a most
the Olli
T H E PAAHL,
I » a Channii.. and fertile valley, through which the Kleii, Berg Riviere, or "little river of the mountain.," ivind. its
meanilerhig courae, surrunniled on ,11 side, by -r.nd and glorion« niountaiui, lis, the pifturesquc village of the Paarl.
Immediately ahove the village, which i. .cattered for .ome distance along the valley, rise, the Paarl MoimUin, the
•ummit of which is weU worth visiting: it consists of one enormons block of rounded stone, and
extensive view on all sides. The viUage itself is inhabited almost entirely by Dutch; the bouses
Dutch style, with their white gahle. shining out from amongst plantations of oak and Italian pine. The Paarl is
eeleta-ated for it., wine, and the entire valley of Draken.telu, with Wageumaker's Yallei beyond, is spriuklcd over with
vineyards, orauge-groves, and peach-garden,, llie range, of mountain, seen in the engcaving to the left, .re those of
Great Drakenstein and Frauschc-hock. and on the right is SimonVberg, above Stellonboseh. The Paarl is' distant about
forty-five nnle, from Cape Town, hi a north-easterly direction, and has a popidalion of upward, of 2000 individual,.
During the winter season, the high range, of mnuntains surrounding the valley of the Pnari are cappcd with
in the summer the heat is very great. Corn and wine, vegetable, and fruit,
: the chief produce of this lovely and
romantic spot, and are conveyed in hullock-waggon, to the Cape Town market.
1-he Bora of South .«rica is replete with beauty, and her rugged and grey mouutmus are clothed with blossom, of
evcT dye, each locality ha, its own flower.,, and these arc so influenced by situation and soil, that the botanist may
, for some pecuB.r plant on the hill-side, whilst a hundred yards above hin, it is iouri.hing hKuriat.tly.
too, h „ ,1. own gay garland, you may ride aero,, the Karroo one week through a field of lilie, and
search
Eiich
j W m t o , and, on passing the same ,pot on the following week, you may look long for a ,i„gle btossom.
Tlie months of August, September, October, and November, are the months of «owers in South Africa- hut every
month throughout the year ha. its «uwering plants, in May and .lune, for instance, the country around Cape Town i,
e a r p eM with the white, yellow, and ro,e-colo„red species of , ,„&, all of which are e.vceedingly beautiful, and are the
oltsprmg of the autumnal rain, of the previon, month.
Perbap, the most ehar.aetcristic family of plants in the dry and sandy di,triet, of the Cape Colony the Pro,,,,
or S„l„r-h.cle. (sngar-bu.he,), a, they are termed by the Dutch coloni,ts. For si« month, in the year their singular J
heautifnl bl.„om. cnhven every glen, and rock, and valley of the Cape di.tric, I„ K.firland and on the fr'outie;, in
Albany and Uttenh.ge, the i. ,„ppli,d by the » „ t o » , or eoral-tree, and other .gorgeous plant,. The
seems to be the type ui Africa of the Australian Banhin. which it greatly resembles.