink
+all he can get; his coat shines and his eye is bright, and
+unsoundness is very rare.  They are never properly broke, and the
+soft-mouthed colts are sometimes made vicious by the cruel bits and
+heavy hands; but by nature their temper is perfect.
+
+Every morning all the horses in the village are turned loose, and a
+general gallop takes place to the water tank, where they drink and
+lounge a little; and the young ones are fetched home by their
+niggers, while the old stagers know they will be wanted, and
+saunter off by themselves.  I often attend the Houyhnhnm
+conversazione at the tank, at about seven o'clock, and am amused by
+their behaviour; and I continually wish I could see Ned's face on
+witnessing many equine proceedings here.  To see a farmer outspan
+and turn the team of active little beasts loose on the boundless
+veld to amuse themselves for an hour or two, sure that they will
+all be there, would astonish him a little; and then to offer a
+horse nothing but a roll in the dust to refresh himself withal!
+
+One unpleasant sight here is the skeletons of horses and oxen along
+the roadside; or at times a fresh carcase surrounded by a
+convocation of huge serious-looking carrion crows, with neat white
+neck-cloths.  The skeletons look like wrecks, and make you feel
+very lonely on the wide veld.  In this district, and in most, I
+believe, the roads are mere tracks over the hard, level earth, and
+very good they are.  When one gets rutty, you drive parallel to it,
+till the bush is worn out and a new track is formed.
+
+January 17th.--Lovely weather all the week.  Summer well set in.
+
+
+
+LETTER VI--CALEDON
+
+
+
+Caledon, January 19th.
+
+Dearest Mother,
+
+Till this last week, the weather was pertinaciously cold and windy;
+and I had resolved to go to Worcester, which lies in a 'Kessel',
+and is really hot.  But now the glorious African summer is come,
+and I believe this is the weather of Paradise.  I got up at four
+this morning, when the Dutchmen who had slept here were starting in
+their carts and waggons.  It was quite light; but the moon shone
+brilliantly still, and had put on a bright rose-coloured veil,
+borrowed from the rising sun on the opposite horizon.  The
+freshness (without a shadow of cold or damp) of the air was
+indescribable--no dew was on the ground.  I went up the hill-side,
+along the 'Sloot' (channel, which supplies all our water), into the
+'Kloof' between the mountains, and clambered up to the 'Venster
+Klip', from which natural window the view is very fine.  The
+flowers are all gone and the grass all dead.  Rhenoster boschjes
+and Hottentot fig are green everywhere, and among the rocks all
+manner of shrubs, and far too much 'Wacht een beetje' (Wait a bit),
+a sort of series of natural fish-hooks, which try the robustest
+patience.  Between seven and eight, the sun gets rather hot, and I
+came in and TUBBED, and sat on the stoep (a sort of terrace, in
+front of every house in South Africa).  I breakfast at nine, sit on
+the stoep again till the sun comes round, and then retreat behind
+closed shutters from the stinging sun.  The AIR is fresh and light
+all day, though the sun is tremendous; but one has no languid
+feeling or desire to lie about, unless one is sleepy.  We dine at
+two or half-past, and at four or five the heat is over, and one
+puts on a shawl to go out in the afternoon breeze.  The nights are
+cool, so as always to want one blanket.  I still have a cough; but
+it is getting better, so that I can always eat and walk.  Mine host
+has just bought a horse, which he is going to try with a petticoat
+to-day, and if he goes well I shall ride.
+
+I like this inn-life, because I see all the 'neighbourhood'--
+farmers and traders--whom I like far better than the GENTILITY of
+Capetown.  I have given letters to England to a 'boer', who is
+'going home', i.e. to Europe, the FIRST OF HIS RACE SINCE THE
+REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, when some poor refugees were
+inveigled hither by the Dutch Governor, and oppressed worse than
+the Hottentots.  M. de Villiers has had no education AT ALL, and
+has worked, and traded, and farmed,--but the breed tells; he is a
+pure and thorough Frenchman, unable to speak a word of French.
+When I went in to dinner, he rose and gave me a chair with a bow
+which, with his appearance, made me ask, 'Monsieur vient
+d'arriver?'  This at once put him out and pleased him.  He is very
+unlike a Dutchman.  If you think that any of the French will feel
+as I felt to this far-distant brother of theirs, pray give him a
+few letters; but remember that he can speak only English and Dutch,
+and a little German.  Here his name is CALLED 'Filljee', but I told
+him to drop that barbarism in Europe; De Villiers ought to speak
+for itself.  He says they came from the neighbourhood of Bordeaux.
+
+The postmaster, Heer Klein, and his old Pylades, Heer Ley, are
+great cronies of mine--stout old greybeards, toddling down the hill
+together.  I sometimes go and sit on the stoep with the two old
+bachelors, and they take it as a great compliment; and Heer Klein
+gave me my letters all decked with flowers, and wished 'Vrolyke
+tydings, Mevrouw,' most heartily.  He has also made his tributary
+mail-cart Hottentots bring from various higher mountain ranges the
+beautiful everlasting flowers, which will make pretty wreaths for
+J-.  When I went to his house to thank him, I found a handsome
+Malay, with a basket of 'Klipkaus', a shell-fish much esteemed
+here.  Old Klein told me they were sent him by a Malay who was born
+in his father's house, a slave, and had been HIS 'BOY' and play-
+fellow.  Now, the slave is far richer than the old young master,
+and no waggon comes without a little gift--oranges, fish, &c.--for
+'Wilhem'.  When Klein goes to Capetown, the old Malay seats him in
+a grand chair and sits on a little wooden stool at his feet; Klein
+begs him, as 'Huisheer', to sit properly; but, 'Neen Wilhem, Ik zal
+niet; ik kan niet vergeten.'  'Good boy!' said old Klein; 'good
+people the Malays.'  It is a relief, after the horrors one has
+heard of Dutch cruelty, to see such an 'idyllisches Verhaltniss'.
+I have heard other instances of the same fidelity from Malays, but
+they were utterly unappreciated, and only told to prove the
+excellence of slavery, and 'how well the rascals must have been
+off'.
+
+I have fallen in love with a Hottentot baby here.  Her mother is
+all black, with a broad face and soft spaniel eyes, and the father
+is Bastaard; but the baby (a girl, nine months old), has walked out
+of one of Leonardo da Vinci's pictures.  I never saw so beautiful a
+child.  She has huge eyes with the spiritual look he gives to them,
+and is exquisite in every way.  When the Hottentot blood is
+handsome, it is beautiful; there is a delicacy and softness about
+some of the women which is very pretty, and the eyes are those of a
+GOOD dog.  Most of them are hideous, and nearly all drink; but they
+are very clean and honest.  Their cottages are far superior in
+cleanliness to anything out of England, except in picked places,
+like some parts of Belgium; and they wash as much as they can, with
+the bad water-supply, and the English outcry if they strip out of
+doors to bathe.  Compared to French peasants, they are very clean
+indeed, and even the children are far more decent and cleanly in
+their habits than those of France.  The woman who comes here to
+clean and scour is a model of neatness in her work and her person
+(quite black), but she gets helplessly drunk as soon as she has a
+penny to buy a glass of wine; for a penny, a half-pint tumbler of
+very strong and remarkably nasty wine is sold at the canteens.
+
+I have many more 'humours' to tell, but A- can show you all the
+long story I have written.  I hope it does not seem very stale and
+decies repetita.  All being new and curious to the eye here, one
+becomes long-winded about mere trifles.
+
+One small thing more.  The first few shillings that a coloured
+woman has to spend on her cottage go in--what do you think?--A
+grand toilet table of worked muslin over pink, all set out with
+little 'objets'--such as they are:  if there is nothing else, there
+is that here, as at Capetown, and all along to Simon's Bay.  Now,
+what is the use or comfort of a duchesse to a Hottentot family?  I
+shall never see those toilets again without thinking of Hottentots-
+-what a baroque association of ideas!  I intend, in a day or two,
+to go over to 'Gnadenthal', the Moravian missionary station,
+founded in 1736--the 'bluhende Gemeinde von Hottentoten'.  How
+little did I think to see it, when we smiled at the phrase in old
+Mr. Steinkopf's sermon years ago in London!  The MISSIONARIZED
+Hottentots are not, as it is said, thought well of--being even
+tipsier than the rest; but I may see a full-blood one, and even a
+true Bosjesman, which is worth a couple of hours' drive; and the
+place is said to be beautiful.
+
+This climate is evidently a styptic of great power, I shall write a
+few lines to the Lancet about Caledon and its hot baths--'Bad
+Caledon', as the Germans at Houw Hoek call it.  The baths do not
+concern me, as they are chalybeate; but they seem very effectual in
+many cases.  Yet English people never come here; they stay at
+Capetown, which must be a furnace now, or at Wynberg, which is damp
+and chill (comparatively); at most, they get to Stellenbosch.  I
+mean visitors, not settlers; THEY are everywhere.  I look the
+colour of a Hottentot.  Now I MUST leave off.
+
+Your most affectionate
+
+L. D. G.
+
+
+
+LETTER VII--GNADENTHAL
+
+
+
+Caledon, Jan. 28th.
+
+Well, I have been to Gnadenthal, and seen the 'blooming parish',
+and a lovely spot it is.  A large village nestled in a deep valley,
+surrounded by high mountains on three sides, and a lower range in
+front.  We started early on Saturday, and drove over a mighty queer
+road, and through a river.  Oh, ye gods! what a shaking and
+pounding!  We were rattled up like dice in a box.  Nothing but a
+Cape cart, Cape horses, and a Hottentot driver, above all, could
+have accomplished it.  Captain D- rode, and had the best of it.  On
+the road we passed three or four farms, at all which horses were
+GALLOPING OUT the grain, or men were winnowing it by tossing it up
+with wooden shovels to let the wind blow away the chaff.  We did
+the twenty-four miles up and down the mountain roads in two hours
+and a half, with our valiant little pair of horses; it is
+incredible how they go.  We stopped at a nice cottage on the
+hillside belonging to a ci-devant slave, one Christian Rietz, a
+WHITE man, with brown woolly hair, sharp features, grey eyes, and
+NOT woolly moustaches.  He said he was a 'Scotch bastaard', and 'le
+bon sang parlait--tres-haut meme', for a more thriving, shrewd,
+sensible fellow I never saw.  His FATHER and master had had to let
+him go when all slaves were emancipated, and he had come to
+Gnadenthal.  He keeps a little inn in the village, and a shop and a
+fine garden.  The cottage we lodged in was on the mountain side,
+and had been built for his son, who was dead; and his adopted
+daughter, a pretty coloured girl, exactly like a southern
+Frenchwoman, waited on us, assisted by about six or seven other
+women, who came chiefly to stare.  Vrouw Rietz was as black as a
+coal, but SO pretty!--a dear, soft, sleek, old lady, with beautiful
+eyes, and the kind pleasant ways which belong to nice blacks; and,
+though old and fat, still graceful and lovely in face, hands, and
+arms.  The cottage was thus:- One large hall; my bedroom on the
+right, S-'s on the left; the kitchen behind me; Miss Rietz behind
+S-; mud floors daintily washed over with fresh cow-dung; ceiling of
+big rafters, just as they had grown, on which rested bamboo canes
+close together ACROSS the rafters, and bound together between each,
+with transverse bamboo--a pretty BEEHIVEY effect; at top, mud
+again, and then a high thatched roof and a loft or zolder for
+forage, &c.; the walls of course mud, very thick and whitewashed.
+The bedrooms tiny; beds, clean sweet melies (maize) straw, with
+clean sheets, and eight good pillows on each; glass windows (a
+great distinction), exquisite cleanliness, and hearty civility;
+good food, well cooked; horrid tea and coffee, and hardly any milk;
+no end of fruit.  In all the gardens it hung on the trees thicker
+than the leaves.  Never did I behold such a profusion of fruit and
+vegetables.
+
+But first I must tell what struck me most, I asked one of the
+Herrenhut brethren whether there were any REAL Hottentots, and he
+said, 'Yes, one;' and next morning, as I sat waiting for early
+prayers under the big oak-trees in the Plaats (square), he came up,
+followed by a tiny old man hobbling along with a long stick to
+support him.  'Here', said he, 'is the LAST Hottentot; he is a
+hundred and seven years old, and lives all alone.'  I looked on the
+little, wizened, yellow face, and was shocked that he should be
+dragged up like a wild beast to be stared at.  A feeling of pity
+which felt like remorse fell upon me, and my eyes filled as I rose
+and stood before him, so tall and like a tyrant and oppressor,
+while he uncovered his poor little old snow-white head, and peered
+up in my face.  I led him to the seat, and helped him to sit down,
+and said in Dutch, 'Father, I hope you are not tired; you are old.'
+He saw and heard as well as ever, and spoke good Dutch in a firm
+voice.  'Yes, I am above a hundred years old, and alone--quite
+alone.'  I sat beside him, and he put his head on one side, and
+looked curiously up at me with his faded, but still piercing little
+wild eyes.  Perhaps he had a perception of what I felt--yet I
+hardly think so; perhaps he thought I was in trouble, for he crept
+close up to me, and put one tiny brown paw into my hand, which he
+stroked with the other, and asked (like most coloured people) if I
+had children.  I said, 'Yes, at home in England;' and he patted my
+hand again, and said, 'God bless them!'  It was a relief to feel
+that he was pleased, for I should have felt like a murderer if my
+curiosity had added a moment's pain to so tragic a fate.
+
+This may sound like sentimentalism; but you cannot conceive the
+effect of looking on the last of a race once the owners of all this
+land, and now utterly gone.  His look was not quite human,
+physically speaking;--a good head, small wild-beast eyes, piercing
+and restless; cheek-bones strangely high and prominent, nose QUITE
+flat, mouth rather wide; thin shapeless lips, and an indescribably
+small, long, pointed chin, with just a very little soft white
+woolly beard; his head covered with extremely short close white
+wool, which ended round the poll in little ringlets.  Hands and
+feet like an English child of seven or eight, and person about the
+size of a child of eleven.  He had all his teeth, and though shrunk
+to nothing, was very little wrinkled in the face, and not at all in
+the hands, which were dark brown, while his face was yellow.  His
+manner, and way of speaking were like those of an old peasant in
+England, only his voice was clearer and stronger, and his
+perceptions not blunted by age.  He had travelled with one of the
+missionaries in the year 1790, or thereabouts, and remained with
+them ever since.
+
+I went into the church--a large, clean, rather handsome building,
+consecrated in 1800--and heard a very good sort of Litany, mixed
+with such singing as only black voices can produce.  The organ was
+beautifully played by a Bastaard lad.  The Herrenhuters use very
+fine chants, and the perfect ear and heavenly voices of a large
+congregation, about six hundred, all coloured people, made music
+more beautiful than any chorus-singing I ever heard.
+
+Prayers lasted half an hour; then the congregation turned out of
+doors, and the windows were opened.  Some of the people went away,
+and others waited for the 'allgemeine Predigt'.  In a quarter of an
+hour a much larger congregation than the first assembled, the girls
+all with net-handkerchiefs tied round their heads so as to look
+exactly like the ancient Greek head-dress with a double fillet--the
+very prettiest and neatest coiffure I ever saw.  The gowns were
+made like those of English girls of the same class, but far
+smarter, cleaner, and gayer in colour--pink, and green, and yellow,
+and bright blue; several were all in white, with white gloves.  The
+men and women sit separate, and the women's side was a bed of
+tulips.  The young fellows were very smart indeed, with muslin or
+gauze, either white, pink, or blue, rolled round their hats (that
+is universal here, on account of the sun).  The Hottentots, as they
+are called--that is, those of mixed Dutch and Hottentot origin
+(correctly, 'bastaards')--have a sort of blackguard elegance in
+their gait and figure which is peculiar to them; a mixture of negro
+or Mozambique blood alters it altogether.  The girls have the
+elegance without the blackguard look; ALL are slender, most are
+tall; all graceful, all have good hands and feet; some few are
+handsome in the face and many very interesting-looking.  The
+complexion is a pale olive-yellow, and the hair more or less
+woolly, face flat, and cheekbones high, eyes small and bright.
+These are by far the most intelligent--equal, indeed, to whites.  A
+mixture of black blood often gives real beauty, but takes off from
+the 'air', and generally from the talent; but then the blacks are
+so pleasant, and the Hottentots are taciturn and reserved.  The old
+women of this breed are the grandest hags I ever saw; they are
+clean and well dressed, and tie up their old faces in white
+handkerchiefs like corpses,--faces like those of Andrea del Sarto's
+old women; they are splendid.  Also, they are very clean people,
+addicted to tubbing more than any others.  The maid-of-all-work,
+who lounges about your breakfast table in rags and dishevelled
+hair, has been in the river before you were awake, or, if that was
+too far off, in a tub.  They are also far cleaner in their huts
+than any but the VERY BEST English poor.
+
+The 'Predigt' was delivered, after more singing, by a missionary
+cabinet-maker, in Dutch, very ranting, and not very wise; the
+congregation was singularly decorous and attentive, but did not
+seem at all excited or impressed--just like a well-bred West-end
+audience, only rather more attentive.  The service lasted three-
+quarters of an hour, including a short prayer and two hymns.  The
+people came out and filed off in total silence, and very quickly,
+the tall graceful girls draping their gay silk shawls beautifully.
+There are seven missionaries, all in orders but one, the
+blacksmith, and all married, except the resident director of the
+boys' boarding-school; there is a doctor, a carpenter, a cabinet-
+maker, a shoe-maker, and a storekeeper--a very agreeable man, who
+had been missionary in Greenland and Labrador, and interpreter to
+MacClure.  There is one 'Studirter Theolog'.  All are Germans, and
+so are their wives.  My friend the storekeeper married without
+having ever beheld his wife before they met at the altar, and came
+on board ship at once with her.  He said it was as good a way of
+marrying as any other, and that they were happy together.  She was
+lying in, so I did not see her.  At eight years old, their children
+are all sent home to Germany to be educated, and they seldom see
+them again.  On each side of the church are schools, and next to
+them the missionaries' houses on one side of the square, and on the
+other a row of workshops, where the Hottentots are taught all
+manner of trades.  I have got a couple of knives, made at
+Gnadenthal, for the children.  The girls occupy the school in the
+morning, and the boys in the afternoon; half a day is found quite
+enough of lessons in this climate.  The infant school was of both
+sexes, but a different set morning and afternoon.  The
+missionaries' children were in the infant school; and behind the
+little blonde German 'Madels' three jet black niggerlings rolled
+over each other like pointer-pups, and grinned, and didn't care a
+straw for the spelling; while the dingy yellow little bastaards
+were straining their black eyes out, with eagerness to answer the
+master's questions.  He and the mistress were both Bastaards, and
+he seemed an excellent teacher.  The girls were learning writing
+from a master, and Bible history from a mistress, also people of
+colour; and the stupid set (mostly black) were having spelling
+hammered into their thick skulls by another yellow mistress, in
+another room.  At the boarding school were twenty lads, from
+thirteen up to twenty, in training for school-teachers at different
+stations.  Gnadenthal supplies the Church of England with them, as
+well as their own stations.  There were Caffres, Fingoes, a
+Mantatee, one boy evidently of some Oriental blood, with glossy,
+smooth hair and a copper skin--and the rest Bastaards of various
+hues, some mixed with black, probably Mozambique.  The Caffre lads
+were splendid young Hercules'.  They had just printed the first
+book in the Caffre language (I've got it for Dr. Hawtrey,)--
+extracts from the New Testament,--and I made them read the sheets
+they were going to bind; it is a beautiful language, like Spanish
+in tone, only with a queer 'click' in it.  The boys drew, like
+Chinese, from 'copies', and wrote like copper-plate; they sang some
+of Mendelssohn's choruses from 'St. Paul' splendidly, the Caffres
+rolling out soft rich bass voices, like melodious thunder.  They
+are clever at handicrafts, and fond of geography and natural
+history, incapable of mathematics, quick at languages, utterly
+incurious about other nations, and would all rather work in the
+fields than learn anything but music; good boys, honest, but
+'trotzig'.  So much for Caffres, Fingoes, &c.  The Bastaards are as
+clever as whites, and more docile--so the 'rector' told me.  The
+boy who played the organ sang the 'Lorelei' like an angel, and
+played us a number of waltzes and other things on the piano, but he
+was too shy to talk; while the Caffres crowded round me, and
+chattered away merrily.  The Mantatees, whom I cannot distinguish
+from Caffres, are scattered all over the colony, and rival the
+English as workmen and labourers--fine stalwart, industrious
+fellows.  Our little 'boy' Kleenboy hires a room for fifteen
+shillings a month, and takes in his compatriots as lodgers at half
+a crown a week--the usurious little rogue!  His chief, one James,
+is a bricklayer here, and looks and behaves like a prince.  It is
+fine to see his black arms, ornamented with silver bracelets,
+hurling huge stones about.
+
+All Gnadenthal is wonderfully fruitful, being well watered, but it
+is not healthy for whites; I imagine, too hot and damp.  There are
+three or four thousand coloured people there, under the control of
+the missionaries, who allow no canteens at all.  The people may
+have what they please at home, but no public drinking-place is
+allowed, and we had to take our own beer and wine for the three
+days.  The gardens and burial-ground are beautiful, and the square
+is entirely shaded by about ten or twelve superb oaks; nothing
+prettier can be conceived.  It is not popular in the neighbourhood.
+'You see it makes the d-d niggers cheeky' to have homes of their
+own--and the girls are said to be immoral.  As to that, there are
+no so-called 'morals' among the coloured people, and how or why
+should there?  It is an honour to one of these girls to have a
+child by a white man, and it is a degradation to him to marry a
+dark girl.  A pious stiff old Dutchwoman who came here the other
+day for the Sacrament (which takes place twice a year), had one
+girl with her, big with child by her son, who also came for the
+Sacrament, and two in the straw at home by the other son; this
+caused her exactly as much emotion as I feel when my cat kittens.
+No one takes any notice, either to blame or to nurse the poor
+things--they scramble through it as pussy does.  The English are
+almost equally contemptuous; but there is one great difference.  My
+host, for instance, always calls a black 'a d-d nigger'; but if
+that nigger is wronged or oppressed he fights for him, or bails him
+out of the Tronk, and an English jury gives a just verdict; while a
+Dutch one simply finds for a Dutchman, against any one else, and
+ALWAYS against a dark man.  I believe this to be true, from what I
+have seen and heard; and certainly the coloured people have a great
+preference for the English.
+
+I am persecuted by the ugliest and blackest Mozambiquer I have yet
+seen, a bricklayer's labourer, who can speak English, and says he
+was servant to an English Captain--'Oh, a good fellow he was, only
+he's dead!'  He now insists on my taking him as a servant.  'I
+dessay your man at home is a good chap, and I'll be a good boy, and
+cook very nice.'  He is thick-set and short and strong.  Nature has
+adorned him with a cock eye and a yard of mouth, and art, with a
+prodigiously tall white chimney-pot hat with the crown out, a
+cotton nightcap, and a wondrous congeries of rags.  He professes to
+be cook, groom, and 'walley', and is sure you would be pleased with
+his attentions.
+
+Well, to go back to Gnadenthal.  I wandered all over the village on
+Sunday afternoon, and peeped into the cottages.  All were neat and
+clean, with good dressers of crockery, the VERY poorest, like the
+worst in Weybridge sandpits; but they had no glass windows, only a
+wooden shutter, and no doors; a calico curtain, or a sort of hurdle
+supplying its place.  The people nodded and said 'Good day!' but
+took no further notice of me, except the poor old Hottentot, who
+was seated on a doorstep.  He rose and hobbled up to meet me and
+take my hand again.  He seemed to enjoy being helped along and
+seated down carefully, and shook and patted my hand repeatedly when
+I took leave of him.  At this the people stared a good deal, and
+one woman came to talk to me.
+
+In the evening I sat on a bench in the square, and saw the people
+go in to 'Abendsegen'.  The church was lighted, and as I sat there
+and heard the lovely singing, I thought it was impossible to
+conceive a more romantic scene.  On Monday I saw all the schools,
+and then looked at the great strong Caffre lads playing in the
+square.  One of them stood to be pelted by five or six others, and
+as the stones came, he twisted and turned and jumped, and was
+hardly ever hit, and when he was, he didn't care, though the others
+hurled like catapults.  It was the most wonderful display of
+activity and grace, and quite incredible that such a huge fellow
+should be so quick and light.  When I found how comfortable dear
+old Mrs. Rietz made me, I was sorry I had hired the cart and kept
+it to take me home, for I would gladly have stayed longer, and the
+heat did me no harm; but I did not like to throw away a pound or
+two, and drove back that evening.  Mrs. Rietz, told me her mother
+was a Mozambiquer.  'And your father?' said I.  'Oh, I don't know.
+MY MOTHER WAS ONLY A SLAVE.'  She, too, was a slave, but said she
+'never knew it', her 'missus' was so good; a Dutch lady, at a farm
+I had passed, on the road, who had a hundred and fifty slaves.  I
+liked my Hottentot hut amazingly, and the sweet brown bread, and
+the dinner cooked so cleanly on the bricks in the kitchen.  The
+walls were whitewashed and adorned with wreaths of everlasting
+flowers and some quaint old prints from Loutherburg--pastoral
+subjects, not exactly edifying.
+
+Well, I have prosed unconscionably, so adieu for the present.
+
+February 3d.--Many happy returns of your birthday, dear -.  I had a
+bottle of champagne to drink your health, and partly to swell the
+bill, which these good people make so moderate, that I am half
+ashamed.  I get everything that Caledon can furnish for myself and
+S- for 15l. a month.
+
+On Saturday we got the sad news of Prince Albert's death, and it
+created real consternation here.  What a thoroughly unexpected
+calamity!  Every one is already dressed in deep mourning.  It is
+more general than in a village of the same size at home--(how I
+have caught the colonial trick of always saying 'home' for England!
+Dutchmen who can barely speak English, and never did or will see
+England, equally talk of 'news from home').  It also seems, by the
+papers of the 24th of December, which came by a steamer the other
+day, that war is imminent.  I shall have to wait for convoy, I
+suppose, as I object to walking the plank from a Yankee privateer.
+I shall wait here for the next mail, and then go back to Capetown,
+stopping by the way, so as to get there early in March, and arrange
+for my voyage.  The weather had a relapse into cold, and an attempt
+at rain.  Pity it failed, for the drought is dreadful this year,
+chiefly owing to the unusual quantity of sharp drying winds--a most
+unlucky summer for the country and for me.
+
+My old friend Klein, who told me several instances of the kindness
+and gratitude of former slaves, poured out to me the misery he had
+undergone from the 'ingratitude' of a certain Rosina, a slave-girl
+of his.  She was in her youth handsome, clever, the best
+horsebreaker, bullock-trainer and driver, and hardest worker in the
+district.  She had two children by Klein, then a young fellow; six
+by another white man, and a few more by two husbands of her own
+race!  But she was of a rebellious spirit, and took to drink.
+After the emancipation, she used to go in front of Klein's windows
+and read the statute in a loud voice on every anniversary of the
+day; and as if that did not enrage him enough, she pertinaciously
+(whenever she was a little drunk) kissed him by main force every
+time she met him in the street, exclaiming, 'Aha! when I young and
+pretty slave-girl you make kiss me then; now I ugly, drunk, dirty
+old devil and free woman, I kiss you!'  Frightful retributive
+justice!  I struggled hard to keep my countenance, but the fat old
+fellow's good-humoured, rueful face was too much for me.  His
+tormentor is dead, but he retains a painful impression of her
+'ingratitude '.
+
+Our little Mantatee 'Kleenboy' has again, like Jeshurun, 'waxed fat
+and kicked', as soon as he had eaten enough to be once more plump
+and shiny.  After his hungry period, he took to squatting on the
+stoep, just in front of the hall-door, and altogether declining to
+do anything; so he is superseded by an equally ugly little red-
+headed Englishman.  The Irish housemaid has married the German
+baker (a fine match for her!), and a dour little Scotch
+Presbyterian has come up from Capetown in her place.  Such are the
+vicissitudes of colonial house-keeping!  The only 'permanency' is
+the old soldier of Captain D-'s regiment, who is barman in the
+canteen, and not likely to leave 'his honour', and the coloured
+girl, who improves on acquaintance.  She wants to ingratiate
+herself with me, and get taken to England.  Her father is an
+Englishman, and of course the brown mother and her large family
+always live in the fear of his 'going home' and ignoring their
+existence; a MARRIAGE with the mother of his children would be too
+much degradation for him to submit to.  Few of the coloured people
+are ever married, but they don't separate oftener than REALLY
+married folks.  Bill, the handsome West Indian black, married my
+pretty washerwoman Rosalind, and was thought rather assuming
+because he was asked in church and lawfully married; and she wore a
+handsome lilac silk gown and a white wreath and veil, and very well
+she looked in them.  She had a child of two years old, which did
+not at all disconcert Bill; but he continues to be dignified, and
+won't let her go and wash clothes in the river, because the hot sun
+makes her ill, and it is not fit work for women.
+
+Sunday, 9th.--Last night a dance took place in a house next door to
+this, and a party of boers attempted to go in, but were repulsed by
+a sortie of the young men within.  Some of the more peaceable boers
+came in here and wanted ale, which was refused, as they were
+already very vinous; so they imbibed ginger-beer, whereof one drank
+thirty-four bottles to his own share!  Inspired by this drink, they
+began to quarrel, and were summarily turned out.  They spent the
+whole night, till five this morning, scuffling and vociferating in
+the street.  The constables discreetly stayed in bed, displaying
+the true Dogberry spirit, which leads them to take up Hottentots,
+drunk or sober, to show their zeal, but carefully to avoid meddling
+with stalwart boers, from six to six and a half feet high and
+strong in proportion.  The jabbering of Dutch brings to mind
+Demosthenes trying to outroar a stormy sea with his mouth full of
+pebbles.  The hardest blows are those given with the tongue, though
+much pulling of hair and scuffling takes place.  'Verdomde
+Schmeerlap!'--'Donder and Bliksem! am I a verdomde Schmeerlap?'--
+'Ja, u is,' &c., &c.  I could not help laughing heartily as I lay
+in bed, at hearing the gambols of these Titan cubs; for this is a
+boer's notion of enjoying himself.  This morning, I hear, the
+street was strewn with the hair they had pulled out of each other's
+heads.  All who come here make love to S-; not by describing their
+tender feelings, but by enumerating the oxen, sheep, horses, land,
+money, &c., of which they are possessed, and whereof, by the law of
+this colony, she would become half-owner on marriage.  There is a
+fine handsome Van Steen, who is very persevering; but S- does not
+seem to fancy becoming Mevrouw at all.  The demand for English
+girls as wives is wonderful here.  The nasty cross little ugly
+Scotch maid has had three offers already, in one fortnight!
+
+February 18th.--I expect to receive the letters by the English mail
+to-morrow morning, and to go to Worcester on Thursday.  On Saturday
+the young doctor--good-humoured, jolly, big, young Dutchman--drove
+me, with his pretty little greys, over to two farms; at one I ate
+half a huge melon, and at the other, uncounted grapes.  We poor
+Europeans don't know what fruit CAN BE, I must admit.  The melon
+was a foretaste of paradise, and the grapes made one's fingers as
+sticky as honey, and had a muscat fragrance quite inconceivable.
+They looked like amber eggs.  The best of it is, too, that in this
+climate stomach-aches are not.  We all eat grapes, peaches, and
+figs, all day long.  Old Klein sends me, for my own daily
+consumption, about thirty peaches, three pounds of grapes, and
+apples, pears, and figs besides--'just a little taste of fruits';
+only here they will pick it all unripe.
+
+February 19th.--The post came in late last night, and old Klein
+kindly sent me my letters at near midnight.  The post goes out this
+evening, and the hot wind is blowing, so I can only write to you,
+and a line to my mother.  I feel really better now.  I think the
+constant eating of grapes has done me much good.
+
+The Dutch cart-owner was so extortionate, that I am going to wait a
+few days, and write to my dear Malay to come up and drive me back.
+It is better than having to fight the Dutch monopolist in every
+village, and getting drunken drivers and bad carts after all.  I
+shall go round all the same.  The weather has been beautiful; to-
+day there is a wind, which comes about two or three times in the
+year:  it is not depressing, but hot, and a bore, because one must
+shut every window or be stifled with dust.
+
+The people are burning the veld all about, and the lurid smoke by
+day and flaming hill-sides by night are very striking.  The ashes
+of the Bosh serve as manure for the young grass, which will sprout
+in the autumn rains.  Such nights!  Such a moon!  I walk out after
+dark when it is mild and clear, and can read any print by the
+moonlight, and see the distant landscape as well as by day.
+
+Old Klein has just sent me a haunch of bok, and the skin and hoofs,
+which are pretty.
+
+
+
+LETTER VIII
+
+
+
+Caledon, Sunday.
+
+You must have fallen into second childhood to think of PRINTING
+such rambling hasty scrawls as I write.  I never could write a good
+letter; and unless I gallop as hard as I can, and don't stop to
+think, I can say nothing; so all is confused and unconnected:  only
+I fancy YOU will be amused by some of my 'impressions'.  I have
+written to my mother an accurate account of my health.  I am
+dressed and out of doors never later than six, now the weather
+makes it possible.  It is surprising how little sleep one wants.  I
+go to bed at ten and often am up at four.
+
+I made friends here the other day with a lively dried-up little old
+Irishman, who came out at seven years old a pauper-boy.  He has
+made a fortune by 'going on Togt' (German, Tausch), as thus; he
+charters two waggons, twelve oxen each, and two Hottentots to each
+waggon, leader and driver.  The waggons he fills with cotton,
+hardware, &c., &c.--an ambulatory village 'shop',--and goes about
+fifteen miles a day, on and on, into the far interior, swapping
+baftas (calico), punjums (loose trowsers), and voerschitz (cotton
+gownpieces), pronounced 'foossy', against oxen and sheep.  When all
+is gone he swaps his waggons against more oxen and a horse, and he
+and his four 'totties' drive home the spoil; and he has doubled or
+trebled his venture.  En route home, each day they kill a sheep,
+and eat it ALL.  'What!' says I; 'the whole?'  'Every bit.  I
+always take one leg and the liver for myself, and the totties roast
+the rest, and melt all the fat and entrails down in an iron pot and
+eat it with a wooden spoon.'  Je n'en revenais pas.  'What! the
+whole leg and liver at one meal?'  'Every bit; ay, and you'd do the
+same, ma'am, if you were there.'  No bread, no salt, no nothing--
+mutton and water.  The old fellow was quite poetic and heroic in
+describing the joys and perils of Togt.  I said I should like to go
+too; and he bewailed having settled a year ago in a store at
+Swellendam, 'else he'd ha' fitted up a waggon all nice and snug for
+me, and shown me what going on togt was like.  Nothing like it for
+the health, ma'am; and beautiful shooting.'  My friend had 700l. in
+gold in a carpet bag, without a lock, lying about on the stoep.
+'All right; nobody steals money or such like here.  I'm going to
+pay bills in Capetown.'
+
+Tell my mother that a man would get from 2l. to 4l. a month wages,
+with board, lodging, &c., all found, and his wife from 1l. 10s. to
+2l. a month and everything found, according to abilities and
+testimonials.  Wages are enormous, and servants at famine price;
+emigrant ships are CLEARED OFF in three days, and every ragged
+Irish girl in place somewhere.  Four pounds a month, and food for
+self, husband, and children, is no uncommon pay for a good cook;
+and after all her cookery may be poor enough.  My landlady at
+Capetown gave that.  The housemaid had ONLY 1l. 5s. a month, but
+told me herself she had taken 8l. in one week in 'tips'.  She was
+an excellent servant.  Up country here the wages are less, but the
+comfort greater, and the chances of 'getting on' much increased.
+But I believe Algoa Bay or Grahamstown are by far the best fields
+for new colonists, and (I am assured) the best climate for lung
+diseases.  The wealthy English merchants of Port Elizabeth (Algoa
+Bay) pay best.  It seems to me, as far as I can learn, that every
+really WORKING man or woman can thrive here.
+
+My German host at Houw Hoek came out twenty-three years ago, he
+told me, without a 'heller', and is now the owner of cattle and
+land and horses to a large amount.  But then the Germans work,
+while the Dutch dawdle and the English drink.  'New wine' is a
+penny a glass (half a pint), enough to blow your head off, and
+'Cape smoke' (brandy, like vitriol) ninepence a bottle--that is the
+real calamity.  If the Cape had the grape disease as badly as
+Madeira, it would be the making of the colony.
+
+I received a message from my Malay friends, Abdool Jemaalee and
+Betsy, anxious to know 'if the Misses had good news of her
+children, for bad news would make her sick'.  Old Betsy and I used
+to prose about young Abdurrachman and his studies at Mecca, and
+about my children, with more real heartiness than you can fancy.
+We were not afraid of boring each other; and pious old Abdool sat
+and nodded and said, 'May Allah protect them all!' as a refrain;--
+'Allah, il Allah!'
+
+
+
+LETTER IX
+
+
+
+Caledon, Feb. 21st.
+
+This morning's post brought your packet, and the announcement of an
+extra mail to-night--so I can send you a P.S.  I hear that Capetown
+has been pestilential, and as hot as Calcutta.  It is totally
+undrained, and the Mozambiquers are beginning to object to acting
+as scavengers to each separate house.  The 'vidanges' are more
+barbarous even than in Paris.  Without the south-easter (or 'Cape
+doctor') they must have fevers, &c.; and though too rough a
+practitioner for me, he benefits the general health.  Next month
+the winds abate, but last week an omnibus was blown over on the
+Rondebosch road, which is the most sheltered spot, and inhabited by
+Capetown merchants.  I have received all the Saturday Reviews quite
+safe, likewise the books, Mendelssohn's letters, and the novel.  I
+have written for my dear Choslullah to fetch me.  The Dutch farmers
+don't know how to charge enough; moreover, the Hottentot drivers
+get drunk, and for two lone women that is not the thing.  I pay my
+gentle Malay thirty shillings a day, which, for a cart and four and
+such a jewel of a driver, is not outrageous; and I had better pay
+that for the few days I wait on the road, than risk bad carts,
+tipsy Hottentots, and extortionate boers.
+
+This intermediate country between the 'Central African wilderness'
+and Capetown has been little frequented.  I went to the Church
+Mission School with the English clergyman yesterday.  You know I
+don't believe in every kind of missionaries, but I do believe that,
+in these districts, kind, judicious English clergymen are of great
+value.  The Dutch pastors still remember the distinction between
+'Christenmenschen' and 'Hottentoten'; but the Church Mission
+Schools teach the Anglican Catechism to every child that will
+learn, and the congregation is as piebald as Harlequin's jacket.  A
+pretty, coloured lad, about eleven years old, answered my questions
+in geography with great quickness and some wit.  I said, 'Show me
+the country you belong to.'  He pointed to England, and when I
+laughed, to the cape.  'This is where we are, but that is the
+country I BELONG TO.'  I asked him how we were governed, and he
+answered quite right.  'How is the Cape governed?'  'Oh, we have a
+Parliament too, and Mr. Silberbauer is the man WE send.'  Boys and
+girls of all ages were mixed, but no blacks.  I don't think they
+will learn, except on compulsion, as at Gnadenthal.
+
+I regret to say that Bill's wife has broken his head with a bottle,
+at the end of the honeymoon.  I fear the innovation of being
+MARRIED AT CHURCH has not had a good effect, and that his
+neighbours may quote Mr. Peachum.
+
+I was offered a young lion yesterday, but I hardly think it would
+be an agreeable addition to the household at Esher.
+
+I hear that Worcester, Paarl, and Stellenbosch are beautiful, and
+the road very desolate and grand:  one mountain pass takes six
+hours to cross.  I should not return to Capetown so early, but poor
+Captain J- has had his leg smashed and amputated, so I must look
+out for myself in the matter of ships.  Whenever it is hot, I am
+well, for the heat here is so LIGHT and dry.  The wind tries me,
+but we have little here compared to the coast.  I hope that the
+voyage home will do me still more good; but I will not sail till
+April, so as to arrive in June.  May, in the Channel, would not do.
+
+How I wish I could send you the fruit now on my table--amber-
+coloured grapes, yellow waxen apples streaked with vermillion in
+fine little lines, huge peaches, and tiny green figs!  I must send
+dear old Klein a little present from England, to show that I don't
+forget my Dutch adorer.  I wish I could bring you the 'Biltong ' he
+sent me--beef or bok dried in the sun in strips, and slightly
+salted; you may carry enough in your pocket to live on for a
+fortnight, and it is very good as a little 'relish'.  The
+partridges also have been welcome, and we shall eat the tiny haunch
+of bok to-day.
+
+Mrs. D- is gone to Capetown to get servants (the Scotch girl having
+carried on her amours too flagrantly), and will return in my cart.
