Very pleasant to dwell in is this “City of the Settlers”—alias the “city of gardens,” with its agreeable society, fresh breezes, and charming situation; its “twenty miles” of well-gravelled and tree-lined streets; its handsome shops and stores, its fine public buildings—notably the Cathedral, and the Albany Hall—its three great reservoirs, with their “twenty-four million gallons” of water, and its “twelve miles” of main pipes, by means of which its inhabitants are watered.
But I must not linger in Grahamstown now. When there in the body, I was sorely tempted to do so, too long, by the kindness of friends and the salubrity of the weather. Adieu, Grahamstown! thou art a green spot in memory, as well as in reality.
Note 1. The map of the present railways on page vi will enable the reader to judge how far this has been realised.
Letter 10.
Salem—A Peculiar Picnic—Polo under Difficulties—Lecturing and Singing—Sporting at Night.
Salem is, as it should be, a peaceful spot. It was not always so. There was a time when its inhabitants had to toil, so to speak, with the spade in one hand, and the musket in the other. It lies in a hollow of the great rolling plains, and was founded, like many of the eastern towns, in the memorable “1820,” when the “British settlers” came out, and a new era for the colony began.
The arrival of the original settlers at Salem is thus described by one who was a noted leader in the first days: