Chapter 1 Home Tobin's Narrative Chapter 3
Revised Jun 9 2021
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Robin Island – Captain Hunter – South East gales – Fiscal – place of punishment – Slave Girls – Slavery – Oaks – Companys Gardens – Table mountain – Boarding Houses – Eating and smoking – English Naval Lieutenants – Dutch Landlady – penal laws, religion – Library, Hospital – Great Plenty – French regiments – Mynheer La C____r – Carriages – Hottentots – Cape story – A Party up the country to Elsenburgh; the Pearl Rock &c &c – Ostriches – Snake – Nova Scotia – Claptmouch – Stellenbock – Distance calculated by time – return to Cape Town – Thermometer – Variation of the Compass
Thetis off Bermuda January 1797
Most of our Voyagers find materials for a long chapter in their description of the Cape Town and its
environs; It is a beaten track, but I endeavoured to cull something.
On approaching the coast about Table bay it appears barren and mountainous. To the northward of it about
eight miles we passed Robin Island, whose chief inhabitants are convicts from the Cape Town guarded by a
small military force. From this Island, communication by signal is made to the continent of the approach of
Vessels. The
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employment of the Slaves is chiefly in working lime stone for the company. The Island abounds with Quails, and a great variety of the Camelion; of the latter several were to be seen at the Cape Town. On either side of Robin Island there is access to Table Bay, the Providence entered by the Western passage which, it would seem, is the best. It is necessary to keep well towards the shore of the continent, by which means you are prepared to meet the strong South East winds prevalent at this season. During our stay many instances of vessels not being able to secure an anchorage occurred, from their not having taken this precaution. The South and South East winds, rage with such violence that, if a ship does not fetch in, without the sails well [reefed] and can turn up, she will be driven to sea. The Waarzaamheid Dutch Snow having on board Captain Hunter and the remainder of the crew of His Majestys Ship Sirius, wrecked in the month of [March] 17[90] on Norfolk Island, near New South Wales, was driven over the East side of the bay, from whence she soon parted her anchors and was forced to Sea. Some days after, she returned, and by keeping nearer the main land reached a secure situation. The sufferings of Captain Hunter needed no addition, I was with him a short hour before his being driven out, he had indeed, almost set his foot on this shore of renovating plenty. An arduous passage of nearly eight months from the land of transportation had, in his worn countenance, as well as in those of his shipmates, depicted a claim to rest. It was denied them yet a few days; when with the Assistance of our boats the vessel was placed in perfect safety. Thiers, was the return from difficulty and danger. Ours, the outset for, what might happen. On leaving the bay, and passing on the East side of Robin Island, a good offing is generally secured by
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a strong southerly wind. During the winter no dutch ships are allowed to remain in Table Bay, as the North and North West winds then blow with violence. False Bay that season, is where they are ordered to anchor in. As a proof of the power of the South East gales, it is a fact that, although a mile from the shore, the sand and small gravel was forced on board and indeed compleatly whitened the rigging which had been fresh tarred. In the town, while these gusts continue there is great difficulty in walking about.
There is only one good landing place, which is at a wharf built of wood. Here the Companys Hoys take in and discharge cargoes afloat with ease. On the wharf is a guard house and no boats on any account are suffered to land after a certain hour at night. As well as the military guard, there are officers belonging to the Fiscal whose duty it is to attend the shipping and landing of goods, for which fees, and some not very moderate are exacted. The appointment of Fiscal with respect to emolument is said to be even superior to that of the Governor, and it was observed to us that they are generally on very good terms. Both the Sailor from without and Farmer from within feel the power of the Fiscal, and that they are exciseable. A short distance from the wharf, surrounded by a ditch, is situated the Fort, on the Town and country side of which, is a drawbridge. There is a battery of considerable strength to the northward of the Town and a smaller one near the point forming the Western side of the bar. Were one to judge the strength of this place by the fortifications, it would seem tenable against a powerful force; but the military are not numerous, or unanimous in favor of the
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Government: It was also said that notwithstanding the apparent strength of the works, they were by no means well appointed, and a caution to strangers desirous of inspecting them rather confirmed this; yet during the last war with Great Britain, the Dutch expended fifteen million of guelders towards building and repairing them. There is a militia throughout the Settlement but it was doubted whether, on the appearance of an English Fleet, any would be found leaving their farms to resist the invaders. More confidence however seemed to be placed in them by the Executive alarm signals being established to a considerable distance up the country.
The Town is a little to the North West of the Fort, near which you pass a place of Execution enclosed by a wall;
but with free admittance for every one. In addition to the Gibbet, are many cross pieces of wood secured
to the ground for breaking criminals on. Humanity shuddered at beholding the marks where some poor
wretches had suffered; however guilty they might have been. On a building at one end of the Court is the following
inscription
"Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum
"Anno 1771"
[Fortunate the man who learns caution from the perils of others. - Year 1771]
From this place of horrors such as thank God is not to be found in our own Isle, or its colonies—and having
before passed a number of despicable little tents inhabited by people of colour who sell liquor, vegetables, ostriches
Eggs, and other articles, to the seamen; a stranger on his first landing forms no very favorable opinion of the
Town. He will soon be agreeably disappointed. It is in general well built, the streets regular, and at right
angles with each other, their names being on all of them. Including those up the valley formed by the Table and
Devil Mountains, the houses exceed a thousand. The
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major part are white, with green doors and window shutters. This partiality of the dutch for green is to be seen in all their settlements, and their shipping also partake of it. The houses of the better sort of people are large and commodious, being strongly built of brick and in general two story high, roofed with a durable thatch of reeds. In the middle is a large hall, where the industrious mistress of the mansion usually sits surrounded by a number of pretty slave girls of various shades at work; keeping them under "the strict observance of her Eye". They are, to an inconvenience clean—the houses, not the girls I speak of—and the most rigid method and punctuality is to be met with in the domestic concerns of thier owner, who as regular as their own Town Clock.
