Mr. L-, Who Is Very Handsome And
Gentlemanly, Eats Ham And Patronises A Good Breed Of Pigs On The
'model Farm' On Which He Spends His Money.
He is (he says) a
thorough Jew in faith, and evidently in charitable works; but he
wants to say
His prayers in English and not to 'dress himself up'
in a veil and phylacteries for the purpose; and he and his wife
talk of England as 'home', and care as much for Jerusalem as their
neighbours. They have not forgotten the old persecutions, and are
civil to the coloured people, and speak of them in quite a
different tone from other English colonists. Moreover, they are
far better mannered, and more 'HUMAN', in the German sense of the
word, in all respects; - in short, less 'colonial'.
I have bought some Cape 'confeyt'; apricots, salted and then
sugared, called 'mebos' - delicious! Also pickled peaches,
'chistnee', and quince jelly. I have a notion of some Cherupiga
wine for ourselves. I will inquire the cost of bottling, packing,
&c.; it is about one shilling and fourpence a bottle here, sweet
red wine, unlike any other I ever drank, and I think very good. It
is very tempting to bring a few things so unknown in England. I
have a glorious 'Velcombers' for you, a blanket of nine Damara
sheepskins, sewn by the Damaras, and dressed so that moths and
fleas won't stay near them. It will make a grand railway rug and
'outside car' covering. The hunters use them for sleeping out of
doors. I have bought three, and a springbok caross for somebody.
April 17th. - The winter has set in to-day. It rains steadily, at
the rate of the heaviest bit of the heaviest shower in England, and
is as cold as a bad day early in September. One can just sit
without a fire. Presently, all will be green and gay; for winter
is here the season of flowers, and the heaths will cover the
country with a vast Turkey carpet. Already the green is appearing
where all was brown yesterday. To-day is Good Friday; and if
Christmas seemed odd at Midsummer, Easter in autumn seems
positively unnatural. Our Jewish party made their exodus to-day,
by the little coasting steamer, to Algoa Bay. I rather condoled
with the pretty little woman about her long rough journey, with
three babies; but she laughed, and said they had had time to get
used to it ever since the days of Moses. All she grieved over was
not being able to keep Passover, and she described their domestic
ceremonies quite poetically. We heard from our former housemaid,
Annie, the other day, announcing her marriage and her sister's.
She wrote such a pretty, merry letter to S-, saying 'the more she
tried not to like him, the better she loved him, and had to say,
"Aha, Annie, you're caught at last."' A year and a half is a long
time to remain single in this country.
Monday, April 21st, Easter Monday. - The mail goes out in an hour,
so I will just add, good-bye. The winter is now fairly set in, and
I long to be off. I fear I shall have a desperately cold week or
so at first sailing, till we catch the south-east trades. This
weather is beautiful in itself, but I feel it from the suddenness
of the change. We passed in one night from hot summer to winter,
which is like FINE English April, or October, only brighter than
anything in Europe. There is properly, no autumn or spring here;
only hot, dry, brown summer, with its cold wind at times, and fresh
green winter, all fragrance and flowers, and much less wind. Mr.
M-, of whom I told you, has been in every corner of the far East -
Java, Sumatra, everywhere - and is extremely amusing. He has
brought his wife here for her health, and is as glad to talk as I
am. The conversation of an educated, clever person, is quite a new
and delightful sensation to me now. He appears to have held high
posts under the East India Company, is learned in Oriental
languages, and was last resident at Singapore. He says that no
doubt Java is Paradise, it is so lovely, and such a climate; but he
does not look as if it had agreed with him. I feel quite heart-
sick at seeing these letters go off before me, instead of leaving
them behind, as I had hoped.
Well, I must say good-bye - or rather, 'auf Wiedersehn' - and God
knows how glad I shall be when that day comes!
LETTER XIII
Capetown, April 19th.
Dearest mother,
Here I am, waiting for a ship; the steamer was too horrid: and I
look so much to the good to be gained by the voyage that I did not
like to throw away the chance of two months at sea at this
favourable time of year, and under favourable circumstances; so I
made up my mind to see you all a month later. 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.
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