2 Q WILD FLOWERS. 7—8. D e c .
7th. On the following day we took a walk on the Lion's Rump,
and added forty-three more species to my Herbarium, although the
earth was quite parched up by the sun. Many beautiful flowers,
well known in the choicer collections in England, grow wild on this
mountain, as the heath and the primrose on the commons and sunny
banks of our own country. *
In the afternoon I paid a visit of introduction to the Landdrost,
from whom I experienced the same politeness which I had hitherto
every where met with. In his garden I noticed a beautiful tree
of Oleander, above ten feet high, decorated with a profusion of
rosy flowers, and a large shrub of Cassia corymbosa, loaded with
bunches of blossom. This house, delightfully placed in the midst of
gardens and plantations, in the country behind the town, towards
Table Mountain, commands an extensive view of the Bay and distant
mountains, with a great part of the town. In the aviary, I saw the
Touracoop, called Loeri by the colonists; the Kaffers Fink%; the
Canary § and the Paddy-bird. ||
8th. At this time Cape Town afforded scarcely any public amusements,
the theatre being shut up for want of performers. An occa-
* Such as —
Phlomis (Leonitis) Leonurus
Indigofera psoraloides
■Gladiolus alopecuro'idés
Pelargonium pinnatum
Cyanella Capensis
Pelargonium melananthum
Pelargonium lobatum
Ceropegia tenuifolia
Echium argenteum
Aristea cyanea
Lessertia pidchra. Bot. Mag.
Knowltonia hirsuta
Oxalis monophylla ¡
Together with —
Physalis tomentosa
Ceanothus A/ricanus
Montinia acris
Alopecurus Capensis
Cuscuta Africana
Mohria thurifraga
Stachys Ethiopica
Phamaceum incanum
Gorteria personata
Lcpidium Capense Th.
Stobcea atractylo'ides,
and many others.
+ Corythaix, 111. Cuculus Persa, Linn.
% Emberiza longicauda, et Loxia Cqffra. Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. Gmel.
§ Fringilla Canaria. Linn. . || Loxia oryzivora. Linn.
1810. A C 0N C E R T * 2 1
sional concert was all that the place could offer; and considering that
there were but few professed musicians in the orchestra, the performance
might be called very good. The leader of the band, a Dane,
whose powers on the violin were far above mediocrity, gave us a concerto
on that instrument, and, on the same evening, another on the
harp. These he played without any assistance whatever from written
notes; an example of musical memory not very common. The
principar parts were filled by the amateurs, all of whom were of
the Dutch part of the community; the French-horns, bassoons, and
clarionets being supplied from the regimental bands.
Whenever mention is made of the Dutch in a more general
sense, that part of the population of Cape Town, or of the colony,
not English, is intended: since by far the greater proportion belongs
to that nation; and all those who are born in the colony speak that
language, and call themselves Africaanders, whether of Dutch, German,
or French origin.
It has been often remarked, whether justly or not, that the
English have not that degree of taste and love for music, which
several European nations regard as an ornament in their character:
and it must be confessed, that, independently of professional persons,
more real musicians are to be found among foreigners than among
us. This, perhaps, sliould be attributed, not so much to our want ol
taste or feeling, as to our viewing music as an inferior kind of
study. But we undervalue the importance of i t ; and do not
seem sufficiently aware that it possesses the power of improving the
best feelings of the heart, and of calming, and even annihilating,
many of the more turbulent passions of men. But to produce this
effect, mere execution avails but little, without that expression and
speaking intelligence, which can be given to it only by the fingers of
sensibility.
The present concert was entirely instrumental; and the greater
part of the audience were ladies. They were dressed extremely well,
and quite in the English fashion; and it would be thought by
many, that, for personal beauty, they ought not easily to yield