As I am on slavery, it is impossible to help expressing the satisfaction it yielded me to see this "bitter draught" administered with more mildness and humanity than I had ever before observed it. I particularly allude to the household domestics of the various families I was in the habit of visiting. Yet was it said; that the stretch of power is oftimes exercised to a cruel degree; but a residence (I may say) of nearly two months at the Cape never gave me an opportunity of asserting it to be the case. In the houses there was an unrestrained manner between the owner and the slave, which as it did not diminish the power of the former, nor produce inattention and disrespect in the latter, would not be create a pleasing sensation in the mind of the observer. The Cape Town slaves appear cheerful and content; the produce of the soil on which they moved, ever ensures them plenty, and there is a degree of emulation in their dress, particularly among the females
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almost bordering on coquetry. In an evening they commonly resort to the dancing houses, and the master does not feel his dignity wounded by frequently mixing in the dance, or being the musician to his own slave. Very few slaves had been imported for some years into the Colony; nor indeed had it been found necessary. The mild temperature of the climate, abundance of nutritious food, and kind treatment had rather encreased their population, & scarcely a house was to be seen, but what teemed with healthy children of all hues.
In what has been said above, it is not meant indiscriminately to reflect on the proprietors of the human race in our own Colonies, nor would it come graciously from one partaking of Creole blood. I have seen happiness unclouded, even the field negroe, who from the "rising of the sun to the going down of the same," ceaselessly labours, to gratify the luxurious palate of the "white man;" In him I have beheld content and gratitude—however hard his lot—for kindness from his master; yet truth, incontrovertible truth, obliges me to declare that, it is not always the case. But to what quarter are we to cast our Eyes, and not find, in some instances, power exercised with an iron hand? Let us hope that the recent investigation of this subject has tended to ameliorate the condition of ye slaves in the West Indies. Such cannot but be the cordial wish of every feeling heart.
As to the legality of this heart rending traffic, or its abolition, custom seems to have sanctioned the former; but for the latter, some little acquaintance with the cultivation of a sugar plantation disposes me to believe that the abolition could not but be attended with the decline
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of the Colonies and consequently a severe loss to the revenue of the mother country. Yet waving this political consideration, how is the proprietor to be indemnified? This is in common justice due to him. Do this and abolish, if after due consideration, it be deemed proper. Enable the planter to fix his abode in a more genial climate; relinquish all those Islands which have proved the Golgotha of so very many of our gallant troops and seamen in giving them a temporary security; Do this, and even more. The British name has ever been conspicuous for humane and generous exertion. If the sable tribe, hitherto employed in tilling the ground for our acquired gratifications wish to return to their native soil,
"Where the parent shall with rapture run." "To welcome back the long lost son." "And mingle tear with tear."
Let them not wish in vain
"Launch then the bark, unfurl th'impatient sails" "Swell ye kind seas, and blow ye fostering gales, "Oh haste some angel, thro' the realms of air" "To Africas sons, Britannias tidings bear." "And now they trace each scene of former love," "Explore each favour'd haunt, hill vale and grove," "And soon the well remember'd huts they find" "Where faithful friends and loves were left behind." "Sudden before her sable lord appears" "Th'enfranchis'd wife, adorned with faithful tears;" "Mothers again their kidnapp'd babes behold" "Sons clasp their sires in slavery grown old."
[Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem - S. J. Pratt (1749-1814)]
This would indeed be a work of humanity, but as has before been observed, it would be unjust, without at the same time fully remunerating their owners.
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Before quitting the subject, it may be remarked that during our stay at the Cape several french vessels, some of large burthen, arrived under the National Colours, seeming almost to speak "liberty and freedom;" with Cargoes of Slaves. It was at a period when every heart expanded on witnessing the struggle a great nation was making towards that freedom so well understood in our own happy Isle; and without calculating on the possibility of the ensanguined honors which we know, but too well, fill a frightful space in the picture of the French revolution. Horrors, to which it would seem there is yet no limit. The arrival of these vessels, and with cargoes of human species, was certainly rather inconsistent with the prevailing french sentiments of "Liberty and equality." They were from the Eastern coast of Africa, destined to St. Domingo. The masters all agreed that, they were to be purchased at one fourth of the price given on the Western coast. Indeed the Master of an English whaler at the Cape assured me that, in the Mozambique passage a slave had been sold to him for a bottle of brandy; not with an intention of again disposing of him, but being in want of a servant boy and that he could have purchased many more at nearly the same value. The French are, I believe, the only Nation who carry slaves from the East coast of Africa to the Sugar Colonies.
These slaves differed from those on the Guinea coast in the women all having the upper lip perforated, and in both sexes the wool being eradicated. They were in a sickly state and the whole of them infected with a kind of itch or Leprosy, nor were the french men totally free from the disease, yet in justice to their hospitality it should be noticed that, on some of the officers from
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the Providence visiting these vessels, it was suggested to them that they should not be restricted in anything their wishes inclined them to on board; our gallic neighbours probably judging, they had no right to monopolize such a desireable infection.
Oaks have been planted in a few of the streets which, as well as having a pleasant appearance, render
the houses near them cool during the Suns heat, which at times is intense. The Batavian taste for water
even "should it cream and mantle" here find its votaries, scarcely a street being without its ditch
which indeed is often enough dry. At the upper part of the town are the Companys gardens, and still
higher in the valley the country retirements of diffirent gentlemen, some of these houses bear a very
romantic appearance. Beyond, it is bounded by the Table Land, which seems to overhang and threaten the
whole settlement, and the Lions head a pyramidical mountain whence signals to the town are repeated
from Robin Island. A little to the South East of the Table Land, is the Devils Head, and below the Lions
Head, another mountain of a more level form called the Lions rump. These towering heights, sometimes
"cloud topp'd" ranging "lift thier awful form"
"Swell from the vale and midway leave the storm"
If the expectation may be allowed, form an Amphitheater for the town. At the upper end of the Companys
Gardens is a menagerie of some extent. It was but poorly supplied, there being nothing but a few ostriches
and some diffirent kinds of deer.
