Oct. 7th.—We quitted Cape Town, and went to reside at Newlands. This place was formerly the residence of Lord Charles Somerset, the Governor of the Cape: the house is situated in the midst of fine woods, and noble avenues of oak; the roses and geraniums are most luxuriant. The Table Mountain, seen through the avenues at the back of the house, is calm and beautiful: the view in front extends across fine woods, terminated by the Blueberg Mountains. This is a delightful place,—the avenues offer perpetual shade, and the flowers are a luxury. Newlands is well situated as a residence; the walks around are numerous and beautiful,—I enjoyed those especially around the back of the Table Mountain, where there are a profusion of wild flowers. On the road to Paradise the view of the opposite mountains and Simon’s Bay to the right is very interesting; there is still a garden at Paradise, but the house is in ruins.
11th.—The rides are most agreeable; how happy I am to be on horseback again! I look with regret on the months I lost by spending them in Cape Town, shut up in Roeland-street; it is so delicious in the country,—we are about six or seven miles from the town, an agreeable distance. Bought two handsome Cape riding horses; they carried me pleasantly at times, but were both very timid; they tell me timidity is the general fault of the horses at the Cape,—it was absurd the trouble these horses gave ere you could induce them to pass a flock of sheep. They would make a handsome pair for a carriage, and would sell well as such in Calcutta, besides paying their passage.
Nov. 26th.—Drove to Wynberg; saw an arum in Mrs. Usher’s garden that I thought remarkable. On the large bright green leaf were white transparent marks; the length of the flower thirty inches, the breadth eight inches; the inside of the flower was of a deep, beautiful, and rich claret colour. How profuse of beauty is nature to the flowers at the Cape! There was also an aloe at the same place of such enormous size, it was quite a sight,—a gigantic plant. I regret very much I did not sketch or measure it; it was the finest aloe I ever beheld.
Never did I meet with such servants as those at the Cape,—drunkards, thieves, and liars,—the petty annoyances these people give are enough to destroy the pleasure of living in this fine climate and beautiful country; had it not been for the plague of the servants I should have felt sorrow in quitting Africa. A Malay man-servant of ours, speaking of his family, said, “My father was only a lieutenant, but the father of my wife’s eldest son, he was a very great man!—he was a colonel! he gave her the cottage. Though the son is but a boy he has so much English spirit in him, that I am afraid of beating him; don’t you think the other children are very like me? The friends of many women are only captains or lieutenants; my wife’s friend was a colonel!—we are all like this!”
In India, if a man is ashamed of his poor relations, the following is applied to him: “The mule was asked, ‘Who is your father?’ He said, ‘The horse is my maternal uncle[41].’”
My Malay servant had no shame at all: “There is no physic for false ideas[42].” To have attempted to have enlightened his mind on the subject in which he took pride, would have been as useless as “To pound water in a mortar[43]”—that is, it would have been labour in vain.
We were supplied from Wynberg with most excellent bread, very good mutton and poultry, vegetables, and fruits.
1844, Jan. 6th.—For the last week we have had days of burning heat—almost Indian heat, with very chilly evenings after sunset; heavy rain has cooled the air to-day, and rendered the atmosphere delicious. Newlands is at present the property of a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Crugwagen.
The servants are very cool at the Cape; my Malay cook came to me in Christmas week, to say she could not dress my dinner on three days in the coming week, as she was going out to dinner parties herself at the houses of some of her friends. I objected to going without dinner to oblige her, and at last was forced to dine on those days at an early hour, that she might be off at 4 P.M. to her parties.
Two of my white muslin gowns came from the wash with the sleeves split open, and a very deep tuck in the skirt; I found they had been lent or hired out to an Africander, who was shorter than myself, and had very robust arms. The people are extremely fond of balls and gaieties, which they attend dressed out in the gayest colours; and you sometimes see a fine French cambric handkerchief bordered with deep lace in the black fist of a floor-scrubbing Hottentot, as she walks grinning along to join a dancing party. The Africanders are very dirty in their persons, and they rub their bodies with a vile-smelling oil; the presence of a musk-rat is quite as agreeable as that of a Hottentot in a room. They appear to have a taste for music, judging from the correct manner in which I have heard the children singing various airs on the mountain.