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. I had her in,
and admired the little thing loud enough for him to hear outside,
as I lay in bed. You see, I too was to have my share in the
pleasure of the new clothes. This readiness to believe that one
will sympathize with them, is very pleasing in the Malays.
March 15.
I went to see my old Malay friends and to buy a water-melon. They
were in all the misery of Ramadan. Betsy and pretty Nassirah very
thin and miserable, and the pious old Abdool sitting on a little
barrel waiting for 'gun-fire' - i.e. sunset, to fall to on the
supper which old Betsy was setting out. He was silent, and the
corners of his mouth were drawn down just like -'s at an evening
party.
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