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.
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