+S- is still keeping house meanwhile, much perturbed by the placid
+indolence of the brown girl.  The stableman cooks, and very well
+too.  This is colonial life--a series of makeshifts and
+difficulties; but the climate is fine, people feel well and make
+money, and I think it is not an unhappy life.  I have been most
+fortunate in my abode, and can say, without speaking cynically,
+that I have found 'my warmest welcome at an inn'.  Mine host is a
+rough soldier, but the very soul of good nature and good feeling;
+and his wife is a very nice person--so cheerful, clever, and
+kindhearted.
+
+I should like to bring home the little Madagascar girl from
+Rathfelders, or a dear little mulatto who nurses a brown baby here,
+and is so clean and careful and 'pretty behaved',--but it would be
+a great risk.  The brown babies are ravishing--so fat and jolly and
+funny.
+
+One great charm of the people here is, that no one expects money or
+gifts, and that all civility is gratis.  Many a time I finger small
+coin secretly in my pocket, and refrain from giving it, for fear of
+spoiling this innocence.  I have not once seen a LOOK implying
+'backsheesh', and begging is unknown.  But the people are reserved
+and silent, and have not the attractive manners of the darkies of
+Capetown and the neighbourhood.
+
+
+
+LETTER X
+
+
+
+Caledon, Feb. 22d.
+
+Yesterday Captain D- gave me a very nice caross of blessbok skins,
+which he got from some travelling trader.  The excellence of the
+Caffre skin-dressing and sewing is, I fancy, unequalled; the bok-
+skins are as soft as a kid glove, and have no smell at all.
+
+In the afternoon the young doctor drove me, in his little gig-cart
+and pair (the lightest and swiftest of conveyances), to see a wine-
+farm.  The people were not at work, but we saw the tubs and vats,
+and drank 'most'.  The grapes are simply trodden by a Hottentot, in
+a tub with a sort of strainer at the bottom, and then thrown--
+skins, stalks, and all--into vats, where the juice ferments for
+twice twenty-four hours; after which it is run into casks, which
+are left with the bung out for eight days; then the wine is drawn
+off into another cask, a little sulphur and brandy are added to it,
+and it is bunged down.  Nothing can be conceived so barbarous.  I
+have promised Mr. M- to procure and send him an exact account of
+the process in Spain.  It might be a real service to a most worthy
+and amiable man.  Dr. M- also would be glad of a copy.  They
+literally know nothing about wine-making here, and with such
+matchless grapes I am sure it ought to be good.  Altogether, 'der
+alte Schlendrian' prevails at the Cape to an incredible degree.
+
+If two 'Heeren M-' call on you, please be civil to them.  I don't
+know them personally, but their brother is the doctor here, and the
+most good-natured young fellow I ever saw.  If I were returning by
+Somerset instead of Worcester, I might put up at their parents'
+house and be sure of a welcome; and I can tell you civility to
+strangers is by no means of course here.  I don't wonder at it; for
+the old Dutch families ARE GENTLEFOLKS of the good dull old school,
+and the English colonists can scarcely suit them.  In the few
+instances in which I have succeeded in thawing a Dutchman, I have
+found him wonderfully good-natured; and the different manner in
+which I was greeted when in company with the young doctor showed
+the feeling at once.  The dirt of a Dutch house is not to be
+conceived.  I have had sights in bedrooms in very respectable
+houses which I dare not describe.  The coloured people are just as
+clean.  The young doctor (who is much Anglicised) tells me that, in
+illness, he has to break the windows in the farmhouses--they are
+built not to open!  The boers are below the English in manners and
+intelligence, and hate them for their 'go-ahead' ways, though THEY
+seem slow enough to me.  As to drink, I fancy it is six of one and
+half a dozen of the other; but the English are more given to
+eternal drams, and the Dutch to solemn drinking bouts.  I can't
+understand either, in this climate, which is so stimulating, that I
+more often drink ginger-beer or water than wine--a bottle of sherry
+lasted me a fortnight, though I was ordered to drink it; somehow, I
+had no mind to it.
+
+27th.--The cart could not be got till the day before yesterday, and
+yesterday Mrs. D- arrived in it with two new Irish maids; it saved
+her 3l., and I must have paid equally.  The horses were very tired,
+having been hard at work carrying Malays all the week to Constantia
+and back, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of a Mussulman saint; so to-
+day they rest, and to-morrow I go to Villiersdorp.  Choslullah has
+been appointed driver of a post-cart; he tried hard to be allowed
+to pay a remplacant, and to fetch 'his missis', but was refused
+leave; and so a smaller and blacker Malay has come, whom Choslullah
+threatened to curse heavily if he failed to take great care of 'my
+missis' and be a 'good boy'.  Ramadan begins on Sunday, and my poor
+driver can't even prepare for it by a good feast, as no fowls are
+to be had here just now, and he can't eat profanely-killed meat.
+Some pious Christian has tried to burn a Mussulman martyr's tomb at
+Eerste River, and there were fears the Malays might indulge in a
+little revenge; but they keep quiet.  I am to go with my driver to
+eat some of the feast (of Bairam, is it not?) at his priest's when
+Ramadan ends, if I am in Capetown, and also am asked to a wedding
+at a relation of Choslullah's.  It was quite a pleasure to hear the
+kindly Mussulman talk, after these silent Hottentots.  The Malays
+have such agreeable manners; so civil, without the least cringing
+or Indian obsequiousness.  I dare say they can be very 'insolent'
+on provocation; but I have always found among them manners like
+old-fashioned French ones, but quieter; and they have an
+affectionate way of saying 'MY missis' when they know one, which is
+very nice to hear.  It is getting quite chilly here already; COLD
+night and morning; and I shall be glad to descend off this plateau
+into the warmer regions of Worcester, &c.  I have just bought EIGHT
+splendid ostrich feathers for 1l. of my old Togthandler friend.  In
+England they would cost from eighteen to twenty-five shillings
+each.  I have got a reebok and a klipspringer skin for you; the
+latter makes a saddle-cloth which defies sore backs; they were
+given me by Klein and a farmer at Palmiet River.  The flesh was
+poor stuff, white and papery.  The Hottentots can't 'bray' the
+skins as the Caffres do; and the woman who did mine asked me for a
+trifle beforehand, and got so drunk that she let them dry halfway
+in the process, consequently they don't look so well.
+
+Worcester, Sunday, March 2d.
+
+Oh, such a journey!  Such country!  Pearly mountains and deep blue
+sky, and an impassable pass to walk down, and baboons, and
+secretary birds, and tortoises!  I couldn't sleep for it all last
+night, tired as I was with the unutterably bad road, or track
+rather.
+
+Well, we left Caledon on Friday, at ten o'clock, and though the
+weather had been cold and unpleasant for two days, I had a lovely
+morning, and away we went to Villiersdorp (pronounced Filjeesdorp).
+It is quite a tiny village, in a sort of Rasselas-looking valley.
+We were four hours on the road, winding along the side of a
+mountain ridge, which we finally crossed, with a splendid view of
+the sea at the far-distant end of a huge amphitheatre formed by two
+ridges of mountains, and on the other side the descent into
+Filjeesdorp.  The whole way we saw no human being or habitation,
+except one shepherd, from the time we passed Buntje's kraal, about
+two miles out of Caledon.  The little drinking-shop would not hold
+travellers, so I went to the house of the storekeeper (as the
+clergyman of Caledon had told me I might), and found a most kind
+reception.  Our host was English, an old man-of-war's man, with a
+gentle, kindly Dutch wife, and the best-mannered children I have
+seen in the colony.  They gave us clean comfortable beds and a good
+dinner, and wine ten years in the cellar; in short, the best of
+hospitality.  I made an effort to pay for the entertainment next
+morning, when, after a good breakfast, we started loaded with
+fruit, but the kind people would not hear of it, and bid me good-
+bye like old friends.  At the end of the valley we went a little
+up-hill, and then found ourselves at the top of a pass down into
+the level below.  S- and I burst out with one voice, 'How
+beautiful!'  Sabaal, our driver, thought the exclamation was an
+ironical remark on the road, which, indeed, appeared to be
+exclusively intended for goats.  I suggested walking down, to
+which, for a wonder, the Malay agreed.  I was really curious to see
+him get down with two wheels and four horses, where I had to lay
+hold from time to time in walking.  The track was excessively
+steep, barely wide enough, and as slippery as a flagstone pavement,
+being the naked mountain-top, which is bare rock.  However, all
+went perfectly right.
+
+How shall I describe the view from that pass?  In front was a long,
+long level valley, perhaps three to five miles broad (I can't judge
+distance in this atmosphere; a house that looks a quarter of a mile
+off is two miles distant).  At the extreme end, in a little gap
+between two low brown hills that crossed each other, one could just
+see Worcester--five hours' drive off.  Behind it, and on each side
+the plain, mountains of every conceivable shape and colour; the
+strangest cliffs and peaks and crags toppling every way, and tinged
+with all the colours of opal; chiefly delicate, pale lilac and
+peach colour, but varied with red brown and Titian green.  In spite
+of the drought, water sparkled on the mountain-sides in little
+glittering threads, and here and there in the plain; and pretty
+farms were dotted on either side at the very bottom of the slopes
+toward the mountain-foot.  The sky of such a blue! (it is deeper
+now by far than earlier in the year).  In short, I never did see
+anything so beautiful.  It even surpassed Hottentot's Holland.  On
+we went, straight along the valley, crossing drift after drift;--a
+drift is the bed of a stream more or less dry; in which sometimes
+you are drowned, sometimes only POUNDED, as was our hap.  The track
+was incredibly bad, except for short bits, where ironstone
+prevailed.  However, all went well, and on the road I chased and
+captured a pair of remarkably swift and handsome little
+'Schelpats'.  That you may duly appreciate such a feat of valour
+and activity, I will inform you that their English name is
+'tortoise'.  On the strength of this effort, we drank a bottle of
+beer, as it was very hot and sandy; and our Malay was a WET enough
+Mussulman to take his full share in a modest way, though he
+declined wine or 'Cape smoke Soopjes' (drams) with aversion.  No
+sooner had we got under weigh again, than Sabaal pulled up and
+said, 'There ARE the Baviaans Missis want to see!' and so they
+were.  At some distance by the river was a great brute, bigger than
+a Newfoundland dog, stalking along with the hideous baboon walk,
+and tail vehemently cocked up; a troop followed at a distance,
+hiding and dodging among the palmiets.  They were evidently en
+route to rob a garden close to them, and had sent a great stout
+fellow ahead to reconnoitre.  'He see Missis, and feel sure she not
+got a gun; if man come on horseback, you see 'em run like devil.'
+We had not that pleasure, and left them, on felonious thoughts
+intent.
+
+The road got more and more beautiful as we neared Worcester, and
+the mountains grew higher and craggier.  Presently, a huge bird,
+like a stork on the wing, pounced down close by us.  He was a
+secretary-bird, and had caught sight of a snake.  We passed 'Brant
+Vley' (burnt or hot spring), where sulphur-water bubbles up in a
+basin some thirty feet across and ten or twelve deep.  The water is
+clear as crystal, and is hot enough just NOT to boil an egg, I was
+told.  At last, one reaches the little gap between the brown hills
+which one has seen for four hours, and drives through it into a
+wide, wide flat, with still craggier and higher mountains all
+round, and Worcester in front at the foot of a towering cliff.  The
+town is not so pretty, to my taste, as the little villages.  The
+streets are too wide, and the market-place too large, which always
+looks dreary, but the houses and gardens individually are charming.
+Our inn is a very nice handsome old Dutch house; but we have got
+back to 'civilization', and the horrid attempts at 'style' which
+belong to Capetown.  The landlord and lady are too genteel to
+appear at all, and the Hottentots, who are disguised, according to
+their sexes, in pantry jacket and flounced petticoat, don't
+understand a word of English or of real Dutch.  At Gnadenthal they
+understood Dutch, and spoke it tolerably; but here, as in most
+places, it is three-parts Hottentot; and then they affect to
+understand English, and bring everything wrong, and are sulky:  but
+the rooms are very comfortable.  The change of climate is complete-
+-the summer was over at Caledon, and here we are into it again--the
+most delicious air one can conceive; it must have been a perfect
+oven six weeks ago.  The birds are singing away merrily still; the
+approach of autumn does not silence them here.  The canaries have a
+very pretty song, like our linnet, only sweeter; the rest are very
+inferior to ours.  The sugar-bird is delicious when close by, but
+his pipe is too soft to be heard at any distance.
+
+To those who think voyages and travels tiresome, my delight in the
+new birds and beasts and people must seem very stupid.  I can't
+help it if it does, and am not ashamed to confess that I feel the
+old sort of enchanted wonder with which I used to read Cook's
+voyages, and the like, as a child.  It is very coarse and
+unintellectual of me; but I would rather see this now, at my age,
+than Italy; the fresh, new, beautiful nature is a second youth--or
+CHILDHOOD--si vous voulez.  To-morrow we shall cross the highest
+pass I have yet crossed, and sleep at Paarl--then Stellenbosch,
+then Capetown.  For any one OUT of health, and IN pocket, I should
+certainly prescribe the purchase of a waggon and team of six
+horses, and a long, slow progress in South Africa.  One cannot walk
+in the midday sun, but driving with a very light roof over one's
+head is quite delicious.  When I looked back upon my dreary, lonely
+prison at Ventnor, I wondered I had survived it at all.
+
+Capetown, March 7th.
+
+After writing last, we drove out, on Sunday afternoon, to a deep
+alpine valley, to see a NEW BRIDGE--a great marvel apparently.  The
+old Spanish Joe Miller about selling the bridge to buy water
+occurred to me, and made Sabaal laugh immensely.  The Dutch farmers
+were tearing home from Kerk, in their carts--well-dressed,
+prosperous-looking folks, with capital horses.  Such lovely farms,
+snugly nestled in orange and pomegranate groves!  It is of no use
+to describe this scenery; it is always mountains, and always
+beautiful opal mountains; quite without the gloom of European
+mountain scenery.  The atmosphere must make the charm.  I hear that
+an English traveller went the same journey and found all barren
+from Dan to Beersheba.  I'm sorry for him.
+
+In the morning of Sunday, early, I walked along the road with
+Sabaal, and saw a picture I shall never forget.  A little Malabar
+girl had just been bathing in the Sloot, and had put her scanty
+shift on her lovely little wet brown body; she stood in the water
+with the drops glittering on her brown skin and black, satin hair,
+the perfection of youthful loveliness--a naiad of ten years old.
+When the shape and features are PERFECT, as hers were, the coffee-
+brown shows it better than our colour, on account of its perfect
+EVENNESS--like the dead white of marble.  I shall never forget her
+as she stood playing with the leaves of the gum-tree which hung
+over her, and gazing with her glorious eyes so placidly.
+
+On Monday morning, I walked off early to the old Drosdy
+(Landdrost's house), found an old gentleman, who turned out to be
+the owner, and who asked me my name and all the rest of the Dutch
+'litanei' of questions, and showed me the pretty old Dutch garden
+and the house--a very handsome one.  I walked back to breakfast,
+and thought Worcester the prettiest place I had ever seen.  We then
+started for Paarl, and drove through 'Bain's Kloof', a splendid
+mountain-pass, four hours' long, constant driving.  It was
+glorious, but more like what one had seen in pictures--a deep,
+narrow gorge, almost dark in places, and, to my mind, lacked the
+BEAUTY of the yesterday's drive, though it is, perhaps, grander;
+but the view which bursts on one at the top, and the descent,
+winding down the open mountain-side, is too fine to describe.
+Table Mountain, like a giant's stronghold, seen far distant, with
+an immense plain, half fertile, half white sand; to the left,
+Wagenmaker's Vley; and further on, the Paarl lying scattered on the
+slope of a mountain topped with two DOMES, just the shape of the
+cup which Lais (wasn't it?) presented to the temple of Venus,
+moulded on her breast.  The horses were tired, so we stopped at
+Waggon-maker's Valley (or Wellington, as the English try to get it
+called), and found ourselves in a true Flemish village, and under
+the roof of a jolly Dutch hostess, who gave us divine coffee and
+bread-and-butter, which seemed ambrosia after being deprived of
+those luxuries for almost three months.  Also new milk in
+abundance, besides fruit of all kinds in vast heaps, and
+pomegranates off the tree.  I asked her to buy me a few to take in
+the cart, and got a 'muid', the third of a sack, for a shilling,
+with a bill, 'U bekomt 1 muid 28 granaeten dat Kostet 1s.'  The old
+lady would walk out with me and take me into the shops, to show the
+'vrow uit Engelland' to her friends.  It was a lovely place,
+intensely hot, all glowing with sunshine.  Then the sun went down,
+and the high mountains behind us were precisely the colour of a
+Venice ruby glass--really, truly, and literally;--not purple, not
+crimson, but glowing ruby-red--and the quince-hedges and orange-
+trees below looked INTENSELY green, and the houses snow-white.  It
+was a transfiguration--no less.
+
+I saw Hottentots again, four of them, from some remote corner, so
+the race is not quite extinct.  These were youngish, two men and
+two women, quite light yellow, not darker than Europeans, and with
+little tiny black knots of wool scattered over their heads at
+intervals.  They are hideous in face, but exquisitely shaped--very,
+very small though.  One of the men was drunk, poor wretch, and
+looked the picture of misery.  You can see the fineness of their
+senses by the way in which they dart their glances and prick their
+ears.  Every one agrees that, when tamed, they make the best of
+servants--gentle, clever, and honest; but the penny-a-glass wine
+they can't resist, unless when caught and tamed young.  They work
+in the fields, or did so as long as any were left; but even here, I
+was told, it was a wonder to see them.
+
+We went on through the Paarl, a sweet pretty place, reminding one
+vaguely of Bonchurch, and still through fine mountains, with Scotch
+firs growing like Italian stone pines, and farms, and vineyard upon
+vineyard.  At Stellenbosch we stopped.  I had been told it was the
+prettiest town in the colony, and it IS very pretty, with oak-trees
+all along the street, like those at Paarl and Wagenmakkers Vley;
+but I was disappointed.  It was less beautiful than what I had
+seen.  Besides, the evening was dull and cold.  The south-easter
+greeted us here, and I could not go out all the afternoon.  The inn
+was called 'Railway Hotel', and kept by low coarse English people,
+who gave us a filthy dinner, dirty sheets, and an atrocious
+breakfast, and charged 1l. 3s. 6d. for the same meals and time as
+old Vrow Langfeldt had charged 12s. for, and had given civility,
+cleanliness, and abundance of excellent food;--besides which, she
+fed Sabaal gratis, and these people fleeced him as they did me.
+So, next morning, we set off, less pleasantly disposed, for
+Capetown, over the flat, which is dreary enough, and had a horrid
+south-easter.  We started early, and got in before the wind became
+a hurricane, which it did later.  We were warmly welcomed by Mrs.
+R-; and here I am in my old room, looking over the beautiful bay,
+quite at home again.  It blew all yesterday, and having rather a
+sore-throat I stayed in bed, and to-day is all bright and
+beautiful.  But Capetown looks murky after Caledon and Worcester;
+there is, to my eyes, quite a haze over the mountains, and they
+look far off and indistinct.  All is comparative in this world,
+even African skies.  At Caledon, the most distant mountains, as far
+as your eye can reach, look as clear in every detail as the map on
+your table--an appearance utterly new to European eyes.
+
+I gave Sabaal 1l. for his eight days' service as driver, as a
+Drinkgelt, and the worthy fellow was in ecstasies of gratitude.
+Next morning early, he appeared with a present of bananas, and his
+little girl dressed from head to foot in brand-new clothes, bought
+out of my money, with her wool screwed up extremely tight in little
+knots on her black little head (evidently her mother is the
+blackest of Caffres or Mozambiques).  The child looked like a
+Caffre, and her father considers her quite a pearl.  I had her in,
+and admired the little thing loud enough for him to hear outside,
+as I lay in bed.  You see, I too was to have my share in the
+pleasure of the new clothes.  This readiness to believe that one
+will sympathize with them, is very pleasing in the Malays.
+
+March 15.
+
+I went to see my old Malay friends and to buy a water-melon.  They
+were in all the misery of Ramadan.  Betsy and pretty Nassirah very
+thin and miserable, and the pious old Abdool sitting on a little
+barrel waiting for 'gun-fire'--i.e. sunset, to fall to on the
+supper which old Betsy was setting out.  He was silent, and the
+corners of his mouth were drawn down just like -'s at an evening
+party.
+
+I shall go to-morrow to bid the T-s good-bye, at Wynberg.  I was to
+have spent a few days there, but Wynberg is cold at night and
+dampish, so I declined that.  She is a nice woman--Irish, and so
+innocent and frank and well-bred.  She has been at Cold Bokke Veld,
+and shocked her puritanical host by admiring the naked Caffres who
+worked on his farm.  He wanted them to wear clothes.
+
+We have been amused by the airs of a naval captain and his wife,
+who are just come here.  They complained that the merchant-service
+officers spoke FAMILIARLY to their children on board.  Quel audace!
+When I think of the excellent, modest, manly young fellows who
+talked very familiarly and pleasantly to me on board the St.
+Lawrence, I long to reprimand these foolish people.
+
+Friday, 21st.--I am just come from prayer, at the Mosque in
+Chiappini Street, on the outskirts of the town.  A most striking
+sight.  A large room, like a county ball-room, with glass
+chandeliers, carpeted with common carpet, all but a space at the
+entrance, railed off for shoes; the Caaba and pulpit at one end;
+over the niche, a crescent painted; and over the entrance door a
+crescent, an Arabic inscription, and the royal arms of England!  A
+fat jolly Mollah looked amazed as I ascended the steps; but when I
+touched my forehead and said, 'Salaam Aleikoom', he laughed and
+said, 'Salaam, Salaam, come in, come in.'  The faithful poured in,
+all neatly dressed in their loose drab trousers, blue jackets, and
+red handkerchiefs on their heads; they left their wooden clogs in
+company, with my shoes, and proceeded, as it appeared, to strip.
+Off went jackets, waistcoats, and trousers, with the dexterity of a
+pantomime transformation; the red handkerchief was replaced by a
+white skullcap, and a long large white shirt and full white drawers
+flowed around them.  How it had all been stuffed into the trim
+jacket and trousers, one could not conceive.  Gay sashes and
+scarves were pulled out of a little bundle in a clean silk
+handkerchief, and a towel served as prayer-carpet.  In a moment the
+whole scene was as oriental as if the Hansom cab I had come in
+existed no more.  Women suckled their children, and boys played
+among the clogs and shoes all the time, and I sat on the floor in a
+remote corner.  The chanting was very fine, and the whole ceremony
+very decorous and solemn.  It lasted an hour; and then the little
+heaps of garments were put on, and the congregation dispersed, each
+man first laying a penny on a very curious little old Dutch-
+looking, heavy, iron-bound chest, which stood in the middle of the
+room.
+
+I have just heard that the post closes to-night and must say
+farewell--a rivederci.
+
+
+
+LETTER XI
+
+
+
+Capetown, March 20th.
+
+Dearest mother,
+
+Dr. Shea says he fears I must not winter in England yet, but that I
+am greatly improved--as, indeed, I could tell him.  He is another
+of the kind 'sea doctors' I have met with; he came all the way from
+Simon's Bay to see me, and then said, 'What nonsense is that?' when
+I offered him a fee.  This is a very nice place up in the
+'gardens', quite out of the town and very comfortable.  But I
+regret Caledon.  A- will show you my account of my beautiful
+journey back.  Worcester is a fairy-land; and then to catch
+tortoises walking about, and to see 'baviaans', and snakes and
+secretary birds eating them! and then people have the impudence to
+think I must have been 'very dull!'  Sie merken's nicht, that it is
+THEY who are dull.
+
+Dear Dr. Hawtrey! he must have died just as I was packing up the
+first Caffre Testament for him!  I felt his death very much, in
+connexion with my father; their regard for each other was an honour
+to both.  I have the letter he wrote me on J-'s marriage, and a
+charming one it is.
+
+I took Mrs. A- a drive in a Hansom cab to-day out to Wynberg, to
+see my friends Captain and Mrs. T-, who have a cottage under Table
+Mountain in a spot like the best of St. George's Hill.  Very dull
+too; but as she is really a lady, it suits her, and Capetown does
+not.  I was to have stayed with them, but Wynberg is cold at night.
+Poor B-'s wife is very ill and won't leave Capetown for a day.  The
+people here are wunderlich for that.  A lady born here, and with
+7,000l. a year, has never been further than Stellenbosch, about
+twenty miles.  I am asked how I lived and what I ate during my
+little excursion, as if I had been to Lake Ngami.  If only I had
+known how easy it all is, I would have gone by sea to East London
+and seen the Knysna and George district, and the primaeval African
+forest, the yellow wood, and other giant trees.  However, 'For what
+I have received,' &c., &c.  No one can conceive what it is, after
+two years of prison and utter languor, to stand on the top of a
+mountain pass, and enjoy physical existence for a few hours at a
+time.  I felt as if it was quite selfish to enjoy anything so much
+when you were all so anxious about me at home; but as that is the
+best symptom of all, I do not repent.
+
+S- has been an excellent travelling servant, and really a better
+companion than many more educated people; for she is always amused
+and curious, and is friendly with the coloured people.  She is
+quite recovered.  It is a wonderful climate--sans que cela
+paraisse.  It feels chilly and it blows horridly, and does not seem
+genial, but it gives new life.
+
+To-morrow I am going with old Abdool Jemaalee to prayers at the
+Mosque, and shall see a school kept by a Malay priest.  It is now
+Ramadan,. and my Muslim friends are very thin and look glum.
+Choslullah sent a message to ask, 'Might he see the Missis once
+more?  He should pray all the time she was on the sea.'  Some pious
+Christians here would expect such horrors to sink the ship.  I
+can't think why Mussulmans are always gentlemen; the Malay coolies
+have a grave courtesy which contrasts most strikingly with both
+European vulgarity and negro jollity.  It is very curious, for they
+only speak Dutch, and know nothing of oriental manners.  I fear I
+shall not see the Walkers again.  Simon's Bay is too far to go and
+come in a day, as one cannot go out before ten or eleven, and must
+be in by five or half-past.  Those hours are gloriously bright and
+hot, but morning and night are cold.
+
+I am so happy in the thought of sailing now so very soon and seeing
+you all again, that I can settle to nothing for five minutes.  I
+now feel how anxious and uneasy I have been, and how I shall
+rejoice to get home.  I shall leave a letter for A-, to go in
+April, and tell him and you what ship I am in.  I shall choose the
+SLOWEST, so as not to reach England and face the Channel before
+June, if possible.  So don't be alarmed if I do not arrive till
+late in June.  Till then good-bye, and God bless you, dearest
+mother--Auf frohes Wiedersehn.
+
+
+
+LETTER XII
+
+
+
+Capetown, Sunday, March 23d.
+
+It has been a REAL hot day, and threatened an earthquake and a
+thunderstorm; but nothing has come of it beyond sheet lightning to-
+night, which is splendid over the bay, and looks as if repeated in
+a grand bush-fire on the hills opposite.  The sunset was glorious.
+That rarest of insects, the praying mantis, has just dropped upon
+my paper.  I am thankful that, not being an entomologist, I am
+dispensed from the sacred duty of impaling the lovely green
+creature who sits there, looking quite wise and human.  Fussy
+little brown beetles, as big as two lady-birds, keep flying into my
+eyes, and the musquitoes are rejoicing loudly in the prospect of a
+feast.  You will understand by this that both windows are wide open
+into the great verandah,--very unusual in this land of cold nights.
+
+April 4th.--I have been trying in vain to get a passage home.  The
+Camperdown has not come.  In short, I am waiting for a chance
+vessel, and shall pack up now and be ready to go on board at a
+day's notice.
+
+I went on the last evening of Ramadan to the Mosque, having heard
+there was a grand 'function'; but there were only little boys lying
+about on the floor, some on their stomachs, some on their backs,
+higgledy-piggledy (if it be not profane to apply the phrase to
+young Islam), all shouting their prayers a tue tete.  Priests, men,
+women, and English crowded in and out in the exterior division.
+The English behaved a l'Anglaise--pushed each other, laughed,
+sneered, and made a disgusting display of themselves.  I asked a
+stately priest, in a red turban, to explain the affair to me, and
+in a few minutes found myself supplied by one Mollah with a chair,
+and by another with a cup of tea--was, in short, in the midst of a
+Malay soiree.  They spoke English very little, but made up for it
+by their usual good breeding and intelligence.  On Monday, I am
+going to see the school which the priest keeps at his house, and to
+'honour his house by my presence'.  The delight they show at any
+friendly interest taken in them is wonderful.  Of course, I am
+supposed to be poisoned.  A clergyman's widow here gravely asserts
+that her husband went mad THREE YEARS after drinking a cup of
+coffee handed to him by a Malay!--and in consequence of drinking
+it!  It is exactly like the mediaeval feeling about the Jews.  I
+saw that it was quite a DEMONSTRATION that I drank up the tea
+unhesitatingly.  Considering that the Malays drank it themselves,
+my courage deserves less admiration.  But it was a quaint sensation
+to sit in a Mosque, behaving as if at an evening party, in a little
+circle of poor Moslim priests.
+
+I am going to have a photograph of my cart done.  I was to have
+gone to the place to-day, but when Choslullah (whom I sent for to
+complete the picture) found out what I wanted, he implored me to
+put it off till Monday, that he might be better dressed, and was so
+unhappy at the notion of being immortalized in an old jacket, that
+I agreed to the delay.  Such a handsome fellow may be allowed a
+little vanity.
+
+The colony is torn with dissensions as to Sunday trains.  Some of
+the Dutch clergy are even more absurd than our own on that point.
+A certain Van der Lingen, at Stellenbosch, calls Europe 'one vast
+Sodom', and so forth.  There is altogether a nice kettle of
+religious hatred brewing here.  The English Bishop of Capetown
+appoints all the English clergy, and is absolute monarch of all he
+surveys; and he and his clergy are carrying matters with a high
+hand.  The Bishop's chaplain told Mrs. J- that she could not hope
+for salvation in the Dutch Church, since her clergy were not
+ordained by any bishop, and therefore they could only administer
+the sacrament 'unto damnation'.  All the physicians in a body,
+English as well as Dutch, have withdrawn from the Dispensary,
+because it was used as a means of pressure to draw the coloured
+people from the Dutch to the English Church.
+
+This High-Church tyranny cannot go on long.  Catholics there are
+few, but their bishop plays the same game; and it is a losing one.
+The Irish maid at the Caledon inn was driven by her bishop to be
+married at the Lutheran church, just as a young Englishman I know
+(though a fervent Puseyite) was driven to be married at the Scotch
+kirk.  The colonial bishops are despots in their own churches, and
+there is no escape from their tyranny but by dissent.  The Admiral
+and his family have been anathematized for going to a fancy bazaar
+given by the Wesleyans for their chapel.
+
+April 8th.--Yesterday, I failed about my cart photograph.  First,
+the owner had sent away the cart, and when Choslullah came dressed
+in all his best clothes, with a lovely blue handkerchief setting
+off his beautiful orange-tawny face, he had to rush off to try to
+borrow another cart.  As ill luck would have it, he met a 'serious
+young man', with no front teeth, and a hideous wen on his eyebrow,
+who informed the priest of Choslullah's impious purpose, and came
+with him to see that he did NOT sit for his portrait.  I believe it
+was half envy; for my handsome driver was as pleased, and then as
+disappointed, as a young lady about her first ball, and obviously
+had no religious scruples of his own on the subject.  The weather
+is very delightful now--hot, but beautiful; and the south-easters,
+though violent, are short, and not cold.  As in all other
+countries, autumn is the best time of year.
+
+April 15th.--Your letters arrived yesterday, to my great delight.
+I have been worrying about a ship, and was very near sailing to-day
+by the Queen of the South at twenty-four hours' notice, but I have
+resolved to wait for the Camperdown.  The Queen of the South is a
+steamer,--which is odious, for they pitch the coal all over the
+lower deck, so that you breathe coal-dust for the first ten days;
+then she was crammed--only one cabin vacant, and that small, and on
+the lower deck--and fifty-two children on board.  Moreover, she
+will probably get to England too soon, so I resign myself to wait.
+The Camperdown has only upper-deck cabins, and I shall have fresh
+air.  I am not as well as I was at Caledon, so I am all the more
+anxious to have a voyage likely to do me good instead of harm.
+
+I got my cart and Choslullah photographed after all.  Choslullah
+came next day (having got rid of his pious friend), quite resolved
+that 'the Missis' should take his portrait, so I will send or bring
+a few copies of my beloved cart.  After the photograph was done, we
+drove round the Kloof, between Table and Lion Mountain.  The road
+is cut on the side of Lion Mountain, and overhangs the sea at a
+great height.  Camp Bay, which lies on the further side of the
+'Lion's Head', is most lovely; never was sea so deeply blue, rocks
+so warmly brown, or sand and foam so glittering white; and down at
+the mountain-foot the bright green of the orange and pomegranate
+trees throws it all out in greater relief.  But the atmosphere here
+won't do after that of the 'Ruggings', as the Caledon line of
+country is called.  I shall never lose the impression of the view I
+had when Dr. Morkel drove me out on a hill-side, where the view
+seemed endless and without a vestige of life; and yet in every
+valley there were farms; but it looked a vast, utter solitude, and
+without the least haze.  You don't know what that utter clearness
+means--the distinctness is quite awful.  Here it is always slightly
+hazy; very pretty and warm, but it takes off from the grandeur.  It
+is the difference between a pretty Pompadour beauty and a Greek
+statue.  Those pale opal mountains, as distinct in every detail as
+the map on your table, are so cheerful and serene; no melodramatic
+effects of clouds and gloom.  I suppose it is not really so
+beautiful as it seemed to me, for other people say it is bare and
+desolate, and certainly it is; but it seemed to me anything but
+dreary.
+
+I am persuaded that Capetown is not healthy; indeed, the town can't
+be, from its stench and dirt; but I believe the whole seashore is
+more or less bad, compared to the upper plateaux, of which I know
+only the first.  I should have gone back to Paarl, only that ships
+come and go within twenty-four hours, so one has the pleasure of
+living in constant expectation, with packed trunks, wondering when
+one shall get away.  A clever Mr. M-, who has lived ALL OVER India,
+and is going back to Singapore, with his wife and child, are now in
+the house; and some very pleasant Jews, bound for British
+Caffraria--one of them has a lovely little wife and three children.
+She is very full of Prince Albert's death, and says there was not a
+dry eye in the synagogues in London, which were all hung with black
+on the day of his funeral, and prayer went on the whole day.  'THE
+PEOPLE mourned for him as much as for Hezekiah; and, indeed, he
+deserved it a great deal better,' was her rather unorthodox
+conclusion.  These colonial Jews are a new 'Erscheinung' to me.
+They have the features of their race, but many of their
+peculiarities are gone.  Mr. L-, who is very handsome and
+gentlemanly, eats ham and patronises a good breed of pigs on the
+'model farm' on which he spends his money.  He is (he says) a
+thorough Jew in faith, and evidently in charitable works; but he
+wants to say his prayers in English and not to 'dress himself up'
+in a veil and phylacteries for the purpose; and he and his wife
+talk of England as 'home', and care as much for Jerusalem as their
+neighbours.  They have not forgotten the old persecutions, and are
+civil to the coloured people, and speak of them in quite a
+different tone from other English colonists.  Moreover, they are
+far better mannered, and more 'HUMAN', in the German sense of the
+word, in all respects;--in short, less 'colonial'.
+
+I have bought some Cape 'confeyt'; apricots, salted and then
+sugared, called 'mebos'--delicious!  Also pickled peaches,
+'chistnee', and quince jelly.  I have a notion of some Cherupiga
+wine for ourselves.  I will inquire the cost of bottling, packing,
+&c.; it is about one shilling and fourpence a bottle here, sweet
+red wine, unlike any other I ever drank, and I think very good.  It
+is very tempting to bring a few things so unknown in England.  I
+have a glorious 'Velcombers' for you, a blanket of nine Damara
+sheepskins, sewn by the Damaras, and dressed so that moths and
+fleas won't stay near them.  It will make a grand railway rug and
+'outside car' covering.  The hunters use them for sleeping out of
+doors.  I have bought three, and a springbok caross for somebody.
+
+April 17th.--The winter has set in to-day.  It rains steadily, at
+the rate of the heaviest bit of the heaviest shower in England, and
+is as cold as a bad day early in September.  One can just sit
+without a fire.  Presently, all will be green and gay; for winter
+is here the season of flowers, and the heaths will cover the
+country with a vast Turkey carpet.  Already the green is appearing
+where all was brown yesterday.  To-day is Good Friday; and if
+Christmas seemed odd at Midsummer, Easter in autumn seems
+positively unnatural.  Our Jewish party made their exodus to-day,
+by the little coasting steamer, to Algoa Bay.  I rather condoled
+with the pretty little woman about her long rough journey, with
+three babies; but she laughed, and said they had had time to get
+used to it ever since the days of Moses.  All she grieved over was
+not being able to keep Passover, and she described their domestic
+ceremonies quite poetically.  We heard from our former housemaid,
+Annie, the other day, announcing her marriage and her sister's.
+She wrote such a pretty, merry letter to S-, saying 'the more she
+tried not to like him, the better she loved him, and had to say,
+"Aha, Annie, you're caught at last."'  A year and a half is a long
+time to remain single in this country.
+
+Monday, April 21st, Easter Monday.--The mail goes out in an hour,
+so I will just add, good-bye.  The winter is now fairly set in, and
+I long to be off.  I fear I shall have a desperately cold week or
+so at first sailing, till we catch the south-east trades.  This
+weather is beautiful in itself, but I feel it from the suddenness
+of the change.  We passed in one night from hot summer to winter,
+which is like FINE English April, or October, only brighter than
+anything in Europe.  There is properly, no autumn or spring here;
+only hot, dry, brown summer, with its cold wind at times, and fresh
+green winter, all fragrance and flowers, and much less wind.  Mr.
+M-, of whom I told you, has been in every corner of the far East--
+Java, Sumatra, everywhere--and is extremely amusing.  He has
+brought his wife here for her health, and is as glad to talk as I
+am.  The conversation of an educated, clever person, is quite a new
+and delightful sensation to me now.  He appears to have held high
+posts under the East India Company, is learned in Oriental
+languages, and was last resident at Singapore.  He says that no
+doubt Java is Paradise, it is so lovely, and such a climate; but he
+does not look as if it had agreed with him.  I feel quite heart-
+sick at seeing these letters go off before me, instead of leaving
+them behind, as I had hoped.
+
+Well, I must say good-bye--or rather, 'auf Wiedersehn'--and God
+knows how glad I shall be when that day comes!
+
+
+
+LETTER XIII
+
+
+
+Capetown, April 19th.
+
+Dearest mother,
+
+Here I am, waiting for a ship; the steamer was too horrid:  and I
+look so much to the good to be gained by the voyage that I did not
+like to throw away the chance of two months at sea at this
+favourable time of year, and under favourable circumstances; so I
+made up my mind to see you all a month later.  The sea just off the
+Cape is very, very cold; less so now than in spring, I dare say.
+The weather to-day is just like VERY warm April at home--showery,
+sunshiny, and fragrant; most lovely.  It is so odd to see an autumn
+without dead leaves:  only the oaks lose theirs, the old ones drop
+without turning brown, and the trees bud again at once.  The rest
+put on a darker green dress for winter, and now the flowers will
+begin.  I have got a picture for you of my 'cart and four', with
+sedate Choslullah and dear little Mohammed.  The former wants to go
+with me, 'anywhere', as he placidly said, 'to be the missis'
+servant'.  What a sensation his thatchlike hat and handsome orange-
+tawny face would make at Esher!  Such a stalwart henchman would be
+very creditable.  I shall grieve to think I shall never see my
+Malay friends again; they are the only people here who are really
+interesting.  I think they must be like the Turks in manner, as
+they have all the eastern gentlemanly 'Gelassenheit' (ease) and
+politeness, and no eastern 'Geschmeidigkeit' (obsequiousness), and
+no idea of Baksheesh; withal frugal, industrious, and money-making,
+to an astonishing degree.  The priest is a bit of a proselytiser,
+and amused me much with an account of how he had converted English
+girls from their evil courses and made them good Mussulwomen.  I
+never heard a naif and sincere account of conversions FROM
+Christianity before, and I must own it was much milder than the
+Exeter Hall style.
+
+I have heard a great many expressions of sorrow for the Queen from
+the Malays, and always with the 'hope the people will take much
+care of her, now she is alone'.  Of course Prince Albert was only
+the Queen's husband to them, and all their feeling is about her.