The Garden is so truly regular that the eye of an Englishman is distressed by it, while he Laments that, the ground, as it has the capability, was not laid out by a countryman of his own. In length it is about a thousand paces, and in breadth a third
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as much, divided at right angles in walks with hedges of oak, trimmed and kept in the most exact order;
by the sides of which run small streams of water, bordered by myrtle. Formal as is the garden, the stranger
is not a little surprised and pleased after the unfavorable impression received on his approach to this
apparently barren coast. There is a shaded walk of about an hundred paces overspread with oaks of singular
beauty and refinement. It bears the name of the "Lovers walk," from an unfortunate relaxation of the heart
which took place not many years previously to our arrival and too often recounted at the Cape with cold
severity. It was here, unheedful of the future; a gay adventurer, made it his successful study
"To teach a damsel t'was no sin to love."
It was the intention of the Company that their shipping and hospital should be supplied from this garden, but the vegetables in it were so neglected that few fall to the lot of either. It was said than in the former governors time the garden boasted a very fine collection of exotic plants. The Companys garden may be said to be the only place of fashionable resort at the Cape; yet was it seldom numerously attended. Of a fine Sunday some pretty female faces were to be seen, but in general its chief visitors were the diffirent strangers at the settlement. Here the Governor has a house of much neatness and retirement, with a well arranged flower garden, in the center of which a fountain plays its water to some height.
I am now about to lead you to the summit of the Table Mountain, and if I feel as much wearied as when it was really accomplished, it will be the means of insuring me a good night's repose.
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The mountain is only accessible to the pedestrian traveller, but the loose stones over which he is obliged to scramble render it a laborious undertaking. At about halfway it was found very refreshing to rest near a small fall of water which issued from the fissure of a rock. Here an infinite variety of beautiful shrubs and plants, (which indeed were the case in the whole of one walk) attracted our admiration, and the more so as there appeared scarcely any soil to give them nourishment. Continuing to ascend great industry was exercised in finding excuses to rest, by the extensive prospects this activity affords. In about three hours from leaving the town, the summit was gained, through a chasm in which there was a foot path nearly perpendicular. To our great regret a heavy cloud soon settled on the mountain, but in being enveloped in it we were allowed a glimpse of the grand and picturesque view to be seen from this eminence. The shipping in Table Bay appeared "insignificantly minute," yet, as if at a single vault we could be at the cheerful board of our associates in travel and indeed, there was so much to encounter in retracing our steps downwards, that an aerial journey would have been far more desirable. Yet exercise was absolutely necessary as there was a degree of cold humidity in the cloud which clothed us hardly supportable. A little boy of the party who had climbed this ragged steep without shoes, stockings, or a single murmur, wept bitterly at the unwelcome visitor, and much did we all rejoice when below it, there was a diffirent climate. Fortunately the party had not seperated or wandered far, or great would have been the difficulty of find the narrow passage by which the summit was reached. As far as could be seen the surface
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of the mountain was nearly level; in some parts swampy, and in others of a hard rocky substance, but every where well clothed with shrubs and underwood. No animals were seen but a Jackall, nor any great variety of the feathered tribe. At the Cape it was said that snipes are frequently to be found in numbers on the swampy part of the Table land. It was eleven at night before the party reached our Boarding House completely jaded and fatigued.
Some of the officers in a visit to the mountain saw numbers of large baboons; these the inhabitants informed us, make great depredations on the gardens near the town. Some runaway slaves were dispersed about the mountain, seeming to feel security from their situation, their fires being frequently seen, even at midday.
To the eastward of the Town the Land is low for a considerable distance; very swampy, and in many parts abounding with dangerous quick sands. This flat country seperates Table from False bay, and over it the South East winds rage with much violence. In an excursion up the country after passing this part of it, they were no longer felt but on our return, immediately on entering the plain they again assailed us. You shall have a sketch of this expedition in due time; it was as cheerful and as happy a week as I ever knew, but, as we have descended the Table Land, a few more remarks are due to the Town and its inhabitants ere taking leave of them.
The pride of the Cape Dutchman, in whatever situation he moves, is not wounded by taking boarders to his house; many of them indeed gain a livelihood by the European and other visitors. Mynheer Horack, who, should you ever reach this promontory, I beg to introduce to your acquaintance as a very worthy man, an indefatigable traveller, and
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a keen sportsman, charged us only six English shillings per day for plenty of every thing, and "good of its kind" with the use of his servants both male and female. The former we found useful in attending us about the Town and its environs, and I need not tell you who have crossed the Atlantic; how much the assistance of a notable one of the other sex is required to put in order various articles, sometimes the worse for wear by the tossing and tumbling of a long voyage. Horacks damsels, (being used to boarders from on "shipboard,") knew this, felt for us, and even anticipated our wants with the charity due to a stranger in a foreign land. If we did murmur a little—and the Englishman generally does—it was at the thinness of the Cape wine, and the custom handed down to us as almost inimical to our salvation, that of rising with the cloth. To innovate on a dutchmans domestic concerns would be fruitless, and indeed unpardonable, but as we were allowed to do as "seemed fitting" in our own chambers, there was generally a case of good Claret in one corner, with which the English gentlemen regaled themselves and it was once or twice known to be brought to the general Table, even after the removal of the cloth. Self-denial in eating is not much practiced and the Cape Town inhabitant has hardly finished his meal ere he betakes himself to repose for two or three hours, when he rises to Coffee and, to him the vivifying fumes of tobacco; nor is smoking confined to this part of the day, scarcely an hour passing without the pipe being brought into action. No business, no pleasure, impedes this solace – were any one function of life to be performed without the beloved pipe,
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doubtless there would be left something yet to wish for. In our walks about the country, even at mid day, it was not uncommon to meet parties at full gallop whose persons could be scarcely distinguished amid the smoke from their pipes, and dust from their horses feet. The pipe as a travelling companion and of course not of that but brittle texture used in England,
Content, and how enviable save a little party bickering seemed to be well understood at the Cape. If the Dutchman eats grossly and is generally enveloped in smoke, he keeps his head cool, and his blood free from the enervating effects of too sedulous an attention to the bottle. Ill health is here seldom produced by this certain means. Mynheer tells you that he is renovated by his pipe and his afternoons nap and it would be placing too high an opinion on our own habits and customs to doubt it. The quiet undisturbed fancy he possesses—happily for him—acts much in his favour. He is either a farmer, or a man of trade and the encrease of his funds appears his chief consideration. Yet are some to be met with full of information and research but in general it is not the case. Ask what are the productions of the Table Land? He was never there; although hanging over his own roof. How far the interior of the country has been explored? "he does not know, he always resided at the Cape and business never carried him beyond its limits." At Business he is expert and ingenious and quite at home in making a bargain. Yet has he been sometimes taken in even by honest (as we are called) John Bull. There is a story told which, from the novelty and ingenuity of the crime, makes one disposed to lean favourably towards the offender.
