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.
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