+It is very difficult to see anything of them, for they want nothing
+of you, and expect nothing but dislike and contempt.  It would take
+a long time to make many friends, as they are naturally
+distrustful.  I found that eating or drinking anything, if they
+offer it, made most way, as they know they are accused of poisoning
+all Christians indiscriminately.  Of course, therefore, they are
+shy of offering things.  I drank tea in the Mosque at the end of
+Ramadan, and was surrounded by delighted faces as I sipped.  The
+little boy who waits in this house here had followed us, and was
+horrified:  he is still waiting to see the poison work.
+
+No one can conceive what has become of all the ships that usually
+touch here about this time.  I was promised my choice of Green's
+and Smith's, and now only the heavy old Camperdown is expected with
+rice from Moulmein.  A lady now here, who has been Heaven only
+knows WHERE NOT, praises Alexandria above all other places, after
+Suez.  Her lungs are bad, and she swears by Suez, which she says is
+the dreariest and healthiest (for lungs) place in the world.  You
+can't think how soon one learns to 'annihilate space', if not time,
+in one's thoughts, by daily reading advertisements for every port
+in India, America, Australia, &c., &c., and conversing with people
+who have just come from the 'ends of the earth'.  Meanwhile, I fear
+I shall have to fly from next winter again, and certainly will go
+with J- to Egypt, which seems to me like next door.
+
+I have run on, and not thanked you for your letter and M. Mignet's
+beautiful eloge of Mr. Hallam, which pleased me greatly.  I wish
+Englishmen could learn to speak with the same good taste and
+mesure.
+
+Mr. Wodehouse, who has been very civil to me, kindly tried to get
+me a passage home in a French frigate lying here, but in vain.  I
+am now sorry I let the Jack tars here persuade me not to go in the
+little barque; but they talked so much of the heat and damp of such
+tiny cabins in an iron vessel, that I gave her up, though I liked
+the idea of a good tossing in such a tiny cockboat.  I will leave a
+letter for the May mail, unless I sail within a week of to-morrow,
+or go by the Jason, which would be home far sooner than the mail.
+I only hope you and A- won't be uneasy; the worst that can happen
+is delay, and the long voyage will be all gain to health, which
+would not be the case in a steamer.
+
+All I hear of R- makes me wild to see her again.  The little
+darkies are the only pleasing children here, and a fat black
+toddling thing is 'allerliebst'.  I know a boy of four, literally
+jet black, whom I long to steal as he follows his mother up to the
+mountain to wash.  Little Malays are lovely, but TOO well-behaved
+and quiet.  I tried to get a real 'tottie', or 'Hotentotje', but
+the people were too drunk to remember where they had left their
+child.  C'est assez dire, that I should have had no scruple in
+buying it for a bottle of 'smoke' (the spirit made from grape
+husks).  They are clever and affectionate when they have a chance,
+poor things,--and so strange to look at.
+
+By the bye, a Bonn man, Dr. Bleek, called here with 'Grusse' from
+our old friends, Professor Mendelssohn and his wife.  He is
+devoting himself to Hottentot and aboriginal literature!--and has
+actually mastered the Caffre click, which I vainly practised under
+Kleenboy's tuition.  He wanted to teach me to say 'Tkorkha', which
+means 'you lie', or 'you have missed' (in shooting or throwing a
+stone, &c.)--a curious combination of meanings.  He taught me to
+throw stones or a stick at him, which he always avoided, however
+close they fell, and cried 'Tkorkha!'  The Caffres ask for a
+present, 'Tkzeelah Tabak', 'a gift for tobacco'.
+
+The Farnese Hercules is a living TRUTH.  I saw him in the street
+two days ago, and he was a Caffre coolie.  The proportions of the
+head and throat were more wonderful in flesh, or muscle rather,
+than in marble.  I know a Caffre girl of thirteen, who is a noble
+model of strength and beauty; such an arm--larger than any white
+woman's--with such a dimple in her elbow, and a wrist and hand
+which no glove is small enough to fit--and a noble countenance too.
+She is 'apprenticed', a name for temporary slavery, and is highly
+spoken of as a servant, as the Caffres always are.  They are a
+majestic race, but with just the stupid conceit of a certain sort
+of Englishmen; the women and girls seem charming.
+
+Easter Sunday.--The weather continues beautifully clear and bright,
+like the finest European spring.  It seems so strange for the
+floral season to be the winter.  But as the wind blows the air is
+quite cold to-day; nevertheless, I feel much better the last two
+days.  The brewing of the rain made the air very oppressive and
+heavy for three weeks, but now it is as light as possible.
+
+I must say good-bye, as the mail closes to-morrow morning.  Easter
+in autumn is preposterous, only the autumn looks like spring.  The
+consumptive young girl whom I packed off to the Cape, and her
+sister, are about to be married--of course.  Annie has had a touch
+of Algoa Bay fever, a mild kind of ague, but no sign of chest
+disease, or even delicacy.  My 'hurrying her off', which some
+people thought so cruel, has saved her.  Whoever comes SOON ENOUGH
+recovers, but for people far gone it is too bracing.
+
+
+
+LETTER XIV
+
+
+
+Capetown, Saturday, May 3d.
+
+Dearest mother,
+
+After five weeks of waiting and worry, I have, at last, sent my
+goods on board the ship Camperdown, now discharging her cargo, and
+about to take a small party of passengers from the Cape.  I offered
+to take a cabin in a Swedish ship, bound for Falmouth; but the
+captain could not decide whether he would take a passenger; and
+while he hesitated the old Camperdown came in.  I have the best
+cabin after the stern cabins, which are occupied by the captain and
+his wife and the Attorney-General of Capetown, who is much liked.
+The other passengers are quiet people, and few of them, and the
+captain has a high character; so I may hope for a comfortable,
+though slow passage.  I will let you know the day I sail, and leave
+this letter to go by post.  I may be looked for three weeks or so
+after this letter.  I am crazy to get home now; after the period
+was over for which I had made up my mind, home-sickness began.
+
+Mrs. R- has offered me a darling tiny monkey, which loves me; but I
+fear A- would send me away again if I returned with her in my
+pocket.  Nassirah, old Abdool's pretty granddaughter, brought me a
+pair of Malay shoes or clogs as a parting gift, to-day.  Mr. M-,
+the resident at Singapore, tells me that his secretary's wife, a
+Malay lady, has made an excellent translation of the Arabian
+Nights, from Arabic into Malay.  Her husband is an Indian
+Mussulman, who, Mr. M- said, was one of the ablest men he ever
+knew.  Curious!
+
+I sat, yesterday, for an hour, in the stall of a poor German
+basket-maker who had been long in Caffre-land.  His wife, a
+Berlinerin, was very intelligent, and her account of her life here
+most entertaining, as showing the different Ansicht natural to
+Germans.  'I had never', she said, 'been out of the city of Berlin,
+and KNEW NOTHING.'  (Compare with London cockney, or genuine
+Parisian.)  Thence her fear, on landing at Algoa Bay and seeing
+swarms of naked black men, that she had come to a country where no
+clothes were to be had; and what should she do when hers were worn
+out?  They had a grant of land at Fort Peddie, and she dug while
+her husband made baskets of cane, and carried them hundreds of
+miles for sale; sleeping and eating in Caffre huts.  'Yes, they are
+good, honest people, and very well-bred (anstandig), though they go
+as naked as God made them.  The girls are pretty and very delicate
+(fein), and they think no harm of it, the dear innocents.'  If
+their cattle strayed, it was always brought back; and they received
+every sort of kindness.  'Yes, madam, it is shocking how people
+here treat the blacks.  They call quite an old man 'Boy', and speak
+so scornfully, and yet the blacks have very nice manners, I assure
+you.'  When I looked at the poor little wizened, pale, sickly
+Berliner, and fancied him a guest in a Caffre hut, it seemed an odd
+picture.  But he spoke as coolly of his long, lonely journeys as
+possible, and seemed to think black friends quite as good as white
+ones.  The use of the words anstandig and fein by a woman who spoke
+very good German were characteristic.  She could recognise an
+'Anstandigkeit' not of Berlin.  I need not say that the Germans are
+generally liked by the coloured people.  Choslullah was astonished
+and Pleased at my talking German; he evidently had a preference for
+Germans, and put up, wherever he could, at German inns and
+'publics'.
+
+I went on to bid Mrs. Wodehouse good-bye.  We talked of our dear
+old Cornish friends.  The Governor and Mrs. Wodehouse have been
+very kind to me.  I dined there twice; last time, with all the dear
+good Walkers.  I missed seeing the opening of the colonial
+parliament by a mistake about a ticket, which I am sorry for.
+
+If I could have dreamed of waiting here so long, I would have run
+up to Algoa Bay or East London by sea, and had a glimpse of
+Caffreland.  Capetown makes me very languid--there is something
+depressing in the air--but my cough is much better.  I can't walk
+here without feeling knocked-up; and cab-hire is so dear; and
+somehow, nothing is worth while, when one is waiting from day to
+day.  So I have spent more money than when I was most amused, in
+being bored.
+
+Mr. J- drove me to the Capetown races, at Green Point, on Friday.
+As races, they were nichts, but a queer-looking little Cape
+farmer's horse, ridden by a Hottentot, beat the English crack
+racer, ridden by a first-rate English jockey, in an unaccountable
+way, twice over.  The Malays are passionately fond of horse-racing,
+and the crowd was fully half Malay:  there were dozens of carts
+crowded with the bright-eyed women, in petticoats of every most
+brilliant colour, white muslin jackets, and gold daggers in their
+great coils of shining black hair.  All most 'anstandig', as they
+always are.  Their pleasure is driving about en famille; the men
+have no separate amusements.  Every spare corner in the cart is
+filled by the little soft round faces of the intelligent-looking
+quiet children, who seem amused and happy, and never make a noise
+or have the fidgets.  I cannot make out why they are so well
+behaved.  It favours A-'s theory of the expediency of utter
+spoiling, for one never hears any educational process going on.
+Tiny Mohammed never spoke but when he was spoken to, and was always
+happy and alert.  I observed that his uncle spoke to him like a
+grown man, and never ordered him about, or rebuked him in the
+least.  I like to go up the hill and meet the black women coming
+home in troops from the washing place, most of them with a fat
+black baby hanging to their backs asleep, and a few rather older
+trotting alongside, and if small, holding on by the mother's gown.
+She, poor soul, carries a bundle on her head, which few men could
+lift.  If I admire the babies, the poor women are enchanted;--du
+reste, if you look at blacks of any age or sex, they MUST grin and
+nod, as a good-natured dog must wag his tail; they can't help it.
+The blacks here (except a very few Caffres) are from the
+Mozambique--a short, thick-set, ugly race, with wool in huge
+masses; but here and there one sees a very pretty face among the
+women.  The men are beyond belief hideous.  There are all possible
+crosses--Dutch, Mozambique, Hottentot and English, 'alles
+durcheinander'; then here and there you see that a Chinese or a
+Bengalee a passe par la.  The Malays are also a mixed race, like
+the Turks--i.e. they marry women of all sorts and colours, provided
+they will embrace Islam.  A very nice old fellow who waits here
+occasionally is married to an Englishwoman, ci-devant lady's-maid
+to a Governor's wife.  I fancy, too, they brought some Chinese
+blood with them from Java.  I think the population of Capetown must
+be the most motley crew in the world.
+
+Thursday, May 8th.--I sail on Saturday, and go on board to-morrow,
+so as not to be hurried off in the early fog.  How glad I am to be
+'homeward bound' at last, I cannot say.  I am very well, and have
+every prospect of a pleasant voyage.  We are sure to be well found,
+as the Attorney-General is on board, and is a very great man,
+'inspiring terror and respect' here.
+
+S- says we certainly SHALL put in at St. Helena, so make up your
+minds not to see me till I don't know when.  She has been on board
+fitting up the cabin to-day.  I have SUCH a rug for J-! a mosaic of
+skins as fine as marqueterie, done by Damara women, and really
+beautiful; and a sheep-skin blanket for you, the essence of warmth
+and softness.  I shall sleep in mine, and dream of African hill-
+sides wrapt in a 'Veld combas'.  The poor little water-tortoises
+have been killed by drought, and I can't get any, but I have the
+two of my own catching for M-.
+
+Good-bye, dearest mother.
+
+You would have been moved by poor old Abdool Jemaalee's solemn
+benediction when I took leave to-day.  He accompanied it with a
+gross of oranges and lemons.
+
+
+
+LETTER XV
+
+
+
+Capetown, Thursday, May 8th.
+
+At last, after no end of 'casus' and 'discrimina rerum', I shall
+sail on Saturday the 10th, per ship Camperdown, for East India
+Docks.
+
+These weary six weeks have cost no end of money and temper.  I have
+been eating my heart out at the delay, but it was utterly
+impossible to go by any of the Indian ships.  They say there have
+never been so few ships sailing from the Cape as this year, yet
+crowds were expected on account of the Exhibition.  The Attorney-
+General goes by our ship, so we are sure of good usage; and I hear
+he is very agreeable.  I have the best cabin next to the stern
+cabin, in both senses of NEXT.  S- has come back from the ship,
+where she has spent the day with the carpenter; and I am to go on
+board to-morrow.  Will you ask R- to cause inquiries to be made
+among the Mollahs of Cairo for a Hadji, by name Abdool Rachman, the
+son of Abdool Jemaalee, of Capetown, and, if possible, to get the
+inclosed letter sent him?  The poor people are in sad anxiety for
+their son, of whom they have not heard for four months, and that
+from an old letter.  Henry will thus have a part of all the
+blessings which were solemnly invoked on me by poor old Abdool, who
+is getting very infirm, but toddled up and cracked his old fingers
+over my head, and invoked the protection of Allah with all form;
+besides that Betsy sent me twelve dozen oranges and lemons.  Abdool
+Rachman is about twenty-six, a Malay of Capetown, speaks Dutch and
+English, and is supposed to be studying theology at Cairo.  The
+letter is written by the prettiest Malay girl in Capetown.
+
+I won't enter upon my longings to be home again, and to see you
+all.  I must now see to my last commissions and things, and send
+this to go by next mail.
+
+God bless you all, and kiss my darlings, all three.
+
+
+
+LETTER XVI
+
+
+
+Friday, May 16th.
+
+On board the good ship Camperdown, 500 miles North-west of Table-
+Bay.
+
+I embarked this day week, and found a good airy cabin, and all very
+comfortable.  Next day I got the carpenter's services, by being on
+board before all the rest, and relashed and cleeted everything,
+which the 'Timmerman', of course, had left so as to get adrift the
+first breeze.  At two o'clock the Attorney-General, Mr. Porter,
+came on board, escorted by bands of music and all the volunteers of
+Capetown, quorum pars maxima fuit; i.e. Colonel.  It was quite what
+the Yankees call an 'ovation'.  The ship was all decked with flags,
+and altogether there was le diable a quatre.  The consequence was,
+that three signals went adrift in the scuffle; and when a Frenchman
+signalled us, we had to pass for brutaux Anglais, because we could
+not reply.  I found means to supply the deficiency by the lining of
+that very ancient anonymous cloak, which did the red, while a
+bandanna handkerchief of the Captain's furnished the yellow, to the
+sailmaker's immense amusement.  On him I bestowed the blue outside
+of the cloak for a pair of dungaree trowsers, and in signalling now
+it is, 'up go 2.41, and my lady's cloak, which is 7.'
+
+We have had lovely weather, and on Sunday such a glorious farewell
+sight of Table Mountain and my dear old Hottentot Hills, and of
+Kaap Goed Hoop itself.  There was little enough wind till
+yesterday, when a fair southerly breeze sprang up, and we are
+rolling along merrily; and the fat old Camperdown DOES roll like an
+honest old 'wholesome' tub as she is.  It is quite a bonne fortune
+for me to have been forced to wait for her, for we have had a
+wonderful spell of fine weather, and the ship is the ne plus ultra
+of comfort.  We are only twelve first-class upper-deck passengers.
+The captain is a delightful fellow, with a very charming young
+wife.  There is only one child (a great comfort), a capital cook,
+and universal civility and quietness.  It is like a private house
+compared to a railway hotel.  Six of the passengers are invalids,
+more or less.  Mr. Porter, over-worked, going home for health to
+Ireland; two men, both with delicate chests, and one poor young
+fellow from Capetown in a consumption, who, I fear, will not
+outlive the voyage.  The doctor is very civil, and very kind to the
+sick; but I stick to the cook, and am quite greedy over the good
+fare, after the atrocious food of the Cape.  Said cook is a
+Portuguese, a distinguished artist, and a great bird-fancier.  One
+can wander all over the ship here, instead of being a prisoner on
+the poop; and I even have paid my footing on the forecastle.  S-
+clambers up like a lively youngster.  You may fancy what the
+weather is, that I have only closed my cabin-window once during
+half of a very damp night; but no one else is so airy.  The little
+goat was as rejoiced to be afloat again as her mistress, and is a
+regular pet on board, with the run of the quarter-deck.  She still
+gives milk--a perfect Amalthaea.  The butcher, who has the care of
+her, cockers her up with dainties, and she begs biscuit of the
+cook.  I pay nothing for her fare.  M-'s tortoises are in my cabin,
+and seem very happy.  Poor Mr. Porter is very sick, and so are the
+two or three coloured passengers, who won't 'make an effort' at
+all.  Mrs. H- (the captain's wife), a young Cape lady, and I are
+the only 'female ladies' of the party.  The other day we saw a
+shoal of porpoises, amounting to many hundreds, if not some
+thousands, who came frisking round the ship.  When we first saw
+them they looked like a line of breakers; they made such a splash,
+and they jumped right out of the water three feet in height, and
+ten or twelve in distance, glittering green and bronze in the sun.
+Such a pretty, merry set of fellows!
+
+We shall touch at St. Helena, where I shall leave this letter to go
+by the mail steamer, that you may know a few weeks before I arrive
+how comfortably my voyage has begun.
+
+We see no Cape pigeons; they only visit outward ships--is not that
+strange?--but, en revanche, many more albatrosses than in coming;
+and we also enjoy the advantage of seeing all the homeward-bound
+ships, as they all PASS us--a humiliating fact.  The captain
+laughed heartily because I said, 'Oh, all right; I shall have the
+more sea for my money',--when the prospect of a slow voyage was
+discussed.  It is very provoking to be so much longer separated
+from you all than I had hoped, but I really believe that the bad
+air and discomfort of the other ships would have done me serious
+injury; while here I have every chance of benefiting to the utmost,
+and having mild weather the whole way, besides the utmost amount of
+comfort possible on board ship.  There are some cockroaches,
+indeed, but that is the only drawback.  The Camperdown is fourteen
+years old, and was the crack ship to India in her day.  Now she
+takes cargo and poop-passengers only, and, of course, only gets
+invalids and people who care more for comfort than speed.
+
+Monday Evening, May 26th.--Here we are, working away still to reach
+St. Helena.  We got the tail of a terrific gale and a tremendous
+sea all night in our teeth, which broke up the south-east trades
+for a week.  Now it is all smooth and fair, with a light breeze
+again right aft; the old trade again.  Yesterday a large shark paid
+us a visit, with his suite of three pretty little pilot-fish,
+striped like zebras, who swam just over his back.  He tried on a
+sailor's cap which fell overboard, tossed it away contemptuously,
+snuffed at the fat pork with which a hook was baited, and would
+none of it, and finally ate the fresh sheep-skin which the butcher
+had in tow to clean it, previous to putting it away as a
+perquisite.  It is a beautiful fish in shape and very graceful in
+motion.
+
+To-day a barque from Algoa Bay came close to us, and talked with
+the speaking trumpet.  She was a pretty, clipper-built, sharp-
+looking craft, but had made a slower run even than ourselves.  I
+dare say we shall have her company for a long time, as she is bound
+for St. Helena and London.  My poor goat died suddenly the other
+day, to the general grief of the ship; also one of the tortoises.
+The poor consumptive lad is wonderfully better.  But all the
+passengers were very sick during the rough weather, except S- and
+I, who are quite old salts.  Last week we saw a young whale, a
+baby, about thirty feet long, and had a good view of him as he
+played round the ship.  We shall probably be at St. Helena on
+Wednesday, but I cannot write from thence, as, if there is time, I
+shall get a run on shore while the ship takes in water.  But this
+letter will tell you of my well-being so far, and in about six
+weeks after the date of it I hope to be with you.  I hope you won't
+expect too much in the way of improvement in my health.  I look
+forward, oh, so eagerly, to be with you again, and with my brats,
+big and little.  God bless you all.
+
+Yours ever,
+
+L. D. G.
+
+Wednesday, 28th.--Early morning, off St. Helena, James Town.
+
+Such a lovely UNREAL view of the bold rocks and baby-house forts on
+them!  Ship close in.  Washer-woman come on board, and all hurry.
+
+Au revoir.
+
+
+
+
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+<a href="#startoftext">Letters from the Cape, by Lady Duff Gordon</a>
+</h2>
+<pre>
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from the Cape, by Lady Duff Gordon
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+Title: Letters from the Cape
+
+Author: Lady Duff Gordon
+
+Release Date: April, 1997  [EBook #886]
+[This file was first posted on April 24, 1997]
+[Most recently updated: May 11, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+</pre>
+<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p>
+<p>Transcribed from the 1921 edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk.&nbsp; Second proof by Margaret Price.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<h1>LETTERS FROM THE CAPE</h1>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER I&mdash;THE VOYAGE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Wednesday, 24th July.<br />Off the Scilly Isles, 6 P.M.</p>
+<p>When I wrote last Sunday, we put our pilot on shore, and went down
+Channel.&nbsp; It soon came on to blow, and all night was squally and
+rough.&nbsp; Captain on deck all night.&nbsp; Monday, I went on deck
+at eight.&nbsp; Lovely weather, but the ship pitching as you never saw
+a ship pitch&mdash;bowsprit under water.&nbsp; By two o&rsquo;clock
+a gale came on; all ordered below.&nbsp; Captain left dinner, and, about
+six, a sea struck us on the weather side, and washed a good many unconsidered
+trifles overboard, and stove in three windows on the poop; nurse and
+four children in fits; Mrs. T- and babies afloat, but good-humoured
+as usual.&nbsp; Army-surgeon and I picked up children and bullied nurse,
+and helped to bale cabin.&nbsp; Cuddy window stove in, and we were wetted.&nbsp;
+Went to bed at nine; could not undress, it pitched so, and had to call
+doctor to help me into cot; slept sound.&nbsp; The gale continues.&nbsp;
+My cabin is water-tight as to big splashes, but damp and dribbling.&nbsp;
+I am almost ashamed to like such miseries so much.&nbsp; The forecastle
+is under water with every lurch, and the motion quite incredible to
+one only acquainted with steamers.&nbsp; If one can sit this ship, which
+bounds like a tiger, one should sit a leap over a haystack.&nbsp; Evidently,
+I can never be sea-sick; but holding on is hard work, and writing harder.</p>
+<p>Life is thus:- Avery&mdash;my cuddy boy&mdash;brings tea for S-,
+and milk for me, at six.&nbsp; S- turns out; when she is dressed, I
+turn out, and sing out for Avery, who takes down my cot, and brings
+a bucket of salt water, in which I wash with vast danger and difficulty;
+get dressed, and go on deck at eight.&nbsp; Ladies not allowed there
+earlier.&nbsp; Breakfast solidly at nine.&nbsp; Deck again; gossip;
+pretend to read.&nbsp; Beer and biscuit at twelve.&nbsp; The faithful
+Avery brings mine on deck.&nbsp; Dinner at four.&nbsp; Do a little carpentering
+in cabin, all the outfitters&rsquo; work having broken loose.&nbsp;
+I am now in the captain&rsquo;s cabin, writing.&nbsp; We have the wind
+as ever, dead against us; and as soon as we get unpleasantly near Scilly,
+we shall tack and stand back to the French coast, where we were last
+night.&nbsp; Three soldiers able to answer roll-call, all the rest utterly
+sick; three middies helpless.&nbsp; Several of crew, ditto.&nbsp; Passengers
+very fairly plucky; but only I and one other woman, who never was at
+sea before, well.&nbsp; The food on board our ship is good as to meat,
+bread, and beer; everything else bad.&nbsp; Port and sherry of British
+manufacture, and the water with an incredible <i>borachio</i>, essence
+of tar; so that tea and coffee are but derisive names.</p>
+<p>To-day, the air is quite saturated with wet, and I put on my clothes
+damp when I dressed, and have felt so ever since.&nbsp; I am so glad
+I was not persuaded out of my cot; it is the whole difference between
+rest, and holding on for life.&nbsp; No one in a bunk slept at all on
+Monday night; but then it blew as heavy a gale as it can blow, and we
+had the Cornish coast under our lee.&nbsp; So we tacked and tumbled
+all night.&nbsp; The ship being new, too, has the rigging all wrong;
+and the confusion and disorder are beyond description.&nbsp; The ship&rsquo;s
+officers are very good fellows.&nbsp; The mizen is entirely worked by
+the &lsquo;young gentlemen&rsquo;; so we never see the sailors, and,
+at present, are not allowed to go forward.&nbsp; All lights are put
+out at half-past ten, and no food allowed in the cabin; but the latter
+article my friend Avery makes light of, and brings me anything when
+I am laid up.&nbsp; The young soldier-officers bawl for him with expletives;
+but he says, with a snigger, to me, &lsquo;They&rsquo;ll just wait till
+their betters, the ladies, is looked to.&rsquo;&nbsp; I will write again
+some day soon, and take the chance of meeting a ship; you may be amused
+by a little scrawl, though it will probably be very stupid and ill-written,
+for it is not easy to see or to guide a pen while I hold on to the table
+with both legs and one arm, and am first on my back and then on my nose.&nbsp;
+Adieu, till next time.&nbsp; I have had a good taste of the humours
+of the Channel.</p>
+<p>29th July, 4 Bells, i.e. 2 o&rsquo;clock, p.m.&mdash;When I wrote
+last, I thought we had had our share of contrary winds and foul weather.&nbsp;
+Ever since, we have beaten about the bay with the variety of a favourable
+gale one night for a few hours, and a dead calm yesterday, in which
+we almost rolled our masts out of the ship.&nbsp; However, the sun was
+hot, and I sat and basked on deck, and we had morning service.&nbsp;
+It was a striking sight, with the sailors seated on oars and buckets,
+covered with signal flags, and with their clean frocks and faces.&nbsp;
+To-day is so cold that I dare not go on deck, and am writing in my black-hole
+of a cabin, in a green light, with the sun blinking through the waves
+as they rush over my port and scuttle.&nbsp; The captain is much vexed
+at the loss of time.&nbsp; I persist in thinking it a very pleasant,
+but utterly lazy life.&nbsp; I sleep a great deal, but don&rsquo;t eat
+much, and my cough has been bad; but, considering the real hardship
+of the life&mdash;damp, cold, queer food, and bad drink&mdash;I think
+I am better.&nbsp; When we can get past Finisterre, I shall do very
+well, I doubt not.</p>
+<p>The children swarm on board, and cry unceasingly.&nbsp; A passenger-ship
+is no place for children.&nbsp; Our poor ship will lose her character
+by the weather, as she cannot fetch up ten days&rsquo; lost time.&nbsp;
+But she is evidently a race-horse.&nbsp; We overhaul everything we see,
+at a wonderful rate, and the speed is exciting and pleasant; but the
+next long voyage I make, I&rsquo;ll try for a good wholesome old &lsquo;monthly&rsquo;
+tub, which will roll along on the top of the water, instead of cutting
+through it, with the waves curling in at the cuddy skylights.&nbsp;
+We tried to signal a barque yesterday, and send home word &lsquo;all
+well&rsquo;; but the brutes understood nothing but Russian, and excited
+our indignation by talking &lsquo;gibberish &lsquo; to us; which we
+resented with true British spirit, as became us.</p>
+<p>It is now blowing hard again, and we have just been taken right aback.&nbsp;
+Luckily, I had lashed my desk to my washing-stand, or that would have
+flown off, as I did off my chair.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t think I shall
+know what to make of solid ground under my feet.&nbsp; The rolling and
+pitching of a ship of this size, with such tall masts, is quite unlike
+the little niggling sort of work on a steamer&mdash;it is the difference
+between grinding along a bad road in a four-wheeler, and riding well
+to hounds in a close country on a good hunter.&nbsp; I was horribly
+tired for about five days, but now I rather like it, and never know
+whether it blows or not in the night, I sleep so soundly.&nbsp; The
+noise is beyond all belief; the creaking, trampling, shouting, clattering;
+it is an incessant storm.&nbsp; We have not yet got our masts quite
+safe; the new wire-rigging stretches more than was anticipated (of course),
+and our main-topmast is shaky.&nbsp; The crew have very hard work, as
+incessant tacking is added to all the extra work incident to a new ship.&nbsp;
+On Saturday morning, everybody was shouting for the carpenter.&nbsp;
+My cabin was flooded by a leak, and I superintended the baling and swabbing
+from my cot, and dressed sitting on my big box.&nbsp; However, I got
+the leak stopped and cabin dried, and no harm done, as I had put everything
+up off the floor the night before, suspicious of a dribble which came
+in.&nbsp; Then my cot frame was broken by my cuddy boy and I lurching
+over against S-&rsquo;s bunk, in taking it down.&nbsp; The carpenter
+has given me his own, and takes my broken one for himself.&nbsp; Board
+ship is a famous place for tempers.&nbsp; Being easily satisfied, I
+get all I want, and plenty of attention and kindness; but I cannot prevail
+on my cuddy boy to refrain from violent tambourine-playing with a tin
+tray just at the ear of a lady who worries him.&nbsp; The young soldier-officers,
+too, I hear mentioned as &lsquo;them lazy gunners&rsquo;, and they struggle
+for water and tea in the morning long after mine has come.&nbsp; We
+have now been ten days at sea, and only three on which we could eat
+without the &lsquo;fiddles&rsquo; (transverse pieces of wood to prevent
+the dishes from falling off).&nbsp; Smooth water will seem quite strange
+to me.&nbsp; I fear the poor people in the forecastle must be very wet
+and miserable, as the sea is constantly over it, not in spray, but in
+tons of green water.</p>
+<p>3d Aug.&mdash;We had two days of dead calm, then one or two of a
+very light, favourable breeze, and yesterday we ran 175 miles with the
+wind right aft.&nbsp; We saw several ships, which signalled us, but
+we would not answer, as we had our spars down for repairs and looked
+like a wreck, and fancied it would be a pity to frighten you all with
+a report to that effect.</p>
+<p>Last night we got all right, and spread out immense studding-sails.&nbsp;
+We are now bowling along, wind right aft, dipping our studding-sail
+booms into the water at every roll.&nbsp; The weather is still surprisingly
+cold, though very fine, and I have to come below quite early, out of
+the evening air.&nbsp; The sun sets before seven o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp;
+I still cough a good deal, and the bad food and drink are trying.&nbsp;
+But the life is very enjoyable; and as I have the run of the charts,
+and ask all sorts of questions, I get plenty of amusement.&nbsp; S-
+is an excellent traveller; no grumbling, and no gossiping, which, on
+board a ship like ours, is a great merit, for there is <i>ad nauseam</i>
+of both.</p>
+<p>Mr.&mdash;is writing a charade, in which I have agreed to take a
+part, to prevent squabbling.&nbsp; He wanted to start a daily paper,
+but the captain wisely forbade it, as it must have led to personalities
+and quarrels, and suggested a play instead.&nbsp; My little white Maltese
+goat is very well, and gives plenty of milk, which is a great resource,
+as the tea and coffee are abominable.&nbsp; Avery brings it me at six,
+in a tin pannikin, and again in the evening.&nbsp; The chief officer
+is well-bred and agreeable, and, indeed, all the young gentlemen are
+wonderfully good specimens of their class.&nbsp; The captain is a burly
+foremast man in manner, with a heart of wax and every feeling of a gentleman.&nbsp;
+He was in California, &lsquo;<i>hide droghing</i>&rsquo; with Dana,
+and he says every line of <i>Two Years</i> <i>before the Mast</i> is
+true.&nbsp; He went through it all himself.&nbsp; He says that I am
+a great help to him, as a pattern of discipline and punctuality.&nbsp;
+People are much inclined to miss meals, and then want things at odd
+hours, and make the work quite impossible to the cook and servants.&nbsp;
+Of course, I get all I want in double-quick time, as I try to save my
+man trouble; and the carpenter leaves my scuttle open when no one else
+gets it, quite willing to get up in his time of sleep to close it, if
+it comes on to blow.&nbsp; A maid is really a superfluity on board ship,
+as the men rather like being &lsquo;<i>aux petits soins</i>&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+The boatswain came the other day to say that he had a nice carpet and
+a good pillow; did I want anything of the sort?&nbsp; He would be proud
+that I should use anything of his.&nbsp; You would delight in Avery,
+my cuddy man, who is as quick as &lsquo;greased lightning&rsquo;, and
+full of fun.&nbsp; His misery is my want of appetite, and his efforts
+to cram me are very droll.&nbsp; The days seem to slip away, one can&rsquo;t
+tell how.&nbsp; I sit on deck from breakfast at nine, till dinner at
+four, and then again till it gets cold, and then to bed.&nbsp; We are
+now about 100 miles from Madeira, and shall have to run inside it, as
+we were thrown so far out of our course by the foul weather.</p>
+<p>9th Aug.&mdash;Becalmed, under a vertical sun.&nbsp; Lat. 17 degrees,
+or thereabouts.&nbsp; We saw Madeira at a distance like a cloud; since
+then, we had about four days trade wind, and then failing or contrary
+breezes.&nbsp; We have sailed so near the African shore that we get
+little good out of the trades, and suffer much from the African climate.&nbsp;
+Fancy a sky like a pale February sky in London, no sun to be seen, and
+a heat coming, one can&rsquo;t tell from whence.&nbsp; To-day, the sun
+is vertical and invisible, the sea glassy and heaving.&nbsp; I have
+been ill again, and obliged to lie still yesterday and the day before
+in the captain&rsquo;s cabin; to-day in my own, as we have the ports
+open, and the maindeck is cooler than the upper.&nbsp; The men have
+just been holystoning here, singing away lustily in chorus.&nbsp; Last
+night I got leave to sling my cot under the main hatchway, as my cabin
+must have killed me from suffocation when shut up.&nbsp; Most of the
+men stayed on deck, but that is dangerous after sunset on this African
+coast, on account of the heavy dew and fever.&nbsp; They tell me that
+the open sea is quite different; certainly, nothing can look duller
+and dimmer than this specimen of the tropics.&nbsp; The few days of
+trade wind were beautiful and cold, with sparkling sea, and fresh air
+and bright sun; and we galloped along merrily.</p>
+<p>We are now close to the Cape de Verd Islands, and shall go inside
+them.&nbsp; About lat. 4 degrees N. we expect to catch the S.E. trade
+wind, when it will be cold again.&nbsp; In lat. 24 degrees, the day
+before we entered the tropics, I sat on deck in a coat and cloak; the
+heat is quite sudden, and only lasts a week or so.&nbsp; The sea to-day
+is littered all round the ship with our floating rubbish, so we have
+not moved at all.</p>
+<p>I constantly long for you to be here, though I am not sure you would
+like the life as well as I do.&nbsp; All your ideas of it are wrong;
+the confinement to the poop and the stringent regulations would bore
+you.&nbsp; But then, sitting on deck in fine weather is pleasure enough,