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Several years ago an English Naval Lieutenant on his passage to Europe from the East Indies found himself so deeply in debt to his Dutch Landlord at the Cape that he almost despaired of being able to satisfy him. The hour fast approached for the departure of his ship. Mynheer became clamorous, demanding payment, or threatening a jail. In vain did the poor debt contracting Lieutenant urge his incapacity, without "doing what would much distress his feelings and be a bar to his future prospects" but as it was his only recourse, and gaining a promise from his creditor not to promulgate the affair until after the sailing of the ship, he blushingly hinted at the sale of his commission, which he assured him, would bear in England more than twice the value of the debt. The bait took, Mynheer got the commission, and the Lieutenant was once more seated among his messmates.
It was not until eight months afterwards that, the parchment was returned to the Cape by Mynheers correspondent in London, informing him of the precise value of Naval Commissions. This poor man, it was said, sunk considerably in the estimation of his neighbours, for allowing himself to be outwitted by an Englishman. But our countrymen, go where they may, are ever involved in scrapes and difficulties, nor do they always extricate themselves as easily as this Lieutenant. Yet the innocent sometimes suffer for the guilty.
It is not half a century since a poor youth, pure and unsinning, nearly got his eyes pulled out by the talons of an "outrageously virtuous" dame of the Cape Town, not knowing for what he suffered. ✱***** a wicked wag, an officer of the same ship, had wantonly conceived the horrible plan of fixing antlers on the temples of the good spouse
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of the blue eyed Vrow [Afrikaans: vrou - woman] at whose house they lodged. Employed in domestic affairs, she little suspected that these were his wicked designs. Several days passed without his making any progress. His passion now became "impatient of control;" what he suffered was "misery in the extreme," and to gain the "sought relief" the night was fixed—but all within himself—to effect, what he had vainly hoped the language of the eyes would have taught the dame was necessary to his happiness.
The Host though a man of general sobriety, was so charged by the Hero who intended commuting his [brows?] that, on the breaking up of the evening he was left on a chair in the arms of sleep and ebriety. The lover had not indulged so copiously, but "warm and full of blood Unhappily he stole into her chamber." The good wife was anxiously waiting the arrival of her Lord. Unfortunate ✱***** why with unhallowed intent didst thou aspire to his place? Yet, was all auspicious to his wishes; he had barricaded the outside of the common entrance to "my Ladys Chamber" and secured, like an able general, a retreat by a small private door contiguous to his own room, in case of an alarm. The darkness of the night favoured the approach of our Hero. He was thought the "good man of the house" was chided and reproved, yet fondly, for his long absence. Twas in exchanging an amorous kiss of ductile conciliation—one of those lengthened kisses, which most of the children of Eve are frail enough to industriously covet—the almost melting dame first gently grasped the Tail of her tongue-tied bedfellow. Disastrous and ill-timed discovery. Why ✱***** didst thou forget, in thy wicked designs, that on the bald pate of our Host no Tail was to be found?
Hardly when she first took hold of it, could she believe
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what it was. Her hand glided oer it, from the end even unto the very setting on the hair, as with her four fingers and thumb she yet doubting, encircled it. Still 'twas the same. She thought it odd. 'Twas a long Tail, and else a thick one. One of those kind of Tails which in these days of "croppism" would be thought a bore, such an one as her husband, in his younger days, had suspended from his pole. Still did she doubt. Again she clasped it, closer and closer, another pressure removed her doubts—for now it came—conviction came—and just in time—that was an exotic, and not Mynheers.
Rage here took place in that beating bosom, which but a short moment before, was all pliancy and admission. The Tail, which had just filled her soft hand, now fell pendulous, while with a spring, the Lover in all the agonies of disappointment, was thrown from those joys only to be reaped by her hairless headed husband. The enraged wife hastened to the larger door to alarm the house while ✱***** in the dark stole through his private retreat and feigned that sleep, all his fellow lodgers really enjoyed.
The door yielded to her vindictive pressure, it opened outwards, at the back of which were placed chairs, tables, and every article of furniture, the house afforded, nor must be forgotten, several large brass, highly polished ponderous spitting pots. All came tumbling down stairs, in no very "regular disorder." The whole mansion was alarmed—even the Hero whose eye had dwelt meretriciously on the fair mistress of it. Mynheer only still sacrificed to Morpheus. Each pleaded innocent, nor could the guilty violator be
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discovered, and until the succeeding morn all was hushed in quiet—but not before ✱*****, whose tail was now tucked within his cap, convinced the good Lady of the danger in exposing so much beauty to the night air while barely sheltered by the garment next her skin.
