About two miles from the latter village is Elsey peak, about twelve hundred feet high, round which the road passes, the base being washed by the sea, and then we came to the bay and village of the same name, having another small whaling establishment; but the inhabitants had shaken hands with poverty, and these three villages are evidently fast going to ruin. Two miles further brought us to Simon’s town; it was suddenly presented to our view on winding round the base of a mountain, with its naval arsenal and pretty white houses, having altogether a neat and cheerful appearance. A frigate, a merchant-ship and a sheer hulk, were riding quietly at anchor on the glassy bosom of the bay. We stopped at a neat hotel, and after a visit to Admiral F. Warren and family, by whom we were very kindly and hospitably received, we visited the arsenal, this being the cape rendezvous for British ships-of-war on this station, and found every thing in fine order and well arranged, viz.: suits of sails, boats, blocks, rigging, masts, chain and hemp cables, anchors, &c.; all in readiness for use from a seventy-four-gun ship to a sloop. The streets were in good order, and the houses very convenient and well built of stone or brick, and stuccoed, and the whole aspect of the place was favourable, and had an air of comfort and cleanliness, although bounded by barren, woodless and precipitous mountains and hills, with only here and there a few scattered fruit or forest trees about private enclosures. The town is represented to have a population of one thousand seven hundred inhabitants.
False bay is easy of access to vessels of the greatest depth of water, having but few dangers and those visible. No harbour can surpass that of Simon’s bay in point of security, having a sufficient depth of water for ships of any burden; the winds may be said never to blow from the east, which is the only point from which vessels are exposed. The winds most prevalent in False bay, are from the southeast, and Simon’s bay is completely sheltered from their violence; and in the winter from the north, which does not affect vessels materially, which are properly secured. Boats can always land, and refreshments of all kinds may be had, excellent fresh beef and mutton, and salted cape beef, with bread, biscuit, vegetables, wine, butter, &c., &c.
The bay abounds with fish, and if there is any deficiency of articles in the town, they may always be procured from Cape Town by the wagons. Horses and carriages are always to be had, and the mail runs twice a week to the capitol, during the warm months, and three times during the cool part of the season; the distance is twenty-one miles. Within the district there are plenty of cattle, and sheep, and wheat raised, and wine and brandy made in abundance. It is every way a most convenient and safe port for refreshments, and to repair vessels, and a most desirable haven for shelter to the way-worn mariner, who has been buffeting the storms of winter about this “cape of torments.” Our return occupied the space of three hours, and was performed by the same set of horses throughout, with perfect ease.
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
The following public institutions are established at Cape Town: The South African library, in a building at one end of the Grand Parade, is at once the pride and boast of the colony. It contains about ten thousand volumes in all departments of literature, and is highly creditable to the place. The South African college, founded in 1829, is spoken of in high terms by the inhabitants, although a large portion of the sons of wealthy parents are sent to England to complete their education. It has a professor of classical and English literature, as well as one for Dutch, and one for mathematics and the principles of astronomy. It has also a Dutch assistant and teacher of German, an English assistant, a mathematical assistant, writing-master, and drawing-master. There is also a society for promoting Christian knowledge, a philanthropic society for the diminution of slavery in the colony, and a royal observatory, having an astronomer, an assistant-astronomer, and a chronometer and instrument maker; a Bible union instituted in 1818; a South African infant school; a savings bank; a South African literary and scientific institution, to which is attached an excellent museum; a medical society, a “European and burial society;” this society was formed in 1795, for supporting poor and unfortunate fellow-countrymen, during their illness, and in the event of their death, to cause them to be respectably interred. It is a Dutch institution, and now possesses considerable funds. A “Saint Andrews,” friendly society, for the benefit of the Scotch, founded in 1820, to afford relief in sickness, and medical assistance. A widows’ and old women’s fund; a widows’ private fund to afford relief to the widows of deceased members; a South African missionary society; a London missionary society, established in 1795; a Wesley missionary station society for Southern Africa. The school of industry, for the instructing female children of all denominations in reading and needlework; there is also a Sunday school attached to it. There are also a ladies’ benevolent society, an English choral society, and eight Sunday schools.
The commercial exchange is a handsome commodious edifice, having a lofty and spacious centre-hall: the tables are furnished with newspapers, and there is a good supply of mercantile works of reference with maps, &c. Most of the public meetings are held here; the north wing is used by the South African public library; a masonic hall is held in another room, and it has a ball-room, fifty-eight feet by twenty-four.
There are also a colonial insurance company and an agricultural society, which are likely to be highly useful, not only to Cape Town but the whole colony, branches being already established in most of the districts. There are a temperance society, having nine branches, in almost every district; an orphan house, and two “free schools,” besides other institutions. There is an English church now building, called St. George’s church, at a probable expense of sixteen thousand pounds sterling; the Rev. George Hough is the chaplain; the service is at present performed in the Dutch reformed church, at noon, after the Dutch society has retired. The new church is calculated to hold one thousand persons, of which three hundred seats are reserved for the poor. A Lutheran church: St. Andrew’s church (Presbyterian:) a Roman Catholic chapel, and a Wesleyan and Methodist chapel, &c., &c.
There are four newspapers printed in the colony, three at Cape Town and one at Graham’s town, the Government Gazette being one of them. There has also been published since June, 1830, a monthly publication called the Cape of Good Hope Literary Gazette; each number contains twelve quarto pages. It is a most respectable periodical, and contains a great deal of original matter, on general and local topics: it is independent in its tone, liberal in its doctrines, and deserving of encouragement. The “South African Almanac and Directory,” for 1833, possesses very high merit, and I am deeply indebted to it, for no inconsiderable portion of statistical matter, &c., relative to the colony of the cape of Good Hope.
MUSEUM.
Attached to the South African literary and scientific institution is a museum; no museum I have yet seen, will compare with this, in the superior arrangement of the birds and beasts; nothing can be in finer order than the first: it would require many years of study and observation, and a fine tact, to be able to arrange them in their natural state as they are—to catch, in fact, the “living beauty,” when sporting among the wilds of his native bowers. There are many hundreds in the highest state of preservation; the beauty of their plumage is unsurpassed. There is also a small but valuable collection of shells, minerals, fossils, coral, sponge, &c., &c. A French gentleman is the artist, the preserver and arranger of this beautiful museum. I regretted much, that an hour was all I had to devote to these beautifully arranged objects of nature. There are a noble lion and a lioness at the upper end of the public garden, belonging to government. There were for sale in Cape Town a number of zebras from the Snow-berg mountains; these were in fine order and appeared to be very tractable, and several were mounted without any difficulty. This animal is so well known that it is unnecessary to attempt giving any description of it; their coats were in such good order, and the yellow ground and black stripes so bright, distinct, and perfect, that one can scarcely believe it is other than a work of man’s fancy; it differs from the zebra of the plains, by having black rings upon the legs. The price was ninety pounds sterling per pair; they are built very compactly, and are said to be a very hardy animal; there was an “ant bear,” but it differed materially from one I saw at Buenos Ayres; the body and nose of the latter were longer, and the bristles on the back also of greater length, and more rigid and wiry: he was very harmless, and suffered any one to handle him: a spring-bock-springer, antelope, or showy-bock was also for sale: he had a cavity about the lower part of the rump, adjoining the tail, the hair being quite white: when he bounded in the air this spot dilated by the effort, and closed again on descending. The above animals, as well as birds, reptiles, &c., were for sale by Mr. Reid, in Roland street—a “collector of curiosities” as he styles himself on his card.