Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- Description and travel
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 1_l._ 3_s._ 6_d._ for the same meals and
time as old Vrow Langfeldt had charged 12_s._ 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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