A Winter Tour in South Africa | Page 5

displacement. I
went with the Admiral, and a party of ladies to have luncheon on board
the Steam Corvette Archer.
Simon's Bay is very sheltered, excepting from the south-east, with good
holding anchorage ground. It seems a quiet, secluded spot,
well-adapted for a naval station in this part of the world, although I
have heard that an opinion prevails that the fleet should be at Cape
Town instead of Simon's Bay. The Raleigh is the flag-ship; I saw also
some other vessels of the Royal Navy at anchor in the bay. The
fortifications which are now in progress for the protection of this
important point in our chain of defences will, when completed, render
the place practically impregnable from sea attack.
Some of the most beautiful coast scenery I have ever seen is to be
found in that very lovely drive by Sea Point to Hout's Bay, and thence
back to Cape Town by Constantia and Wynberg. This is a celebrated
excursion, and well deserves the praises bestowed upon it. The road has
been admirably constructed by convict labour.
A very convenient short line of railway also brings within easy reach of
the inhabitants of Cape Town the pretty villages of Mowbray,
Rondebosch, Rosebank, Newlands, Wynberg, Constantia, &c., where,
in charming villas and other residences, so many of the wealthier
classes reside. At Constantia the principal wine farms are situated, the
most noted being the Groot Constantia (the Government farm) and
High Constantia. Constantia wine can only be produced on these farms.
Another farm in this neighbourhood is Witteboomen, which is
particularly noted for its peaches, there being over one thousand trees
on the farm, in addition to many other kinds of fruit. Another one, and
probably the largest in the district, is named "Sillery." Here not many
years ago the ground was a wilderness, but it has now attained a high
state of perfection, there being at least 140,000 vines and hundreds of
fruit trees of all kinds, under cultivation.
At Cape Town I received the first proofs of the kind and lavish
attentions which everywhere in South Africa were subsequently
bestowed upon me. From everyone, without exception--from His

Excellency the Administrator and Mrs. Smyth, and the members of his
staff--from all the public men and high officials--from members of the
Cape Government, and from the leaders of the Opposition, besides
from innumerable private friends, Dutch and English alike, I received
such cordial tokens of goodwill, that I can only express my deep sense
of appreciation of their most genial and friendly hospitality. I bid adieu
to Cape Town (which I was visiting for the first time in my life) with
the conviction that I was truly in a land, not of strangers, but of real
friends, who desired to do everything in their power to make my visit to
South Africa pleasant and agreeable to me; and this impression I
carried with me ever afterwards at every place I visited during the
whole of my tour.
On Wednesday, May 29, I left Cape Town at 6.30 p.m. for Kimberley,
passing Beaufort West, the centre of an extensive pastoral district, and
De Aar, the railway junction from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. This
journey is a long one, of between 600 and 700 miles, and of some
forty-two hours by railway. I travelled all through that night, and the
whole of the next day, through the most remarkable kind of country I
ever saw. Flat, and apparently as level, as a bowling-green (although
we were continually rising from our starting-point at Cape Town to a
height at Kimberley of about 3,800 feet above the sea), a sandy and
dreary desert, with occasionally low, and barren hills in the far
distance--not a tree to be seen, and scarcely any vestige of vegetation,
excepting now and then, a few of the indigenous Mimosa shrubs, which,
for hundreds of miles, grow fitfully on this desolate soil. This is the
wonderful tract of country called the Great Karoo. Not a sign of animal
life is to be detected, at this period of the year. During the summer
months it affords pasturage for large flocks of sheep. It is a vast
interminable sea of lone land, over which the eye wanders unceasingly
during the whole of the daylight hours.
[Illustration: Decorative]
[Footnote A: The First Series was published in 1887.]

[Illustration: Decorative]
KIMBERLEY.
After another long night in the railway train, at noon on the second day,
after leaving Cape Town, I reached the celebrated diamond town of
Kimberley, the population of which consists of about 6,000 Europeans,
with a native population estimated at about 10,000, chiefly
concentrated in the mining area.
On my arrival at the railway station, I was met by the Mayor, and a
deputation of the residents of the town. At a