+without anything else.&nbsp; In a Queen&rsquo;s ship, a yacht, or a
+merchantman with fewer passengers, it must be a delightful existence.</p>
+<p>17th Aug.&mdash;Since I wrote last, we got into the south-west monsoon
+for one day, and I sat up by the steersman in intense enjoyment&mdash;a
+bright sun and glittering blue sea; and we tore along, pitching and
+tossing the water up like mad.&nbsp; It was glorious.&nbsp; At night,
+I was calmly reposing in my cot, in the middle of the steerage, just
+behind the main hatchway, when I heard a crashing of rigging and a violent
+noise and confusion on deck.&nbsp; The captain screamed out orders which
+informed me that we were in the thick of a collision&mdash;of course
+I lay still, and waited till the row, or the ship, went down.&nbsp;
+I found myself next day looked upon as no better than a heathen by all
+the women, because I had been cool, and declined to get up and make
+a noise.&nbsp; Presently the officers came and told me that a big ship
+had borne down on us&mdash;we were on the starboard tack, and all right&mdash;carried
+off our flying jib-boom and whisker (the sort of yard to the bowsprit).&nbsp;
+The captain says he was never in such imminent danger in his life, as
+she threatened to swing round and to crush into our waist, which would
+have been certain destruction.&nbsp; The little dandy soldier-officer
+behaved capitally; he turned his men up in no time, and had them all
+ready.&nbsp; He said, &lsquo;Why, you know, I must see that my fellows
+go down decently.&rsquo;&nbsp; S- was as cool as an icicle, offered
+me my pea-jacket, &amp;c., which I declined, as it would be of no use
+for me to go off in boats, even supposing there were time, and I preferred
+going down comfortably in my cot.&nbsp; Finding she was of no use to
+me, she took a yelling maid in custody, and was thought a brute for
+begging her to hold her noise.&nbsp; The first lieutenant, who looks
+on passengers as odious cargo, has utterly mollified to me since this
+adventure.&nbsp; I heard him report to the captain that I was &lsquo;among
+&lsquo;em all, and never sung out, nor asked a question the while&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+This he called &lsquo;beautiful&rsquo;.</p>
+<p>Next day we got light wind S.W. (which ought to be the S.E. trades),
+and the weather has been, beyond all description, lovely ever since.&nbsp;
+Cool, but soft, sunny and bright&mdash;in short, perfect; only the sky
+is so pale.&nbsp; Last night the sunset was a vision of loveliness,
+a sort of Pompadour paradise; the sky seemed full of rose-crowned <i>amorini</i>,
+and the moon wore a rose-coloured veil of bright pink cloud, all so
+light, so airy, so brilliant, and so fleeting, that it was a kind of
+intoxication.&nbsp; It is far less grand than northern colour, but so
+lovely, so shiny.&nbsp; Then the flying fish skimmed like silver swallows
+over the blue water.&nbsp; Such a sight!&nbsp; Also, I saw a whale spout
+like a very tiny garden fountain.&nbsp; The Southern Cross is a delusion,
+and the tropical moon no better than a Parisian one, at present.&nbsp;
+We are now in lat. 31 degrees about, and have been driven halfway to
+Rio by this sweet southern breeze.&nbsp; I have never yet sat on deck
+without a cloth jacket or shawl, and the evenings are chilly.&nbsp;
+I no longer believe in tropical heat at sea.&nbsp; Even during the calm
+it was not so hot as I have often felt it in England&mdash;and that,
+under a vertical sun.&nbsp; The ship that nearly ran us and herself
+down, must have kept no look-out, and refused to answer our hail.&nbsp;
+She is supposed to be from Glasgow by her looks.&nbsp; We may speak
+a ship and send letters on board; so excuse scrawl and confusion, it
+is so difficult to write at all.</p>
+<p>30th August.&mdash;About 25 degrees S. lat. and very much to the
+west.&nbsp; We have had all sorts of weather&mdash;some beautiful, some
+very rough, but always contrary winds&mdash;and got within 200 miles
+of the coast of South America.&nbsp; We now have a milder breeze from
+the <i>soft</i> N.E., after a <i>bitter</i> S.W., with Cape pigeons
+and mollymawks (a small albatross), not to compare with our gulls.&nbsp;
+We had private theatricals last night&mdash;ill acted, but beautifully
+got up as far as the sailors were concerned.&nbsp; I did not act, as
+I did not feel well enough, but I put a bit for Neptune into the Prologue
+and made the boatswain&rsquo;s mate speak it, to make up for the absence
+of any shaving at the Line, which the captain prohibited altogether;
+I thought it hard the men should not get their &lsquo;tips&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+The boatswain&rsquo;s mate dressed and spoke it admirably; and the old
+carpenter sang a famous comic song, dressed to perfection as a ploughboy.</p>
+<p>I am disappointed in the tropics as to warmth.&nbsp; Our thermometer
+stood at 82 degrees one day only, under the vertical sun, N. of the
+Line; <i>on</i> the Line at 74 degrees; and at sea it <i>feels</i> 10
+degrees colder than it is.&nbsp; I have never been hot, except for two
+days 4 degrees N. of the Line, and now it is very cold, but it is very
+invigorating.&nbsp; All day long it looks and feels like early morning;
+the sky is pale blue, with light broken clouds; the sea an inconceivably
+pure opaque blue&mdash;lapis lazuli, but far brighter.&nbsp; I saw a
+lovely dolphin three days ago; his body five feet long (some said more)
+is of a <i>fiery</i> blue-green, and his huge tail golden bronze.&nbsp;
+I was glad he scorned the bait and escaped the hook; he was so beautiful.&nbsp;
+This is the sea from which Venus rose in her youthful glory.&nbsp; All
+is young, fresh, serene, beautiful, and cheerful.</p>
+<p>We have not seen a sail for weeks.&nbsp; But the life at sea makes
+amends for anything, to my mind.&nbsp; I am never tired of the calms,
+and I enjoy a stiff gale like a Mother Carey&rsquo;s chicken, so long
+as I can be on deck or in the captain&rsquo;s cabin.&nbsp; Between decks
+it is very close and suffocating in rough weather, as all is shut up.&nbsp;
+We shall be still three weeks before we reach the Cape; and now the
+sun sets with a sudden plunge before six, and the evenings are growing
+too cold again for me to go on deck after dinner.&nbsp; As long as I
+could, I spent fourteen hours out of the twenty-four in my quiet corner
+by the wheel, basking in the tropical sun.&nbsp; Never again will I
+believe in the tales of a burning sun; the vertical sun just kept me
+warm&mdash;no more.&nbsp; In two days we shall be bitterly cold again.</p>
+<p>Immediately after writing the above it began to blow a gale (favourable,
+indeed, but more furious than the captain had ever known in these seas),&mdash;about
+lat. 34 degrees S. and long. 25 degrees.&nbsp; For three days we ran
+under close-reefed (four reefs) topsails, before a sea.&nbsp; The gale
+in the Bay of Biscay was a little shaking up in a puddle (a dirty one)
+compared to that glorious South Atlantic in all its majestic fury.&nbsp;
+The intense blue waves, crowned with fantastic crests of bright emeralds
+and with the spray blowing about like wild dishevelled hair, came after
+us to swallow us up at a mouthful, but took us up on their backs, and
+hurried us along as if our ship were a cork.&nbsp; Then the gale slackened,
+and we had a dead calm, during which the waves banged us about frightfully,
+and our masts were in much jeopardy.&nbsp; Then a foul wind, S.E., increased
+into a gale, lasting five days, during which orders were given in dumb
+show, as no one&rsquo;s voice could be heard; through it we fought and
+laboured and dipped under water, and I only had my dry corner by the
+wheel, where the kind pleasant little third officer lashed me tight.&nbsp;
+It was far more formidable than the first gale, but less beautiful;
+and we made so much lee-way that we lost ten days, and only arrived
+here yesterday.&nbsp; I recommend a fortnight&rsquo;s heavy gale in
+the South Atlantic as a cure for a <i>blas&eacute;</i> state of mind.&nbsp;
+It cannot be described; the sound, the sense of being hurled along without
+the smallest regard to &lsquo;this side uppermost&rsquo;; the beauty
+of the whole scene, and the occasional crack and bear-away of sails
+and spars; the officer trying to &lsquo;sing out&rsquo;, quite in vain,
+and the boatswain&rsquo;s whistle scarcely audible.&nbsp; I remained
+near the wheel every day for as long as I could bear it, and was enchanted.</p>
+<p>Then the mortal perils of eating, drinking, moving, sitting, lying;
+standing can&rsquo;t be done, even by the sailors, without holding on.&nbsp;
+<i>The</i> night of the gale, my cot twice touched the beams of the
+ship above me.&nbsp; I asked the captain if I had dreamt it, but he
+said it was quite possible; he had never seen a ship so completely on
+her beam ends come up all right, masts and yards all sound.</p>
+<p>There is a middy about half M-&rsquo;s size, a very tiny ten-year-older,
+who has been my delight; he is so completely &lsquo;the officer and
+the gentleman&rsquo;.&nbsp; My maternal entrails turned like old Alvarez,
+when that baby lay out on the very end of the cross-jack yard to reef,
+in the gale; it was quite voluntary, and the other newcomers all declined.&nbsp;
+I always called him &lsquo;Mr. -, sir&rsquo;, and asked his leave gravely,
+or, on occasions, his protection and assistance; and his little dignity
+was lovely.&nbsp; He is polite to the ladies, and slightly distant to
+the passenger-boys, bigger than himself, whom he orders off dangerous
+places; &lsquo;Children, come out of that; you&rsquo;ll be overboard.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>A few days before landing I caught a bad cold, and kept my bed.&nbsp;
+I caught this cold by &lsquo;sleeping with a damp man in my cabin&rsquo;,
+as some one said.&nbsp; During the last gale, the cabin opposite mine
+was utterly swamped, and I found the Irish soldier-servant of a little
+officer of eighteen in despair; the poor lad had got ague, and eight
+inches of water in his bed, and two feet in the cabin.&nbsp; I looked
+in and said, &lsquo;He can&rsquo;t stay there&mdash;carry him into my
+cabin, and lay him in the bunk&rsquo;; which he did, with tears running
+down his honest old face.&nbsp; So we got the boy into S-&rsquo;s bed,
+and cured his fever and ague, caught under canvas in Romney Marsh.&nbsp;
+Meantime S- had to sleep in a chair and to undress in the boy&rsquo;s
+wet cabin.&nbsp; As a token of gratitude, he sent me a poodle pup, born
+on board, very handsome.&nbsp; The artillery officers were generally
+well-behaved; the men, deserters and ruffians, sent out as drivers.&nbsp;
+We have had five courts-martial and two floggings in eight weeks, among
+seventy men.&nbsp; They were pampered with food and porter, and would
+not pull a rope, or get up at six to air their quarters.&nbsp; The sailors
+are an excellent set of men.&nbsp; When we parted, the first lieutenant
+said to me, &lsquo;Weel, ye&rsquo;ve a wonderful idee of discipline
+for a leddy, I will say.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ve never been reported but
+once, and that was on sick leave, for your light, and all in order.&rsquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>Cape Town, Sept. 18.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>We anchored yesterday morning, and Captain J-, the Port Captain,
+came off with a most kind letter from Sir Baldwin Walker, his gig, and
+a boat and crew for S- and the baggage.&nbsp; So I was whipped over
+the ship&rsquo;s side in a chair, and have come to a boarding house
+where the J-s live.&nbsp; I was tired and dizzy and landsick, and lay
+down and went to sleep.&nbsp; After an hour or so I woke, hearing a
+little <i>gazouillement</i>, like that of chimney swallows.&nbsp; On
+opening my eyes I beheld four demons, &lsquo;sons of the obedient Jinn&rsquo;,
+each bearing an article of furniture, and holding converse over me in
+the language of Nephelecoecygia.&nbsp; Why has no one ever mentioned
+the curious little soft voices of these coolies?&mdash;you can&rsquo;t
+hear them with the naked ear, three feet off.&nbsp; The most hideous
+demon (whose complexion had not only the colour, but the precise metallic
+lustre of an ill black-leaded stove) at last chirruped a wish for orders,
+which I gave.&nbsp; I asked the pert, active, cockney housemaid what
+I ought to pay them, as, being a stranger, they might overcharge me.&nbsp;
+Her scorn was sublime, &lsquo;Them nasty blacks never asks more than
+their regular charge.&rsquo;&nbsp; So I asked the black-lead demon,
+who demanded &lsquo;two shilling each horse in waggon&rsquo;, and a
+dollar each &lsquo;coolie man&rsquo;.&nbsp; He then glided with fiendish
+noiselessness about the room, arranged the furniture to his own taste,
+and finally said, &lsquo;Poor missus sick&rsquo;; then more chirruping
+among themselves, and finally a fearful gesture of incantation, accompanied
+by &lsquo;God bless poor missus.&nbsp; Soon well now&rsquo;.&nbsp; The
+wrath of the cockney housemaid became majestic: &lsquo;There, ma&rsquo;am;
+you see how saucy they have grown&mdash;a nasty black heathen Mohamedan
+a blessing of a white Christian!&rsquo;</p>
+<p>These men are the Auvergnats of Africa.&nbsp; I was assured that
+bankers entrust them with large sums in gold, which they carry some
+hundred and twenty miles, by unknown tracks, for a small gratuity.&nbsp;
+The pretty, graceful Malays are no honester than ourselves, but are
+excellent workmen.</p>
+<p>To-morrow, my linen will go to a ravine in the giant mountain at
+my back, and there be scoured in a clear spring by brown women, bleached
+on the mountain top, and carried back all those long miles on their
+heads, as it went up.</p>
+<p>My landlady is Dutch; the waiter is an Africander, half Dutch, half
+Malay, very handsome, and exactly like a French gentleman, and as civil.</p>
+<p>Enter &lsquo;Africander&rsquo; lad with a nosegay; only one flower
+that I know&mdash;heliotrope.&nbsp; The vegetation is lovely; the freshness
+of spring and the richness of summer.&nbsp; The leaves on the trees
+are in all the beauty of spring.&nbsp; Mrs. R- brought me a plate of
+oranges, &lsquo;just gathered&rsquo;, as soon as I entered the house&mdash;and,
+oh! how good they were! better even than the Maltese.&nbsp; They are
+going out, and <i>dear</i> now&mdash;two a penny, very large and delicious.&nbsp;
+I am wild to get out and see the glorious scenery and the hideous people.&nbsp;
+To-day the wind has been a cold south-wester, and I have not been out.&nbsp;
+My windows look N. and E. so I get all the sun and warmth.&nbsp; The
+beauty of Table Bay is astounding.&nbsp; Fancy the Undercliff in the
+Isle of Wight magnified a hundred-fold, with clouds floating halfway
+up the mountain.&nbsp; The Hottentot mountains in the distance have
+a fantastic jagged outline, which hardly looks real.&nbsp; The town
+is like those in the south of Europe; flat roofs, and all unfinished;
+roads are simply non-existent.&nbsp; At the doors sat brown women with
+black hair that shone like metal, very handsome; they are Malays, and
+their men wear conical hats a-top of turbans, and are the chief artisans.&nbsp;
+At the end of the pier sat a Mozambique woman in white drapery and the
+most majestic attitude, like a Roman matron; her features large and
+strong and harsh, but fine; and her skin blacker than night.</p>
+<p>I have got a couple of Cape pigeons (the storm-bird of the South
+Atlantic) for J-&rsquo;s hat.&nbsp; They followed us several thousand
+miles, and were hooked for their pains.&nbsp; The albatrosses did not
+come within hail.</p>
+<p>The little Maltese goat gave a pint of milk night and morning, and
+was a great comfort to the cow.&nbsp; She did not like the land or the
+grass at first, and is to be thrown out of milk now.&nbsp; She is much
+admired and petted by the young Africander.&nbsp; My room is at least
+eighteen feet high, and contains exactly a bedstead, one straw mattrass,
+one rickety table, one wash-table, two chairs, and broken looking-glass;
+no carpet, and a hiatus of three inches between the floor and the door,
+but all very clean; and excellent food.&nbsp; I have not made a bargain
+yet, but I dare say I shall stay here.</p>
+<p>Friday.&mdash;I have just received your letter; where it has been
+hiding, I can&rsquo;t conceive.&nbsp; To-day is cold and foggy, like
+a baddish day in June with you; no colder, if so cold.&nbsp; Still,
+I did not venture out, the fog rolls so heavily over the mountain.&nbsp;
+Well, I must send off this yarn, which is as interminable as the &lsquo;sinnet&rsquo;
+and &lsquo;foxes&rsquo; which I twisted with the mids.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER II</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Cape Town, Oct. 3.</p>
+<p>I came on shore on a very fine day, but the weather changed, and
+we had a fortnight of cold and damp and S.W. wind (equivalent to our
+east wind), such as the &lsquo;oldest inhabitant&rsquo; never experienced;
+and I have had as bad an attack of bronchitis as ever I remember, having
+been in bed till yesterday.&nbsp; I had a very good doctor, half Italian,
+half Dane, born at the Cape of Good Hope, and educated at Edinburgh,
+named Chiappini.&nbsp; He has a son studying medicine in London, whose
+mother is Dutch; such is the mixture of bloods here.</p>
+<p>Yesterday, the wind went to the south-east; the blessed sun shone
+out, and the weather was lovely at once.&nbsp; The mountain threw off
+his cloak of cloud, and all was bright and warm.&nbsp; I got up and
+sat in the verandah over the stoep (a kind of terrace in front of every
+house here).&nbsp; They brought me a tortoise as big as half a crown
+and as lively as a cricket to look at, and a chameleon like a fairy
+dragon&mdash;a green fellow, five inches long, with no claws on his
+feet, but suckers like a fly&mdash;the most engaging little beast.&nbsp;
+He sat on my finger, and caught flies with great delight and dexterity,
+and I longed to send him to M-.&nbsp; To-day, I went a long drive with
+Captain and Mrs. J-: we went to Rondebosch and Wynberg&mdash;lovely
+country; rather like Herefordshire; red earth and oak-trees.&nbsp; Miles
+of the road were like Gainsborough-lane, on a large scale, and looked
+quite English; only here and there a hedge of prickly pear, or the big
+white aruns in the ditches, told a different tale; and the scarlet geraniums
+and myrtles growing wild puzzled one.</p>
+<p>And then came rattling along a light, rough, but well-poised cart,
+with an Arab screw driven by a Malay, in a great hat on his kerchiefed
+head, and his wife, with her neat dress, glossy black hair, and great
+gold earrings.&nbsp; They were coming with fish, which he had just caught
+at Kalk Bay, and was going to sell for the dinners of the Capetown folk.&nbsp;
+You pass neat villas, with pretty gardens and stoeps, gay with flowers,
+and at the doors of several, neat Malay girls are lounging.&nbsp; They
+are the best servants here, for the emigrants mostly drink.&nbsp; Then
+you see a group of children at play, some as black as coals, some brown
+and very pretty.&nbsp; A little black girl, about R-&rsquo;s age, has
+carefully tied what little petticoat she has, in a tight coil round
+her waist, and displays the most darling little round legs and behind,
+which it would be a real pleasure to slap; it is so shiny and round,
+and she runs and stands so strongly and gracefully.</p>
+<p>Here comes another Malay, with a pair of baskets hanging from a stick
+across his shoulder, like those in Chinese pictures, which his hat also
+resembles.&nbsp; Another cart full of working men, with a Malay driver;
+and inside are jumbled some red-haired, rosy-cheeked English navvies,
+with the ugliest Mozambiques, blacker than Erebus, and with faces all
+knobs and corners, like a crusty loaf.&nbsp; As we drive home we see
+a span of sixteen noble oxen in the marketplace, and on the ground squats
+the Hottentot driver.&nbsp; His face no words can describe&mdash;his
+cheek-bones are up under his hat, and his meagre-pointed chin halfway
+down to his waist; his eyes have the dull look of a viper&rsquo;s, and
+his skin is dirty and sallow, but not darker than a dirty European&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>Capetown is rather pretty, but beyond words untidy and out of repair.&nbsp;
+As it is neither drained nor paved, it won&rsquo;t do in hot weather;
+and I shall migrate &lsquo;up country&rsquo; to a Dutch village.&nbsp;
+Mrs. J-, who is Dutch herself, tells me that one may board in a Dutch
+farm-house very cheaply, and with great comfort (of course eating with
+the family), and that they will drive you about the country and tend
+your horses for nothing, if you are friendly, and don&rsquo;t treat
+them with <i>Engelsche hoog-moedigheid.</i></p>
+<p>Oct. 19th.&mdash;The packet came in last night, but just in time
+to save the fine of 50<i>l</i>. per diem, and I got your welcome letter
+this morning.&nbsp; I have been coughing all this time, but I hope I
+shall improve.&nbsp; I came out at the very worst time of year, and
+the weather has been (of course) &lsquo;unprecedentedly&rsquo; bad and
+changeable.&nbsp; But when it <i>is</i> fine it is quite celestial;
+so clear, so dry, so light.&nbsp; Then comes a cloud over Table Mountain,
+like the sugar on a wedding-cake, which tumbles down in splendid waterfalls,
+and vanishes unaccountably halfway; and then you run indoors and shut
+doors and windows, or it portends a &lsquo;south-easter&rsquo;, i.e.
+a hurricane, and Capetown disappears in impenetrable clouds of dust.&nbsp;
+But this wind coming off the hills and fields of ice, is the Cape doctor,
+and keeps away cholera, fever of every sort, and all malignant or infectious
+diseases.&nbsp; Most of them are unknown here.&nbsp; Never was so healthy
+a place; but the remedy is of the heroic nature, and very disagreeable.&nbsp;
+The stones rattle against the windows, and omnibuses are blown over
+on the Rondebosch road.</p>
+<p>A few days ago, I drove to Mr. V-&rsquo;s farm.&nbsp; Imagine St.
+George&rsquo;s Hill, and the most beautiful bits of it, sloping gently
+up to Table Mountain, with its grey precipices, and intersected with
+Scotch burns, which water it all the year round, as they come from the
+living rock; and sprinkled with oranges, pomegranates, and camelias
+in abundance.&nbsp; You drive through a mile or two as described, and
+arrive at a square, planted with rows of fine oaks close together; at
+the upper end stands the house, all on the ground-floor, but on a high
+stoep: rooms eighteen feet high; the old slave quarters on each side;
+stables, &amp;c., opposite; the square as big as Belgrave Square, and
+the buildings in the old French style.</p>
+<p>We then went on to Newlands, a still more beautiful place.&nbsp;
+Immense trenching and draining going on&mdash;the foreman a Caffre,
+black as ink, six feet three inches high, and broad in proportion, with
+a staid, dignified air, and Englishmen working under him!&nbsp; At the
+streamlets there are the inevitable groups of Malay women washing clothes,
+and brown babies sprawling about.&nbsp; Yesterday, I should have bought
+a black woman for her beauty, had it been still possible.&nbsp; She
+was carrying an immense weight on her head, and was far gone with child;
+but such stupendous physical perfection I never even imagined.&nbsp;
+Her jet black face was like the Sphynx, with the same mysterious smile;
+her shape and walk were goddess-like, and the lustre of her skin, teeth,
+and eyes, showed the fulness of health;&mdash;Caffre of course.&nbsp;
+I walked after her as far as her swift pace would let me, in envy and
+admiration of such stately humanity.</p>
+<p>The ordinary blacks, or Mozambiques, as they call them, are hideous.&nbsp;
+Malay here seems equivalent to Mohammedan.&nbsp; They were originally
+Malays, but now they include every shade, from the blackest nigger to
+the most blooming English woman.&nbsp; Yes, indeed, the emigrant-girls
+have been known to turn &lsquo;Malays&rsquo;, and get thereby husbands
+who know not billiards and brandy&mdash;the two diseases of Capetown.&nbsp;
+They risked a plurality of wives, and professed Islam, but they got
+fine clothes and industrious husbands.&nbsp; They wear a very pretty
+dress, and all have a great air of independence and self-respect; and
+the real Malays are very handsome.&nbsp; I am going to see one of the
+Mollahs soon, and to look at their schools and mosque; which, to the
+distraction of the Scotch, they call their &lsquo;Kerk.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>I asked a Malay if he would drive me in his cart with the six or
+eight mules, which he agreed to do for thirty shillings and his dinner
+(i.e. a share of my dinner) on the road.&nbsp; When I asked how long
+it would take, he said, &lsquo;Allah is groot&rsquo;, which meant, I
+found, that it depended on the state of the beach&mdash;the only road
+for half the way.</p>
+<p>The sun, moon, and stars are different beings from those we look
+upon.&nbsp; Not only are they so large and bright, but you <i>see</i>
+that the moon and stars are <i>balls</i>, and that the sky is endless
+beyond them.&nbsp; On the other hand, the clear, dry air dwarfs Table
+Mountain, as you seem to see every detail of it to the very top.</p>
+<p>Capetown is very picturesque.&nbsp; The old Dutch buildings are very
+handsome and peculiar, but are falling to decay and dirt in the hands
+of their present possessors.&nbsp; The few Dutch ladies I have seen
+are very pleasing.&nbsp; They are gentle and simple, and naturally well-bred.&nbsp;
+Some of the Malay women are very handsome, and the little children are
+darlings.&nbsp; A little parti-coloured group of every shade, from ebony
+to golden hair and blue eyes, were at play in the street yesterday,
+and the majority were pretty, especially the half-castes.&nbsp; Most
+of the Caffres I have seen look like the perfection of human physical
+nature, and seem to have no diseases.&nbsp; Two days ago I saw a Hottentot
+girl of seventeen, a housemaid here.&nbsp; You would be enchanted by
+her superfluity of flesh; the face was very queer and ugly, and yet
+pleasing, from the sweet smile and the rosy cheeks which please one
+much, in contrast to all the pale yellow faces&mdash;handsome as some
+of them are.</p>
+<p>I wish I could send the six chameleons which a good-natured parson
+brought me in his hat, and a queer lizard in his pocket.&nbsp; The chameleons
+are charming, so monkey-like and so &lsquo;<i>caressants</i>&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+They sit on my breakfast tray and catch flies, and hang in a bunch by
+their tails, and reach out after my hand.</p>
+<p>I have had a very kind letter from Lady Walker, and shall go and
+stay with them at Simon&rsquo;s Bay as soon as I feel up to the twenty-two
+miles along the beaches and bad roads in the mail-cart with three horses.&nbsp;
+The teams of mules (I beg pardon, spans) would delight you&mdash;eight,
+ten, twelve, even sixteen sleek, handsome beasts; and oh, such oxen!
+noble beasts with humps; and hump is very good to eat too.</p>
+<p>Oct. 21st.&mdash;The mail goes out to-morrow, so I must finish this
+letter.&nbsp; I feel better to-day than I have yet felt, in spite of
+the south-easter.</p>
+<p>Yours, &amp;c.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER III</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>28th Oct.&mdash;Since I wrote, we have had more really cold weather,
+but yesterday the summer seems to have begun.&nbsp; The air is as light
+and clear as if <i>there were none</i>, and the sun hot; but I walk
+in it, and do not find it oppressive.&nbsp; All the household groans
+and perspires, but I am very comfortable.</p>
+<p>Yesterday I sat in the full broil for an hour or more, in the hot
+dust of the Malay burial-ground.&nbsp; They buried the head butcher
+of the Mussulmans, and a most strange poetical scene it was.&nbsp; The
+burial-ground is on the side of the Lion Mountain&mdash;on the Lion&rsquo;s
+rump&mdash;and overlooks the whole bay, part of the town, and the most
+superb mountain panorama beyond.&nbsp; I never saw a view within miles
+of it for beauty and grandeur.&nbsp; Far down, a fussy English steamer
+came puffing and popping into the deep blue bay, and the &lsquo;Hansom&rsquo;s&rsquo;
+cabs went tearing down to the landing place; and round me sat a crowd
+of grave brown men chanting &lsquo;Allah il Allah&rsquo; to the most
+monotonous but musical air, and with the most perfect voices.&nbsp;
+The chant seemed to swell, and then fade, like the wind in the trees.</p>
+<p>I went in after the procession, which consisted of a bier covered
+with three common Paisley shawls of gay colours; no one looked at me;
+and when they got near the grave, I kept at a distance, and sat down
+when they did.&nbsp; But a man came up and said, &lsquo;You are welcome.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+So I went close, and saw the whole ceremony.&nbsp; They took the corpse,
+wrapped in a sheet, out of the bier, and lifted it into the grave, where
+two men received it; then a sheet was held over the grave till they
+had placed the dead man; and then flowers and earth were thrown in by
+all present, the grave filled in, watered out of a brass kettle, and
+decked with flowers.&nbsp; Then a fat old man, in printed calico shirt
+sleeves, and a plaid waistcoat and corduroy trousers, pulled off his
+shoes, squatted on the grave, and recited endless &lsquo;Koran&rsquo;,
+many reciting after him.&nbsp; Then they chanted &lsquo;Allah-il-Allah&rsquo;
+for twenty minutes, I think: then prayers, with &lsquo;Ameens&rsquo;
+and &lsquo;Allah il-Allahs&rsquo; again.&nbsp; Then all jumped up and
+walked off.&nbsp; There were eighty or a hundred men, no women, and
+five or six &lsquo;Hadjis&rsquo;, draped in beautiful Eastern dresses,
+and looking very supercilious.&nbsp; The whole party made less noise
+in moving and talking than two Englishmen.</p>
+<p>A white-complexioned man spoke to me in excellent English (which
+few of them speak), and was very communicative and civil.&nbsp; He told
+me the dead man was his brother-in-law, and he himself the barber.&nbsp;
+I hoped I had not taken a liberty.&nbsp; &lsquo;Oh, no; poor Malays
+were proud when noble English persons showed such respect to their religion.&nbsp;
+The young Prince had done so too, and Allah would not forget to protect
+him.&nbsp; He also did not laugh at their prayers, praise be to God!&rsquo;&nbsp;
+I had already heard that Prince Alfred is quite the darling of the Malays.&nbsp;
+He insisted on accepting their <i>f&ecirc;te</i>, which the Capetown
+people had snubbed.&nbsp; I have a friendship with one Abdul Jemaalee
+and his wife Betsy, a couple of old folks who were slaves to Dutch owners,
+and now keep a fruit-shop of a rough sort, with &lsquo;Betsy, fruiterer,&rsquo;
+painted on the back of an old tin tray, and hung up by the door of the
+house.&nbsp; Abdul first bought himself, and then his wife Betsy, whose
+&lsquo;missus&rsquo; generously threw in her bed-ridden mother.&nbsp;
+He is a fine handsome old man, and has confided to me that &pound;5,000
+would not buy what he is worth now.&nbsp; I have also read the letters
+written by his, son, young Abdul Rachman, now a student at Cairo, who
+has been away five years&mdash;four at Mecca.&nbsp; The young theologian
+writes to his &lsquo;<i>hoog</i> <i>eerbare moeder</i>&rsquo; a fond
+request for money, and promises to return soon.&nbsp; I am invited to
+the feast wherewith he will be welcomed.&nbsp; Old Abdul Jemaalee thinks
+it will divert my mind, and prove to me that Allah will take me home
+safe to my children, about whom he and his wife asked many questions.&nbsp;
+Moreover, he compelled me to drink herb tea, compounded by a Malay doctor
+for my cough.&nbsp; I declined at first, and the poor old man looked
+hurt, gravely assured me that it was not true that Malays always poisoned
+Christians, and drank some himself.&nbsp; Thereupon I was obliged, of
+course, to drink up the rest; it certainly did me good, and I have drunk
+it since with good effect; it is intensely bitter and rather sticky.&nbsp;
+The white servants and the Dutch landlady where I lodge shake their
+heads ominously, and hope it mayn&rsquo;t poison me a year hence.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Them nasty Malays can make it work months after you take it.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+They also possess the evil eye, and a talent for love potions.&nbsp;
+As the men are very handsome and neat, I incline to believe that part
+of it.</p>
+<p>Rathfelder&rsquo;s Halfway House, 6th November.&mdash;I drove out
+here yesterday in Captain T-&rsquo;s drag, which he kindly brought into
+Capetown for me.&nbsp; He and his wife and children came for a change
+of air for whooping cough, and advised me to come too, as my cough continues,
+though less troublesome.&nbsp; It is a lovely spot, six miles from Constantia,
+ten from Capetown, and twelve from Simon&rsquo;s Bay.&nbsp; I intend
+to stay here a little while, and then to go to Kalk Bay, six miles from
+hence.&nbsp; This inn was excellent, I hear, &lsquo;in the old Dutch
+times&rsquo;.&nbsp; Now it is kept by a young Englishman, Cape-born,
+and his wife, and is dirty and disorderly.&nbsp; I pay twelve shillings
+a day for S- and self, without a sitting-room, and my bed is a straw
+paillasse; but the food is plentiful, and not very bad.&nbsp; That is
+the cheapest rate of living possible here, and every trifle costs double
+what it would in England, except wine, which is very fair at fivepence
+a bottle&mdash;a kind of hock.&nbsp; The landlord pays &pound;1 a day
+rent for this house, which is the great resort of the Capetown people
+for Sundays, and for change of air, &amp;c.&mdash;a rude kind of Richmond.&nbsp;
+His cook gets &pound;3 10<i>s</i>. a month, besides food for himself
+and wife, and beer and sugar.&nbsp; The two (white) housemaids get &pound;1
+15<i>s</i>. and &pound;1 10<i>s</i>. respectively (everything by the
+month).&nbsp; Fresh butter is 3<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. a pound, mutton
+7<i>d</i>.; washing very dear; cabbages my host sells at 3<i>d</i>.
+a piece, and pumpkins 8<i>d</i>.&nbsp; He has a fine garden, and pays
+a gardener 3<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. a day, and black labourers 2<i>s</i>.&nbsp;
+<i>They</i> work three days a week; then they buy rice and a coarse
+fish, and lie in the sun till it is eaten; while their darling little
+fat black babies play in the dust, and their black wives make battues
+in the covers in their woolly heads.&nbsp; But the little black girl
+who cleans my room is far the best servant, and smiles and speaks like
+Lalage herself, ugly as the poor drudge is.&nbsp; The voice and smile
+of the negroes here is bewitching, though they are hideous; and neither
+S- nor I have yet heard a black child cry, or seen one naughty or quarrelsome.&nbsp;
+You would want to lay out a fortune in woolly babies.&nbsp; Yesterday
+I had a dreadful heartache after my darling, on her little birthday,
+and even the lovely ranges of distant mountains, coloured like opals
+in the sunset, did not delight me.&nbsp; This is a dreary place for
+strangers.&nbsp; Abdul Jemaalee&rsquo;s tisanne, and a banana which
+he gave me each time I went to his shop, are the sole offer of &lsquo;Won&rsquo;t
+you take something?&rsquo; or even the sole attempt at a civility that
+I have received, except from the J-s, who, are very civil and kind.</p>
+<p>When I have done my visit to Simon&rsquo;s Bay, I will go &lsquo;up
+country&rsquo;, to Stellenbosch, Paarl and Worcester, perhaps.&nbsp;
+If I can find people going in a bullock-waggon, I will join them; it
+costs &pound;1 a day, and goes twenty miles.&nbsp; If money were no
+object, I would hire one with Caffres to hunt, as well as outspan and
+drive, and take a saddle-horse.&nbsp; There is plenty of pleasure to
+be had in travelling here, if you can afford it.&nbsp; The scenery is
+quite beyond anything you can imagine in beauty.&nbsp; I went to a country
+house at Rondebosch with the J-s, and I never saw so lovely a spot.&nbsp;
+The possessor had done his best to spoil it, and to destroy the handsome
+Dutch house and fountains and aqueducts; but Nature was too much for
+him, and the place lovely in neglect and shabbiness.</p>
+<p>Now I will tell you my impressions of the state of society here,
+as far as I have been able to make out by playing the inquisitive traveller.&nbsp;
+I dare say the statements are exaggerated, but I do not think they are
+wholly devoid of truth.&nbsp; The Dutch round Capetown (I don&rsquo;t
+know anything of &lsquo;up country&rsquo;) are sulky and dispirited;
+they regret the slave days, and can&rsquo;t bear to pay wages; they
+have sold all their fine houses in town to merchants, &amp;c., and let
+their handsome country places go to pieces, and their land lie fallow,
+rather than hire the men they used to own.&nbsp; They hate the Malays,
+who were their slaves, and whose &lsquo;insolent prosperity&rsquo; annoys
+them, and they don&rsquo;t like the vulgar, bustling English.&nbsp;
+The English complain that the Dutch won&rsquo;t die, and that they are
+the curse of the colony (a statement for which they can never give a
+reason).&nbsp; But they, too, curse the emancipation, long to flog the
+niggers, and hate the Malays, who work harder and don&rsquo;t drink,
+and who are the only masons, tailors, &amp;c., and earn from 4<i>s</i>.
