ANOTHER VIEW OF CAPE COLONY.
Cape Colony has now a population of three hundred and sixty-six thousand
Europeans and seven hundred and fifty-five thousand colored people. This
does not include the people occupying the various annexed territories.
The colored population includes several native tribes, more than half of
which are Bantu, and various mixed races of Asiatics, descendants of
freed slaves and Hottentots.
The missionaries have been laboring for many years among the Bantu.
Taken as a whole, the results of their labors are discouraging, though a
portion of the people have made a considerable advance in civilization.
Great efforts have been made to give them a good education.
The system of public schools is excellent. Those of the first and second
class are attended almost exclusively by white children. There are
several colleges where the higher branches of education are taught, and
many private schools of excellent standing are maintained by the various
religious societies. There is also a university, but with rather limited
advantages. The towns and villages are well supplied with public
libraries; these are aided by the government. There is scarcely a town
or a village that has not two or three churches, banks, insurance
offices, newspaper printing offices, and various benevolent
institutions.
Good roads have been made throughout the colony, even in the wildest
sections. The rivers, on the principal routes, have been bridged.
Scarcely a hamlet can be found that is not connected by postal service
and telegraph wire with all parts of South Africa.
The railway lines form an important feature in the colony. One from Cape
Town passes through the Orange Free State to Pretoria in the South
African Republic, while lines from Cape Elizabeth, Port Alfred, and East
London connect these ports with important towns in both of the above
sections. These lines were all constructed by the government, under very
liberal conditions and terms.
Numerous improvements have been made in the harbors, particularly in
Table Bay. Here, a long time ago, the beach, after winter storms, was
frequently strewn with the wrecks of costly fleets; now ships lie in a
dock in perfect safety, and are protected by a magnificent breakwater.
On the coast are many lighthouses, which stand as sentinels to warn
seamen of danger by night, and the ancient terror of stormy seas off the
Cape of Good Hope has long since been forgotten.
The colony is connected with Europe by two submarine cables; so that
everything of importance that occurs there one day is known in England
through the newspapers on the next. Splendid steamships, carrying mails
and passengers, arrive from, and leave for, England weekly. They make
the run of six thousand miles in less than fifteen days; and the passage
is certainly one of the pleasantest in the world.
Cape Town, the capital of Cape Colony, has a pleasant situation on the
south side of Table Bay. It is a flourishing city of forty-five thousand
inhabitants. It has many fine buildings and pretty villas, lighted by
gas.
Tramways and railways pour into it the rich agricultural products of the
adjacent countries. There is little, indeed, to remind the visitor that
he is in a colonial capital founded, and for a long time inhabited,
solely by Dutch settlers.
Cape Town is, in many respects, very unlike any city seen in Europe. No
two houses can be found of the same size or architecture. The finest
stores and other buildings stand in close proximity to the humblest and
poorest homes and shanties of galvanized iron. Here the shedlike shop of
a grocer or provision dealer stands side by side with the almost
palatial building which shelters the display of a wealthy jeweler.
Here may be seen Kaffirs clothed in the rags of a uniform; Chinamen in
their clean blue frocks; lanky Boers in brown velveteens, with their
wives in black gowns, with thick black veils and huge poke bonnets;
merchants in gray silk coats and white hats; officers in uniform; Parsee
washerwomen; Moslem Malays, all passing, in a quick procession, the
hotel door.
Hansoms and two-horse broughams are used here; and in the hotels
accommodations can be obtained equal to anything found in towns of the
same size in Europe and America.
Cape Town is the point of departure for two lines of railways. The one
line runs to Worcester, and is to be extended across the Karroo; the
other ends in the center of the Constantia wine district.
The atmosphere of Cape Colony is so clear and dry that objects can be
distinctly seen even at great distances. The first object which attracts
the attention of the traveler, as he approaches the colony from the sea,
is Table Mountain. Its massive walls rise to the height of thirty-five
hundred feet.
The colonists look with interest upon Table Mountain and watch the
clouds as they assume fantastic shapes about and above it. Sometimes a
snowy, fleecy vapor seems to spread over its top. This the colonists,
not inappropriately, call the tablecloth. When, under the potent rays of
the sun, this vapor disappears, they say, "The tablecloth has been
rolled up and put away for some other time."
Here and there on some of the mountain spurs may be seen the remains of
the blockhouses of the early colonial days. These were stout structures
erected by the early settlers to protect themselves from native tribes
with whom they disputed the possession of the soil. But let us return to
the capital.
It is of interest to read that early in this century Cape Town contained
only about one thousand houses. It had a Dutch castle, a Government
House, and a couple of churches, together with a government slave pen;
for the colonists were strongly in favor of the sale of slaves.
The town of to-day presents strong contrasts to the old town. The
suburbs alone have an extent of some fourteen miles.
There are broad, open streets lined with handsome modern buildings, and
various shops, stores, and banks, together with Houses of Parliament, an
art museum, and a university, which give a prosperous and modern
appearance to the town.
Gas lights the town, cabs rattle over the streets, trams and railways
are actively at work. Along the beach stretches a straggling line of
buildings. Some of these are used for the drying of skins, the pressing
of wool, the curing of fish, and boat building, soap making, and other
industries.
The Botanical Gardens are kept in beautiful order. They furnish not only
a charming promenade for the people, but serve as a nursery for young
plants and trees. On every side the town presents an appearance of
thrift and industry.
A walk through the street offers many an attractive picture. The gay and
picturesque dress of the people must needs attract the eye of the
stranger. Women with faces of every hue, from tawny black to olive
brown, may be seen with their headdresses of gayly colored
handkerchiefs, while their shoulders are draped with others of still
gayer hues, to lend a finish to the stiffly starched, beflowered cotton
gown of gorgeous coloring.
On every side sturdy, healthy children romp about, laughing and
displaying their glistening white teeth, as they engage in their various
sports.