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four, six, and eight horses in hand, go trotting about
the streets. I have as yet not mentioned the well-known
Table Mountain. This great mass of horizontally stratified
sandstone rises quite close behind the town to a height of
3500 feet: the upper part forms an absolute wall, often
reaching into the region of the clouds. I should think so
high a mountain, not forming part of an extensive platform,
and yet being composed of horizontal strata, must be a rare
phenomenon. It certainly gives the landscape a very peculiar,
and from some points of view, a grand character.
J u n e 4 t i i .—I set out on a short excursion to see the
neighbouring countr)', but I saw so very little, that I have
scarcely any thing to say. I hired a couple of horses, and a
young Hottentot groom to accompany me as a guide. He
spoke English v e r y w e l l , and was most tidily dressed; he wore
a long coat, beaver hat, and white gloves! The Hottentots,
or Hodmadods as old Dampier calls them, to my eye look
like partially bleached negroes. They are of a small stature,
and have most singularly-formed heads and faces: the
temple and cheek-bones project so much, that the whole
face is hidden from a person standing in the same side
position in which he would be enabled to see part of the
features of a European. Their hair is very short and
curly.
Our first day’s ride was to the village of the Paarl,
situated between thirty and forty miles to the N.E. of Cape
Town. After leaving the neighbourhood of the town, where
white houses stand as if picked out of a street and then by
chance dropped on the open country, we had to cross a
wide level sandy flat, totally unfit for cultivation. In the
hopes of finding some hard materials for making a road, the
sands had been bored along the whole line to the depth of
forty feet, but without any success. Leaving the flat, we
crossed a low undulating country, thinly clothed with a
slight green vegetation. It was not the flowering season,
but even at this time of the year there were some very
pretty oxalises and mesembryanthemums, and on the sandy
spots fine tufts of heatlis. There were also several beautiful
little birds:— if a person could not find amusement in
observing the animals and plants, there was very little
else during the whole day to interest him : only here and
there we passed a solitary farm-house.
Directly after arriving at the Paarl, I ascended a singular
group of rounded granite hills, which rise close behind the
village. From the summit I enjoyed a fine view of the line
of mountains which I had to cross on the following morning.
Their colours were gray or partly rusty red, and their outlines
irregular, but far from picturesque : the general tint of
the lower country was a pale brownish green, and the whole
entirely destitute of woodland.* From the naked state of
the mountains, seen likeivise through a very clear atmosphere,
I was reminded of Northern Chile; but the rooks
there, possess at least a brilliant colouring. Immediately
beneath the hill, the long village of the Paarl extended ; all
the houses were whitewashed, and appeared very comfortable;
and there was not a single hovel. Each house had
its garden and a few trees planted in straight rows ; and there
were many vineyards of considerable size, which at this time
of year were destitute of leaves. The whole village possessed
an air of quiet and respectable comfort.
J u n e 5 t h .—After riding about three hours, we came near
to the French Hoeck pass. This is so called from a number
of emigrant protestant Frenchmen, who formerly settled in a
flat valley at the foot of the mountain : it is one of the prettiest
places I saw in my excursion. The pass is a considerable
work, an inclined road having been cut along the steep side
* W h e n th e e x tr em e s o u th e rn p a r t o f A fric a was first c o lo n iz ed ,
rh in o c e ro s e s ( a s I am in fo rm ed b y D r. A n d r ew S m ith ) a b o u n d e d o v e r
tlie w h o le o f th is d istric t, a n d e sp ec ia lly in th e w o o d e d valley s a t th e b a se
o f T a b le M o u n ta in , w h e re C a p e T ow n n ow s ta n d s . I m e n tio n th is in
c o rro b o r a tio n o f th e s ta tem e n t ( p . 9 8 ) , t h a t a lu x u r i a n t v e g e ta tio n is n o t
a t a ll n e c es sa ry fo r th e s u p p o r t o f tlie la rg e r q u a d ru p e d s . H a v in g m y se lf
s e e n th is d is tric t, w h ich was fo rm e rly f re q u e n te d b y th e h u g e rh in o c e ro s ,
I am fu lly im p re ss e d w ith th e t r u th o f th o s e views.
V O L . I I I . 2 t>
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