+6<i>d</i>. to 10<i>s</i>. a day.&nbsp; The Malays also have almost a
+monopoly of cart-hiring and horse-keeping; an Englishman charges &pound;4
+10<i>s</i>. or &pound;5 for a carriage to do what a Malay will do quicker
+in a light cart for 30<i>s</i>.&nbsp; S- says, &lsquo;The English here
+think the coloured people ought to do the work, and they to get the
+wages.&nbsp; Nothing less would satisfy them.&rsquo;&nbsp; Servants&rsquo;
+wages are high, but other wages not much higher than in England; yet
+industrious people invariably make fortunes, or at least competencies,
+even when they begin with nothing.&nbsp; But few of the English will
+do anything but lounge; while they abuse the Dutch as lazy, and the
+Malays as thieves, and feel their fingers itch to be at the blacks.&nbsp;
+The Africanders (Dutch and negro mixed in various proportions) are more
+or less lazy, dirty, and dressy, and the beautiful girls wear pork-pie
+hats, and look very winning and rather fierce; but to them the philanthropists
+at home have provided formidable rivals, by emptying a shipload of young
+ladies from a &lsquo;Reformatory&rsquo; into the streets of Capetown.</p>
+<p>I am puzzled what to think of the climate here for invalids.&nbsp;
+The air is dry and clear beyond conception, and light, but the sun is
+scorching; while the south-east wind blows an icy hurricane, and the
+dust obscures the sky.&nbsp; These winds last all the summer, till February
+or March.&nbsp; I am told when they don&rsquo;t blow it is heavenly,
+though still cold in the mornings and evenings.&nbsp; No one must be
+out at, or after sunset, the chill is so sudden.&nbsp; Many of the people
+here declare that it is death to weak lungs, and send their <i>poitrinaires</i>
+to Madeira, or the south of France.&nbsp; They also swear the climate
+is enervating, but their looks, and above all the blowsy cheeks and
+hearty play of the English children, disprove that; and those who come
+here consumptive get well in spite of the doctors, who won&rsquo;t allow
+it possible.&nbsp; I believe it is a climate which requires great care
+from invalids, but that, with care, it is good, because it is bracing
+as well as warm and dry.&nbsp; It is not nearly so warm as I expected;
+the southern icebergs are at no great distance, and they ice the south-east
+wind for us.&nbsp; If it were not so violent, it would be delicious;
+and there are no unhealthy winds&mdash;nothing like our east wind.&nbsp;
+The people here grumble at the north-wester, which sometimes brings
+rain, and call it damp, which, as they don&rsquo;t know what damp is,
+is excusable; it feels like a <i>dry</i> south-wester in England.&nbsp;
+It is, however, quite a delusion to think of living out of doors, here;
+the south-easters keep one in nearly, if not quite, half one&rsquo;s
+time, and in summer they say the sun is too hot to be out except morning
+and evening.&nbsp; But I doubt that, for they make an outcry about heat
+as soon as it is not cold.&nbsp; The transitions are so sudden, that,
+with the thermometer at 76 degrees, you must not go out without taking
+a thick warm cloak; you may walk into a south-easter round the first
+spur of the mountain, and be cut in two.&nbsp; In short, the air is
+cold and bracing, and the sun blazing hot; those whom that suits, will
+do well.&nbsp; I should like a softer air, but I may be wrong; when
+there is only a moderate wind, it is delicious.&nbsp; You walk in the
+hot sun, which makes you perspire a very little; but you dry as you
+go, the air is so dry; and you come in untired.&nbsp; I speak of slow
+walking.&nbsp; There are no hot-climate diseases; no dysentery, fever,
+&amp;c.</p>
+<p>Simon&rsquo;s Bay, 18th Nov.&mdash;I came on here in a cart, as I
+felt ill from the return of the cold weather.&nbsp; While at Rathfelder
+we had a superb day, and the J-s drove me over to Constantia, which
+deserves all its reputation for beauty.&nbsp; What a divine spot!&mdash;such
+kloofs, with silver rills running down them!&nbsp; It is useless to
+describe scenery.&nbsp; It was a sort of glorified Scotland, with sunshine,
+flowers, and orange-groves.&nbsp; We got home hungry and tired, but
+in great spirits.&nbsp; Alas! next day came the south-easter&mdash;blacker,
+colder, more cutting, than ever&mdash;and lasted a week.</p>
+<p>The Walkers came over on horseback, and pressed me to go to them.&nbsp;
+They are most kind and agreeable people.&nbsp; The drive to Simon&rsquo;s
+Bay was lovely, along the coast and across five beaches of snow-white
+sand, which look like winter landscapes; and the mountains and bay are
+lovely.</p>
+<p>Living is very dear, and washing, travelling, chemist&rsquo;s bills&mdash;all
+enormous.&nbsp; Thirty shillings a cart and horse from Rathfelder here&mdash;twelve
+miles; and then the young English host wanted me to hire another cart
+for one box and one bath!&nbsp; But I would not, and my obstinacy was
+stoutest.&nbsp; If I want cart or waggon again, I&rsquo;ll deal with
+a Malay, only the fellows drive with forty Jehu-power up and down the
+mountains.</p>
+<p>A Madagascar woman offered to give me her orphan grandchild, a sweet
+brown fairy, six years old, with long silky black hair, and gorgeous
+eyes.&nbsp; The child hung about me incessantly all the time I was at
+Rathfelder, and I had a great mind to her.&nbsp; She used to laugh like
+baby, and was like her altogether, only prettier, and very brown; and
+when I told her she was like my own little child, she danced about,
+and laughed like mad at the idea that she could look like &lsquo;pretty
+white Missy&rsquo;.&nbsp; She was mighty proud of her needlework and
+A B C performances.</p>
+<p>It is such a luxury to sleep on a real mattrass&mdash;not stuffed
+with dirty straw; to eat clean food, and live in a nice room.&nbsp;
+But my cough is very bad, and the cruel wind blows on and on.&nbsp;
+I saw the doctor of the Naval Hospital here to-day.&nbsp; If I don&rsquo;t
+mend, I will try his advice, and go northward for warmth.&nbsp; If you
+can find an old Mulready envelope, send it here to Miss Walker, who
+collects stamps and has not got it, and write and thank dear good Lady
+Walker for her kindness to me.</p>
+<p>You will get this about the new year.&nbsp; God bless you all, and
+send us better days in 1862.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER IV&mdash;JOURNEY TO CALEDON</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Dec. 10th.</p>
+<p>I did not feel at all well at Simon&rsquo;s Bay, which is a land
+of hurricanes.&nbsp; We had a &lsquo;south-easter&rsquo; for fourteen
+days, without an hour&rsquo;s lull; even the flag-ship had no communication
+with the shore for eight days.&nbsp; The good old naval surgeon there
+ordered me to start off for this high &lsquo;up-country&rsquo; district,
+and arranged my departure for the first <i>possible</i> day.&nbsp; He
+made a bargain for me with a Dutchman, for a light Malay cart (a capital
+vehicle with two wheels) and four horses, for 30<i>s</i>. a day&mdash;three
+days to Caledon from Simon&rsquo;s Bay, about a hundred miles or so,
+and one day of back fare to his home in Capetown.</p>
+<p>Luckily, on Saturday the wind dropped, and we started at nine o&rsquo;clock,
+drove to a place about four miles from Capetown, when we turned off
+on the &lsquo;country road&rsquo;, and outspanned at a post-house kept
+by a nice old German with a Dutch wife.&nbsp; Once well out of Capetown,
+people are civil, but inquisitive; I was strictly cross-questioned,
+and proved so satisfactory, that the old man wished to give me some
+English porter gratis.&nbsp; We then jogged along again at a very good
+pace to another wayside public, where we outspanned again and ate, and
+were again questioned, and again made much of.&nbsp; By six o&rsquo;clock
+we got to the Eerste River, having gone forty miles or so in the day.&nbsp;
+It was a beautiful day, and very pleasant travelling.&nbsp; We had three
+good little half-Arab bays, and one brute of a grey as off-wheeler,
+who fell down continually; but a Malay driver works miracles, and no
+harm came of it.&nbsp; The cart is small, with a permanent tilt at top,
+and moveable curtains of waterproof all round; harness of raw leather,
+very prettily put together by Malay workmen.&nbsp; We sat behind, and
+our brown coachman, with his mushroom hat, in front, with my bath and
+box, and a miniature of himself about seven years old&mdash;a nephew,&mdash;so
+small and handy that he would be worth his weight in jewels as a tiger.&nbsp;
+At Eerste River we slept in a pretty old Dutch house, kept by an English
+woman, and called the Fox and Hound, &lsquo;to sound like home, my lady.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+Very nice and comfortable it was.</p>
+<p>I started next day at ten; and never shall I forget that day&rsquo;s
+journey.&nbsp; The beauty of the country exceeds all description.&nbsp;
+Ranges of mountains beyond belief fantastic in shape, and between them
+a rolling country, desolate and wild, and covered with gorgeous flowers
+among the &lsquo;scrub&rsquo;.&nbsp; First we came to Hottentot&rsquo;s
+Holland (now called Somerset West), the loveliest little old Dutch village,
+with trees and little canals of bright clear mountain water, and groves
+of orange and pomegranate, and white houses, with incredible gable ends.&nbsp;
+We tried to stop here; but forage was ninepence a bundle, and the true
+Malay would rather die than pay more than he can help.&nbsp; So we pushed
+on to the foot of the mountains, and bought forage (forage is oats <i>au
+natural</i>, straw and all, the only feed known here, where there is
+no grass or hay) at a farm kept by English people, who all talked Dutch
+together; only one girl of the family could speak English.&nbsp; They
+were very civil, asked us in, and gave us unripe apricots, and the girl
+came down with seven flounces, to talk with us.&nbsp; Forage was still
+ninepence&mdash;half a dollar a bundle&mdash;and Choslullah Jaamee groaned
+over it, and said the horses must have less forage and &lsquo;more plenty
+roll&rsquo; (a roll in the dust is often the only refreshment offered
+to the beasts, and seems to do great good).</p>
+<p>We got to Caledon at eleven, and drove to the place the Doctor recommended&mdash;formerly
+a country house of the Dutch Governor.&nbsp; It is in a lovely spot;
+but do you remember the Schloss in Immermann&rsquo;s Neuer M&uuml;nchausen?&nbsp;
+Well, it is that.&nbsp; A ruin;&mdash;windows half broken and boarded
+up, the handsome steps in front fallen in, and all <i>en suite</i>.&nbsp;
+The rooms I saw were large and airy; but mud floors, white-washed walls,
+one chair, one stump bedstead, and <i>praeterea nihil</i>.&nbsp; It
+has a sort of wild, romantic look; I hear, too, it is wonderfully healthy,
+and not so bad as it looks.&nbsp; The long corridor is like the entrance
+to a great stable, or some such thing; earth floors and open to all
+winds.&nbsp; But you can&rsquo;t imagine it, however I may describe;
+it is so huge and strange, and ruinous.&nbsp; Finding that the mistress
+of the house was ill, and nothing ready for our reception, I drove on
+to the inn.&nbsp; Rain, like a Scotch mist, came on just as we arrived,
+and it is damp and chilly, to the delight of all the dwellers in the
+land, who love bad weather.&nbsp; It makes me cough a little more; but
+they say it is quite unheard of, and can&rsquo;t last.&nbsp; Altogether,
+I suppose this summer here is as that of &lsquo;60 was in England.</p>
+<p>I forgot, in describing my journey, the regal-looking Caffre housemaid
+at Eerste River.&nbsp; &lsquo;Such a dear, good creature,&rsquo; the
+landlady said; and, oh, such a &lsquo;noble savage&rsquo;!&mdash;with
+a cotton handkerchief folded tight like a cravat and tied round her
+head with a bow behind, and the short curly wool sticking up in the
+middle;&mdash;it looked like a royal diadem on her solemn brow; she
+stepped like Juno, with a huge tub full to the brim, and holding several
+pailfuls, on her head, and a pailful in each hand, bringing water for
+the stables from the river, across a large field.&nbsp; There is nothing
+like a Caffre for power and grace; and the face, though very African,
+has a sort of grandeur which makes it utterly unlike that of the negro.&nbsp;
+That woman&rsquo;s bust and waist were beauty itself.&nbsp; The Caffres
+are also very clean and very clever as servants, I hear, learning cookery,
+&amp;c., in a wonderfully short time.&nbsp; When they have saved money
+enough to buy cattle in Kaffraria, off they go, cast aside civilization
+and clothes, and enjoy life in naked luxury.</p>
+<p>I can&rsquo;t tell you how I longed for you in my journey.&nbsp;
+You would have been so delighted with the country and the queer turn-out&mdash;the
+wild little horses, and the polite and delicately-clean Moslem driver.&nbsp;
+His description of his sufferings from &lsquo;louses&rsquo;, when he
+slept in a Dutch farm, were pathetic, and ever since, he sleeps in his
+cart, with the little boy; and they bathe in the nearest river, and
+eat their lawful food and drink their water out of doors.&nbsp; They
+declined beer, or meat which had been unlawfully killed.&nbsp; In Capetown
+<i>all</i> meat is killed by Malays, and has the proper prayer spoken
+over it, and they will eat no other.&nbsp; I was offered a fowl at a
+farm, but Choslullah thought it &lsquo;too much money for Missus&rsquo;,
+and only accepted some eggs.&nbsp; He was gratified at my recognising
+the propriety of his saying &lsquo;Bismillah&rsquo; over any animal
+killed for food.&nbsp; Some drink beer, and drink a good deal, but Choslullah
+thought it &lsquo;very wrong for Malay people, and not good for Christian
+people, to be drunk beasties;&mdash;little wine or beer good for Christians,
+but not too plenty much.&rsquo;&nbsp; I gave him ten shillings for himself,
+at which he was enchanted, and again begged me to write to his master
+for him when I wanted to leave Caledon, and to be sure to say, &lsquo;Mind
+send same coachman.&rsquo;&nbsp; He planned to drive me back through
+Worcester, Burnt Vley, Paarl, and Stellenbosch&mdash;a longer round;
+but he could do it in three days well, so as &lsquo;not cost Missus
+more money&rsquo;, and see a different country.</p>
+<p>This place is curiously like Rochefort in the Ardennes, only the
+hills are mountains, and the sun is far hotter; not so the air, which
+is fresh and pleasant.&nbsp; I am in a very nice inn, kept by an English
+ex-officer, who went through the Caffre war, and found his pay insufficient
+for the wants of a numerous family.&nbsp; I quite admire his wife, who
+cooks, cleans, nurses her babes, gives singing and music lessons,&mdash;all
+as merrily as if she liked it.&nbsp; I dine with them at two o&rsquo;clock,
+and Captain D- has a <i>table d&rsquo;h&ocirc;te</i> at seven for travellers.&nbsp;
+I pay only 10<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. a day for myself and S-; this includes
+all but wine or beer.&nbsp; The air is very clear and fine, and my cough
+is already much better.&nbsp; I shall stay here as long as it suits
+me and does me good, and then I am to send for Choslullah again, and
+go back by the road he proposed.&nbsp; It rains here now and then, and
+blows a good deal, but the wind has lost its bitter chill, and depressing
+quality.&nbsp; I hope soon to ride a little and see the country, which
+is beautiful.</p>
+<p>The water-line is all red from the iron stone, and there are hot
+chalybeate springs up the mountain which are very good for rheumatism,
+and very strengthening, I am told.&nbsp; The boots here is a Mantatee,
+very black, and called Kleenboy, because he is so little; he is the
+only sleek black I have seen here, but looks heavy and downcast.&nbsp;
+One maid is Irish (they make the best servants here), a very nice clean
+girl, and the other, a brown girl of fifteen, whose father is English,
+and married to her mother.&nbsp; Food here is scarce, all but bread
+and mutton, both good.&nbsp; Butter is 3<i>s</i>. a pound; fruit and
+vegetables only to be had by chance.&nbsp; I miss the oranges and lemons
+sadly.&nbsp; Poultry and milk uncertain.&nbsp; The bread is good everywhere,
+from the fine wheat: in the country it is brownish and sweet.&nbsp;
+The wine here is execrable; this is owing to the prevailing indolence,
+for there is excellent wine made from the Rhenish grape, rather like
+Sauterne, with a <i>soup&ccedil;on</i> of Manzanilla flavour.&nbsp;
+The sweet Constantia is also very good indeed; not the expensive sort,
+which is made from grapes half dried, and is a liqueur, but a light,
+sweet, straw-coloured wine, which even I liked.&nbsp; We drank nothing
+else at the Admiral&rsquo;s.&nbsp; The kind old sailor has given me
+a dozen of wine, which is coming up here in a waggon, and will be most
+welcome.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t tell you how kind he and Lady Walker were;
+I was there three weeks, and hope to go again when the south-easter
+season is over and I can get out a little.&nbsp; I could not leave the
+house at all; and even Lady Walker and the girls, who are very energetic,
+got out but little.&nbsp; They are a charming family.</p>
+<p>I have no doubt that Dr. Shea was right, and that one must leave
+the coast to get a fine climate.&nbsp; Here it seems to me nearly perfect&mdash;too
+windy for my pleasure, but then the sun would be overpowering without
+a fresh breeze.&nbsp; Every one agrees in saying that the winter in
+Capetown is delicious&mdash;like a fine English summer.&nbsp; In November
+the southeasters begin, and they are &lsquo;fiendish&rsquo;; this year
+they began in September.&nbsp; The mornings here are always fresh, not
+to say cold; the afternoons, from one to three, broiling; then delightful
+till sunset, which is deadly cold for three-quarters of an hour; the
+night is lovely.&nbsp; The wind rises and falls with the sun.&nbsp;
+That is the general course of things.&nbsp; Now and then it rains, and
+this year there is a little south-easter, which is quite unusual, and
+not odious, as it is near the sea; and there is seldom a hot wind from
+the north.&nbsp; I am promised that on or about Christmas-day; then
+doors and windows are shut, and you gasp.&nbsp; Hitherto we have had
+nothing nearly so hot as Paris in summer, or as the summer of 1859 in
+England; and they say it is no hotter, except when the hot wind blows,
+which is very rare.&nbsp; Up here, snow sometimes lies, in winter, on
+the mountain tops; but ice is unknown, and Table Mountain is never covered
+with snow.&nbsp; The flies are pestilent&mdash;incredibly noisy, intrusive,
+and disgusting&mdash;and oh, such swarms!&nbsp; Fleas and bugs not half
+so bad as in France, as far as my experience goes, and I have poked
+about in queer places.</p>
+<p>I get up at half-past five, and walk in the early morning, before
+the sun and wind begin to be oppressive; it is then dry, calm, and beautiful;
+then I sleep like a Dutchman in the middle of the day.&nbsp; At present
+it tires me, but I shall get used to it soon.&nbsp; The Dutch doctor
+here advised me to do so, to avoid the wind.</p>
+<p>When all was settled, we climbed the Hottentot&rsquo;s mountains
+by Sir Lowry&rsquo;s Pass, a long curve round two hill-sides; and what
+a view!&nbsp; Simon&rsquo;s Bay opening out far below, and range upon
+range of crags on one side, with a wide fertile plain, in which lies
+Hottentot&rsquo;s Holland, at one&rsquo;s feet.&nbsp; The road is just
+wide enough for one waggon, i.e. very narrow.&nbsp; Where the smooth
+rock came through, Choslullah gave a little grunt, and the three bays
+went off like hippogriffs, dragging the grey with them.&nbsp; By this
+time my confidence in his driving was boundless, or I should have expected
+to find myself in atoms at the bottom of the precipice.&nbsp; At the
+top of the pass we turned a sharp corner into a scene like the crater
+of a volcano, only reaching miles away all round; and we descended a
+very little and drove on along great rolling waves of country, with
+the mountain tops, all crags and ruins, to our left.&nbsp; At three
+we reached Palmiet River, full of palmettos and bamboos, and there the
+horses had &lsquo;a little roll&rsquo;, and Choslullah and his miniature
+washed in the river and prayed, and ate dry bread, and drank their tepid
+water out of a bottle with great good breeding and cheerfulness.&nbsp;
+Three bullock-waggons had outspanned, and the Dutch boers and Bastaards
+(half Hottentots) were all drunk.&nbsp; We went into a neat little &lsquo;public&rsquo;,
+and had porter and ham sandwiches, for which I paid 4<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.
+to a miserable-looking English woman, who was afraid of her tipsy customers.&nbsp;
+We got to Houw Hoek, a pretty valley at the entrance of a mountain gorge,
+about half-past five, and drove up to a mud cottage, half inn, half
+farm, kept by a German and his wife.&nbsp; It looked mighty queer, but
+Choslullah said the host was a good old man, and all clean.&nbsp; So
+we cheered up, and asked for food.&nbsp; While the neat old woman was
+cooking it, up galloped five fine lads and two pretty flaxen-haired
+girls, with real German faces, on wild little horses; and one girl tucked
+up her habit, and waited at table, while another waved a green bough
+to drive off the swarms of flies.&nbsp; The chops were excellent, ditto
+bread and butter, and the tea tolerable.&nbsp; The parlour was a tiny
+room with a mud floor, half-hatch door into the front, and the two bedrooms
+still tinier and darker, each with two huge beds which filled them entirely.&nbsp;
+But Choslullah was right; they were perfectly clean, with heaps of beautiful
+pillows; and not only none of the creatures of which he spoke with infinite
+terror, but even no fleas.&nbsp; The man was delighted to talk to me.&nbsp;
+His wife had almost forgotten German, and the children did not know
+a word of it, but spoke Dutch and English.&nbsp; A fine, healthy, happy
+family.&nbsp; It was a pretty picture of emigrant life.&nbsp; Cattle,
+pigs, sheep, and poultry, and pigeons innumerable, all picked up their
+own living, and cost nothing; and vegetables and fruit grow in rank
+abundance where there is water.&nbsp; I asked for a book in the evening,
+and the man gave me a volume of Schiller.&nbsp; A good breakfast,&mdash;and
+we paid ninepence for all.</p>
+<p>This morning we started before eight, as it looked gloomy, and came
+through a superb mountain defile, out on to a rich hillocky country,
+covered with miles of corn, all being cut as far as the eye could reach,
+and we passed several circular threshing-floors, where the horses tread
+out the grain.&nbsp; Each had a few mud hovels near it, for the farmers
+and men to live in during harvest.&nbsp; Altogether, I was most lucky,
+had two beautiful days, and enjoyed the journey immensely.&nbsp; It
+was most &lsquo;<i>abentheuerlich</i>&rsquo;; the light two-wheeled
+cart, with four wild little horses, and the marvellous brown driver,
+who seemed to be always going to perdition, but made the horses do apparently
+impossible things with absolute certainty; and the pretty tiny boy who
+came to help his uncle, and was so clever, and so preternaturally quiet,
+and so very small: then the road through the mountain passes, seven
+or eight feet wide, with a precipice above and below, up which the little
+horses scrambled; while big lizards, with green heads and chocolate
+bodies, looked pertly at us, and a big bright amber-coloured cobra,
+as handsome as he is deadly, wriggled across into a hole.</p>
+<p>Nearly all the people in this village are Dutch.&nbsp; There is one
+Malay tailor here, but he is obliged to be a Christian at Caledon, though
+Choslullah told me with a grin, he was a very good Malay when he went
+to Capetown.&nbsp; He did not seem much shocked at this double religion,
+staunch Mussulman as he was himself.&nbsp; I suppose the blacks &lsquo;up
+country&rsquo; are what Dutch slavery made them&mdash;mere animals&mdash;cunning
+and sulky.&nbsp; The real Hottentot is extinct, I believe, in the Colony;
+what one now sees are all &lsquo;Bastaards&rsquo;, the Dutch name for
+their own descendants by Hottentot women.&nbsp; These mongrel Hottentots,
+who do all the work, are an affliction to behold&mdash;debased and <i>shrivelled</i>
+with drink, and drunk all day long; sullen wretched creatures&mdash;so
+unlike the bright Malays and cheery pleasant blacks and browns of Capetown,
+who never pass you without a kind word and sunny smile or broad African
+grin, <i>selon</i> their colour and shape of face.&nbsp; I look back
+fondly to the gracious soft-looking Malagasse woman who used to give
+me a chair under the big tree near Rathfelders, and a cup of &lsquo;bosjesth&eacute;e&rsquo;
+(herb tea), and talk so prettily in her soft voice;&mdash;it is such
+a contrast to these poor animals, who glower at one quite unpleasantly.&nbsp;
+All the hovels I was in at Capetown were very fairly clean, and I went
+into numbers.&nbsp; They almost all contained a handsome bed, with,
+at least, eight pillows.&nbsp; If you only look at the door with a friendly
+glance, you are implored to come in and sit down, and usually offered
+a &lsquo;coppj&rsquo; (cup) of herb tea, which they are quite grateful
+to one for drinking.&nbsp; I never saw or heard a hint of &lsquo;backsheesh&rsquo;,
+nor did I ever give it, on principle and I was always recognised and
+invited to come again with the greatest eagerness.&nbsp; &lsquo;An indulgence
+of talk&rsquo; from an English &lsquo;Missis&rsquo; seemed the height
+of gratification, and the pride and pleasure of giving hospitality a
+sufficient reward.&nbsp; But here it is quite different.&nbsp; I suppose
+the benefits of the emancipation were felt at Capetown sooner than in
+the country, and the Malay population there furnishes a strong element
+of sobriety and respectability, which sets an example to the other coloured
+people.</p>
+<p>Harvest is now going on, and the so-called Hottentots are earning
+2<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. a day, with rations and wine.&nbsp; But all the
+money goes at the &lsquo;canteen&rsquo; in drink, and the poor wretched
+men and women look wasted and degraded.&nbsp; The children are pretty,
+and a few of them are half-breed girls, who do very well, unless a white
+man admires them; and then they think it quite an honour to have a whitey-brown
+child, which happens at about fifteen, by which age they look full twenty.</p>
+<p>We had very good snipe and wild duck the other day, which Capt. D-
+brought home from a shooting party.&nbsp; I have got the moth-like wings
+of a golden snipe for R-&rsquo;s hat, and those of a beautiful moor-hen.&nbsp;
+They got no &lsquo;boks&rsquo;, because of the violent south-easter
+which blew where they were.&nbsp; The game is fast decreasing, but still
+very abundant.&nbsp; I saw plenty of partridges on the road, but was
+not early enough to see boks, who only show at dawn; neither have I
+seen baboons.&nbsp; I will try to bring home some cages of birds&mdash;Cape
+canaries and &lsquo;roode bekjes&rsquo; (red bills), darling little
+things.&nbsp; The sugar-birds, which are the humming-birds of Africa,
+could not be fed; but Caffre finks, which weave the pendent nests, are
+hardy and easily fed.</p>
+<p>To-day the post for England leaves Caledon, so I must conclude this
+yarn.&nbsp; I wish R- could have seen the &lsquo;klip springer&rsquo;,
+the mountain deer of South Africa, which Capt. D- brought in to show
+me.&nbsp; Such a lovely little beast, as big as a small kid, with eyes
+and ears like a hare, and a nose so small and dainty.&nbsp; It was quite
+tame and saucy, and belonged to some man <i>en route</i> for Capetown.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER V&mdash;CALEDON</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Dec. 29th.</p>
+<p>I am beginning now really to feel better: I think my cough is less,
+and I eat a great deal more.&nbsp; They cook nice clean food here, and
+have some good claret, which I have been extravagant enough to drink,
+much to my advantage.&nbsp; The Cape wine is all so fiery.&nbsp; The
+climate is improving too.&nbsp; The glorious African sun blazes and
+roasts one, and the cool fresh breezes prevent one from feeling languid.&nbsp;
+I walk from six till eight or nine, breakfast at ten, and dine at three;
+in the afternoon it is generally practicable to saunter again, now the
+weather is warmer.&nbsp; I sleep from twelve till two.&nbsp; On Christmas-eve
+it was so warm that I lay in bed with the window wide open, and the
+stars blazing in.&nbsp; Such stars! they are much brighter than our
+moon.&nbsp; The Dutchmen held high jinks in the hall, and danced and
+made a great noise.&nbsp; On New Year&rsquo;s-eve they will have another
+ball, and I shall look in.&nbsp; Christmas-day was the hottest day&mdash;indeed,
+the only <i>hot</i> day we have had&mdash;and I could not make it out
+at all, or fancy you all cold at home.</p>
+<p>I wish you were here to see the curious ways and new aspect of everything.&nbsp;
+This village, which, as I have said, is very like Rochefort, but hardly
+so large, is the <i>chef lieu</i> of a district the size of one-third
+of England.&nbsp; A civil commander resides here, a sort of <i>pr&eacute;fet</i>;
+and there is an embryo market-place, with a bell hanging in a brick
+arch.&nbsp; When a waggon arrives with goods, it draws up there, they
+ring the bell, everybody goes to see what is for sale, and the goods
+are sold by auction.&nbsp; My host bought potatoes and brandy the other
+day, and is looking out for ostrich feathers for me, out of the men&rsquo;s
+hats.</p>
+<p>The other day, while we sat at dinner, all the bells began to ring
+furiously, and Capt. D- jumped up and shouted &lsquo;<i>Brand</i>!&rsquo;
+(fire), rushed off for a stout leather hat, and ran down the street.&nbsp;
+Out came all the population, black, white, and brown, awfully excited,
+for it was blowing a furious north-wester, right up the town, and the
+fire was at the bottom; and as every house is thatched with a dry brown
+thatch, we might all have to turn out and see the place in ashes in
+less than an hour.&nbsp; Luckily, it was put out directly.&nbsp; It
+is supposed to have been set on fire by a Hottentot girl, who has done
+the same thing once before, on being scolded.&nbsp; There is no water
+but what runs down the streets in the <i>sloot</i>, a paved channel,
+which brings the water from the mountain and supplies the houses and
+gardens.&nbsp; A garden is impossible without irrigation, of course,
+as it never rains; but with it, you may have everything, all the year
+round.&nbsp; The people, however, are too careless to grow fruit and
+vegetables.</p>
+<p>How the cattle live is a standing marvel to me.&nbsp; The whole <i>veld</i>
+(common), which extends all over the country (just dotted with a few
+square miles of corn here and there), is covered with a low thin scrub,
+about eighteen inches high, called <i>rhenoster-bosch&mdash;</i>looking
+like meagre arbor vitae or pale juniper.&nbsp; The cattle and sheep
+will not touch this nor the juicy Hottentot fig; but under each little
+bush, I fancy, they crop a few blades of grass, and on this they keep
+in very good condition.&nbsp; The noble oxen, with their huge horns
+(nine or ten feet from tip to tip), are never fed, though they work
+hard, nor are the sheep.&nbsp; The horses get a little forage (oats,
+straw and all).&nbsp; I should like you to see eight or ten of these
+swift wiry little horses harnessed to a waggon,&mdash;a mere flat platform
+on wheels.&nbsp; In front stands a wild-looking Hottentot, all patches
+and feathers, and drives them best pace, all &lsquo;in hand&rsquo;,
+using a whip like a fishing-rod, with which he touches them, not savagely,
+but with a skill which would make an old stage-coachman burst with envy
+to behold.&nbsp; This morning, out on the veld, I watched the process
+of breaking-in a couple of colts, who were harnessed, after many struggles,
+second and fourth in a team of ten.&nbsp; In front stood a tiny foal
+cuddling its mother, one of the leaders.&nbsp; When they started, the
+foal had its neck through the bridle, and I hallooed in a fright; but
+the Hottentot only laughed, and in a minute it had disengaged itself
+quite coolly and capered alongside.&nbsp; The colts tried to plunge,
+but were whisked along, and couldn&rsquo;t, and then they stuck out
+all four feet and <i>skidded</i> along a bit; but the rhenoster bushes
+tripped them up (people drive regardless of roads), and they shook their
+heads and trotted along quite subdued, without a blow or a word, for
+the drivers never speak to the horses, only to the oxen.&nbsp; Colts
+here get no other breaking, and therefore have no paces or action to
+the eye, but their speed and endurance are wonderful.&nbsp; There is
+no such thing as a cock-tail in the country, and the waggon teams of
+wiry little thoroughbreds, half Arab, look very strange to our eyes,
+going full tilt.&nbsp; There is a terrible murrain, called the lung-sickness,
+among horses and oxen here, every four or five years, but it never touches
+those that are stabled, however exposed to wet or wind on the roads.</p>
+<p>I must describe the house I inhabit, as all are much alike.&nbsp;
+It is whitewashed, with a door in the middle and two windows on each
+side; those on the left are Mrs. D-&rsquo;s bed and sitting rooms.&nbsp;
+On the right is a large room, which is mine; in the middle of the house
+is a spacious hall, with doors into other rooms on each side, and into
+the kitchen, &amp;c.&nbsp; There is a yard behind, and a staircase up
+to the <i>zolder</i> or loft, under the thatch, with partitions, where
+the servants and children, and sometimes guests, sleep.&nbsp; There
+are no ceilings; the floor of the zolder is made of yellow wood, and,
+resting on beams, forms the ceiling of my room, and the thatch alone
+covers that.&nbsp; No moss ever grows on the thatch, which is brown,
+with white ridges.&nbsp; In front is a stoep, with &lsquo;blue gums&rsquo;
+(Australian gum-trees) in front of it, where I sit till twelve, when
+the sun comes on it.&nbsp; These trees prevail here greatly, as they
+want neither water nor anything else, and grow with incredible rapidity.</p>
+<p>We have got a new &lsquo;boy&rsquo; (all coloured servants are &lsquo;boys,&rsquo;&mdash;a
+remnant of slavery), and he is the type of the nigger slave.&nbsp; A
+thief, a liar, a glutton, a drunkard&mdash;but you can&rsquo;t resent
+it; he has a <i>na&iuml;f</i>, half-foolish, half-knavish buffoonery,
+a total want of self-respect, which disarms you.&nbsp; I sent him to
+the post to inquire for letters, and the postmaster had been tipsy over-night
+and was not awake.&nbsp; Jack came back spluttering threats against
+&lsquo;dat domned Dutchman.&nbsp; Me no <i>want</i> (like) him; me go
+and kick up dom&rsquo;d row.&nbsp; What for he no give Missis letter?&rsquo;
+&amp;c.&nbsp; I begged him to be patient; on which he bonneted himself
+in a violent way, and started off at a pantomime walk.&nbsp; Jack is
+the product of slavery: he pretends to be a simpleton in order to do
+less work and eat and drink and sleep more than a reasonable being,
+and he knows his buffoonery will get him out of scrapes.&nbsp; Withal,
+thoroughly good-natured and obliging, and perfectly honest, except where
+food and drink are concerned, which he pilfers like a monkey.&nbsp;
+He worships S-, and won&rsquo;t allow her to carry anything, or to dirty
+her hands, if he is in the way to do it.&nbsp; Some one suggested to
+him to kiss her, but he declined with terror, and said he should be
+hanged by my orders if he did.&nbsp; He is a hideous little negro, with
+a monstrous-shaped head, every colour of the rainbow on his clothes,
+and a power of making faces which would enchant a schoolboy.&nbsp; The
+height of his ambition would be to go to England with me.</p>
+<p>An old &lsquo;bastaard&rsquo; woman, married to the Malay tailor
+here, explained to me my popularity with the coloured people, as set
+forth by &lsquo;dat Malay boy&rsquo;, my driver.&nbsp; He told them
+he was sure I was a &lsquo;very great Missis&rsquo;, because of my &lsquo;plenty
+good behaviour&rsquo;; that I spoke to him just as to a white gentleman,
+and did not &lsquo;laugh and talk nonsense talk&rsquo;.&nbsp; &lsquo;Never
+say &ldquo;Here, you black fellow&rdquo;, dat Misses.&rsquo;&nbsp; The
+English, when they mean to be good-natured, are generally offensively
+familiar, and &lsquo;talk nonsense talk&rsquo;, i.e. imitate the Dutch
+English of the Malays and blacks; the latter feel it the greatest compliment
+to be treated <i>au s&eacute;rieux</i>, and spoken to in good English.&nbsp;
+Choslullah&rsquo;s theory was that I must be related to the Queen, in
+consequence of my not &lsquo;knowing bad behaviour&rsquo;.&nbsp; The
+Malays, who are intelligent and proud, of course feel the annoyance
+of vulgar familiarity more than the blacks, who are rather awe-struck
+by civility, though they like and admire it.</p>
+<p>Mrs. D- tells me that the coloured servant-girls, with all their
+faults, are immaculately honest in these parts; and, indeed, as every
+door and window is always left open, even when every soul is out, and
+nothing locked up, there must be no thieves.&nbsp; Captain D- told me
+he had been in remote Dutch farmhouses, where rouleaux of gold were
+ranged under the thatch on the top of the low wall, the doors being
+always left open; and everywhere the Dutch boers keep their money by
+them, in coin.</p>
+<p>Jan. 3d.&mdash;We have had tremendous festivities here&mdash;a ball
+on New Year&rsquo;s-eve, and another on the 1st of January&mdash;and
+the shooting for Prince Alfred&rsquo;s rifle yesterday.&nbsp; The difficulty
+of music for the ball was solved by the arrival of two Malay bricklayers
+to build the new parsonage, and I heard with my own ears the proof of
+what I had been told as to their extraordinary musical gifts.&nbsp;
+When I went into the hall, a Dutchman was <i>screeching</i> a concertina
+hideously.&nbsp; Presently in walked a yellow Malay, with a blue cotton
+handkerchief on his head, and a half-bred of negro blood (very dark
+brown), with a red handkerchief, and holding a rough tambourine.&nbsp;
+The handsome yellow man took the concertina which seemed so discordant,
+and the touch of his dainty fingers transformed it to harmony.&nbsp;
+He played dances with a precision and feeling quite unequalled, except
+by Strauss&rsquo;s band, and a variety which seemed endless.&nbsp; I
+asked him if he could read music, at which he laughed heartily, and
+said, music came into the ears, not the eyes.&nbsp; He had picked it
+all up from the bands in Capetown, or elsewhere.</p>
+<p>It was a strange sight,&mdash;the picturesque group, and the contrast
+between the quiet manners of the true Malay and the grotesque fun of
+the half-negro.&nbsp; The latter made his tambourine do duty as a drum,
+rattled the bits of brass so as to produce an indescribable effect,
+nodded and grinned in wild excitement, and drank beer while his comrade
+took water.&nbsp; The dancing was uninteresting enough.&nbsp; The Dutchmen
+danced badly, and said not a word, but plodded on so as to get all the
+dancing they could for their money.&nbsp; I went to bed at half-past
+eleven, but the ball went on till four.</p>
+<p>Next night there was genteeler company, and I did not go in, but
+lay in bed listening to the Malay&rsquo;s playing.&nbsp; He had quite
+a fresh set of tunes, of which several were from the &lsquo;Traviata&rsquo;!</p>
+<p>Yesterday was a real African summer&rsquo;s day.&nbsp; The D-s had
+a tent and an awning, one for food and the other for drink, on the ground
+where the shooting took place.&nbsp; At twelve o&rsquo;clock Mrs. D-
+went down to sell cold chickens, &amp;c., and I went with her, and sat
+under a tree in the bed of the little stream, now nearly dry.&nbsp;
+The sun was such as in any other climate would strike you down, but
+here <i>coup de</i> <i>soleil</i> is unknown.&nbsp; It broils you till
+your shoulders ache and your lips crack, but it does not make you feel
+the least languid, and you perspire very little; nor does it tan the
+skin as you would expect.&nbsp; The light of the sun is by no means
+&lsquo;golden&rsquo;&mdash;it is pure white&mdash;and the slightest
+shade of a tree or bush affords a delicious temperature, so light and
+fresh is the air.&nbsp; They said the thermometer was at about 130 degrees
+where I was walking yesterday, but (barring the scorch) I could not
+have believed it.</p>
+<p>It was a very amusing day.&nbsp; The great tall Dutchmen came in
+to shoot, and did but moderately, I thought.&nbsp; The longest range
+was five hundred yards, and at that they shot well; at shorter ranges,
+poorly enough.&nbsp; The best man made ten points.&nbsp; But oh! what
+figures were there of negroes and coloured people!&nbsp; I longed for
+a photographer.&nbsp; Some coloured lads were exquisitely graceful,
+and composed beautiful <i>tableaux vivants</i>, after Murillo&rsquo;s
+beggar-boys.</p>
+<p>A poor little, very old Bosjesman crept up, and was jeered and bullied.&nbsp;
+I scolded the lad who abused him for being rude to an old man, whereupon
+the poor little old creature squatted on the ground close by (for which
+he would have been kicked but for me), took off his ragged hat, and
+sat staring and nodding his small grey woolly head at me, and jabbering
+some little soliloquy very <i>sotto voce</i>.&nbsp; There was something
+shocking in the timidity with which he took the plate of food I gave
+him, and in the way in which he ate it, with the <i>wrong</i> side of
+his little yellow hand, like a monkey.&nbsp; A black, who had helped
+to fetch the hamper, suggested to me to give him wine instead of meat
+and bread, and make him drunk <i>for fun</i> (the blacks and Hottentots
+copy the white man&rsquo;s manners <i>to them</i>, when they get hold
+of a Bosjesman to practise upon); but upon this a handsome West Indian
+black, who had been cooking pies, fired up, and told him he was a &lsquo;nasty
+black rascal, and a Dutchman to boot&rsquo;, to insult a lady and an
+old man at once.&nbsp; If you could see the difference between one negro
+and another, you would be quite convinced that education (i.e. circumstances)
+makes the race.&nbsp; It was hardly conceivable that the hideous, dirty,
+bandy-legged, ragged creature, who looked down on the Bosjesman, and
+the well-made, smart fellow, with his fine eyes, jaunty red cap, and
+snow-white shirt and trousers, alert as the best German Kellner, were
+of the same blood; nothing but the colour was alike.</p>
+<p>Then came a Dutchman, and asked for six penn&rsquo;orth of &lsquo;brood
+en kaas&rsquo;, and haggled for beer; and Englishmen, who bought chickens
+and champagne without asking the price.&nbsp; One rich old boer got
+three lunches, and then &lsquo;trekked&rsquo; (made off) without paying
+at all.&nbsp; Then came a Hottentot, stupidly drunk, with a fiddle,
+and was beaten by a little red-haired Scotchman, and his fiddle smashed.&nbsp;
+The Hottentot hit at his aggressor, who then declared he <i>had been</i>
+a policeman, and insisted on taking him into custody and to the &lsquo;Tronk&rsquo;
+(prison) on his own authority, but was in turn sent flying by a gigantic
+Irishman, who &lsquo;wouldn&rsquo;t see the poor baste abused&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+The Irishman was a farmer; I never saw such a Hercules&mdash;and beaming
+with fun and good nature.&nbsp; He was very civil, and answered my questions,
+and talked like an intelligent man; but when Captain D- asked him with
+an air of some anxiety, if he was coming to the hotel, he replied, &lsquo;No,
+sir, no; I wouldn&rsquo;t be guilty of such a misdemeanour.&nbsp; I
+am aware that I was a disgrace and opprobrium to your house, sir, last
+time I was there, sir.&nbsp; No, sir, I shall sleep in my cart, and
+not come into the presence of ladies.&rsquo;&nbsp; Hereupon he departed,
+and I was informed that he had been drunk for seventeen days, <i>sans</i>
+<i>d&eacute;semparer</i>, on his last visit to Caledon.&nbsp; However,
+he kept quite sober on this occasion, and amused himself by making the
+little blackies scramble for halfpence in the pools left in the bed
+of the river.&nbsp; Among our customers was a very handsome black man,
+with high straight nose, deep-set eyes, and a small mouth, smartly dressed
+in a white felt hat, paletot, and trousers.&nbsp; He is the shoemaker,
+and is making a pair of &lsquo;Veldschoen&rsquo; for you, which you
+will delight in.&nbsp; They are what the rough boers and Hottentots
+wear, buff-hide barbarously tanned and shaped, and as soft as woollen
+socks.&nbsp; The Othello-looking shoemaker&rsquo;s name is Moor, and
+his father told him he came of a &lsquo;good breed&rsquo;; that was
+all he knew.</p>
+<p>A very pleasing English farmer, who had been educated in Belgium,
+came and ordered a bottle of champagne, and shyly begged me to drink
+a glass, whereupon we talked of crops and the like; and an excellent
+specimen of a colonist he appeared: very gentle and unaffected, with
+homely good sense, and real good breeding&mdash;such a contrast to the
+pert airs and vulgarity of Capetown and of the people in (colonial)
+high places.&nbsp; Finding we had no carriage, he posted off and borrowed
+a cart of one man and harness of another, and put his and his son&rsquo;s
+riding horses to it, to take Mrs. D- and me home.&nbsp; As it was still
+early, he took us a &lsquo;little drive&rsquo;; and oh, ye gods! what
+a terrific and dislocating pleasure was that!&nbsp; At a hard gallop,
+Mr. M- (with the mildest and steadiest air and with perfect safety)
+took us right across country.&nbsp; It is true there were no fences;
+but over bushes, ditches, lumps of rock, watercourses, we jumped, flew,
+and bounded, and up every hill we went racing pace.&nbsp; I arrived
+at home much bewildered, and feeling more like B&uuml;rger&rsquo;s Lenore
+than anything else, till I saw Mr. M-&rsquo;s steady, pleasant face
+quite undisturbed, and was informed that such was the way of driving
+of Cape farmers.</p>
+<p>We found the luckless Jack in such a state of furious drunkenness
+that he had to be dismissed on the spot, not without threats of the
+&lsquo;Tronk&rsquo;, and once more Kleenboy fills the office of boots.&nbsp;
+He returned in a ludicrous state of penitence and emaciation, frankly
+admitting that it was better to work hard and get &lsquo;plenty grub&rsquo;,
+than to work less and get none;&mdash;still, however, protesting against
+work at all.</p>
+<p>January 7th.&mdash;For the last four days it has again been blowing
