Land at Cape Town--Hotels and Widows--Drive to Constantia
--Description of Drive--Price of Wine--Manumission of
Slaves--Seasons at the Cape--The Town through a Microscope,
&c. &c.
Landed at Cape Town on a fine jetty, which projects some distance into
the bay. This, with another about a mile above, are the only landing
places. Stopped at "Parke's Hotel," at its head. This is kept by a
widow lady, and a spruce dandy of a mulatto superintends its internal
arrangements in the capacity of steward. There are two other
hotels,--"The Masonic," and "Welch's,"--and a club-house. I believe all
the houses of entertainment here have widows at their head--Sam
Weller's injunction needed here--"Parke's" I know to be; "Welch's," I
think, is; and two "Widows," at least in name, being man and wife with
that appellation, spread forth the good things at "The Masonic;" and I
have heard there are no _bereavements_ there.
After a fine bath,--my first care in every port,--took a stroll through
the town. There is at the head of the street, on which the hotel was
situated, a splendid wide avenue, planted with rows of majestic oaks,
their branches meeting overhead. This extends over one mile; on one side
of it is the Governor's Palace and grounds, cut off from vulgar feet by
a moat, or walled ditch, and accessible by a small drawbridge from the
avenue. Opposite is a Botanical Garden.
With a party from the ship, hired a splendid barouche and team, and
drove out to "Constantia," about thirteen miles, where the wine is made.
It is a most beautiful drive, lined on either side by English
country-houses, with surrounding grounds, intersected by broad avenues,
smooth roads and walks, with green lawns spreading out around them,
covered with close-clipped oak trees.
The drive was rather dusty, which somewhat detracted from its pleasure;
but a shower of rain opportunely coming up, made the return more
agreeable.
Passed through a number of villages, among them Wynberg,--a nourishing,
pretty place. Saw a great number of school-houses and churches; but
taverns, "licensed to sell spirituous liquors," as appeared upon their
signs, were most numerous on this road. A small chapel was being built,
which, from its dimensions, supposed to be of the _established_ church,
and no increase of congregation expected.
Visited the Vinery of S. Van Renen & Co., High Constantia. Was well
received, although the coachman drove us to the wrong place; and we
handed him a letter addressed to a Mr. Colyin, a neighbor, thinking it
to be his place.
The grape season was over: wine had been all pressed and stowed away.
They gather the grape in March, but it is allowed to become almost a
raisin on the stem before it is plucked. Tasted these wines; found them
sweet and luscious, too much so for my palate. This peculiar flavor is
caused by the condition of the grape when pressed.
_Prices of Constantia in Cask._
_Copied from a Table on the Card of S. Van Renen & Co._
19 Gallons. 10 Gallons. 5 Gallons.
Pontac Constantia, £14 £8 £5
Frontignac " 10 6 4
White " 9 5 3
Red " 9 5 3
M. Van Renen, whom we found on the premises, after exhibiting the
different wines, took us over the place, and showed us a collection of
the different aborigines of South Africa, in statuary. There were
Kaffirs, Hottentots, Fingoes, Betjouanas, and Boschmen. M. V. deprecated
the abolition of slavery as a great injury to the agriculturists and
vine-growers of the colony. They can get no one to perform any
continuous labor, and whilst at one time his establishment kept eighty
able-bodied men at work, would find it difficult to get three now whom
they could depend upon. Living in a climate where clothing beyond the
demands of decency is scarcely needed, and where the products of labor
for two days will support the careless negro for one week, naturally
improvident, he takes no heed for the morrow, and becomes lazy, idle,
and intemperate; and when he can be persuaded to work, with the prospect
of high wages, wherewith to purchase that necessary stimulus which has
already nearly deprived him of his capacities, as soon as he can obtain
them he rushes to the grog shop, from whence he may not be expected to
return until his wants compel him again to his intermittent labor.
The colonists, especially the agricultural part of them, complain
bitterly of hasty legislation in depriving them of slave labor. They had
offered to submit to a gradual manumission, so that by degrees they
might be able to supply the place of the negro operatives, but the
English government would set them free at once, and the result has been
injurious to the freedman and ruinous to the farmer. Was told that land
could be purchased about Constantia at the low rate of _one shilling the
acre_, altogether owing to the inability to procure labor to cultivate
it; and to bring about this state of things here and elsewhere, some
£20,060,000 was expended!
Returning from Constantia, our spanking team of four well proportioned
iron grays, attracted considerable attention. It ought to have, for the
expense of its hire was two pounds ten shillings. Stopped at the "Crown
Inn," upon the road, for refreshments, and on handing a ragged little
urchin a shilling for his voluntary service of standing at the door of
our barouche, on starting off were saluted by a hiss for our generosity.
A greater _douceur_ was expected from the drivers of such a magnificent
turnout.
