[ P i L ^ T g Wu
MALAY BOYS OF THE CAPE OP GOOD HOrE.
ONE of the boys, whose portrait is given ou the accompanying plate, is a pretty fair example of the mixed race
which forms a considerable proportion of the popdatiou of Cape Town and the sun-onnding districts.
The boy depicted is a hnlf-caste between the Malay and the Negro of Eastern Afi-ica, fi-om the Mozambique coast.
He has his market-basket upon lus shoulder. The costume is Malay. And in the background is a view of part of
Hottentot Square, and the Keisergracht, in Cape Town.
The Malay children are often veiy pretty, and remarkable for the largeness and brilliancy of their dark eyes. It is
amusing on a feast-day or hoHday to see the little Malay boys and girls, not more than three' or foui- years of age,
and often scarcely able to walk, di-essed exactly like their fathei-s and mothei-s, and led forth by their fond ami exulting
parents, looking like old people in miniature. The figure of tlie little boy wearing the wide conical hat is an example
of this kind, and conveys an exact idea of a young Malay of some fonr or five years old. The girls look more odd
than the boys: figures which, when viewed from behind, appear like extremely diminutive women, turn out to be girls, or
mere infant-s, wearing the long plaited skirt, the quaint short waist, the full sleeves, and the hair anointed with c^eoa-nut
oil, and fastened behind with a huge gold bodkin, fashions which ai)peitain alike to themselves and their grandmother.
All the Malays in Cape Town speak Dutch; but the better class undei-stand and write the Arabic and Malay.