+a wintry hurricane.&nbsp; Every one says that the continuance of these
+winds so late into the summer (this answers to July) is unheard of,
+and <i>must</i> cease soon.&nbsp; In Table Bay, I hear a good deal of
+mischief has been done to the shipping.</p>
+<p>I hope my long yarns won&rsquo;t bore you.&nbsp; I put down what
+seems new and amusing to me at the moment, but by the time it reaches
+you, it will seem very dull and commonplace.&nbsp; I hear that the Scotchman
+who attacked poor Aria, the crazy Hottentot, is a &lsquo;revival lecturer&rsquo;,
+and was &lsquo;simply exhorting him to break his fiddle and come to
+Christ&rsquo; (the phrase is a clergyman&rsquo;s, I beg to observe);
+and the saints are indignant that, after executing the pious purpose
+as far as the fiddle went, he was prevented by the chief constable from
+dragging him to the Tronk.&nbsp; The &lsquo;revival&rsquo; mania has
+broken out rather violently in some places; the infection was brought
+from St. Helena, I am told.&nbsp; At Capetown, old Abdool Jemaalee told
+me that English Christians were getting more like Malays, and had begun
+to hold &lsquo;Kalifahs&rsquo; at Simon&rsquo;s Bay.&nbsp; These are
+festivals in which Mussulman fanatics run knives into their flesh, go
+into convulsions, &amp;c, to the sound of music, like the Arab described
+by Houdin.&nbsp; Of course the poor blacks go quite demented.</p>
+<p>I intend to stay here another two or three weeks, and then to go
+to Worcester&mdash;stay a bit; Paarl, ditto; Stellenbosch, ditto&mdash;and
+go to Capetown early in March, and in April to embark for home.</p>
+<p>January 15th.&mdash;No mail in yet.&nbsp; We have had beautiful weather
+the last three days.&nbsp; Captain D- has been in Capetown, and bought
+a horse, which he rode home seventy-five miles in a day and a half,&mdash;the
+beast none the worse nor tired.&nbsp; I am to ride him, and so shall
+see the country if the vile cold winds keep off.</p>
+<p>This morning I walked on the Veld, and met a young black shepherd
+leading his sheep and goats, and playing on a guitar composed of an
+old tin mug covered with a bit of sheepskin and a handle of rough wood,
+with pegs, and three strings of sheep-gut.&nbsp; I asked him to sing,
+and he flung himself at my feet in an attitude that would make Watts
+crazy with delight, and <i>crooned</i> queer little mournful ditties.&nbsp;
+I gave him sixpence, and told him not to get drunk.&nbsp; He said, &lsquo;Oh
+no; I will buy bread enough to make my belly stiff&mdash;I almost never
+had my belly stiff.&rsquo;&nbsp; He likewise informed me he had just
+been in the Tronk (prison), and on my asking why, replied: &lsquo;Oh,
+for fighting, and telling lies;&rsquo; Die liebe Unschuld!&nbsp; (Dear
+innocence!)</p>
+<p>Hottentot figs are rather nice&mdash;a green fig-shaped thing, containing
+about a spoonful of <i>salt-sweet</i> insipid glue, which you suck out.&nbsp;
+This does not sound nice, but it is.&nbsp; The plant has a thick, succulent,
+triangular leaf, creeping on the ground, and growing anywhere, without
+earth or water.&nbsp; Figs proper are common here, but tasteless; and
+the people pick all their fruit green, and eat it so too.&nbsp; The
+children are all crunching hard peaches and plums just now, particularly
+some little half-breeds near here, who are frightfully ugly.&nbsp; Fancy
+the children of a black woman and a red-haired man; the little monsters
+are as black as the mother, and have <i>red</i> wool&mdash;you never
+saw so diabolical an appearance.&nbsp; Some of the coloured people are
+very pretty; for example, a coal-black girl of seventeen, and my washerwoman,
+who is brown.&nbsp; They are wonderfully slender and agile, and quite
+old hard-working women have waists you could span.&nbsp; They never
+grow thick and square, like Europeans.</p>
+<p>I could write a volume on Cape horses.&nbsp; Such valiant little
+beasts, and so composed in temper, I never saw.&nbsp; They are nearly
+all bays&mdash;a few very dark grey, which are esteemed; <i>very</i>
+few white or light grey.&nbsp; I have seen no black, and only one dark
+chestnut.&nbsp; They are not cobs, and look &lsquo;very little of them&rsquo;,
+and have no beauty; but one of these little brutes, ungroomed, half-fed,
+seldom stabled, will carry a six-and-a-half-foot Dutchman sixty miles
+a day, day after day, at a shuffling easy canter, six miles an hour.&nbsp;
+You &lsquo;off saddle&rsquo; every three hours, and let him roll; you
+also let him drink all he can get; his coat shines and his eye is bright,
+and unsoundness is very rare.&nbsp; They are never properly broke, and
+the soft-mouthed colts are sometimes made vicious by the cruel bits
+and heavy hands; but by nature their temper is perfect.</p>
+<p>Every morning all the horses in the village are turned loose, and
+a general gallop takes place to the water tank, where they drink and
+lounge a little; and the young ones are fetched home by their niggers,
+while the old stagers know they will be wanted, and saunter off by themselves.&nbsp;
+I often attend the Houyhnhnm <i>conversazione</i> at the tank, at about
+seven o&rsquo;clock, and am amused by their behaviour; and I continually
+wish I could see Ned&rsquo;s face on witnessing many equine proceedings
+here.&nbsp; To see a farmer outspan and turn the team of active little
+beasts loose on the boundless veld to amuse themselves for an hour or
+two, sure that they will all be there, would astonish him a little;
+and then to offer a horse nothing but a roll in the dust to refresh
+himself withal!</p>
+<p>One unpleasant sight here is the skeletons of horses and oxen along
+the roadside; or at times a fresh carcase surrounded by a convocation
+of huge serious-looking carrion crows, with neat white neck-cloths.&nbsp;
+The skeletons look like wrecks, and make you feel very lonely on the
+wide veld.&nbsp; In this district, and in most, I believe, the roads
+are mere tracks over the hard, level earth, and very good they are.&nbsp;
+When one gets rutty, you drive parallel to it, till the bush is worn
+out and a new track is formed.</p>
+<p>January 17th.&mdash;Lovely weather all the week.&nbsp; Summer well
+set in.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER VI&mdash;CALEDON</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, January 19th.</p>
+<p>Dearest Mother,</p>
+<p>Till this last week, the weather was pertinaciously cold and windy;
+and I had resolved to go to Worcester, which lies in a &lsquo;Kessel&rsquo;,
+and is really hot.&nbsp; But now the glorious African summer is come,
+and I believe this is the weather of Paradise.&nbsp; I got up at four
+this morning, when the Dutchmen who had slept here were starting in
+their carts and waggons.&nbsp; It was quite light; but the moon shone
+brilliantly still, and had put on a bright rose-coloured veil, borrowed
+from the rising sun on the opposite horizon.&nbsp; The freshness (without
+a shadow of cold or damp) of the air was indescribable&mdash;no dew
+was on the ground.&nbsp; I went up the hill-side, along the &lsquo;Sloot&rsquo;
+(channel, which supplies all our water), into the &lsquo;Kloof&rsquo;
+between the mountains, and clambered up to the &lsquo;Venster Klip&rsquo;,
+from which natural window the view is very fine.&nbsp; The flowers are
+all gone and the grass all dead.&nbsp; Rhenoster boschjes and Hottentot
+fig are green everywhere, and among the rocks all manner of shrubs,
+and far too much &lsquo;Wacht een beetje&rsquo; <i>(Wait a bit</i>),
+a sort of series of natural fish-hooks, which try the robustest patience.&nbsp;
+Between seven and eight, the sun gets rather hot, and I came in and
+<i>tubbed</i>, and sat on the stoep (a sort of terrace, in front of
+every house in South Africa).&nbsp; I breakfast at nine, sit on the
+stoep again till the sun comes round, and then retreat behind closed
+shutters from the stinging sun.&nbsp; The <i>air</i> is fresh and light
+all day, though the sun is tremendous; but one has no languid feeling
+or desire to lie about, unless one is sleepy.&nbsp; We dine at two or
+half-past, and at four or five the heat is over, and one puts on a shawl
+to go out in the afternoon breeze.&nbsp; The nights are cool, so as
+always to want one blanket.&nbsp; I still have a cough; but it is getting
+better, so that I can always eat and walk.&nbsp; Mine host has just
+bought a horse, which he is going to try with a petticoat to-day, and
+if he goes well I shall ride.</p>
+<p>I like this inn-life, because I see all the &lsquo;neighbourhood&rsquo;&mdash;farmers
+and traders&mdash;whom I like far better than the <i>gentility</i> of
+Capetown.&nbsp; I have given letters to England to a &lsquo;boer&rsquo;,
+who is &lsquo;going home&rsquo;, i.e. to Europe, the <i>first of his
+race since the revocation</i> <i>of the Edict of Nantes</i>, when some
+poor refugees were inveigled hither by the Dutch Governor, and oppressed
+worse than the Hottentots.&nbsp; M. de Villiers has had no education
+<i>at all</i>, and has worked, and traded, and farmed,&mdash;but the
+breed tells; he is a pure and thorough Frenchman, unable to speak a
+word of French.&nbsp; When I went in to dinner, he rose and gave me
+a chair with a bow which, with his appearance, made me ask, <i>&lsquo;Monsieur
+vient d&rsquo;arriver</i>?&rsquo;&nbsp; This at once put him out and
+pleased him.&nbsp; He is very unlike a Dutchman.&nbsp; If you think
+that any of the French will feel as I felt to this far-distant brother
+of theirs, pray give him a few letters; but remember that he can speak
+only English and Dutch, and a little German.&nbsp; Here his name is
+<i>called</i> &lsquo;Filljee&rsquo;, but I told him to drop that barbarism
+in Europe; De Villiers ought to speak for itself.&nbsp; He says they
+came from the neighbourhood of Bordeaux.</p>
+<p>The postmaster, Heer Klein, and his old Pylades, Heer Ley, are great
+cronies of mine&mdash;stout old greybeards, toddling down the hill together.&nbsp;
+I sometimes go and sit on the stoep with the two old bachelors, and
+they take it as a great compliment; and Heer Klein gave me my letters
+all decked with flowers, and wished &lsquo;Vrolyke tydings, Mevrouw,&rsquo;
+most heartily.&nbsp; He has also made his tributary mail-cart Hottentots
+bring from various higher mountain ranges the beautiful everlasting
+flowers, which will make pretty wreaths for J-.&nbsp; When I went to
+his house to thank him, I found a handsome Malay, with a basket of &lsquo;Klipkaus&rsquo;,
+a shell-fish much esteemed here.&nbsp; Old Klein told me they were sent
+him by a Malay who was born in his father&rsquo;s house, a slave, and
+had been <i>his &lsquo;boy</i>&rsquo; and play-fellow.&nbsp; Now, the
+slave is far richer than the old young master, and no waggon comes without
+a little gift&mdash;oranges, fish, &amp;c.&mdash;for &lsquo;Wilhem&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+When Klein goes to Capetown, the old Malay seats him in a grand chair
+and sits on a little wooden stool at his feet; Klein begs him, as &lsquo;Huisheer&rsquo;,
+to sit properly; but, &lsquo;Neen Wilhem, Ik zal niet; ik kan niet vergeten.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Good boy!&rsquo; said old Klein; &lsquo;good people the Malays.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+It is a relief, after the horrors one has heard of Dutch cruelty, to
+see such an &lsquo;idyllisches Verh&auml;ltniss&rsquo;.&nbsp; I have
+heard other instances of the same fidelity from Malays, but they were
+utterly unappreciated, and only told to prove the excellence of slavery,
+and &lsquo;how well the rascals must have been off&rsquo;.</p>
+<p>I have fallen in love with a Hottentot baby here.&nbsp; Her mother
+is all black, with a broad face and soft spaniel eyes, and the father
+is Bastaard; but the baby (a girl, nine months old), has walked out
+of one of Leonardo da Vinci&rsquo;s pictures.&nbsp; I never saw so beautiful
+a child.&nbsp; She has huge eyes with the spiritual look he gives to
+them, and is exquisite in every way.&nbsp; When the Hottentot blood
+is handsome, it is beautiful; there is a delicacy and softness about
+some of the women which is very pretty, and the eyes are those of a
+<i>good</i> dog.&nbsp; Most of them are hideous, and nearly all drink;
+but they are very clean and honest.&nbsp; Their cottages are far superior
+in cleanliness to anything out of England, except in picked places,
+like some parts of Belgium; and they wash as much as they can, with
+the bad water-supply, and the English outcry if they strip out of doors
+to bathe.&nbsp; Compared to French peasants, they are very clean indeed,
+and even the children are far more decent and cleanly in their habits
+than those of France.&nbsp; The woman who comes here to clean and scour
+is a model of neatness in her work and her person (quite black), but
+she gets helplessly drunk as soon as she has a penny to buy a glass
+of wine; for a penny, a half-pint tumbler of very strong and remarkably
+nasty wine is sold at the canteens.</p>
+<p>I have many more &lsquo;humours&rsquo; to tell, but A- can show you
+all the long story I have written.&nbsp; I hope it does not seem very
+stale and <i>decies repetita</i>.&nbsp; All being new and curious to
+the eye here, one becomes long-winded about mere trifles.</p>
+<p>One small thing more.&nbsp; The first few shillings that a coloured
+woman has to spend on her cottage go in&mdash;what do you think?&mdash;A
+grand toilet table of worked muslin over pink, all set out with little
+&lsquo;<i>objets&rsquo;</i>&mdash;such as they are: if there is nothing
+else, there is that here, as at Capetown, and all along to Simon&rsquo;s
+Bay.&nbsp; Now, what is the use or comfort of a <i>duchesse</i> to a
+Hottentot family?&nbsp; I shall never see those toilets again without
+thinking of Hottentots&mdash;what a baroque association of ideas!&nbsp;
+I intend, in a day or two, to go over to &lsquo;Gnadenthal&rsquo;, the
+Moravian missionary station, founded in 1736&mdash;the &lsquo;bl&uuml;hende
+Gemeinde von Hottentoten&rsquo;.&nbsp; How little did I think to see
+it, when we smiled at the phrase in old Mr. Steinkopf&rsquo;s sermon
+years ago in London!&nbsp; The <i>missionarized</i> Hottentots are not,
+as it is said, thought well of&mdash;being even tipsier than the rest;
+but I may see a full-blood one, and even a true Bosjesman, which is
+worth a couple of hours&rsquo; drive; and the place is said to be beautiful.</p>
+<p>This climate is evidently a styptic of great power, I shall write
+a few lines to the <i>Lancet</i> about Caledon and its hot baths&mdash;&lsquo;Bad
+Caledon&rsquo;, as the Germans at Houw Hoek call it.&nbsp; The baths
+do not concern me, as they are chalybeate; but they seem very effectual
+in many cases.&nbsp; Yet English people never come here; they stay at
+Capetown, which must be a furnace now, or at Wynberg, which is damp
+and chill (comparatively); at most, they get to Stellenbosch.&nbsp;
+I mean visitors, not settlers; <i>they</i> are everywhere.&nbsp; I look
+the colour of a Hottentot.&nbsp; Now I <i>must</i> leave off.</p>
+<p>Your most affectionate</p>
+<p>L. D. G.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER VII&mdash;GNADENTHAL</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Jan. 28th.</p>
+<p>Well, I have been to Gnadenthal, and seen the &lsquo;blooming parish&rsquo;,
+and a lovely spot it is.&nbsp; A large village nestled in a deep valley,
+surrounded by high mountains on three sides, and a lower range in front.&nbsp;
+We started early on Saturday, and drove over a mighty queer road, and
+through a river.&nbsp; Oh, ye gods! what a shaking and pounding!&nbsp;
+We were rattled up like dice in a box.&nbsp; Nothing but a Cape cart,
+Cape horses, and a Hottentot driver, above all, could have accomplished
+it.&nbsp; Captain D- rode, and had the best of it.&nbsp; On the road
+we passed three or four farms, at all which horses were <i>galloping
+out</i> the grain, or men were winnowing it by tossing it up with wooden
+shovels to let the wind blow away the chaff.&nbsp; We did the twenty-four
+miles up and down the mountain roads in two hours and a half, with our
+valiant little pair of horses; it is incredible how they go.&nbsp; We
+stopped at a nice cottage on the hillside belonging to a <i>ci-devant</i>
+slave, one Christian Rietz, a <i>white</i> man, with brown woolly hair,
+sharp features, grey eyes, and <i>not</i> woolly moustaches.&nbsp; He
+said he was a &lsquo;Scotch bastaard&rsquo;, and &lsquo;le bon sang
+parlait&mdash;tr&egrave;s-haut m&ecirc;me&rsquo;, for a more thriving,
+shrewd, sensible fellow I never saw.&nbsp; His <i>father</i> and master
+had had to let him go when all slaves were emancipated, and he had come
+to Gnadenthal.&nbsp; He keeps a little inn in the village, and a shop
+and a fine garden.&nbsp; The cottage we lodged in was on the mountain
+side, and had been built for his son, who was dead; and his adopted
+daughter, a pretty coloured girl, exactly like a southern Frenchwoman,
+waited on us, assisted by about six or seven other women, who came chiefly
+to stare.&nbsp; Vrouw Rietz was as black as a coal, but <i>so</i> pretty!&mdash;a
+dear, soft, sleek, old lady, with beautiful eyes, and the kind pleasant
+ways which belong to nice blacks; and, though old and fat, still graceful
+and lovely in face, hands, and arms.&nbsp; The cottage was thus:- One
+large hall; my bedroom on the right, S-&rsquo;s on the left; the kitchen
+behind me; Miss Rietz behind S-; mud floors daintily washed over with
+fresh cow-dung; ceiling of big rafters, just as they had grown, on which
+rested bamboo canes close together <i>across</i> the rafters, and bound
+together between each, with transverse bamboo&mdash;a pretty <i>beehivey</i>
+effect; at top, mud again, and then a high thatched roof and a loft
+or zolder for forage, &amp;c.; the walls of course mud, very thick and
+whitewashed.&nbsp; The bedrooms tiny; beds, clean sweet melies (maize)
+straw, with clean sheets, and eight good pillows on each; glass windows
+(a great distinction), exquisite cleanliness, and hearty civility; good
+food, well cooked; horrid tea and coffee, and hardly any milk; no end
+of fruit.&nbsp; In all the gardens it hung on the trees thicker than
+the leaves.&nbsp; Never did I behold such a profusion of fruit and vegetables.</p>
+<p>But first I must tell what struck me most, I asked one of the Herrenhut
+brethren whether there were any <i>real</i> Hottentots, and he said,
+&lsquo;Yes, one;&rsquo; and next morning, as I sat waiting for early
+prayers under the big oak-trees in the Plaats (square), he came up,
+followed by a tiny old man hobbling along with a long stick to support
+him.&nbsp; &lsquo;Here&rsquo;, said he, &lsquo;is the <i>last</i> Hottentot;
+he is a hundred and seven years old, and lives all alone.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+I looked on the little, wizened, yellow face, and was shocked that he
+should be dragged up like a wild beast to be stared at.&nbsp; A feeling
+of pity which felt like remorse fell upon me, and my eyes filled as
+I rose and stood before him, so tall and like a tyrant and oppressor,
+while he uncovered his poor little old snow-white head, and peered up
+in my face.&nbsp; I led him to the seat, and helped him to sit down,
+and said in Dutch, &lsquo;Father, I hope you are not tired; you are
+old.&rsquo;&nbsp; He saw and heard as well as ever, and spoke good Dutch
+in a firm voice.&nbsp; &lsquo;Yes, I am above a hundred years old, and
+alone&mdash;quite alone.&rsquo;&nbsp; I sat beside him, and he put his
+head on one side, and looked curiously up at me with his faded, but
+still piercing little wild eyes.&nbsp; Perhaps he had a perception of
+what I felt&mdash;yet I hardly think so; perhaps he thought I was in
+trouble, for he crept close up to me, and put one tiny brown paw into
+my hand, which he stroked with the other, and asked (like most coloured
+people) if I had children.&nbsp; I said, &lsquo;Yes, at home in England;&rsquo;
+and he patted my hand again, and said, &lsquo;God bless them!&rsquo;&nbsp;
+It was a relief to feel that he was pleased, for I should have felt
+like a murderer if my curiosity had added a moment&rsquo;s pain to so
+tragic a fate.</p>
+<p>This may sound like sentimentalism; but you cannot conceive the effect
+of looking on the last of a race once the owners of all this land, and
+now utterly gone.&nbsp; His look was not quite human, physically speaking;&mdash;a
+good head, small wild-beast eyes, piercing and restless; cheek-bones
+strangely high and prominent, nose <i>quite</i> flat, mouth rather wide;
+thin shapeless lips, and an indescribably small, long, pointed chin,
+with just a very little soft white woolly beard; his head covered with
+extremely short close white wool, which ended round the poll in little
+ringlets.&nbsp; Hands and feet like an English child of seven or eight,
+and person about the size of a child of eleven.&nbsp; He had all his
+teeth, and though shrunk to nothing, was very little wrinkled in the
+face, and not at all in the hands, which were dark brown, while his
+face was yellow.&nbsp; His manner, and way of speaking were like those
+of an old peasant in England, only his voice was clearer and stronger,
+and his perceptions not blunted by age.&nbsp; He had travelled with
+one of the missionaries in the year 1790, or thereabouts, and remained
+with them ever since.</p>
+<p>I went into the church&mdash;a large, clean, rather handsome building,
+consecrated in 1800&mdash;and heard a very good sort of Litany, mixed
+with such singing as only black voices can produce.&nbsp; The organ
+was beautifully played by a Bastaard lad.&nbsp; The Herrenhuters use
+very fine chants, and the perfect ear and heavenly voices of a large
+congregation, about six hundred, all coloured people, made music more
+beautiful than any chorus-singing I ever heard.</p>
+<p>Prayers lasted half an hour; then the congregation turned out of
+doors, and the windows were opened.&nbsp; Some of the people went away,
+and others waited for the &lsquo;allgemeine Predigt&rsquo;.&nbsp; In
+a quarter of an hour a much larger congregation than the first assembled,
+the girls all with net-handkerchiefs tied round their heads so as to
+look exactly like the ancient Greek head-dress with a double fillet&mdash;the
+very prettiest and neatest coiffure I ever saw.&nbsp; The gowns were
+made like those of English girls of the same class, but far smarter,
+cleaner, and gayer in colour&mdash;pink, and green, and yellow, and
+bright blue; several were all in white, with white gloves.&nbsp; The
+men and women sit separate, and the women&rsquo;s side was a bed of
+tulips.&nbsp; The young fellows were very smart indeed, with muslin
+or gauze, either white, pink, or blue, rolled round their hats (that
+is universal here, on account of the sun).&nbsp; The Hottentots, as
+they are called&mdash;that is, those of mixed Dutch and Hottentot origin
+(correctly, &lsquo;bastaards&rsquo;)&mdash;have a sort of blackguard
+elegance in their gait and figure which is peculiar to them; a mixture
+of negro or Mozambique blood alters it altogether.&nbsp; The girls have
+the elegance without the blackguard look; <i>all</i> are slender, most
+are tall; all graceful, all have good hands and feet; some few are handsome
+in the face and many very interesting-looking.&nbsp; The complexion
+is a pale olive-yellow, and the hair more or less woolly, face flat,
+and cheekbones high, eyes small and bright.&nbsp; These are by far the
+most intelligent&mdash;equal, indeed, to whites.&nbsp; A mixture of
+black blood often gives real beauty, but takes off from the &lsquo;air&rsquo;,
+and generally from the talent; but then the blacks are so pleasant,
+and the Hottentots are taciturn and reserved.&nbsp; The old women of
+this breed are the grandest hags I ever saw; they are clean and well
+dressed, and tie up their old faces in white handkerchiefs like corpses,&mdash;faces
+like those of Andrea del Sarto&rsquo;s old women; they are splendid.&nbsp;
+Also, they are very clean people, addicted to tubbing more than any
+others.&nbsp; The maid-of-all-work, who lounges about your breakfast
+table in rags and dishevelled hair, has been in the river before you
+were awake, or, if that was too far off, in a tub.&nbsp; They are also
+far cleaner in their huts than any but the <i>very best</i> English
+poor.</p>
+<p>The &lsquo;Predigt&rsquo; was delivered, after more singing, by a
+missionary cabinet-maker, in Dutch, very ranting, and not very wise;
+the congregation was singularly decorous and attentive, but did not
+seem at all excited or impressed&mdash;just like a well-bred West-end
+audience, only rather more attentive.&nbsp; The service lasted three-quarters
+of an hour, including a short prayer and two hymns.&nbsp; The people
+came out and filed off in total silence, and very quickly, the tall
+graceful girls draping their gay silk shawls beautifully.&nbsp; There
+are seven missionaries, all in orders but one, the blacksmith, and all
+married, except the resident director of the boys&rsquo; boarding-school;
+there is a doctor, a carpenter, a cabinet-maker, a shoe-maker, and a
+storekeeper&mdash;a very agreeable man, who had been missionary in Greenland
+and Labrador, and interpreter to MacClure.&nbsp; There is one &lsquo;Studirter
+Theolog&rsquo;.&nbsp; All are Germans, and so are their wives.&nbsp;
+My friend the storekeeper married without having ever beheld his wife
+before they met at the altar, and came on board ship at once with her.&nbsp;
+He said it was as good a way of marrying as any other, and that they
+were happy together.&nbsp; She was lying in, so I did not see her.&nbsp;
+At eight years old, their children are all sent home to Germany to be
+educated, and they seldom see them again.&nbsp; On each side of the
+church are schools, and next to them the missionaries&rsquo; houses
+on one side of the square, and on the other a row of workshops, where
+the Hottentots are taught all manner of trades.&nbsp; I have got a couple
+of knives, made at Gnadenthal, for the children.&nbsp; The girls occupy
+the school in the morning, and the boys in the afternoon; half a day
+is found quite enough of lessons in this climate.&nbsp; The infant school
+was of both sexes, but a different set morning and afternoon.&nbsp;
+The missionaries&rsquo; children were in the infant school; and behind
+the little blonde German &lsquo;M&auml;dels&rsquo; three jet black niggerlings
+rolled over each other like pointer-pups, and grinned, and didn&rsquo;t
+care a straw for the spelling; while the dingy yellow little bastaards
+were straining their black eyes out, with eagerness to answer the master&rsquo;s
+questions.&nbsp; He and the mistress were both Bastaards, and he seemed
+an excellent teacher.&nbsp; The girls were learning writing from a master,
+and Bible history from a mistress, also people of colour; and the stupid
+set (mostly black) were having spelling hammered into their thick skulls
+by another yellow mistress, in another room.&nbsp; At the boarding school
+were twenty lads, from thirteen up to twenty, in training for school-teachers
+at different stations.&nbsp; Gnadenthal supplies the Church of England
+with them, as well as their own stations.&nbsp; There were Caffres,
+Fingoes, a Mantatee, one boy evidently of some Oriental blood, with
+glossy, smooth hair and a copper skin&mdash;and the rest Bastaards of
+various hues, some mixed with black, probably Mozambique.&nbsp; The
+Caffre lads were splendid young Hercules&rsquo;.&nbsp; They had just
+printed the first book in the Caffre language (I&rsquo;ve got it for
+Dr. Hawtrey,)&mdash;extracts from the New Testament,&mdash;and I made
+them read the sheets they were going to bind; it is a beautiful language,
+like Spanish in tone, only with a queer &lsquo;click&rsquo; in it.&nbsp;
+The boys drew, like Chinese, from &lsquo;copies&rsquo;, and wrote like
+copper-plate; they sang some of Mendelssohn&rsquo;s choruses from &lsquo;St.
+Paul&rsquo; splendidly, the Caffres rolling out soft rich bass voices,
+like melodious thunder.&nbsp; They are clever at handicrafts, and fond
+of geography and natural history, incapable of mathematics, quick at
+languages, utterly incurious about other nations, and would all rather
+work in the fields than learn anything but music; good boys, honest,
+but &lsquo;<i>trotzig</i>&rsquo;.&nbsp; So much for Caffres, Fingoes,
+&amp;c.&nbsp; The Bastaards are as clever as whites, and more docile&mdash;so
+the &lsquo;rector&rsquo; told me.&nbsp; The boy who played the organ
+sang the &lsquo;Lorelei&rsquo; like an angel, and played us a number
+of waltzes and other things on the piano, but he was too shy to talk;
+while the Caffres crowded round me, and chattered away merrily.&nbsp;
+The Mantatees, whom I cannot distinguish from Caffres, are scattered
+all over the colony, and rival the English as workmen and labourers&mdash;fine
+stalwart, industrious fellows.&nbsp; Our little &lsquo;boy&rsquo; Kleenboy
+hires a room for fifteen shillings a month, and takes in his compatriots
+as lodgers at half a crown a week&mdash;the usurious little rogue!&nbsp;
+His chief, one James, is a bricklayer here, and looks and behaves like
+a prince.&nbsp; It is fine to see his black arms, ornamented with silver
+bracelets, hurling huge stones about.</p>
+<p>All Gnadenthal is wonderfully fruitful, being well watered, but it
+is not healthy for whites; I imagine, too hot and damp.&nbsp; There
+are three or four thousand coloured people there, under the control
+of the missionaries, who allow no canteens at all.&nbsp; The people
+may have what they please at home, but no public drinking-place is allowed,
+and we had to take our own beer and wine for the three days.&nbsp; The
+gardens and burial-ground are beautiful, and the square is entirely
+shaded by about ten or twelve superb oaks; nothing prettier can be conceived.&nbsp;
+It is not popular in the neighbourhood.&nbsp; &lsquo;You see it makes
+the d-d niggers cheeky&rsquo; to have homes of their own&mdash;and the
+girls are said to be immoral.&nbsp; As to that, there are no so-called
+&lsquo;morals&rsquo; among the coloured people, and how or why should
+there?&nbsp; It is an honour to one of these girls to have a child by
+a white man, and it is a degradation to him to marry a dark girl.&nbsp;
+A pious stiff old Dutchwoman who came here the other day for the Sacrament
+(which takes place twice a year), had one girl with her, big with child
+by her son, who also came for the Sacrament, and two in the straw at
+home by the other son; this caused her exactly as much emotion as I
+feel when my cat kittens.&nbsp; No one takes any notice, either to blame
+or to nurse the poor things&mdash;they scramble through it as pussy
+does.&nbsp; The English are almost equally contemptuous; but there is
+one great difference.&nbsp; My host, for instance, always calls a black
+&lsquo;a d-d nigger&rsquo;; but if that nigger is wronged or oppressed
+he fights for him, or bails him out of the Tronk, and an English jury
+gives a just verdict; while a Dutch one simply finds for a Dutchman,
+against any one else, and <i>always</i> against a dark man.&nbsp; I
+believe this to be true, from what I have seen and heard; and certainly
+the coloured people have a great preference for the English.</p>
+<p>I am persecuted by the ugliest and blackest Mozambiquer I have yet
+seen, a bricklayer&rsquo;s labourer, who can speak English, and says
+he was servant to an English Captain&mdash;&lsquo;Oh, a good fellow
+he was, only he&rsquo;s dead!&rsquo;&nbsp; He now insists on my taking
+him as a servant.&nbsp; &lsquo;I dessay your man at home is a good chap,
+and I&rsquo;ll be a good boy, and cook very nice.&rsquo;&nbsp; He is
+thick-set and short and strong.&nbsp; Nature has adorned him with a
+cock eye and a yard of mouth, and art, with a prodigiously tall white
+chimney-pot hat with the crown out, a cotton nightcap, and a wondrous
+congeries of rags.&nbsp; He professes to be cook, groom, and &lsquo;walley&rsquo;,
+and is sure you would be pleased with his attentions.</p>
+<p>Well, to go back to Gnadenthal.&nbsp; I wandered all over the village
+on Sunday afternoon, and peeped into the cottages.&nbsp; All were neat
+and clean, with good dressers of crockery, the <i>very</i> poorest,
+like the worst in Weybridge sandpits; but they had no glass windows,
+only a wooden shutter, and no doors; a calico curtain, or a sort of
+hurdle supplying its place.&nbsp; The people nodded and said &lsquo;Good
+day!&rsquo; but took no further notice of me, except the poor old Hottentot,
+who was seated on a doorstep.&nbsp; He rose and hobbled up to meet me
+and take my hand again.&nbsp; He seemed to enjoy being helped along
+and seated down carefully, and shook and patted my hand repeatedly when
+I took leave of him.&nbsp; At this the people stared a good deal, and
+one woman came to talk to me.</p>
+<p>In the evening I sat on a bench in the square, and saw the people
+go in to &lsquo;Abendsegen&rsquo;.&nbsp; The church was lighted, and
+as I sat there and heard the lovely singing, I thought it was impossible
+to conceive a more romantic scene.&nbsp; On Monday I saw all the schools,
+and then looked at the great strong Caffre lads playing in the square.&nbsp;
+One of them stood to be pelted by five or six others, and as the stones
+came, he twisted and turned and jumped, and was hardly ever hit, and
+when he was, he didn&rsquo;t care, though the others hurled like catapults.&nbsp;
+It was the most wonderful display of activity and grace, and quite incredible
+that such a huge fellow should be so quick and light.&nbsp; When I found
+how comfortable dear old Mrs. Rietz made me, I was sorry I had hired
+the cart and kept it to take me home, for I would gladly have stayed
+longer, and the heat did me no harm; but I did not like to throw away
+a pound or two, and drove back that evening.&nbsp; Mrs. Rietz, told
+me her mother was a Mozambiquer.&nbsp; &lsquo;And your father?&rsquo;
+said I.&nbsp; &lsquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know.&nbsp; <i>My mother was
+only a slave</i>.&rsquo;&nbsp; She, too, was a slave, but said she &lsquo;never
+knew it&rsquo;, her &lsquo;missus&rsquo; was so good; a Dutch lady,
+at a farm I had passed, on the road, who had a hundred and fifty slaves.&nbsp;
+I liked my Hottentot hut amazingly, and the sweet brown bread, and the
+dinner cooked so cleanly on the bricks in the kitchen.&nbsp; The walls
+were whitewashed and adorned with wreaths of everlasting flowers and
+some quaint old prints from Loutherburg&mdash;pastoral subjects, not
+exactly edifying.</p>
+<p>Well, I have prosed unconscionably, so adieu for the present.</p>
+<p>February 3d.&mdash;Many happy returns of your birthday, dear -.&nbsp;
+I had a bottle of champagne to drink your health, and partly to swell
+the bill, which these good people make so moderate, that I am half ashamed.&nbsp;
+I get everything that Caledon can furnish for myself and S- for 15<i>l</i>.
+a month.</p>
+<p>On Saturday we got the sad news of Prince Albert&rsquo;s death, and
+it created real consternation here.&nbsp; What a thoroughly unexpected
+calamity!&nbsp; Every one is already dressed in deep mourning.&nbsp;
+It is more general than in a village of the same size at home&mdash;(how
+I have caught the colonial trick of always saying &lsquo;home&rsquo;
+for England!&nbsp; Dutchmen who can barely speak English, and never
+did or will see England, equally talk of &lsquo;news from home&rsquo;).&nbsp;
+It also seems, by the papers of the 24th of December, which came by
+a steamer the other day, that war is imminent.&nbsp; I shall have to
+wait for convoy, I suppose, as I object to walking the plank from a
+Yankee privateer.&nbsp; I shall wait here for the next mail, and then
+go back to Capetown, stopping by the way, so as to get there early in
+March, and arrange for my voyage.&nbsp; The weather had a relapse into
+cold, and an attempt at rain.&nbsp; Pity it failed, for the drought
+is dreadful this year, chiefly owing to the unusual quantity of sharp
+drying winds&mdash;a most unlucky summer for the country and for me.</p>
+<p>My old friend Klein, who told me several instances of the kindness
+and gratitude of former slaves, poured out to me the misery he had undergone
+from the &lsquo;ingratitude&rsquo; of a certain Rosina, a slave-girl
+of his.&nbsp; She was in her youth handsome, clever, the best horsebreaker,
+bullock-trainer and driver, and hardest worker in the district.&nbsp;
+She had two children by Klein, then a young fellow; six by another white
+man, and a few more by two husbands of her own race!&nbsp; But she was
+of a rebellious spirit, and took to drink.&nbsp; After the emancipation,
+she used to go in front of Klein&rsquo;s windows and read the statute
+in a loud voice on every anniversary of the day; and as if that did
+not enrage him enough, she pertinaciously (whenever she was a little
+drunk) kissed him by main force every time she met him in the street,
+exclaiming, &lsquo;Aha! when I young and pretty slave-girl you make
+kiss me then; now I ugly, drunk, dirty old devil and free woman, I kiss
+you!&rsquo;&nbsp; Frightful retributive justice!&nbsp; I struggled hard
+to keep my countenance, but the fat old fellow&rsquo;s good-humoured,
+rueful face was too much for me.&nbsp; His tormentor is dead, but he
+retains a painful impression of her &lsquo;ingratitude &lsquo;.</p>
+<p>Our little Mantatee &lsquo;Kleenboy&rsquo; has again, like Jeshurun,
+&lsquo;waxed fat and kicked&rsquo;, as soon as he had eaten enough to
+be once more plump and shiny.&nbsp; After his hungry period, he took
+to squatting on the stoep, just in front of the hall-door, and altogether
+declining to do anything; so he is superseded by an equally ugly little
+red-headed Englishman.&nbsp; The Irish housemaid has married the German
+baker (a fine match for her!), and a dour little Scotch Presbyterian
+has come up from Capetown in her place.&nbsp; Such are the vicissitudes
+of colonial house-keeping!&nbsp; The only &lsquo;permanency&rsquo; is
+the old soldier of Captain D-&rsquo;s regiment, who is barman in the
+canteen, and not likely to leave &lsquo;his honour&rsquo;, and the coloured
+girl, who improves on acquaintance.&nbsp; She wants to ingratiate herself
+with me, and get taken to England.&nbsp; Her father is an Englishman,
+and of course the brown mother and her large family always live in the
+fear of his &lsquo;going home&rsquo; and ignoring their existence; a
+<i>marriage</i> with the mother of his children would be too much degradation
+for him to submit to.&nbsp; Few of the coloured people are ever married,
+but they don&rsquo;t separate oftener than <i>really</i> married folks.&nbsp;
+Bill, the handsome West Indian black, married my pretty washerwoman
+Rosalind, and was thought rather assuming because he was asked in church
+and lawfully married; and she wore a handsome lilac silk gown and a
+white wreath and veil, and very well she looked in them.&nbsp; She had
+a child of two years old, which did not at all disconcert Bill; but
+he continues to be dignified, and won&rsquo;t let her go and wash clothes
+in the river, because the hot sun makes her ill, and it is not fit work
+for women.</p>
+<p>Sunday, 9th.&mdash;Last night a dance took place in a house next
+door to this, and a party of boers attempted to go in, but were repulsed
+by a sortie of the young men within.&nbsp; Some of the more peaceable
+boers came in here and wanted ale, which was refused, as they were already
+very <i>vinous</i>; so they imbibed ginger-beer, whereof one drank thirty-four
+bottles to his own share!&nbsp; Inspired by this drink, they began to
+quarrel, and were summarily turned out.&nbsp; They spent the whole night,
+till five this morning, scuffling and vociferating in the street.&nbsp;
+The constables discreetly stayed in bed, displaying the true Dogberry
+spirit, which leads them to take up Hottentots, drunk or sober, to show
+their zeal, but carefully to avoid meddling with stalwart boers, from
+six to six and a half feet high and strong in proportion.&nbsp; The
+jabbering of Dutch brings to mind Demosthenes trying to outroar a stormy
+sea with his mouth full of pebbles.&nbsp; The hardest blows are those
+given with the tongue, though much pulling of hair and scuffling takes
+place.&nbsp; &lsquo;Verdomde Schmeerlap!&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;Donder
+and Bliksem! am I a verdomde Schmeerlap?&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;Ja, u is,&rsquo;
+&amp;c., &amp;c.&nbsp; I could not help laughing heartily as I lay in
+bed, at hearing the gambols of these Titan cubs; for this is a boer&rsquo;s
+notion of enjoying himself.&nbsp; This morning, I hear, the street was
+strewn with the hair they had pulled out of each other&rsquo;s heads.&nbsp;
+All who come here make love to S-; not by describing their tender feelings,
+but by enumerating the oxen, sheep, horses, land, money, &amp;c., of
+which they are possessed, and whereof, by the law of this colony, she
+would become half-owner on marriage.&nbsp; There is a fine handsome
+Van Steen, who is very persevering; but S- does not seem to fancy becoming
+Mevrouw at all.&nbsp; The demand for English girls as wives is wonderful
+here.&nbsp; The nasty cross little ugly Scotch maid has had three offers
+already, in one fortnight!</p>
+<p>February 18th.&mdash;I expect to receive the letters by the English
+mail to-morrow morning, and to go to Worcester on Thursday.&nbsp; On
+Saturday the young doctor&mdash;good-humoured, jolly, big, young Dutchman&mdash;drove
+me, with his pretty little greys, over to two farms; at one I ate half
+a huge melon, and at the other, uncounted grapes.&nbsp; We poor Europeans
+don&rsquo;t know what fruit <i>can be</i>, I must admit.&nbsp; The melon
+was a foretaste of paradise, and the grapes made one&rsquo;s fingers
+as sticky as honey, and had a muscat fragrance quite inconceivable.&nbsp;
+They looked like amber eggs.&nbsp; The best of it is, too, that in this
+climate stomach-aches are not.&nbsp; We all eat grapes, peaches, and
+figs, all day long.&nbsp; Old Klein sends me, for my own daily consumption,
+about thirty peaches, three pounds of grapes, and apples, pears, and
+figs besides&mdash;&lsquo;just a little taste of fruits&rsquo;; only
+here they will pick it all unripe.</p>
+<p>February 19th.&mdash;The post came in late last night, and old Klein
+kindly sent me my letters at near midnight.&nbsp; The post goes out
+this evening, and the hot wind is blowing, so I can only write to you,
+and a line to my mother.&nbsp; I feel really better now.&nbsp; I think
+the constant eating of grapes has done me much good.</p>
+<p>The Dutch cart-owner was so extortionate, that I am going to wait
+a few days, and write to my dear Malay to come up and drive me back.&nbsp;
+It is better than having to fight the Dutch monopolist in every village,
+and getting drunken drivers and bad carts after all.&nbsp; I shall go
+round all the same.&nbsp; The weather has been beautiful; to-day there
+is a wind, which comes about two or three times in the year: it is not
+depressing, but hot, and a bore, because one must shut every window
+or be stifled with dust.</p>
+<p>The people are burning the veld all about, and the lurid smoke by
+day and flaming hill-sides by night are very striking.&nbsp; The ashes
+of the Bosh serve as manure for the young grass, which will sprout in
+the autumn rains.&nbsp; Such nights!&nbsp; Such a moon!&nbsp; I walk
+out after dark when it is mild and clear, and can read any print by
+the moonlight, and see the distant landscape as well as by day.</p>
+<p>Old Klein has just sent me a haunch of bok, and the skin and hoofs,
+which are pretty.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER VIII</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Sunday.</p>
+<p>You must have fallen into second childhood to think of <i>printing</i>
+such rambling hasty scrawls as I write.&nbsp; I never could write a
+good letter; and unless I gallop as hard as I can, and don&rsquo;t stop
+to think, I can say nothing; so all is confused and unconnected: only
+I fancy <i>you</i> will be amused by some of my &lsquo;impressions&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+I have written to my mother an accurate account of my health.&nbsp;
+I am dressed and out of doors never later than six, now the weather
+makes it possible.&nbsp; It is surprising how little sleep one wants.&nbsp;
+I go to bed at ten and often am up at four.</p>
+<p>I made friends here the other day with a lively dried-up little old
+Irishman, who came out at seven years old a pauper-boy.&nbsp; He has
+made a fortune by &lsquo;going on <i>Togt&rsquo; (German, Tausch</i>),
+as thus; he charters two waggons, twelve oxen each, and two Hottentots
+to each waggon, leader and driver.&nbsp; The waggons he fills with cotton,
+hardware, &amp;c., &amp;c.&mdash;an ambulatory village &lsquo;shop&rsquo;,&mdash;and
+goes about fifteen miles a day, on and on, into the far interior, swapping
+baftas (calico), punjums (loose trowsers), and voerschitz (cotton gownpieces),
+pronounced &lsquo;foossy&rsquo;, against oxen and sheep.&nbsp; When
+all is gone he swaps his waggons against more oxen and a horse, and
+he and his four &lsquo;totties&rsquo; drive home the spoil; and he has
+doubled or trebled his venture.&nbsp; <i>En route</i> home, each day
+they kill a sheep, and eat it <i>all</i>.&nbsp; &lsquo;What!&rsquo;
+says I; &lsquo;the whole?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Every bit.&nbsp; I always
+take one leg and the liver for myself, and the totties roast the rest,
+and melt all the fat and entrails down in an iron pot and eat it with
+a wooden spoon.&rsquo;&nbsp; <i>Je n&rsquo;en revenais pas</i>.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;What! the whole leg and liver at one meal?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Every
+bit; ay, and you&rsquo;d do the same, ma&rsquo;am, if you were there.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+No bread, no salt, no nothing&mdash;mutton and water.&nbsp; The old
+fellow was quite poetic and heroic in describing the joys and perils
+of Togt.&nbsp; I said I should like to go too; and he bewailed having
+settled a year ago in a store at Swellendam, &lsquo;else he&rsquo;d
+ha&rsquo; fitted up a waggon all nice and snug for me, and shown me
+what going on togt was like.&nbsp; Nothing like it for the health, ma&rsquo;am;
+and beautiful shooting.&rsquo;&nbsp; My friend had 700<i>l</i>. in gold
+in a carpet bag, without a lock, lying about on the stoep.&nbsp; &lsquo;All
+right; nobody steals money or such like here.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m going
+to pay bills in Capetown.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>Tell my mother that a man would get from 2<i>l</i>. to 4<i>l</i>.