It was at breakfast that the Tail of poor unoffending first caught her Eye. As far as she could assimilate what she had felt, to her visual organs, the first glimpse convinced her 'twas the Tail so chilling to her congugal expectations. She eyed it "with neck retorted and oblique regard." She compared the length–the thickness—the very form and extremety of it. All bespoke it the same Tail. Ill placed Tail how didst thou frustrate the achievements of our Hero, even when on the verge of all he wished. She was convinced there could be no diffirence in a Tail whether the sun or moon shed their rays on it, 'twas the same she was positive and, as "the woman who hesitates is lost," with all the fury of an injured and disappointed fair one, who seized upon the poor Lieutenant, while the daring ravisher silently enjoyed the sufferings of his messmate. Against the assaulted every angry term the female tongue could utter was most copiously dealt out, but as the Batavian language was not among his acquirements, she had recourse to what, in his own country, is called "club law" and it was with some difficulty, although innocent as a babe, he made his escape, most sorely wounded, from this second Lucretia.
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With the laws of this Colony I am not sufficiently versed to speak accurately but it would seem that, the penal ones are exercised with a severity tending to check the extension of crimes. A place of dreadful execution has been already noticed, and at the point forming the bay, as well as eastward of the town, several gibbets meet the eye with the culprits suspended from them as a sad warning that the law is not to be trespassed with impunity.
Religion is so tolerated that there are many roads for a man to make his choice [?] does the Frenchman, the German or the native of our own Country, feel heavier penalties than the dutch. Several places of religious worship open their doors to the stranger. The only one I visited was the Lutheran Church, the inside of which exhibited some taste and the essence of cleanliness, while the good Pastor, who seemed very much in earnest, exercised his lungs extempore nearly an hour and an half on the stretch. The sexes occupied diffirent sides of the Church.
There is a public Library, and a well managed Hospital. The former I was given to understand, did not boast many valuable productions.
It would seem that, the power of The Company is very enlarged, and as to profit, they have nearly the whole. It is not surprising then, that the hardy industrious settlers should eagerly pant for a revolution in the Government. After the labour and difficulties of driving their flocks from the distant interior, they dare not affix their own price to them. Their
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perserverance, which is astonishing, by this coercion receives an insurmountable check. They murmur without reserve, yet still feel the power of the Fiscal. Perhaps there is no spot in the habitable globe so improvable as this promontory, or from its peculiar situation, that ought to be so open to new settlers, but this is only to be effected under the influence and protection of a mild and liberal government, not in the cupidity of a chartered Company feeling but for itself. Very diffirent encouragement should be held out, and were it the case, it is not far from extravagant to believe that, at no very remote period the ingenious manufacturer would find equal employment with the industrious husbandman. But while the Batavian flag and the same system lord it over this fine extent of Territory such a prospect appears indeed distant. Yet, with all these sad drawbacks, I never saw plenty to so full an extent, as in the neighbourhood of the Cape.
In the late war two french regiments formed part of the Garrison, and from their intercourse with the inhabitants the french language became more known than other foreign ones. There was indeed scarcely a genteel person of either sex but what had some acquaintance with it, and never did your friend so sorely feel his ignorance of it, at this place.
Your fathers estimable friend Mr. Hope had
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furnished me with letters of credit and introduction for the dutch Settlement at which we were to touch in the voyage. Among the rest was one for Mynheer La C_____r, a gentleman of much importance at Cape Town. Soon after our arrival I waited on him with my credentials. It was unknowingly at the unreasonable hour, that, with Mrs. La C_____r, Mr. La C_____r was taking his nap—but his daughter who perhaps had not yet been initiated in this indulgence, a lovely girl about eighteen with blue eyes fully charged with softness, met me at the portal. There is a disposition in the human frame at the sight of beauty to approximate rather than recede. It has been so since the creation, Eve, and so will it continue. There was nothing haughty or repellent in the fair Batavian. Not a muscle—if muscles they could be called—in her fine full form, had that resilient tendency, sometimes, seen, so chilling to the "stranger in a foreign land". Encouraged by a look I shall long bear about with me, I addressed her in our own language. The language of Botany bay would have been equally successful. In return she tried one on french, and as unprofitably. 'Twas a blank still. Beauteous girl thought I are we not both from the same Adam? Were we not cast in a similar mould? Why then this perplexing, this untoward meeting? There is a language travelling in thine eye but too well understood by all, that would subdue
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the stern resolves of a monk of La Trappe. On presenting Mr. Hopes letter, she smiled at my distress, but it was a smile far removed from rudeness or contempt. 'Twas one of those cheering, ineffable smiles encouraging to the human heart, and for which I looked as much gratitude as my eyes could convey, what I felt was abundant. A soft hand received what brought us to this embarrassment, and glancing her Eye on the superscription she was about to trip upstairs saying Il est pour mon pere. But thinking that Mr. and Mrs. La C_____ might not have yet consummated——the nap they proposed on retiring—charity to their comforts—it was that alone I believe—prompted me to stop their fair daughter from disturbing them. She had only made one step in the road to her papa and mamma, with my letter in one hand, when I found the other compressed in both mine. It was rapidly journeying to my lips, or rather my lips to it. In a moment they would have met; but ere that moment arrived, tranquillity was taught us by the approach of Pearce, who no bankrupt in the gallic tongue explained my business to the young lady. So that, Mr. and Mrs. La C_____r, were not disturbed, in the enjoyment of their repose. In the evening I was received with much good breeding by Mr. La C r, who assured me that his attention should not be wanting to render my stay at the Cape as pleasant as
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possible; but as our conversation was to be effected by the aid of a third person, it caused a restraint that made my visits less frequent than if we could have done without it. Had I not seen the blue eyed daughter of the mansion, I should not have felt my ignorance with such severe disappointment. Yet, when at times I carry back my recollection to this African Cape and the short speechless interview at the Staircase foot with this young Batavian, it is not without a pleasant feeling.
