The Bishop's Chaplain Told Mrs. J- That She Could Not Hope
For Salvation In The Dutch Church, Since Her Clergy Were Not
Ordained By Any Bishop, And Therefore They Could Only Administer
The Sacrament 'unto Damnation'.
All the physicians in a body,
English as well as Dutch, have withdrawn from the Dispensary,
because it was used as a means of pressure to draw the coloured
people from the Dutch to the English Church.
This High-Church tyranny cannot go on long. Catholics there are
few, but their bishop plays the same game; and it is a losing one.
The Irish maid at the Caledon inn was driven by her bishop to be
married at the Lutheran church, just as a young Englishman I know
(though a fervent Puseyite) was driven to be married at the Scotch
kirk. The colonial bishops are despots in their own churches, and
there is no escape from their tyranny but by dissent. The Admiral
and his family have been anathematized for going to a fancy bazaar
given by the Wesleyans for their chapel.
April 8th. - Yesterday, I failed about my cart photograph. First,
the owner had sent away the cart, and when Choslullah came dressed
in all his best clothes, with a lovely blue handkerchief setting
off his beautiful orange-tawny face, he had to rush off to try to
borrow another cart. As ill luck would have it, he met a 'serious
young man', with no front teeth, and a hideous wen on his eyebrow,
who informed the priest of Choslullah's impious purpose, and came
with him to see that he did NOT sit for his portrait. I believe it
was half envy; for my handsome driver was as pleased, and then as
disappointed, as a young lady about her first ball, and obviously
had no religious scruples of his own on the subject. The weather
is very delightful now - hot, but beautiful; and the south-easters,
though violent, are short, and not cold. As in all other
countries, autumn is the best time of year.
April 15th. - Your letters arrived yesterday, to my great delight.
I have been worrying about a ship, and was very near sailing to-day
by the Queen of the South at twenty-four hours' notice, but I have
resolved to wait for the Camperdown. The Queen of the South is a
steamer, - which is odious, for they pitch the coal all over the
lower deck, so that you breathe coal-dust for the first ten days;
then she was crammed - only one cabin vacant, and that small, and on
the lower deck - and fifty-two children on board. Moreover, she
will probably get to England too soon, so I resign myself to wait.
The Camperdown has only upper-deck cabins, and I shall have fresh
air. I am not as well as I was at Caledon, so I am all the more
anxious to have a voyage likely to do me good instead of harm.
I got my cart and Choslullah photographed after all. Choslullah
came next day (having got rid of his pious friend), quite resolved
that 'the Missis' should take his portrait, so I will send or bring
a few copies of my beloved cart. After the photograph was done, we
drove round the Kloof, between Table and Lion Mountain. The road
is cut on the side of Lion Mountain, and overhangs the sea at a
great height. Camp Bay, which lies on the further side of the
'Lion's Head', is most lovely; never was sea so deeply blue, rocks
so warmly brown, or sand and foam so glittering white; and down at
the mountain-foot the bright green of the orange and pomegranate
trees throws it all out in greater relief. But the atmosphere here
won't do after that of the 'Ruggings', as the Caledon line of
country is called. I shall never lose the impression of the view I
had when Dr. Morkel drove me out on a hill-side, where the view
seemed endless and without a vestige of life; and yet in every
valley there were farms; but it looked a vast, utter solitude, and
without the least haze. You don't know what that utter clearness
means - the distinctness is quite awful. Here it is always slightly
hazy; very pretty and warm, but it takes off from the grandeur. It
is the difference between a pretty Pompadour beauty and a Greek
statue. Those pale opal mountains, as distinct in every detail as
the map on your table, are so cheerful and serene; no melodramatic
effects of clouds and gloom. I suppose it is not really so
beautiful as it seemed to me, for other people say it is bare and
desolate, and certainly it is; but it seemed to me anything but
dreary.
I am persuaded that Capetown is not healthy; indeed, the town can't
be, from its stench and dirt; but I believe the whole seashore is
more or less bad, compared to the upper plateaux, of which I know
only the first. I should have gone back to Paarl, only that ships
come and go within twenty-four hours, so one has the pleasure of
living in constant expectation, with packed trunks, wondering when
one shall get away. A clever Mr. M-, who has lived ALL OVER India,
and is going back to Singapore, with his wife and child, are now in
the house; and some very pleasant Jews, bound for British
Caffraria - one of them has a lovely little wife and three children.
She is very full of Prince Albert's death, and says there was not a
dry eye in the synagogues in London, which were all hung with black
on the day of his funeral, and prayer went on the whole day. 'THE
PEOPLE mourned for him as much as for Hezekiah; and, indeed, he
deserved it a great deal better,' was her rather unorthodox
conclusion. These colonial Jews are a new 'Erscheinung' to me.
They have the features of their race, but many of their
peculiarities are gone.
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