+a month wages, with board, lodging, &amp;c., all found, and his wife
+from 1<i>l</i>. 10<i>s</i>. to 2<i>l</i>. a month and everything found,
+according to abilities and testimonials.&nbsp; Wages are enormous, and
+servants at famine price; emigrant ships are <i>cleared off</i> in three
+days, and every ragged Irish girl in place somewhere.&nbsp; Four pounds
+a month, and food for self, husband, and children, is no uncommon pay
+for a good cook; and after all her cookery may be poor enough.&nbsp;
+My landlady at Capetown gave that.&nbsp; The housemaid had <i>only</i>
+1<i>l</i>. 5<i>s</i>. a month, but told me herself she had taken 8<i>l</i>.
+in one week in &lsquo;tips&rsquo;.&nbsp; She was an excellent servant.&nbsp;
+Up country here the wages are less, but the comfort greater, and the
+chances of &lsquo;getting on&rsquo; much increased.&nbsp; But I believe
+Algoa Bay or Grahamstown are by far the best fields for new colonists,
+and (I am assured) the best climate for lung diseases.&nbsp; The wealthy
+English merchants of Port Elizabeth (Algoa Bay) pay best.&nbsp; It seems
+to me, as far as I can learn, that every really <i>working</i> man or
+woman can thrive here.</p>
+<p>My German host at Houw Hoek came out twenty-three years ago, he told
+me, without a &lsquo;heller&rsquo;, and is now the owner of cattle and
+land and horses to a large amount.&nbsp; But then the Germans work,
+while the Dutch dawdle and the English drink.&nbsp; &lsquo;New wine&rsquo;
+is a penny a glass (half a pint), enough to blow your head off, and
+&lsquo;Cape smoke&rsquo; (brandy, like vitriol) ninepence a bottle&mdash;that
+is the real calamity.&nbsp; If the Cape had the grape disease as badly
+as Madeira, it would be the making of the colony.</p>
+<p>I received a message from my Malay friends, Abdool Jemaalee and Betsy,
+anxious to know &lsquo;if the Misses had good news of her children,
+for bad news would make her sick&rsquo;.&nbsp; Old Betsy and I used
+to prose about young Abdurrachman and his studies at Mecca, and about
+my children, with more real heartiness than you can fancy.&nbsp; We
+were not afraid of boring each other; and pious old Abdool sat and nodded
+and said, &lsquo;May Allah protect them all!&rsquo; as a refrain;&mdash;&lsquo;Allah,
+il Allah!&rsquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER IX</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Feb. 21st.</p>
+<p>This morning&rsquo;s post brought your packet, and the announcement
+of an extra mail to-night&mdash;so I can send you a P.S.&nbsp; I hear
+that Capetown has been pestilential, and as hot as Calcutta.&nbsp; It
+is totally undrained, and the Mozambiquers are beginning to object to
+acting as scavengers to each separate house.&nbsp; The &lsquo;<i>vidanges&rsquo;</i>
+are more barbarous even than in Paris.&nbsp; Without the south-easter
+(or &lsquo;Cape doctor&rsquo;) they must have fevers, &amp;c.; and though
+too rough a practitioner for me, he benefits the general health.&nbsp;
+Next month the winds abate, but last week an omnibus was blown over
+on the Rondebosch road, which is the most sheltered spot, and inhabited
+by Capetown merchants.&nbsp; I have received all the <i>Saturday Reviews</i>
+quite safe, likewise the books, Mendelssohn&rsquo;s letters, and the
+novel.&nbsp; I have written for my dear Choslullah to fetch me.&nbsp;
+The Dutch farmers don&rsquo;t know how to charge enough; moreover, the
+Hottentot drivers get drunk, and for two lone women that is not the
+thing.&nbsp; I pay my gentle Malay thirty shillings a day, which, for
+a cart and four and such a jewel of a driver, is not outrageous; and
+I had better pay that for the few days I wait on the road, than risk
+bad carts, tipsy Hottentots, and extortionate boers.</p>
+<p>This intermediate country between the &lsquo;Central African wilderness&rsquo;
+and Capetown has been little frequented.&nbsp; I went to the Church
+Mission School with the English clergyman yesterday.&nbsp; You know
+I don&rsquo;t believe in every kind of missionaries, but I do believe
+that, in these districts, kind, judicious English clergymen are of great
+value.&nbsp; The Dutch pastors still remember the distinction between
+&lsquo;Christenmenschen&rsquo; and &lsquo;Hottentoten&rsquo;; but the
+Church Mission Schools teach the Anglican Catechism to every child that
+will learn, and the congregation is as piebald as Harlequin&rsquo;s
+jacket.&nbsp; A pretty, coloured lad, about eleven years old, answered
+my questions in geography with great quickness and some wit.&nbsp; I
+said, &lsquo;Show me the country you belong to.&rsquo;&nbsp; He pointed
+to England, and when I laughed, to the cape.&nbsp; &lsquo;This is where
+we are, but that is the country I <i>belong to</i>.&rsquo;&nbsp; I asked
+him how we were governed, and he answered quite right.&nbsp; &lsquo;How
+is the Cape governed?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Oh, we have a Parliament too,
+and Mr. Silberbauer is the man <i>we</i> send.&rsquo;&nbsp; Boys and
+girls of all ages were mixed, but no blacks.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t think
+they will learn, except on compulsion, as at Gnadenthal.</p>
+<p>I regret to say that Bill&rsquo;s wife has broken his head with a
+bottle, at the end of the honeymoon.&nbsp; I fear the innovation of
+being <i>married at church</i> has not had a good effect, and that his
+neighbours may quote Mr. Peachum.</p>
+<p>I was offered a young lion yesterday, but I hardly think it would
+be an agreeable addition to the household at Esher.</p>
+<p>I hear that Worcester, Paarl, and Stellenbosch are beautiful, and
+the road very desolate and grand: one mountain pass takes six hours
+to cross.&nbsp; I should not return to Capetown so early, but poor Captain
+J- has had his leg smashed and amputated, so I must look out for myself
+in the matter of ships.&nbsp; Whenever it is hot, I am well, for the
+heat here is so <i>light</i> and dry.&nbsp; The wind tries me, but we
+have little here compared to the coast.&nbsp; I hope that the voyage
+home will do me still more good; but I will not sail till April, so
+as to arrive in June.&nbsp; May, in the Channel, would not do.</p>
+<p>How I wish I could send you the fruit now on my table&mdash;amber-coloured
+grapes, yellow waxen apples streaked with vermillion in fine little
+lines, huge peaches, and tiny green figs!&nbsp; I must send dear old
+Klein a little present from England, to show that I don&rsquo;t forget
+my Dutch adorer.&nbsp; I wish I could bring you the &lsquo;Biltong &lsquo;
+he sent me&mdash;beef or bok dried in the sun in strips, and slightly
+salted; you may carry enough in your pocket to live on for a fortnight,
+and it is very good as a little &lsquo;relish&rsquo;.&nbsp; The partridges
+also have been welcome, and we shall eat the tiny haunch of bok to-day.</p>
+<p>Mrs. D- is gone to Capetown to get servants (the Scotch girl having
+carried on her amours too flagrantly), and will return in my cart.&nbsp;
+S- is still keeping house meanwhile, much perturbed by the placid indolence
+of the brown girl.&nbsp; The stableman cooks, and very well too.&nbsp;
+This is colonial life&mdash;a series of makeshifts and difficulties;
+but the climate is fine, people feel well and make money, and I think
+it is not an unhappy life.&nbsp; I have been most fortunate in my abode,
+and can say, without speaking cynically, that I have found &lsquo;my
+warmest welcome at an inn&rsquo;.&nbsp; Mine host is a rough soldier,
+but the very soul of good nature and good feeling; and his wife is a
+very nice person&mdash;so cheerful, clever, and kindhearted.</p>
+<p>I should like to bring home the little Madagascar girl from Rathfelders,
+or a dear little mulatto who nurses a brown baby here, and is so clean
+and careful and &lsquo;pretty behaved&rsquo;,&mdash;but it would be
+a great risk.&nbsp; The brown babies are ravishing&mdash;so fat and
+jolly and funny.</p>
+<p>One great charm of the people here is, that no one expects money
+or gifts, and that all civility is gratis.&nbsp; Many a time I finger
+small coin secretly in my pocket, and refrain from giving it, for fear
+of spoiling this innocence.&nbsp; I have not once seen a <i>look</i>
+implying &lsquo;backsheesh&rsquo;, and begging is unknown.&nbsp; But
+the people are reserved and silent, and have not the attractive manners
+of the darkies of Capetown and the neighbourhood.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER X</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Caledon, Feb. 22d.</p>
+<p>Yesterday Captain D- gave me a very nice caross of blessbok skins,
+which he got from some travelling trader.&nbsp; The excellence of the
+Caffre skin-dressing and sewing is, I fancy, unequalled; the bok-skins
+are as soft as a kid glove, and have no smell at all.</p>
+<p>In the afternoon the young doctor drove me, in his little gig-cart
+and pair (the lightest and swiftest of conveyances), to see a wine-farm.&nbsp;
+The people were not at work, but we saw the tubs and vats, and drank
+&lsquo;most&rsquo;.&nbsp; The grapes are simply trodden by a Hottentot,
+in a tub with a sort of strainer at the bottom, and then thrown&mdash;skins,
+stalks, and all&mdash;into vats, where the juice ferments for twice
+twenty-four hours; after which it is run into casks, which are left
+with the bung out for eight days; then the wine is drawn off into another
+cask, a little sulphur and brandy are added to it, and it is bunged
+down.&nbsp; Nothing can be conceived so barbarous.&nbsp; I have promised
+Mr. M- to procure and send him an exact account of the process in Spain.&nbsp;
+It might be a real service to a most worthy and amiable man.&nbsp; Dr.
+M- also would be glad of a copy.&nbsp; They literally know nothing about
+wine-making here, and with such matchless grapes I am sure it ought
+to be good.&nbsp; Altogether, &lsquo;der alte Schlendrian&rsquo; prevails
+at the Cape to an incredible degree.</p>
+<p>If two &lsquo;Heeren M-&rsquo; call on you, please be civil to them.&nbsp;
+I don&rsquo;t know them personally, but their brother is the doctor
+here, and the most good-natured young fellow I ever saw.&nbsp; If I
+were returning by Somerset instead of Worcester, I might put up at their
+parents&rsquo; house and be sure of a welcome; and I can tell you civility
+to strangers is by no means of course here.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t wonder
+at it; for the old Dutch families <i>are gentlefolks</i> of the good
+dull old school, and the English colonists can scarcely suit them.&nbsp;
+In the few instances in which I have succeeded in <i>thawing</i> a Dutchman,
+I have found him wonderfully good-natured; and the different manner
+in which I was greeted when in company with the young doctor showed
+the feeling at once.&nbsp; The dirt of a Dutch house is not to be conceived.&nbsp;
+I have had sights in bedrooms in very respectable houses which I dare
+not describe.&nbsp; The coloured people are just as clean.&nbsp; The
+young doctor (who is much Anglicised) tells me that, in illness, he
+has to break the windows in the farmhouses&mdash;they are built not
+to open!&nbsp; The boers are below the English in manners and intelligence,
+and hate them for their &lsquo;go-ahead&rsquo; ways, though <i>they</i>
+seem slow enough to me.&nbsp; As to drink, I fancy it is six of one
+and half a dozen of the other; but the English are more given to eternal
+drams, and the Dutch to solemn drinking bouts.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t understand
+either, in this climate, which is so stimulating, that I more often
+drink ginger-beer or water than wine&mdash;a bottle of sherry lasted
+me a fortnight, though I was ordered to drink it; somehow, I had no
+mind to it.</p>
+<p>27th.&mdash;The cart could not be got till the day before yesterday,
+and yesterday Mrs. D- arrived in it with two new Irish maids; it saved
+her 3<i>l</i>., and I must have paid equally.&nbsp; The horses were
+very tired, having been hard at work carrying Malays all the week to
+Constantia and back, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of a Mussulman saint;
+so to-day they rest, and to-morrow I go to Villiersdorp.&nbsp; Choslullah
+has been appointed driver of a post-cart; he tried hard to be allowed
+to pay a <i>rempla&ccedil;ant</i>, and to fetch &lsquo;his missis&rsquo;,
+but was refused leave; and so a smaller and blacker Malay has come,
+whom Choslullah threatened to curse heavily if he failed to take great
+care of &lsquo;my missis&rsquo; and be a &lsquo;good boy&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+Ramadan begins on Sunday, and my poor driver can&rsquo;t even prepare
+for it by a good feast, as no fowls are to be had here just now, and
+he can&rsquo;t eat profanely-killed meat.&nbsp; Some pious Christian
+has tried to burn a Mussulman martyr&rsquo;s tomb at Eerste River, and
+there were fears the Malays might indulge in a little revenge; but they
+keep quiet.&nbsp; I am to go with my driver to eat some of the feast
+(of Bairam, is it not?) at his priest&rsquo;s when Ramadan ends, if
+I am in Capetown, and also am asked to a wedding at a relation of Choslullah&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
+It was quite a pleasure to hear the kindly Mussulman talk, after these
+silent Hottentots.&nbsp; The Malays have such agreeable manners; so
+civil, without the least cringing or Indian obsequiousness.&nbsp; I
+dare say they can be very &lsquo;insolent&rsquo; on provocation; but
+I have always found among them manners like old-fashioned French ones,
+but quieter; and they have an affectionate way of saying &lsquo;<i>my</i>
+missis&rsquo; when they know one, which is very nice to hear.&nbsp;
+It is getting quite chilly here already; <i>cold</i> night and morning;
+and I shall be glad to descend off this plateau into the warmer regions
+of Worcester, &amp;c.&nbsp; I have just bought <i>eight</i> splendid
+ostrich feathers for 1<i>l</i>. of my old Togthandler friend.&nbsp;
+In England they would cost from eighteen to twenty-five shillings each.&nbsp;
+I have got a reebok and a klipspringer skin for you; the latter makes
+a saddle-cloth which defies sore backs; they were given me by Klein
+and a farmer at Palmiet River.&nbsp; The flesh was poor stuff, white
+and papery.&nbsp; The Hottentots can&rsquo;t &lsquo;bray&rsquo; the
+skins as the Caffres do; and the woman who did mine asked me for a trifle
+beforehand, and got so drunk that she let them dry halfway in the process,
+consequently they don&rsquo;t look so well.</p>
+<p>Worcester, Sunday, March 2d.</p>
+<p>Oh, such a journey!&nbsp; Such country!&nbsp; Pearly mountains and
+deep blue sky, and an impassable pass to walk down, and baboons, and
+secretary birds, and tortoises!&nbsp; I couldn&rsquo;t sleep for it
+all last night, tired as I was with the unutterably bad road, or track
+rather.</p>
+<p>Well, we left Caledon on Friday, at ten o&rsquo;clock, and though
+the weather had been cold and unpleasant for two days, I had a lovely
+morning, and away we went to Villiersdorp (pronounced Filjeesdorp).&nbsp;
+It is quite a tiny village, in a sort of Rasselas-looking valley.&nbsp;
+We were four hours on the road, winding along the side of a mountain
+ridge, which we finally crossed, with a splendid view of the sea at
+the far-distant end of a huge amphitheatre formed by two ridges of mountains,
+and on the other side the descent into Filjeesdorp.&nbsp; The whole
+way we saw no human being or habitation, except one shepherd, from the
+time we passed Buntje&rsquo;s kraal, about two miles out of Caledon.&nbsp;
+The little drinking-shop would not hold travellers, so I went to the
+house of the storekeeper (as the clergyman of Caledon had told me I
+might), and found a most kind reception.&nbsp; Our host was English,
+an old man-of-war&rsquo;s man, with a gentle, kindly Dutch wife, and
+the best-mannered children I have seen in the colony.&nbsp; They gave
+us clean comfortable beds and a good dinner, and wine ten years in the
+cellar; in short, the best of hospitality.&nbsp; I made an effort to
+pay for the entertainment next morning, when, after a good breakfast,
+we started loaded with fruit, but the kind people would not hear of
+it, and bid me good-bye like old friends.&nbsp; At the end of the valley
+we went a little up-hill, and then found ourselves at the top of a pass
+down into the level below.&nbsp; S- and I burst out with one voice,
+&lsquo;How beautiful!&rsquo;&nbsp; Sabaal, our driver, thought the exclamation
+was an ironical remark on the road, which, indeed, appeared to be exclusively
+intended for goats.&nbsp; I suggested walking down, to which, for a
+wonder, the Malay agreed.&nbsp; I was really curious to see him get
+down with two wheels and four horses, where I had to lay hold from time
+to time in walking.&nbsp; The track was excessively steep, barely wide
+enough, and as slippery as a flagstone pavement, being the naked mountain-top,
+which is bare rock.&nbsp; However, all went perfectly right.</p>
+<p>How shall I describe the view from that pass?&nbsp; In front was
+a long, long level valley, perhaps three to five miles broad (I can&rsquo;t
+judge distance in this atmosphere; a house that looks a quarter of a
+mile off is two miles distant).&nbsp; At the extreme end, in a little
+gap between two low brown hills that crossed each other, one could just
+see Worcester&mdash;five hours&rsquo; drive off.&nbsp; Behind it, and
+on each side the plain, mountains of every conceivable shape and colour;
+the strangest cliffs and peaks and crags toppling every way, and tinged
+with all the colours of opal; chiefly delicate, pale lilac and peach
+colour, but varied with red brown and Titian green.&nbsp; In spite of
+the drought, water sparkled on the mountain-sides in little glittering
+threads, and here and there in the plain; and pretty farms were dotted
+on either side at the very bottom of the slopes toward the mountain-foot.&nbsp;
+The sky of such a blue! (it is deeper now by far than earlier in the
+year).&nbsp; In short, I never did see anything so beautiful.&nbsp;
+It even surpassed Hottentot&rsquo;s Holland.&nbsp; On we went, straight
+along the valley, crossing drift after drift;&mdash;a drift is the bed
+of a stream more or less dry; in which sometimes you are drowned, sometimes
+only <i>pounded</i>, as was our hap.&nbsp; The track was incredibly
+bad, except for short bits, where ironstone prevailed.&nbsp; However,
+all went well, and on the road I chased and captured a pair of remarkably
+swift and handsome little &lsquo;Schelpats&rsquo;.&nbsp; That you may
+duly appreciate such a feat of valour and activity, I will inform you
+that their English name is &lsquo;tortoise&rsquo;.&nbsp; On the strength
+of this effort, we drank a bottle of beer, as it was very hot and sandy;
+and our Malay was a <i>wet</i> enough Mussulman to take his full share
+in a modest way, though he declined wine or &lsquo;Cape smoke Soopjes&rsquo;
+(drams) with aversion.&nbsp; No sooner had we got under weigh again,
+than Sabaal pulled up and said, &lsquo;There <i>are</i> the Bavi&auml;ans
+Missis want to see!&rsquo; and so they were.&nbsp; At some distance
+by the river was a great brute, bigger than a Newfoundland dog, stalking
+along with the hideous baboon walk, and tail vehemently cocked up; a
+troop followed at a distance, hiding and dodging among the palmiets.&nbsp;
+They were evidently en <i>route</i> to rob a garden close to them, and
+had sent a great stout fellow ahead to reconnoitre.&nbsp; &lsquo;He
+see Missis, and feel sure she not got a gun; if man come on horseback,
+you see &lsquo;em run like devil.&rsquo;&nbsp; We had not that pleasure,
+and left them, on felonious thoughts intent.</p>
+<p>The road got more and more beautiful as we neared Worcester, and
+the mountains grew higher and craggier.&nbsp; Presently, a huge bird,
+like a stork on the wing, pounced down close by us.&nbsp; He was a secretary-bird,
+and had caught sight of a snake.&nbsp; We passed &lsquo;Brant Vley&rsquo;
+(<i>burnt</i> or hot spring), where sulphur-water bubbles up in a basin
+some thirty feet across and ten or twelve deep.&nbsp; The water is clear
+as crystal, and is hot enough just <i>not</i> to boil an egg, I was
+told.&nbsp; At last, one reaches the little gap between the brown hills
+which one has seen for four hours, and drives through it into a wide,
+wide flat, with still craggier and higher mountains all round, and Worcester
+in front at the foot of a towering cliff.&nbsp; The town is not so pretty,
+to my taste, as the little villages.&nbsp; The streets are too wide,
+and the market-place too large, which always looks dreary, but the houses
+and gardens individually are charming.&nbsp; Our inn is a very nice
+handsome old Dutch house; but we have got back to &lsquo;civilization&rsquo;,
+and the horrid attempts at &lsquo;style&rsquo; which belong to Capetown.&nbsp;
+The landlord and lady are too genteel to appear at all, and the Hottentots,
+who are disguised, according to their sexes, in pantry jacket and flounced
+petticoat, don&rsquo;t understand a word of English or of real Dutch.&nbsp;
+At Gnadenthal they understood Dutch, and spoke it tolerably; but here,
+as in most places, it is three-parts Hottentot; and then they affect
+to understand English, and bring everything wrong, and are sulky: but
+the rooms are very comfortable.&nbsp; The change of climate is complete&mdash;the
+summer was over at Caledon, and here we are into it again&mdash;the
+most delicious air one can conceive; it must have been a perfect oven
+six weeks ago.&nbsp; The birds are singing away merrily still; the approach
+of autumn does not silence them here.&nbsp; The canaries have a very
+pretty song, like our linnet, only sweeter; the rest are very inferior
+to ours.&nbsp; The sugar-bird is delicious when close by, but his pipe
+is too soft to be heard at any distance.</p>
+<p>To those who think voyages and travels tiresome, my delight in the
+new birds and beasts and people must seem very stupid.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t
+help it if it does, and am not ashamed to confess that I feel the old
+sort of enchanted wonder with which I used to read Cook&rsquo;s voyages,
+and the like, as a child.&nbsp; It is very coarse and unintellectual
+of me; but I would rather see this now, at my age, than Italy; the fresh,
+new, beautiful nature is a second youth&mdash;or <i>childhood&mdash;si
+vous voulez</i>.&nbsp; To-morrow we shall cross the highest pass I have
+yet crossed, and sleep at Paarl&mdash;then Stellenbosch, then Capetown.&nbsp;
+For any one <i>out</i> of health, and <i>in</i> pocket, I should certainly
+prescribe the purchase of a waggon and team of six horses, and a long,
+slow progress in South Africa.&nbsp; One cannot walk in the midday sun,
+but driving with a very light roof over one&rsquo;s head is quite delicious.&nbsp;
+When I looked back upon my dreary, lonely prison at Ventnor, I wondered
+I had survived it at all.</p>
+<p>Capetown, March 7th.</p>
+<p>After writing last, we drove out, on Sunday afternoon, to a deep
+alpine valley, to see a <i>new bridge&mdash;</i>a great marvel apparently.&nbsp;
+The old Spanish Joe Miller about selling the bridge to buy water occurred
+to me, and made Sabaal laugh immensely.&nbsp; The Dutch farmers were
+tearing home from Kerk, in their carts&mdash;well-dressed, prosperous-looking
+folks, with capital horses.&nbsp; Such lovely farms, snugly nestled
+in orange and pomegranate groves!&nbsp; It is of no use to describe
+this scenery; it is always mountains, and always beautiful opal mountains;
+quite without the gloom of European mountain scenery.&nbsp; The atmosphere
+must make the charm.&nbsp; I hear that an English traveller went the
+same journey and found all barren from Dan to Beersheba.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m
+sorry for him.</p>
+<p>In the morning of Sunday, early, I walked along the road with Sabaal,
+and saw a picture I shall never forget.&nbsp; A little Malabar girl
+had just been bathing in the Sloot, and had put her scanty shift on
+her lovely little wet brown body; she stood in the water with the drops
+glittering on her brown skin and black, satin hair, the perfection of
+youthful loveliness&mdash;a naiad of ten years old.&nbsp; When the shape
+and features are <i>perfect</i>, as hers were, the coffee-brown shows
+it better than our colour, on account of its perfect <i>evenness</i>&mdash;like
+the dead white of marble.&nbsp; I shall never forget her as she stood
+playing with the leaves of the gum-tree which hung over her, and gazing
+with her glorious eyes so placidly.</p>
+<p>On Monday morning, I walked off early to the old <i>Drosdy</i> (Landdrost&rsquo;s
+house), found an old gentleman, who turned out to be the owner, and
+who asked me my name and all the rest of the Dutch &lsquo;litanei&rsquo;
+of questions, and showed me the pretty old Dutch garden and the house&mdash;a
+very handsome one.&nbsp; I walked back to breakfast, and thought Worcester
+the prettiest place I had ever seen.&nbsp; We then started for Paarl,
+and drove through &lsquo;Bain&rsquo;s Kloof&rsquo;, a splendid mountain-pass,
+four hours&rsquo; long, constant driving.&nbsp; It was glorious, but
+more like what one had seen in pictures&mdash;a deep, narrow gorge,
+almost dark in places, and, to my mind, lacked the <i>beauty</i> of
+the yesterday&rsquo;s drive, though it is, perhaps, grander; but the
+view which bursts on one at the top, and the descent, winding down the
+open mountain-side, is too fine to describe.&nbsp; Table Mountain, like
+a giant&rsquo;s stronghold, seen far distant, with an immense plain,
+half fertile, half white sand; to the left, Wagenmaker&rsquo;s Vley;
+and further on, the Paarl lying scattered on the slope of a mountain
+topped with two <i>domes</i>, just the shape of the cup which Lais (wasn&rsquo;t
+it?) presented to the temple of Venus, moulded on her breast.&nbsp;
+The horses were tired, so we stopped at Waggon-maker&rsquo;s Valley
+(or Wellington, as the English try to get it called), and found ourselves
+in a true Flemish village, and under the roof of a jolly Dutch hostess,
+who gave us divine coffee and bread-and-butter, which seemed ambrosia
+after being deprived of those luxuries for almost three months.&nbsp;
+Also new milk in abundance, besides fruit of all kinds in vast heaps,
+and pomegranates off the tree.&nbsp; I asked her to buy me a few to
+take in the cart, and got a &lsquo;muid&rsquo;, the third of a sack,
+for a shilling, with a bill, &lsquo;U bekomt 1 muid 28 granaeten dat
+Kostet 1<i>s</i>.&rsquo;&nbsp; The old lady would walk out with me and
+take me into the shops, to show the &lsquo;vrow uit Engelland&rsquo;
+to her friends.&nbsp; It was a lovely place, intensely hot, all glowing
+with sunshine.&nbsp; Then the sun went down, and the high mountains
+behind us were precisely the colour of a Venice ruby glass&mdash;really,
+truly, and literally;&mdash;not purple, not crimson, but glowing ruby-red&mdash;and
+the quince-hedges and orange-trees below looked <i>intensely</i> green,
+and the houses snow-white.&nbsp; It was a transfiguration&mdash;no less.</p>
+<p>I saw Hottentots again, four of them, from some remote corner, so
+the race is not quite extinct.&nbsp; These were youngish, two men and
+two women, quite light yellow, not darker than Europeans, and with little
+tiny black knots of wool scattered over their heads at intervals.&nbsp;
+They are hideous in face, but exquisitely shaped&mdash;very, very small
+though.&nbsp; One of the men was drunk, poor wretch, and looked the
+picture of misery.&nbsp; You can see the fineness of their senses by
+the way in which they dart their glances and prick their ears.&nbsp;
+Every one agrees that, when tamed, they make the best of servants&mdash;gentle,
+clever, and honest; but the penny-a-glass wine they can&rsquo;t resist,
+unless when caught and tamed young.&nbsp; They work in the fields, or
+did so as long as any were left; but even here, I was told, it was a
+wonder to see them.</p>
+<p>We went on through the Paarl, a sweet pretty place, reminding one
+vaguely of Bonchurch, and still through fine mountains, with Scotch
+firs growing like Italian stone pines, and farms, and vineyard upon
+vineyard.&nbsp; At Stellenbosch we stopped.&nbsp; I had been told it
+was the prettiest town in the colony, and it <i>is</i> very pretty,
+with oak-trees all along the street, like those at Paarl and Wagenmakkers
+Vley; but I was disappointed.&nbsp; It was less beautiful than what
+I had seen.&nbsp; Besides, the evening was dull and cold.&nbsp; The
+south-easter greeted us here, and I could not go out all the afternoon.&nbsp;
+The inn was called &lsquo;Railway Hotel&rsquo;, and kept by low coarse
+English people, who gave us a filthy dinner, dirty sheets, and an atrocious
+breakfast, and charged 1<i>l</i>. 3<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. for the same
+meals and time as old Vrow Langfeldt had charged 12<i>s</i>. for, and
+had given civility, cleanliness, and abundance of excellent food;&mdash;besides
+which, she fed Sabaal gratis, and these people fleeced him as they did
+me.&nbsp; So, next morning, we set off, less pleasantly disposed, for
+Capetown, over the flat, which is dreary enough, and had a horrid south-easter.&nbsp;
+We started early, and got in before the wind became a hurricane, which
+it did later.&nbsp; We were warmly welcomed by Mrs. R-; and here I am
+in my old room, looking over the beautiful bay, quite at home again.&nbsp;
+It blew all yesterday, and having rather a sore-throat I stayed in bed,
+and to-day is all bright and beautiful.&nbsp; But Capetown looks murky
+after Caledon and Worcester; there is, to my eyes, quite a haze over
+the mountains, and they look far off and indistinct.&nbsp; All is comparative
+in this world, even African skies.&nbsp; At Caledon, the most distant
+mountains, as far as your eye can reach, look as clear in every detail
+as the map on your table&mdash;an appearance utterly new to European
+eyes.</p>
+<p>I gave Sabaal 1<i>l</i>. for his eight days&rsquo; service as driver,
+as a Drinkgelt, and the worthy fellow was in ecstasies of gratitude.&nbsp;
+Next morning early, he appeared with a present of bananas, and his little
+girl dressed from head to foot in brand-new clothes, bought out of my
+money, with her wool screwed up extremely tight in little knots on her
+black little head (evidently her mother is the blackest of Caffres or
+Mozambiques).&nbsp; The child looked like a Caffre, and her father considers
+her quite a pearl.&nbsp; I had her in, and admired the little thing
+loud enough for him to hear outside, as I lay in bed.&nbsp; You see,
+I too was to have my share in the pleasure of the new clothes.&nbsp;
+This readiness to believe that one will sympathize with them, is very
+pleasing in the Malays.</p>
+<p>March 15.</p>
+<p>I went to see my old Malay friends and to buy a water-melon.&nbsp;
+They were in all the misery of Ramadan.&nbsp; Betsy and pretty Nassirah
+very thin and miserable, and the pious old Abdool sitting on a little
+barrel waiting for &lsquo;gun-fire&rsquo;&mdash;i.e. sunset, to fall
+to on the supper which old Betsy was setting out.&nbsp; He was silent,
+and the corners of his mouth were drawn down just like -&rsquo;s at
+an evening party.</p>
+<p>I shall go to-morrow to bid the T-s good-bye, at Wynberg.&nbsp; I
+was to have spent a few days there, but Wynberg is cold at night and
+dampish, so I declined that.&nbsp; She is a nice woman&mdash;Irish,
+and so innocent and frank and well-bred.&nbsp; She has been at Cold
+Bokke Veld, and shocked her puritanical host by admiring the naked Caffres
+who worked on his farm.&nbsp; He wanted them to wear clothes.</p>
+<p>We have been amused by the airs of a naval captain and his wife,
+who are just come here.&nbsp; They complained that the merchant-service
+officers spoke <i>familiarly</i> to their children on board.&nbsp; <i>Quel
+audace</i>!&nbsp; When I think of the excellent, modest, manly young
+fellows who talked very familiarly and pleasantly to me on board the
+<i>St. Lawrence</i>, I long to reprimand these foolish people.</p>
+<p>Friday, 21st.&mdash;I am just come from prayer, at the Mosque in
+Chiappini Street, on the outskirts of the town.&nbsp; A most striking
+sight.&nbsp; A large room, like a county ball-room, with glass chandeliers,
+carpeted with common carpet, all but a space at the entrance, railed
+off for shoes; the Caaba and pulpit at one end; over the niche, a crescent
+painted; and over the entrance door a crescent, an Arabic inscription,
+and the royal arms of England!&nbsp; A fat jolly Mollah looked amazed
+as I ascended the steps; but when I touched my forehead and said, &lsquo;Salaam
+Aleikoom&rsquo;, he laughed and said, &lsquo;Salaam, Salaam, come in,
+come in.&rsquo;&nbsp; The faithful poured in, all neatly dressed in
+their loose drab trousers, blue jackets, and red handkerchiefs on their
+heads; they left their wooden clogs in company, with my shoes, and proceeded,
+as it appeared, to strip.&nbsp; Off went jackets, waistcoats, and trousers,
+with the dexterity of a pantomime transformation; the red handkerchief
+was replaced by a white skullcap, and a long large white shirt and full
+white drawers flowed around them.&nbsp; How it had all been stuffed
+into the trim jacket and trousers, one could not conceive.&nbsp; Gay
+sashes and scarves were pulled out of a little bundle in a clean silk
+handkerchief, and a towel served as prayer-carpet.&nbsp; In a moment
+the whole scene was as oriental as if the Hansom cab I had come in existed
+no more.&nbsp; Women suckled their children, and boys played among the
+clogs and shoes all the time, and I sat on the floor in a remote corner.&nbsp;
+The chanting was very fine, and the whole ceremony very decorous and
+solemn.&nbsp; It lasted an hour; and then the little heaps of garments
+were put on, and the congregation dispersed, each man first laying a
+penny on a very curious little old Dutch-looking, heavy, iron-bound
+chest, which stood in the middle of the room.</p>
+<p>I have just heard that the post closes to-night and must say farewell&mdash;<i>a
+rivederci.</i></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XI</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Capetown, March 20th.</p>
+<p>Dearest mother,</p>
+<p>Dr. Shea says he fears I must not winter in England yet, but that
+I am greatly improved&mdash;as, indeed, I could tell him.&nbsp; He is
+another of the kind &lsquo;sea doctors&rsquo; I have met with; he came
+all the way from Simon&rsquo;s Bay to see me, and then said, &lsquo;What
+nonsense is that?&rsquo; when I offered him a fee.&nbsp; This is a very
+nice place up in the &lsquo;gardens&rsquo;, quite out of the town and
+very comfortable.&nbsp; But I regret Caledon.&nbsp; A- will show you
+my account of my beautiful journey back.&nbsp; Worcester is a fairy-land;
+and then to catch tortoises walking about, and to see &lsquo;bavi&auml;ans&rsquo;,
+and snakes and secretary birds eating them! and then people have the
+impudence to think I must have been &lsquo;very dull!&rsquo;&nbsp; <i>Sie
+merken&rsquo;s nicht</i>, that it is <i>they</i> who are dull.</p>
+<p>Dear Dr. Hawtrey! he must have died just as I was packing up the
+first Caffre Testament for him!&nbsp; I felt his death very much, in
+connexion with my father; their regard for each other was an honour
+to both.&nbsp; I have the letter he wrote me on J-&rsquo;s marriage,
+and a charming one it is.</p>
+<p>I took Mrs. A- a drive in a Hansom cab to-day out to Wynberg, to
+see my friends Captain and Mrs. T-, who have a cottage under Table Mountain
+in a spot like the best of St. George&rsquo;s Hill.&nbsp; Very dull
+too; but as she is really a lady, it suits her, and Capetown does not.&nbsp;
+I was to have stayed with them, but Wynberg is cold at night.&nbsp;
+Poor B-&rsquo;s wife is very ill and won&rsquo;t leave Capetown for
+a day.&nbsp; The people here are <i>wunderlich</i> for that.&nbsp; A
+lady born here, and with 7,000<i>l</i>. a year, has never been further
+than Stellenbosch, about twenty miles.&nbsp; I am asked how I lived
+and what I ate during my little excursion, as if I had been to Lake
+Ngami.&nbsp; If only I had known how easy it all is, I would have gone
+by sea to East London and seen the Knysna and George district, and the
+primaeval African forest, the yellow wood, and other giant trees.&nbsp;
+However, &lsquo;For what I have received,&rsquo; &amp;c., &amp;c.&nbsp;
+No one can conceive what it is, after two years of prison and utter
+languor, to stand on the top of a mountain pass, and enjoy physical
+existence for a few hours at a time.&nbsp; I felt as if it was quite
+selfish to enjoy anything so much when you were all so anxious about
+me at home; but as that is the best symptom of all, I do not repent.</p>
+<p>S- has been an excellent travelling servant, and really a better
+companion than many more educated people; for she is always amused and
+curious, and is friendly with the coloured people.&nbsp; She is quite
+recovered.&nbsp; It is a wonderful climate&mdash;<i>sans que cel&agrave;
+paraisse</i>.&nbsp; It feels chilly and it blows horridly, and does
+not seem genial, but it gives new life.</p>
+<p>To-morrow I am going with old Abdool Jemaalee to prayers at the Mosque,
+and shall see a school kept by a Malay priest.&nbsp; It is now Ramadan,.