The road, a greater part of it, was a turnpike, very even and smooth;
paid toll, one shilling. Drove through an avenue of large oak trees,
their topmost branches meeting overhead, to the extent of one fourth of
a mile, forming a fine shade in summer. The seasons, of which there are
but two, winter and summer, are reversed in Southern Africa; July being
a cool month, and Christmas coming in _midsummer_ at the Cape.
Returned to dinner at the hotel at seven o'clock, and ate some splendid
Cape mutton. The caudal arrangements of the sheep at the Cape bear a
great similarity to those at Shanghae.
After supper set out for a walk, in which were disappointed by a shower.
It rains only in the winter season here, but heavy dews in the summer
make up this deficiency of nature's nourishment, and the colony is
carpeted with herbage of the most delicious fragrance, so that the paths
of the colonists may then be said to be strewn with flowers.
The winters at the Cape are extremely mild; no snow falls there; and if
at night ice is formed, it does not long withstand the rays of the sun.
The season corresponds in its general features with our autumn. In the
interior the winters are said to be more severe, and streams are
sometimes frozen over.
Although it was the first winter month, in M. Van Renen's orange grove
at Constantia, the trees were so laden with the Hesperian fruit, that
their limbs were bent to the ground and many broken. Saw there also,
pomegranates, liquots, rose apples, and a variety of tropical fruits,
some ready to pluck, others in different stages of ripening.
Up betimes the next morning for a walk through Cape Town. Streets wide
and clean, principally paved or macadamized. No banquettes; porches
project in front of the houses, covering the _trottoir_, and pedestrians
are forced into the middle of the street. That Hibernian must have been
an emigrant to Cape Town, who remarked that "the middle of the street
was the _best side_ of the way."
The houses, however, present a fine appearance externally; they are
usually about three stories in height, and being stuccoed, are painted
in imitation of free-stone. Their tops are flat, to which their
occupants repair to spend the remainder of the evening after their late
dinners. There is a freshness about the place which is quite reviving
after many days at sea, and was particularly pleasant to us, who had
seen nothing but filthy Chinese towns for two years and upwards;
Hong-Kong having been the nearest approach to a civilized community we
had visited during the cruise, and even there the "long-tailed pig-eyed
Celestial" predominated.
The parade ground is an extensive oblong space running along the strand,
with a ditch dividing it from Strand-street. It has a border of a double
row of fine flowering trees, and must be a delightful place for a stroll
on a summer evening.
The Commercial Exchange and Library rooms are upon it, fronting the
principal street; and back of the Exchange is a rough brick and mortar
pillar to mark the spot where Sir J. Herschell, the astronomer, made his
observations.
Near the parade ground, and facing it, are the barracks, _manned_ at
that time by women, their husbands, the soldiers, having been shipped
off to Kaffir land. By the way; a terrible accident had occurred a few
weeks before our arrival, to her Britannic Majesty's steamer Berkenhead,
employed in transporting troops up the coast, to the war. She struck
upon "Point Danger," and going down almost immediately, four out of
five hundred of those on board were drowned.
I was told that only about eighty men had been left to garrison the
town, and that a panic had lately been gotten up, from fears of a rising
of the colored population. The lazy negroes, whom England, in her
mistaken philanthropy, had liberated, not being compelled to work, chose
to rob and steal.
The Custom-house, an unpretending building, with the letters and
numerals G. IV. R. over its portals, is also on Strand-street, fronting
the "Parade."
Early on the last morning ashore took a walk to the new market on the
outskirts of the town, where the wholesale farmers bring their produce
by teams drawn by from ten to fifteen yoke of oxen. These animals are
the most suitable beasts for draught I have ever seen. With their
long legs they get over the ground nearly as fast as a horse, in a
walk, and, when required, go off in a fine, easy, and not ungraceful
trot. They bring in immense loads, and come a great distance, over
mountainous ways. The wagons they draw resemble those known as the
Conestoga, on many of which noticed a projection astern something
like a poop, serving as a sleeping cabin for the owners and drivers.
In meeting these teams on the road, one at first imagines them to be
a drove of beeves, but is soon undeceived by the crack of the
lash--"long as the maintop-bowline"--striking against the side of a
lagging bullock.
The new market is walled in, with gateways at either side to admit these
teams, which, when they enter, and the wagon has been placed in a line
with others, are outspanned, that is, detached; and form an immense herd
in front of the wagons, the line of which, with the wall of the market
place, make a complete _corral_.
The reason why I call these farmers wholesale, is, that all the produce
brought by them is disposed of by lot to the highest bidders, according
to "rise and fall" by auctioneers, who regularly attend for this
purpose.
Met a number of this gentry hurrying to their duties on my return,
having been too early to witness the auction. Hucksters receive their
supplies in this manner, which they retail to the citizens--an extra
tax, I should suppose, upon the honest burghers, from whose pockets must
eventually be drawn the amount paid as commission to the auctioneers.