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.
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