+and my Muslim friends are very thin and look glum.&nbsp; Choslullah
+sent a message to ask, &lsquo;Might he see the Missis once more?&nbsp;
+He should pray all the time she was on the sea.&rsquo;&nbsp; Some pious
+Christians here would expect such horrors to sink the ship.&nbsp; I
+can&rsquo;t think why Mussulmans are always gentlemen; the Malay coolies
+have a grave courtesy which contrasts most strikingly with both European
+vulgarity and negro jollity.&nbsp; It is very curious, for they only
+speak Dutch, and know nothing of oriental manners.&nbsp; I fear I shall
+not see the Walkers again.&nbsp; Simon&rsquo;s Bay is too far to go
+and come in a day, as one cannot go out before ten or eleven, and must
+be in by five or half-past.&nbsp; Those hours are gloriously bright
+and hot, but morning and night are cold.</p>
+<p>I am so happy in the thought of sailing now so very soon and seeing
+you all again, that I can settle to nothing for five minutes.&nbsp;
+I now feel how anxious and uneasy I have been, and how I shall rejoice
+to get home.&nbsp; I shall leave a letter for A-, to go in April, and
+tell him and you what ship I am in.&nbsp; I shall choose the <i>slowest</i>,
+so as not to reach England and face the Channel before June, if possible.&nbsp;
+So don&rsquo;t be alarmed if I do not arrive till late in June.&nbsp;
+Till then good-bye, and God bless you, dearest mother&mdash;<i>Auf frohes
+Wiedersehn.</i></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XII</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Capetown, Sunday, March 23d.</p>
+<p>It has been a <i>real</i> hot day, and threatened an earthquake and
+a thunderstorm; but nothing has come of it beyond sheet lightning to-night,
+which is splendid over the bay, and looks as if repeated in a grand
+bush-fire on the hills opposite.&nbsp; The sunset was glorious.&nbsp;
+That rarest of insects, the praying mantis, has just dropped upon my
+paper.&nbsp; I am thankful that, not being an entomologist, I am dispensed
+from the sacred duty of impaling the lovely green creature who sits
+there, looking quite wise and human.&nbsp; Fussy little brown beetles,
+as big as two lady-birds, keep flying into my eyes, and the musquitoes
+are rejoicing loudly in the prospect of a feast.&nbsp; You will understand
+by this that both windows are wide open into the great verandah,&mdash;very
+unusual in this land of cold nights.</p>
+<p>April 4th.&mdash;I have been trying in vain to get a passage home.&nbsp;
+The <i>Camperdown</i> has not come.&nbsp; In short, I am waiting for
+a chance vessel, and shall pack up now and be ready to go on board at
+a day&rsquo;s notice.</p>
+<p>I went on the last evening of Ramadan to the Mosque, having heard
+there was a grand &lsquo;function&rsquo;; but there were only little
+boys lying about on the floor, some on their stomachs, some on their
+backs, higgledy-piggledy (if it be not profane to apply the phrase to
+young Islam), all shouting their prayers <i>&agrave; tue t&ecirc;te</i>.&nbsp;
+Priests, men, women, and English crowded in and out in the exterior
+division.&nbsp; The English behaved <i>&agrave; l&rsquo;Anglaise&mdash;</i>pushed
+each other, laughed, sneered, and made a disgusting display of themselves.&nbsp;
+I asked a stately priest, in a red turban, to explain the affair to
+me, and in a few minutes found myself supplied by one Mollah with a
+chair, and by another with a cup of tea&mdash;was, in short, in the
+midst of a Malay <i>soir&eacute;e</i>.&nbsp; They spoke English very
+little, but made up for it by their usual good breeding and intelligence.&nbsp;
+On Monday, I am going to see the school which the priest keeps at his
+house, and to &lsquo;honour his house by my presence&rsquo;.&nbsp; The
+delight they show at any friendly interest taken in them is wonderful.&nbsp;
+Of course, I am supposed to be poisoned.&nbsp; A clergyman&rsquo;s widow
+here gravely asserts that her husband went mad <i>three years</i> after
+drinking a cup of coffee handed to him by a Malay!&mdash;and in consequence
+of drinking it!&nbsp; It is exactly like the mediaeval feeling about
+the Jews.&nbsp; I saw that it was quite a <i>demonstration</i> that
+I drank up the tea unhesitatingly.&nbsp; Considering that the Malays
+drank it themselves, my courage deserves less admiration.&nbsp; But
+it was a quaint sensation to sit in a Mosque, behaving as if at an evening
+party, in a little circle of poor Moslim priests.</p>
+<p>I am going to have a photograph of my cart done.&nbsp; I was to have
+gone to the place to-day, but when Choslullah (whom I sent for to complete
+the picture) found out what I wanted, he implored me to put it off till
+Monday, that he might be better dressed, and was so unhappy at the notion
+of being immortalized in an old jacket, that I agreed to the delay.&nbsp;
+Such a handsome fellow may be allowed a little vanity.</p>
+<p>The colony is torn with dissensions as to Sunday trains.&nbsp; Some
+of the Dutch clergy are even more absurd than our own on that point.&nbsp;
+A certain Van der Lingen, at Stellenbosch, calls Europe &lsquo;one vast
+Sodom&rsquo;, and so forth.&nbsp; There is altogether a nice kettle
+of religious hatred brewing here.&nbsp; The English Bishop of Capetown
+appoints all the English clergy, and is absolute monarch of all he surveys;
+and he and his clergy are carrying matters with a high hand.&nbsp; The
+Bishop&rsquo;s chaplain told Mrs. J- that she could not hope for salvation
+in the Dutch Church, since her clergy were not ordained by any bishop,
+and therefore they could only administer the sacrament &lsquo;<i>unto
+damnation</i>&rsquo;.&nbsp; All the physicians in a body, English as
+well as Dutch, have withdrawn from the Dispensary, because it was used
+as a means of pressure to draw the coloured people from the Dutch to
+the English Church.</p>
+<p>This High-Church tyranny cannot go on long.&nbsp; Catholics there
+are few, but their bishop plays the same game; and it is a losing one.&nbsp;
+The Irish maid at the Caledon inn was driven by her bishop to be married
+at the Lutheran church, just as a young Englishman I know (though a
+fervent Puseyite) was driven to be married at the Scotch kirk.&nbsp;
+The colonial bishops are despots in their own churches, and there is
+no escape from their tyranny but by dissent.&nbsp; The Admiral and his
+family have been anathematized for going to a fancy bazaar given by
+the Wesleyans for their chapel.</p>
+<p>April 8th.&mdash;Yesterday, I failed about my cart photograph.&nbsp;
+First, the owner had sent away the cart, and when Choslullah came dressed
+in all his best clothes, with a lovely blue handkerchief setting off
+his beautiful orange-tawny face, he had to rush off to try to borrow
+another cart.&nbsp; As ill luck would have it, he met a &lsquo;serious
+young man&rsquo;, with no front teeth, and a hideous wen on his eyebrow,
+who informed the priest of Choslullah&rsquo;s impious purpose, and came
+with him to see that he did <i>not</i> sit for his portrait.&nbsp; I
+believe it was half envy; for my handsome driver was as pleased, and
+then as disappointed, as a young lady about her first ball, and obviously
+had no religious scruples of his own on the subject.&nbsp; The weather
+is very delightful now&mdash;hot, but beautiful; and the south-easters,
+though violent, are short, and not cold.&nbsp; As in all other countries,
+autumn is the best time of year.</p>
+<p>April 15th.&mdash;Your letters arrived yesterday, to my great delight.&nbsp;
+I have been worrying about a ship, and was very near sailing to-day
+by the <i>Queen of the South</i> at twenty-four hours&rsquo; notice,
+but I have resolved to wait for the <i>Camperdown</i>.&nbsp; The <i>Queen
+of the South</i> is a steamer,&mdash;which is odious, for they pitch
+the coal all over the lower deck, so that you breathe coal-dust for
+the first ten days; then she was crammed&mdash;only one cabin vacant,
+and that small, and on the lower deck&mdash;and fifty-two children on
+board.&nbsp; Moreover, she will probably get to England too soon, so
+I resign myself to wait.&nbsp; The <i>Camperdown</i> has only upper-deck
+cabins, and I shall have fresh air.&nbsp; I am not as well as I was
+at Caledon, so I am all the more anxious to have a voyage likely to
+do me good instead of harm.</p>
+<p>I got my cart and Choslullah photographed after all.&nbsp; Choslullah
+came next day (having got rid of his pious friend), quite resolved that
+&lsquo;the Missis&rsquo; should take his portrait, so I will send or
+bring a few copies of my beloved cart.&nbsp; After the photograph was
+done, we drove round the Kloof, between Table and Lion Mountain.&nbsp;
+The road is cut on the side of Lion Mountain, and overhangs the sea
+at a great height.&nbsp; Camp Bay, which lies on the further side of
+the &lsquo;Lion&rsquo;s Head&rsquo;, is most lovely; never was sea so
+deeply blue, rocks so warmly brown, or sand and foam so glittering white;
+and down at the mountain-foot the bright green of the orange and pomegranate
+trees throws it all out in greater relief.&nbsp; But the atmosphere
+here won&rsquo;t do after that of the &lsquo;Ruggings&rsquo;, as the
+Caledon line of country is called.&nbsp; I shall never lose the impression
+of the view I had when Dr. Morkel drove me out on a hill-side, where
+the view seemed endless and without a vestige of life; and yet in every
+valley there were farms; but it looked a vast, utter solitude, and without
+the least haze.&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t know what that utter clearness
+means&mdash;the distinctness is quite awful.&nbsp; Here it is always
+slightly hazy; very pretty and warm, but it takes off from the grandeur.&nbsp;
+It is the difference between a pretty Pompadour beauty and a Greek statue.&nbsp;
+Those pale opal mountains, as distinct in every detail as the map on
+your table, are so cheerful and serene; no melodramatic effects of clouds
+and gloom.&nbsp; I suppose it is not really so beautiful as it seemed
+to me, for other people say it is bare and desolate, and certainly it
+is; but it seemed to me anything but dreary.</p>
+<p>I am persuaded that Capetown is not healthy; indeed, the town can&rsquo;t
+be, from its stench and dirt; but I believe the whole seashore is more
+or less bad, compared to the upper plateaux, of which I know only the
+first.&nbsp; I should have gone back to Paarl, only that ships come
+and go within twenty-four hours, so one has the pleasure of living in
+constant expectation, with packed trunks, wondering when one shall get
+away.&nbsp; A clever Mr. M-, who has lived <i>all over</i> India, and
+is going back to Singapore, with his wife and child, are now in the
+house; and some very pleasant Jews, bound for British Caffraria&mdash;one
+of them has a lovely little wife and three children.&nbsp; She is very
+full of Prince Albert&rsquo;s death, and says there was not a dry eye
+in the synagogues in London, which were all hung with black on the day
+of his funeral, and prayer went on the whole day.&nbsp; &lsquo;<i>The
+people</i> mourned for him as much as for Hezekiah; and, indeed, he
+deserved it a great deal better,&rsquo; was her rather unorthodox conclusion.&nbsp;
+These colonial Jews are a new &lsquo;Erscheinung&rsquo; to me.&nbsp;
+They have the features of their race, but many of their peculiarities
+are gone.&nbsp; Mr. L-, who is very handsome and gentlemanly, eats ham
+and patronises a good breed of pigs on the &lsquo;model farm&rsquo;
+on which he spends his money.&nbsp; He is (he says) a thorough Jew in
+faith, and evidently in charitable works; but he wants to say his prayers
+in English and not to &lsquo;dress himself up&rsquo; in a veil and phylacteries
+for the purpose; and he and his wife talk of England as &lsquo;home&rsquo;,
+and care as much for Jerusalem as their neighbours.&nbsp; They have
+not forgotten the old persecutions, and are civil to the coloured people,
+and speak of them in quite a different tone from other English colonists.&nbsp;
+Moreover, they are far better mannered, and more &lsquo;<i>human&rsquo;</i>,
+in the German sense of the word, in all respects;&mdash;in short, less
+&lsquo;colonial&rsquo;.</p>
+<p>I have bought some Cape &lsquo;confeyt&rsquo;; apricots, salted and
+then sugared, called &lsquo;mebos&rsquo;&mdash;delicious!&nbsp; Also
+pickled peaches, &lsquo;chistnee&rsquo;, and quince jelly.&nbsp; I have
+a notion of some Cherupiga wine for ourselves.&nbsp; I will inquire
+the cost of bottling, packing, &amp;c.; it is about one shilling and
+fourpence a bottle here, sweet red wine, unlike any other I ever drank,
+and I think very good.&nbsp; It is very tempting to bring a few things
+so unknown in England.&nbsp; I have a glorious &lsquo;Velcombers&rsquo;
+for you, a blanket of nine Damara sheepskins, sewn by the Damaras, and
+dressed so that moths and fleas won&rsquo;t stay near them.&nbsp; It
+will make a grand railway rug and &lsquo;outside car&rsquo; covering.&nbsp;
+The hunters use them for sleeping out of doors.&nbsp; I have bought
+three, and a springbok caross for somebody.</p>
+<p>April 17th.&mdash;The winter has set in to-day.&nbsp; It rains steadily,
+at the rate of the heaviest bit of the heaviest shower in England, and
+is as cold as a bad day early in September.&nbsp; One can just sit without
+a fire.&nbsp; Presently, all will be green and gay; for winter is here
+the season of flowers, and the heaths will cover the country with a
+vast Turkey carpet.&nbsp; Already the green is appearing where all was
+brown yesterday.&nbsp; To-day is Good Friday; and if Christmas seemed
+odd at Midsummer, Easter in autumn seems positively unnatural.&nbsp;
+Our Jewish party made their exodus to-day, by the little coasting steamer,
+to Algoa Bay.&nbsp; I rather condoled with the pretty little woman about
+her long rough journey, with three babies; but she laughed, and said
+they had had time to get used to it ever since the days of Moses.&nbsp;
+All she grieved over was not being able to keep Passover, and she described
+their domestic ceremonies quite poetically.&nbsp; We heard from our
+former housemaid, Annie, the other day, announcing her marriage and
+her sister&rsquo;s.&nbsp; She wrote such a pretty, merry letter to S-,
+saying &lsquo;the more she tried not to like him, the better she loved
+him, and had to say, &ldquo;Aha, Annie, you&rsquo;re caught at last.&rdquo;&rsquo;&nbsp;
+A year and a half is a long time to remain single in this country.</p>
+<p>Monday, April 21st, Easter Monday.&mdash;The mail goes out in an
+hour, so I will just add, good-bye.&nbsp; The winter is now fairly set
+in, and I long to be off.&nbsp; I fear I shall have a desperately cold
+week or so at first sailing, till we catch the south-east trades.&nbsp;
+This weather is beautiful in itself, but I feel it from the suddenness
+of the change.&nbsp; We passed in one night from hot summer to winter,
+which is like <i>fine</i> English April, or October, only brighter than
+anything in Europe.&nbsp; There is properly, no autumn or spring here;
+only hot, dry, brown summer, with its cold wind at times, and fresh
+green winter, all fragrance and flowers, and much less wind.&nbsp; Mr.
+M-, of whom I told you, has been in every corner of the far East&mdash;Java,
+Sumatra, everywhere&mdash;and is extremely amusing.&nbsp; He has brought
+his wife here for her health, and is as glad to talk as I am.&nbsp;
+The conversation of an educated, clever person, is quite a new and delightful
+sensation to me now.&nbsp; He appears to have held high posts under
+the East India Company, is learned in Oriental languages, and was last
+resident at Singapore.&nbsp; He says that no doubt Java is Paradise,
+it is so lovely, and such a climate; but he does not look as if it had
+agreed with him.&nbsp; I feel quite heart-sick at seeing these letters
+go off before me, instead of leaving them behind, as I had hoped.</p>
+<p>Well, I must say good-bye&mdash;or rather, &lsquo;<i>auf Wiedersehn</i>&rsquo;&mdash;and
+God knows how glad I shall be when that day comes!</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XIII</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Capetown, April 19th.</p>
+<p>Dearest mother,</p>
+<p>Here I am, waiting for a ship; the steamer was too horrid: and I
+look so much to the good to be gained by the voyage that I did not like
+to throw away the chance of two months at sea at this favourable time
+of year, and under favourable circumstances; so I made up my mind to
+see you all a month later.&nbsp; The sea just off the Cape is very,
+very cold; less so now than in spring, I dare say.&nbsp; The weather
+to-day is just like <i>very</i> warm April at home&mdash;showery, sunshiny,
+and fragrant; most lovely.&nbsp; It is so odd to see an autumn without
+dead leaves: only the oaks lose theirs, the old ones drop without turning
+brown, and the trees bud again at once.&nbsp; The rest put on a darker
+green dress for winter, and now the flowers will begin.&nbsp; I have
+got a picture for you of my &lsquo;cart and four&rsquo;, with sedate
+Choslullah and dear little Mohammed.&nbsp; The former wants to go with
+me, &lsquo;anywhere&rsquo;, as he placidly said, &lsquo;to be the missis&rsquo;
+servant&rsquo;.&nbsp; What a sensation his thatchlike hat and handsome
+orange-tawny face would make at Esher!&nbsp; Such a stalwart henchman
+would be very creditable.&nbsp; I shall grieve to think I shall never
+see my Malay friends again; they are the only people here who are really
+interesting.&nbsp; I think they must be like the Turks in manner, as
+they have all the eastern gentlemanly &lsquo;Gelassenheit&rsquo; (ease)
+and politeness, and no eastern &lsquo;Geschmeidigkeit&rsquo; (obsequiousness),
+and no idea of Baksheesh; withal frugal, industrious, and money-making,
+to an astonishing degree.&nbsp; The priest is a bit of a proselytiser,
+and amused me much with an account of how he had converted English girls
+from their evil courses and made them good <i>Mussulwomen</i>.&nbsp;
+I never heard a <i>na&iuml;f</i> and sincere account of conversions
+<i>from</i> Christianity before, and I must own it was much milder than
+the Exeter Hall style.</p>
+<p>I have heard a great many expressions of sorrow for the Queen from
+the Malays, and always with the &lsquo;hope the people will take much
+care of her, now she is alone&rsquo;.&nbsp; Of course Prince Albert
+was only the Queen&rsquo;s husband to them, and all their feeling is
+about her.&nbsp; It is very difficult to see anything of them, for they
+want nothing of you, and expect nothing but dislike and contempt.&nbsp;
+It would take a long time to make many friends, as they are naturally
+distrustful.&nbsp; I found that eating or drinking anything, if they
+offer it, made most way, as they know they are accused of poisoning
+all Christians indiscriminately.&nbsp; Of course, therefore, they are
+shy of offering things.&nbsp; I drank tea in the Mosque at the end of
+Ramadan, and was surrounded by delighted faces as I sipped.&nbsp; The
+little boy who waits in this house here had followed us, and was horrified:
+he is still waiting to see the poison work.</p>
+<p>No one can conceive what has become of all the ships that usually
+touch here about this time.&nbsp; I was promised my choice of Green&rsquo;s
+and Smith&rsquo;s, and now only the heavy old <i>Camperdown</i> is expected
+with rice from Moulmein.&nbsp; A lady now here, who has been Heaven
+only knows <i>where not</i>, praises Alexandria above all other places,
+after Suez.&nbsp; Her lungs are bad, and she swears by Suez, which she
+says is the dreariest and healthiest (for lungs) place in the world.&nbsp;
+You can&rsquo;t think how soon one learns to &lsquo;annihilate space&rsquo;,
+if not time, in one&rsquo;s thoughts, by daily reading advertisements
+for every port in India, America, Australia, &amp;c., &amp;c., and conversing
+with people who have just come from the &lsquo;ends of the earth&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+Meanwhile, I fear I shall have to fly from next winter again, and certainly
+will go with J- to Egypt, which seems to me like next door.</p>
+<p>I have run on, and not thanked you for your letter and M. Mignet&rsquo;s
+beautiful <i>&eacute;loge</i> of Mr. Hallam, which pleased me greatly.&nbsp;
+I wish Englishmen could learn to speak with the same good taste and
+<i>m&eacute;sure</i>.</p>
+<p>Mr. Wodehouse, who has been very civil to me, kindly tried to get
+me a passage home in a French frigate lying here, but in vain.&nbsp;
+I am now sorry I let the Jack tars here persuade me not to go in the
+little barque; but they talked so much of the heat and damp of such
+tiny cabins in an iron vessel, that I gave her up, though I liked the
+idea of a good tossing in such a tiny cockboat.&nbsp; I will leave a
+letter for the May mail, unless I sail within a week of to-morrow, or
+go by the <i>Jason</i>, which would be home far sooner than the mail.&nbsp;
+I only hope you and A- won&rsquo;t be uneasy; the worst that can happen
+is delay, and the long voyage will be all gain to health, which would
+not be the case in a steamer.</p>
+<p>All I hear of R- makes me wild to see her again.&nbsp; The little
+darkies are the only pleasing children here, and a fat black toddling
+thing is &lsquo;allerliebst&rsquo;.&nbsp; I know a boy of four, literally
+jet black, whom I long to steal as he follows his mother up to the mountain
+to wash.&nbsp; Little Malays are lovely, but <i>too</i> well-behaved
+and quiet.&nbsp; I tried to get a real &lsquo;<i>tottie&rsquo;</i>,
+or &lsquo;Hotentotje&rsquo;, but the people were too drunk to remember
+where they had left their child.&nbsp; <i>C&rsquo;est assez dire</i>,
+that I should have had no scruple in buying it for a bottle of &lsquo;smoke&rsquo;
+(the spirit made from grape husks).&nbsp; They are clever and affectionate
+when they have a chance, poor things,&mdash;and so strange to look at.</p>
+<p>By the bye, a Bonn man, Dr. Bleek, called here with &lsquo;Gr&uuml;sse&rsquo;
+from our old friends, Professor Mendelssohn and his wife.&nbsp; He is
+devoting himself to Hottentot and aboriginal literature!&mdash;and has
+actually mastered the Caffre <i>click</i>, which I vainly practised
+under Kleenboy&rsquo;s tuition.&nbsp; He wanted to teach me to say &lsquo;Tkorkha&rsquo;,
+which means &lsquo;you lie&rsquo;, or &lsquo;you have missed&rsquo;
+(in shooting or throwing a stone, &amp;c.)&mdash;a curious combination
+of meanings.&nbsp; He taught me to throw stones or a stick at him, which
+he always avoided, however close they fell, and cried &lsquo;Tkorkha!&rsquo;&nbsp;
+The Caffres ask for a present, &lsquo;Tkzeelah Tabak&rsquo;, &lsquo;a
+gift for tobacco&rsquo;.</p>
+<p>The Farnese Hercules is a living <i>truth</i>.&nbsp; I saw him in
+the street two days ago, and he was a Caffre coolie.&nbsp; The proportions
+of the head and throat were more wonderful in flesh, or muscle rather,
+than in marble.&nbsp; I know a Caffre girl of thirteen, who is a noble
+model of strength and beauty; such an arm&mdash;larger than any white
+woman&rsquo;s&mdash;with such a dimple in her elbow, and a wrist and
+hand which no glove is small enough to fit&mdash;and a noble countenance
+too.&nbsp; She is &lsquo;apprenticed&rsquo;, a name for temporary slavery,
+and is highly spoken of as a servant, as the Caffres always are.&nbsp;
+They are a majestic race, but with just the stupid conceit of a certain
+sort of Englishmen; the women and girls seem charming.</p>
+<p>Easter Sunday.&mdash;The weather continues beautifully clear and
+bright, like the finest European spring.&nbsp; It seems so strange for
+the floral season to be the winter.&nbsp; But as the wind blows the
+air is quite cold to-day; nevertheless, I feel much better the last
+two days.&nbsp; The brewing of the rain made the air very oppressive
+and heavy for three weeks, but now it is as light as possible.</p>
+<p>I must say good-bye, as the mail closes to-morrow morning.&nbsp;
+Easter in autumn is preposterous, only the autumn looks like spring.&nbsp;
+The consumptive young girl whom I packed off to the Cape, and her sister,
+are about to be married&mdash;of course.&nbsp; Annie has had a touch
+of Algoa Bay fever, a mild kind of ague, but no sign of chest disease,
+or even delicacy.&nbsp; My &lsquo;hurrying her off&rsquo;, which some
+people thought so cruel, has saved her.&nbsp; Whoever comes <i>soon
+enough</i> recovers, but for people far gone it is too bracing.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XIV</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Capetown, Saturday, May 3d.</p>
+<p>Dearest mother,</p>
+<p>After five weeks of waiting and worry, I have, at last, sent my goods
+on board the ship <i>Camperdown</i>, now discharging her cargo, and
+about to take a small party of passengers from the Cape.&nbsp; I offered
+to take a cabin in a Swedish ship, bound for Falmouth; but the captain
+could not decide whether he would take a passenger; and while he hesitated
+the old <i>Camperdown</i> came in.&nbsp; I have the best cabin after
+the stern cabins, which are occupied by the captain and his wife and
+the Attorney-General of Capetown, who is much liked.&nbsp; The other
+passengers are quiet people, and few of them, and the captain has a
+high character; so I may hope for a comfortable, though slow passage.&nbsp;
+I will let you know the day I sail, and leave this letter to go by post.&nbsp;
+I may be looked for three weeks or so after this letter.&nbsp; I am
+crazy to get home now; after the period was over for which I had made
+up my mind, home-sickness began.</p>
+<p>Mrs. R- has offered me a darling tiny monkey, which loves me; but
+I fear A- would send me away again if I returned with her in my pocket.&nbsp;
+Nassirah, old Abdool&rsquo;s pretty granddaughter, brought me a pair
+of Malay shoes or clogs as a parting gift, to-day.&nbsp; Mr. M-, the
+resident at Singapore, tells me that his secretary&rsquo;s wife, a Malay
+lady, has made an excellent translation of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>,
+from Arabic into Malay.&nbsp; Her husband is an Indian Mussulman, who,
+Mr. M- said, was one of the ablest men he ever knew.&nbsp; Curious!</p>
+<p>I sat, yesterday, for an hour, in the stall of a poor German basket-maker
+who had been long in Caffre-land.&nbsp; His wife, a Berlinerin, was
+very intelligent, and her account of her life here most entertaining,
+as showing the different <i>Ansicht</i> natural to Germans.&nbsp; &lsquo;I
+had never&rsquo;, she said, &lsquo;been out of the city of Berlin, and
+<i>knew nothing</i>.&rsquo;&nbsp; (Compare with London cockney, or genuine
+Parisian.)&nbsp; Thence her fear, on landing at Algoa Bay and seeing
+swarms of naked black men, that she had come to a country where no clothes
+were to be had; and what should she do when hers were worn out?&nbsp;
+They had a grant of land at Fort Peddie, and she dug while her husband
+made baskets of cane, and carried them hundreds of miles for sale; sleeping
+and eating in Caffre huts.&nbsp; &lsquo;Yes, they are good, honest people,
+and very well-bred (<i>anst&auml;ndig</i>), though they go as naked
+as God made them.&nbsp; The girls are pretty and very delicate (<i>fein</i>),
+and they think no harm of it, the dear innocents.&rsquo;&nbsp; If their
+cattle strayed, it was always brought back; and they received every
+sort of kindness.&nbsp; &lsquo;Yes, madam, it is shocking how people
+here treat the blacks.&nbsp; They call quite an old man &lsquo;Boy&rsquo;,
+and speak so scornfully, and yet the blacks have very nice manners,
+I assure you.&rsquo;&nbsp; When I looked at the poor little wizened,
+pale, sickly Berliner, and fancied him a guest in a Caffre hut, it seemed
+an odd picture.&nbsp; But he spoke as coolly of his long, lonely journeys
+as possible, and seemed to think black friends quite as good as white
+ones.&nbsp; The use of the words <i>anst&auml;ndig</i> and <i>fein</i>
+by a woman who spoke very good German were characteristic.&nbsp; She
+could recognise an <i>&lsquo;Anst&auml;ndigkeit&rsquo; not</i> of Berlin.&nbsp;
+I need not say that the Germans are generally liked by the coloured
+people.&nbsp; Choslullah was astonished and Pleased at my talking German;
+he evidently had a preference for Germans, and put up, wherever he could,
+at German inns and &lsquo;publics&rsquo;.</p>
+<p>I went on to bid Mrs. Wodehouse good-bye.&nbsp; We talked of our
+dear old Cornish friends.&nbsp; The Governor and Mrs. Wodehouse have
+been very kind to me.&nbsp; I dined there twice; last time, with all
+the dear good Walkers.&nbsp; I missed seeing the opening of the colonial
+parliament by a mistake about a ticket, which I am sorry for.</p>
+<p>If I could have dreamed of waiting here so long, I would have run
+up to Algoa Bay or East London by sea, and had a glimpse of Caffreland.&nbsp;
+Capetown makes me very languid&mdash;there is something depressing in
+the air&mdash;but my cough is much better.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t walk
+here without feeling knocked-up; and cab-hire is so dear; and somehow,
+nothing is worth while, when one is waiting from day to day.&nbsp; So
+I have spent more money than when I was most amused, in being bored.</p>
+<p>Mr. J- drove me to the Capetown races, at Green Point, on Friday.&nbsp;
+As races, they were <i>nichts</i>, but a queer-looking little Cape farmer&rsquo;s
+horse, ridden by a Hottentot, beat the English crack racer, ridden by
+a first-rate English jockey, in an unaccountable way, twice over.&nbsp;
+The Malays are passionately fond of horse-racing, and the crowd was
+fully half Malay: there were dozens of carts crowded with the bright-eyed
+women, in petticoats of every most brilliant colour, white muslin jackets,
+and gold daggers in their great coils of shining black hair.&nbsp; All
+most &lsquo;anst&auml;ndig&rsquo;, as they always are.&nbsp; Their pleasure
+is driving about <i>en famille</i>; the men have no separate amusements.&nbsp;
+Every spare corner in the cart is filled by the little soft round faces
+of the intelligent-looking quiet children, who seem amused and happy,
+and never make a noise or have the fidgets.&nbsp; I cannot make out
+why they are so well behaved.&nbsp; It favours A-&rsquo;s theory of
+the expediency of utter spoiling, for one never hears any educational
+process going on.&nbsp; Tiny Mohammed never spoke but when he was spoken
+to, and was always happy and alert.&nbsp; I observed that his uncle
+spoke to him like a grown man, and never ordered him about, or rebuked
+him in the least.&nbsp; I like to go up the hill and meet the black
+women coming home in troops from the washing place, most of them with
+a fat black baby hanging to their backs asleep, and a few rather older
+trotting alongside, and if small, holding on by the mother&rsquo;s gown.&nbsp;
+She, poor soul, carries a bundle on her head, which few men could lift.&nbsp;
+If I admire the babies, the poor women are enchanted;&mdash;<i>du reste</i>,
+if you look at blacks of any age or sex, they <i>must</i> grin and nod,
+as a good-natured dog must wag his tail; they can&rsquo;t help it.&nbsp;
+The blacks here (except a very few Caffres) are from the Mozambique&mdash;a
+short, thick-set, ugly race, with wool in huge masses; but here and
+there one sees a very pretty face among the women.&nbsp; The men are
+beyond belief hideous.&nbsp; There are all possible crosses&mdash;Dutch,
+Mozambique, Hottentot and English, &lsquo;alles durcheinander&rsquo;;
+then here and there you see that a Chinese or a Bengalee <i>a pass&eacute;
+par l&agrave;</i>.&nbsp; The Malays are also a mixed race, like the
+Turks&mdash;i.e. they marry women of all sorts and colours, provided
+they will embrace Islam.&nbsp; A very nice old fellow who waits here
+occasionally is married to an Englishwoman, <i>ci-devant</i> lady&rsquo;s-maid
+to a Governor&rsquo;s wife.&nbsp; I fancy, too, they brought some Chinese
+blood with them from Java.&nbsp; I think the population of Capetown
+must be the most motley crew in the world.</p>
+<p>Thursday, May 8th.&mdash;I sail on Saturday, and go on board to-morrow,
+so as not to be hurried off in the early fog.&nbsp; How glad I am to
+be &lsquo;homeward bound&rsquo; at last, I cannot say.&nbsp; I am very
+well, and have every prospect of a pleasant voyage.&nbsp; We are sure
+to be well found, as the Attorney-General is on board, and is a very
+great man, &lsquo;inspiring terror and respect&rsquo; here.</p>
+<p>S- says we certainly <i>shall</i> put in at St. Helena, so make up
+your minds not to see me till I don&rsquo;t know when.&nbsp; She has
+been on board fitting up the cabin to-day.&nbsp; I have <i>such</i>
+a rug for J-! a mosaic of skins as fine as marqueterie, done by Damara
+women, and really beautiful; and a sheep-skin blanket for you, the essence
+of warmth and softness.&nbsp; I shall sleep in mine, and dream of African
+hill-sides wrapt in a &lsquo;Veld combas&rsquo;.&nbsp; The poor little
+water-tortoises have been killed by drought, and I can&rsquo;t get any,
+but I have the two of my own catching for M-.</p>
+<p>Good-bye, dearest mother.</p>
+<p>You would have been moved by poor old Abdool Jemaalee&rsquo;s solemn
+benediction when I took leave to-day.&nbsp; He accompanied it with a
+gross of oranges and lemons.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XV</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Capetown, Thursday, May 8th.</p>
+<p>At last, after no end of &lsquo;casus&rsquo; and &lsquo;discrimina
+rerum&rsquo;, I shall sail on Saturday the 10th, per ship <i>Camperdown</i>,
+for East India Docks.</p>
+<p>These weary six weeks have cost no end of money and temper.&nbsp;
+I have been eating my heart out at the delay, but it was utterly impossible
+to go by any of the Indian ships.&nbsp; They say there have never been
+so few ships sailing from the Cape as this year, yet crowds were expected
+on account of the Exhibition.&nbsp; The Attorney-General goes by our
+ship, so we are sure of good usage; and I hear he is very agreeable.&nbsp;
+I have the best cabin next to the stern cabin, in both senses of <i>next</i>.&nbsp;
+S- has come back from the ship, where she has spent the day with the
+carpenter; and I am to go on board to-morrow.&nbsp; Will you ask R-
+to cause inquiries to be made among the Mollahs of Cairo for a Hadji,
+by name Abdool Rachman, the son of Abdool Jemaalee, of Capetown, and,
+if possible, to get the inclosed letter sent him?&nbsp; The poor people
+are in sad anxiety for their son, of whom they have not heard for four
+months, and that from an old letter.&nbsp; Henry will thus have a part
+of all the blessings which were solemnly invoked on me by poor old Abdool,
+who is getting very infirm, but toddled up and cracked his old fingers
+over my head, and invoked the protection of Allah with all form; besides
+that Betsy sent me twelve dozen oranges and lemons.&nbsp; Abdool Rachman
+is about twenty-six, a Malay of Capetown, speaks Dutch and English,
+and is supposed to be studying theology at Cairo.&nbsp; The letter is
+written by the prettiest Malay girl in Capetown.</p>
+<p>I won&rsquo;t enter upon my longings to be home again, and to see
+you all.&nbsp; I must now see to my last commissions and things, and
+send this to go by next mail.</p>
+<p>God bless you all, and kiss my darlings, all three.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>LETTER XVI</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Friday, May 16th.</p>
+<p>On board the good ship <i>Camperdown</i>, 500 miles North-west of
+Table-Bay.</p>
+<p>I embarked this day week, and found a good airy cabin, and all very
+comfortable.&nbsp; Next day I got the carpenter&rsquo;s services, by
+being on board before all the rest, and relashed and cleeted everything,
+which the &lsquo;Timmerman&rsquo;, of course, had left so as to get
+adrift the first breeze.&nbsp; At two o&rsquo;clock the Attorney-General,
+Mr. Porter, came on board, escorted by bands of music and all the volunteers
+of Capetown, <i>quorum pars maxima fuit</i>; i.e. Colonel.&nbsp; It
+was quite what the Yankees call an &lsquo;ovation&rsquo;.&nbsp; The
+ship was all decked with flags, and altogether there was <i>le diable
+&agrave; quatre</i>.&nbsp; The consequence was, that three signals went
+adrift in the scuffle; and when a Frenchman signalled us, we had to
+pass for <i>brutaux</i> <i>Anglais</i>, because we could not reply.&nbsp;
+I found means to supply the deficiency by the lining of that very ancient
+anonymous cloak, which did the red, while a bandanna handkerchief of
+the Captain&rsquo;s furnished the yellow, to the sailmaker&rsquo;s immense
+amusement.&nbsp; On him I bestowed the blue outside of the cloak for
+a pair of dungaree trowsers, and in signalling now it is, &lsquo;up
+go 2.41, and my lady&rsquo;s cloak, which is 7.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>We have had lovely weather, and on Sunday such a glorious farewell
+sight of Table Mountain and my dear old Hottentot Hills, and of Kaap
+Goed Hoop itself.&nbsp; There was little enough wind till yesterday,
+when a fair southerly breeze sprang up, and we are rolling along merrily;
+and the fat old <i>Camperdown</i> <i>does</i> roll like an honest old
+&lsquo;wholesome&rsquo; tub as she is.&nbsp; It is quite a <i>bonne
+fortune</i> for me to have been forced to wait for her, for we have
+had a wonderful spell of fine weather, and the ship is the <i>ne plus
+ultra</i> of comfort.&nbsp; We are only twelve first-class upper-deck
+passengers.&nbsp; The captain is a delightful fellow, with a very charming
+young wife.&nbsp; There is only one child (a great comfort), a capital
+cook, and universal civility and quietness.&nbsp; It is like a private
+house compared to a railway hotel.&nbsp; Six of the passengers are invalids,
+more or less.&nbsp; Mr. Porter, over-worked, going home for health to
+Ireland; two men, both with delicate chests, and one poor young fellow
+from Capetown in a consumption, who, I fear, will not outlive the voyage.&nbsp;
+The doctor is very civil, and very kind to the sick; but I stick to
+the cook, and am quite greedy over the good fare, after the atrocious
+food of the Cape.&nbsp; Said cook is a Portuguese, a distinguished artist,
+and a great bird-fancier.&nbsp; One can wander all over the ship here,
+instead of being a prisoner on the poop; and I even have paid my footing
+on the forecastle.&nbsp; S- clambers up like a lively youngster.&nbsp;
+You may fancy what the weather is, that I have only closed my cabin-window
+once during half of a very damp night; but no one else is so airy.&nbsp;
+The little goat was as rejoiced to be afloat again as her mistress,
+and is a regular pet on board, with the run of the quarter-deck.&nbsp;
+She still gives milk&mdash;a perfect Amalthaea.&nbsp; The butcher, who
+has the care of her, cockers her up with dainties, and she begs biscuit
+of the cook.&nbsp; I pay nothing for her fare.&nbsp; M-&rsquo;s tortoises
+are in my cabin, and seem very happy.&nbsp; Poor Mr. Porter is very
+sick, and so are the two or three coloured passengers, who won&rsquo;t
+&lsquo;make an effort&rsquo; at all.&nbsp; Mrs. H- (the captain&rsquo;s
+wife), a young Cape lady, and I are the only &lsquo;female ladies&rsquo;
+of the party.&nbsp; The other day we saw a shoal of porpoises, amounting
+to many hundreds, if not some thousands, who came frisking round the
+ship.&nbsp; When we first saw them they looked like a line of breakers;
+they made such a splash, and they jumped right out of the water three
+feet in height, and ten or twelve in distance, glittering green and
+bronze in the sun.&nbsp; Such a pretty, merry set of fellows!</p>
+<p>We shall touch at St. Helena, where I shall leave this letter to
+go by the mail steamer, that you may know a few weeks before I arrive
+how comfortably my voyage has begun.</p>
+<p>We see no Cape pigeons; they only visit outward ships&mdash;is not
+that strange?&mdash;but, <i>en revanche</i>, many more albatrosses than
+in coming; and we also enjoy the advantage of seeing all the homeward-bound
+ships, as they all <i>pass</i> us&mdash;a humiliating fact.&nbsp; The
+captain laughed heartily because I said, &lsquo;Oh, all right; I shall
+have the more sea for my money&rsquo;,&mdash;when the prospect of a
+slow voyage was discussed.&nbsp; It is very provoking to be so much
+longer separated from you all than I had hoped, but I really believe
+that the bad air and discomfort of the other ships would have done me
+serious injury; while here I have every chance of benefiting to the
+utmost, and having mild weather the whole way, besides the utmost amount
+of comfort possible on board ship.&nbsp; There are some cockroaches,
+indeed, but that is the only drawback.&nbsp; The <i>Camperdown</i> is
+fourteen years old, and was the crack ship to India in her day.&nbsp;
+Now she takes cargo and poop-passengers only, and, of course, only gets
+invalids and people who care more for comfort than speed.</p>
+<p>Monday Evening, May 26th.&mdash;Here we are, working away still to
+reach St. Helena.&nbsp; We got the tail of a terrific gale and a tremendous
+sea all night in our teeth, which broke up the south-east trades for
+a week.&nbsp; Now it is all smooth and fair, with a light breeze again
+right aft; the old trade again.&nbsp; Yesterday a large shark paid us
+a visit, with his suite of three pretty little pilot-fish, striped like
+zebras, who swam just over his back.&nbsp; He tried on a sailor&rsquo;s
+cap which fell overboard, tossed it away contemptuously, snuffed at
+the fat pork with which a hook was baited, and would none of it, and
+finally ate the fresh sheep-skin which the butcher had in tow to clean
+it, previous to putting it away as a perquisite.&nbsp; It is a beautiful
+fish in shape and very graceful in motion.</p>
+<p>To-day a barque from Algoa Bay came close to us, and talked with
+the speaking trumpet.&nbsp; She was a pretty, clipper-built, sharp-looking
+craft, but had made a slower run even than ourselves.&nbsp; I dare say
+we shall have her company for a long time, as she is bound for St. Helena
+and London.&nbsp; My poor goat died suddenly the other day, to the general
+grief of the ship; also one of the tortoises.&nbsp; The poor consumptive
+lad is wonderfully better.&nbsp; But all the passengers were very sick
+during the rough weather, except S- and I, who are quite old salts.&nbsp;
+Last week we saw a young whale, a baby, about thirty feet long, and
+had a good view of him as he played round the ship.&nbsp; We shall probably
+be at St. Helena on Wednesday, but I cannot write from thence, as, if
+there is time, I shall get a run on shore while the ship takes in water.&nbsp;
+But this letter will tell you of my well-being so far, and in about
+six weeks after the date of it I hope to be with you.&nbsp; I hope you
+won&rsquo;t expect too much in the way of improvement in my health.&nbsp;
+I look forward, oh, so eagerly, to be with you again, and with my brats,
+big and little.&nbsp; God bless you all.</p>
+<p>Yours ever,</p>
+<p>L. D. G.</p>
+<p>Wednesday, 28th.&mdash;Early morning, off St. Helena, James Town.</p>
+<p>Such a lovely <i>unreal</i> view of the bold rocks and baby-house
+forts on them!&nbsp; Ship close in.&nbsp; Washer-woman come on board,
+and all hurry.</p>
+<p><i>Au revoir.</i></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LETTERS FROM THE CAPE ***</p>
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