A very convenient short line of railway also brings within easy reach of
the inhabitants of Cape Town the pretty villages of Mowbray, Rondebosch,
Rosebank, Newlands, Wynberg, Constantia, &c., where, in charming villas
and other residences, so many of the wealthier classes reside. At
Constantia the principal wine farms are situated, the most noted being
the Groot Constantia (the Government farm) and High Constantia.
Constantia wine can only be produced on these farms. Another farm in
this neighbourhood is Witteboomen, which is particularly noted for its
peaches, there being over one thousand trees on the farm, in addition to
many other kinds of fruit. Another one, and probably the largest in the
district, is named "Sillery." Here not many years ago the ground was a
wilderness, but it has now attained a high state of perfection, there
being at least 140,000 vines and hundreds of fruit trees of all kinds,
under cultivation.
At Cape Town I received the first proofs of the kind and lavish
attentions which everywhere in South Africa were subsequently bestowed
upon me. From everyone, without exception--from His Excellency the
Administrator and Mrs. Smyth, and the members of his staff--from all the
public men and high officials--from members of the Cape Government, and
from the leaders of the Opposition, besides from innumerable private
friends, Dutch and English alike, I received such cordial tokens of
goodwill, that I can only express my deep sense of appreciation of their
most genial and friendly hospitality. I bid adieu to Cape Town (which I
was visiting for the first time in my life) with the conviction that I
was truly in a land, not of strangers, but of real friends, who desired
to do everything in their power to make my visit to South Africa
pleasant and agreeable to me; and this impression I carried with me ever
afterwards at every place I visited during the whole of my tour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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