Mr La C lived in a good style which is the case with many of the inhabitants; some of them indeed display no small degree of splendour in their equipages, were the carriages not so heavy. The horses are uncommonly beautiful and well matched, eight frequently being attached to the same vehicle and driven at a great rate. Contrary to a received opinion of the impracticability of taming the Zebra, I saw four to a carriage, perfectly quiet and tractable. Oxen are chiefly used for labour, eight pair being in common to a waggon dragging wine and other articles from the distant country. Where reins are used, the septum narium is perforated, and the operation being performed on the animal when young, no inconvenience is felt from it. In general the driver guides them by his whip and voice, the latter appearing to be perfectly understood, but where the
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road is intricate, and in the town, a person attends the leaders. Many of these waggons are under the management of Hottentots in the service of country farmers. A Constant intercourse with the dutch; has doubtless in some measure altered the native character of the Hottentots about the Town and its neighbourhood. Those who came under my observation were in general of short stature and delicately formed; particularly quick in their motions, with an eye full of cunning. In both sexes the lower part of the face projects considerably, being more pointed than the european. In color they are brown, but not of that clear tinge to be seen in ye native of the South Sea, or even mulatto of the West Indies. Their teeth are good and white, perhaps appearing more so from the dingy color of the complexion skirting them, for in vain you look for ruby lips. Whether it be hair or wool growing on the head, it would be difficult to pronounce, but certainly it does not flow in lengthy ringlets.
That they are far from cleanly in their habits cannot be denied, and the only habiliment of some is the skin of an ox or sheep, thrown loosely over the shoulders, with a girt of the same sort round the waist; but for the received opinion of their passing the reeking entrails of animals round the different parts of the body, it is not in the power of your friend to confirm it. There are said to be other peculiarities attached to the Hottentot varying from the rest of the worlds inhabitants. It may be so. The peculiarities of the distant tribes I am of course unacquainted with but, for the accounts given by some exploring anatomists of these unoffending people in the neighbourhood of the town, I feel every disposition to consider them
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as rather overstretched. Is it not a Cape story altogether?
Among the females about the Town, elegant figures are to be seen, combined with features, notwithstanding the prominency of the lower part of the face, far from unpleasing. I could say more, and that the most perfect symetry I ever beheld was in the person of of [sic] an Hottentot girl in a dancing house at the Cape. 'Tis all, I believe, a ridiculous tale, nor is there that difference in the Hottentot and beauty of our whole some travellers have so minutely descanted on. I speak as an observer of nature in its pure unadorned state; far be it from me to dare with unhallowed pen, class them together, or compare the tattered flaps of hide which protect these uncivilized yet good beings from the inclemency of the weather, to the exhuberant extramission, finely swelling from the front and rear of our own fashionable damsels. When we arrived in the Providence from our voyage; we were not a little puzzled respecting this [?] appearance of our fair countrywomen, nor without supposing that frailty had found its way to the British shore from the yielding plains of Otahytey. It was at a time when our troops were mowed down pretty plenteously by the Sans Cullottes on the continent, rendering the encrease of population highly necessary, we therefore gave the fair ones much credit for their patriotic Labours; when, to our great surprise, one of them, about sixteen, who we thought very far gone indeed—while she laughed at our simplicity—told us, it was nothing but an easy pad.
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She was a lank unmoist looking thing, with not a curve about her from head to foot, but her good mamma, aided by the millener and staymaker, had so filled up the many excavations of her frame that nought but a very close approximation indeed could have convinced you but that she was all perfection. Furbelows and flounces are abominable; yet even the fairest friends we have will not be taught that, the "garb" which "sits close" to their fine forms, puts fashion far in the back ground. But to get on more steady ground.
29th A party being formed, of Guthrie, Mynheer Horack our Landlord, the surgeon of our little consort, and your humble servant to visit the country, early in the morning we left Cape Town. Our vehicle was a light covered waggon drawn by eight horses, which were guided by two slaves of the proprietor, one to manage the reins, the other an amazing long whip. For this conveyance the charge was about twenty eight shillings per day as long we thought proper to keep it, the owner engaging to find provender for the steeds.
Our direction was over the flat country eastward of the Town: The greater part of the road is a deep sand, which the horses found truly laborious while it relieved the passengers from the sad rocking which in the more rugged part was particularly felt. A portable dinner being part of the equipment, with a good appetites it was partaken of at a small house purposely built by The Company about midway of our days journey. On this occasion the horses were loosened from the waggon and turned among the shrubs to forage, the drivers having first, with a thong fastened one of the fore legs of each to
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the neck in such a manner as to be useless. It is common to see this done on parties with twenty or thirty horses no apprehension being entertained of their straggling too far. Towards sun set we reached the house of Mynheer Kestein at Elsenburg, about twenty five miles from Capt Town. Horack introduced us as his friends, and we were received with an unfeigned welcome by the host, who during our visit behaved with more than a common degree of kindness and attention. Mynheer Kesteins house, and all about it, bespoke plenty, cheerfulness, and content, nor did the first half hour pass without our feeling ourselves "at home." Before departing to rest, which the fatigues of the day made very acceptable, it was determined that the next we should visit the Pearl rocks situated about twelve miles to the North East of Elsenburg. It must not be forgotten that a Sopie–or dram–was offered to us on going to bed.
30th. Early in the morning the same vehicle which brought us to this hospitable mansion, conveyed us, in about three hours, to the village called the Pearl (or [blank][*]). It consists of about seventy houses, distributed in a regular manner, and well supplied with every convenience. A neat Church adds to the beauty of the village. After taking refreshment at a farm house we began our walk. The air was oppressively warm, nor had we proceeded far ere Guthrie and another of the party fearful of not being able to reach the summit, retraced their steps. But as no opportunity might ever offer again, and seeing Horack go on briskly, I did not follow the example of my countrymen
[* Paarl (Dutch = pearl) lies 37 mi (60 km) northeast of Cape Town and is the third oldest European settlement in South Africa. They climbed Paarl Rock, or Paarl Mountain.]
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however strong the disposition to it was. We soon crossed a small rivulet which our guide, a black who joined us at the farm house, described as emptying itself into the Atlantic at St. Helena bay a long way to the Northward of the Cape. It was our good fortune not far from this stream to meet a cool retreat formed by two rocks, leaving a space about ten feet high and eighteen broad. From either entrance the prospect is grand and extensive. Nothing could be more welcome that this shelter, whence after resting an hour and partaking of some wine the good farmer had given in charge of his slave we proceeded. The path here terminated, so that among rocks and underwood, as strait a progress as possible was made to the Pearl. At length the foot of it was reached, but before an ascent could be attempted, it was necessary to pull off our shoes the surface being so steep and slippery. Arrived at its summit our labours were fully repaid by the opening of a truly grand and extensive view. Notwithstanding the atmosphere was hazy, the white houses in the valley under the Table Land, full thirty miles distant in a South West direction, were plainly to be distinguished without the aid of a glass. On the one side, the horizon of the vast Atlantic bounded the view, while on the other, the eye faintly caught the blue surface of the Indian Ocean afar off. To the East and North East, was an extensive plain interspersed with farms and vineyards, bearing every promise of abundance to the various proprietors, sheltered by a ridge of rugged
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mountains whose heights did not appear accessible to the foot of man.
The Pearl is excavated, or it may be said to form two rocks. In a parallel line from the summit of the Pearl to the other rock, the distance is about two hundred yards, but at their bases they nearly join, which is doubtless the case beneath the surface of the ground, and which will be seen at some future period when the soil, by frequent rains, is washed away. Only the Pearl is accessible; it is evidently of Granite, a vein of a red colour in squares nearly as regular as brick work, about a foot in breadth, extending in a westerly line accross the northern part, but of what depth was not to be ascertained. It is, at the base, about half a mile in circumference. Our pencil was missing but a sketch made from recollection directly on our return to the village must serve, in addition to what has been said to give you an idea of these singular rocks, growing, as they seem to do, out of the surface of the hills. However destitute of soil the wild aloe peeps from the fissures even on the summit, and many parts in our ascent was clothed with a kind of moss, giving equal relief to the eye and our shoeless feet. Hawks and vultures were flying about the rocks. A party of our officers some days before were much amused by the antics of a number of baboons, secure from danger on the opposite rock. A few lizards were seen.
A diffirent route homewards led us to another place of shelter from the intense power of the sun
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under an arch formed by a single rock resting on each end. As well as at our first retreat, we here said the names of many travellers to the Pearl. Should fate ever lead you to this distant quarter, you will observe, if not worn away by time, that of your brother among the number. His graver was a pocket knife, the sculpture being blackened by a mixture of gun powder and waks. Not far from this arch, the margin of a cliff gave a delightful birds eye view of the village. As an Englishman I shall stand acquitted in considering it too regular, with a want of water, to form an interesting landscape. By four OClock we reached the farm house and after taking a dinner of plenty and hearty welcome, with the subsequent nap, returned to Elsenberg. The road is not on shore sandy as from Cape Town to Elsenburg, but the face of the country very similar, chiefly a barren heath, with farms interspersed in goo cultivation. Scarcely any wood is to be seen, but plantations of the Silver, the Almond, and other Trees, contiguous to these farms. Great numbers of Land Turtles attracted our attention by their slow creeping motion apparently heedless of the danger of the wheels passing over them. Yet is it said that, such is the strength of their shell, many hundred weight will not crush it. Some of these listless animals were beautifully marked, indeed it is not uncommon to see snuff boxes made of the upper shell of the [blank]. A larger kind of Tortoise is to be seen at the Cape but in less numbers. One was pointed out to us in a yard near the wharf, from the circumstance of its having been there nearly a Century. This may or may not be.
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A Cape Story.
1st. The next day was appointed for a hunting party, and soon after the sun rose eight of us with
an equal number of fowling pieces, some of them double barrelled, were taken into an open waggon for that purpose.
Wherever there was a possibility of the waggon going with safety, it was driven through brake and briar at no
very moderate rate, the plan followed in this country of starting the game from cover, every one being ready
to take his shot. A few deer only were seen, and the whole morning passed without success.
Under the shade of a few small trees, the only ones to be seen for several miles around, we stopped to partake of some good refreshments with which Mynheer Kestein had almost laden the waggon. The Horses as usual were turned loose to forage, with a fore leg confined, to prevent their straggling. At a spring that supplied us with water, some ostrich feathers were observed, which we conjectured had been left by the birds after washing, but a party of dutch Boors, who with their families on a journey to the Cape, had stopped on the same business with ourselves, gave us the cheering information that, they had shot one in the morning, four others being in company. With great avidity it was instantly determined to look for the rest of the Covey, and we had already, in idea, each shot "our bird." On casting a look around, a brace were discovered grazing on the heath two or three miles distant. The steeds were again harnessed, and charging our guns with ball the waggon was directed towards Game. Until within about a mile and an half of them, the ostriches continued
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feeding without any concern, when holding up their long necks to survey their pursuers, they began walking off. A council was now held how to proceed, the result of which was, that only three of us should remain in the vehicle, and the rest be posted among the bushes in diffirent directions, with the hop the waggon would turn them within shot of some of the lodged party. The horses put to their utmost speed for about twenty minutes, but as the birds, though only indulging themselves in a long trot (and frequently stopping to look back on us) soon encreased their distance, the chase was relinquished and a signal made to "close."
Until I had seen the ostrich in a wild state I had no conception of its astonishingly rapid movement; yet it appeared that they could have exerted themselves infinitely more. It was noticed that they kept their wings in motion while running, as if to assist their progress. The one killed by the boors in the morning was shot from on horseback, the party coming suddenly on it. Some of our Messmates a short time before were more fortunate than ourselves, having returned with the thigh bone of one of these majestic birds as a trophy of their sportsmanship. This bird they found feeding in high corn where it allowed them to approach within fifty yards, a circumstance considered as very unusual by our host. Whether this ostich has any Enemies among the brute or feathered tribe in these wilds I did not learn, but with the strength and celerity the danger and difficulty of approaching it must be great. It may be remarked that their Eggs are considered by many at the Cape as a desirable article of food.
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A few deer, all of which escaped our guns, were seen in the evening. At the Cape Town much was said of the abundance of game in the neighbourhood, yet this day above thirty miles were traversed and only a few hares, deer, and partridges, seen. It was night ere the waggon reached Elsenburgh, the sportsmen in it being compleatly jolted and disposed for rest.
At our dining place numbers of small birds nests were observed some what in the form of a bottle with the neck bent down, hanging to the outer branches of the trees, waving about with every breeze, yet so strongly attached as to be with difficulty disengaged. They hung over a small pool of water, thus being secure from the attacks of snakes and other reptiles. One of the boors asserted that the male bird always built the nest,when it underwent the inspection of the female, and if not congenial to her taste she instantly destroyed it, the male bird with great conjugal perseverance again constructing another, and repeating this, until the architecture met her entire approbation. Should you ever quit the state of "single blessedness"—And, to be a useful citizen, it is your duty to do so—you may learn to be obediently uxorious from this little African bird. Yet James, 'tis a voyage of doubt and incertitude and should be well considered. Once embarked—no port, no retreat, is open, should you look as opposite as Greenland and the Southern Pole—still must you drag the heavy chain along.
Another circumstance attracted our attention. Several of the boors were busily engaged around a small bush, where, they said, a snake was concealed, and which they knew by the noise of a small insect intimidated
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by it. The boors were right, as in a short time the snake was driven out, when the noise instantly ceased. There are said to be great variety of Snakes in this country, and that the bite from some is of a deadly poison, but the few that fell under my observation were not at all dreaded by the inhabitants. An opportunity offered the next day of examining a Snipe, which did not in the least vary from such as you have seen in Stratford Marsh. To "try back" a little, as we are on a sporting party, to the Snake. I remember a few years ago when bathing inn a lake near Halifax, a very curious circumstance respecting a snake. One of the party had left his watch on the flat surface of a rock within a yard or two of the water. On returning to clothe himself a snake was found quoiled round the watch seemingly pleased with the situation. Is it not probable that the snake was attracted to the watch by the regular noise of the machinery in it?
After breakfast we walked about the grounds and cellars of our host and some of his neighbours. His gardens were extensive, and in the most exact neatness and order. Some vineyards adjoining were fenced with quinces, of which fruit, almonds, and apricots, there were the greatest abundance. Not far from the house was his slaves gardens, well supplied with various culinery articles. He observed that, in the previous year, his slaves reaped two thousand sacks of potatoes, the major part of which they wold at the Cape for their own emolument. The country about Elsenburg, and indeed the whole neighbourhood of this promontory, is naturally destitute of trees, but Mynheer Kestein has planted Oak, Pine, and some others which thrive
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luxuriantly; the Silver tree before mentioned, is of uncommon beauty, its leaves at some distance bearing the hue of that metal. The Stables, and indeed all the farming offices of our landlord, were on a very extensive scale; besides about seventy brood mares, two hundred horses, and a number of oxen were kept in constant labour. It is true the expence of keeping horses in this country, particularly the more rough and laborious kind, is in considerable when compared to what it is in Europe, and that of shoeing (except the fore feet of some) is altogether saved, a dutch farmer holding it unnecessary. The cellars contained a great quantity of various kinds of wine in casks of a very large size, and it was thought necessary by Mynheer Kestein that his visitor should taste of every quality, a polite penalty not particularly acceptable of a forenoon.
After dinner the steeds were mounted to visit a mountain called Claptmouch [Klapmutskop]. Several deer were seen, but not within shot. The horses climbed up as far as they were able, but the acclivity and ruggedness was such that the worst half of the journey was continued on foot. Towards the summit the ascent was more difficult than either to the Pearl or Table Land, but aided by a renovating breeze at this cool hour of the day, no complaints were heard. The view that here presented itself was extensive in every direction, particularly to the West, where the sun was seen to sink behind the purpled Table Land in great splendour, whose level surface formed a fine contrast to the more rugged and unequal mountains of Draakenstein and Hottentots Holland.
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3d. We this morning visited the much admired village of Stellenboch a few miles from Elsenburgh. On either side the road, it was in most parts highly cultivated with corn and vines. The village, consisting of about fifty houses with a neat church, is in a valley, a fine stream of water passing through it. The inhabitants, as they in truth might, spoke in raptures of the Oaks in and around Stellenboch. A double row ornamented each street and in such a luxuriant state that the whole place was shaded by them. Much to our regret our leave of absence from Captain Bligh now expired, and which was the more felt as Mynheer Kestein had proposed taking us to his house at Saint Helena Bay, which place, though far distant from Cape Town boasted a more fertile soil than Elsenburgh, from whence it is about a journey of three days. It should be remarked that the Cape inhabitant calculates by time, and if you ask the distance of any place you are told, so many hours or days. A waggon with eight horses generally speaking does not exceed five miles an hour and this is the most common travelling conveyance.
The friendly offer of our landlord to conduct us to St. Helena bay could not be accepted, but some amends were made for the disappointment by his accompanying us with his family in another waggon to the Cape Town. The Caravansary where we dined in our journey out, now answered the same purpose, and we sat down to plenty and good cheer. On entering the isthmus between False and Table Bay, we suddenly met the strong South East gales and learnt they had been raging with great violence during our absence, notwithstanding we had experienced the most tranquil weather but a few leagues
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distant.
The Thermometer on board, while the Providence remained in Table Bay varied from 62° to 74°.
The Variation of the Compass on board by 24 sets of Azimuths (not by [?]) was found to be taking the mean 24°, 54°, 56° Westerly.
[There are no pages 82 or 83.]
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