The route to Worcester, whither we set out the following morning, leads at first through the wide, highly-cultivated Waggonmakers' Valley, adorned with numbers of rich farm-steads (so named from a number of artisans of this handicraft having settled here in former times), after which it passes over the difficult pass called Paine's Kloef, 4000 feet high, which frequently recalled the well-known road over the Sömmering Alp, or that at Optschina. This mountain-pass, first completed in 1853, by the engineer, Mr. Paine, greatly facilitates the traffic between Cape Town and this fertile district, which previously was quite inaccessible, and whose immense natural resources are only now beginning to be developed.
When we reached the highest point of the pass we found a strong south-east wind blowing. The thermometer marked 55° F., and when plunged in a spring that issued from the mountain close at hand, 48°. South-east winds are especially prevalent here, particularly in summer, when they frequently cause serious damage; hence all the upper branches of the trees incline to the north-west.
We now came to the finest bridge in the country, named Darling Bridge, after a late governor, which is thrown across the broad stream called by the Dutch, Breede River, and by the English, Broad River, a frequent source of error. The English colonists are bent upon driving out the Dutch names of rivers and localities, and supplying them with new names of English origin. The Dutch, however, hold on obstinately to the names they have been accustomed to, and continue to use the ancient nomenclature.
In the neighbourhood of Darling Bridge is a farm where the traveller can be comfortably accommodated, and from which, being a post-station, letters can be forwarded to all parts of the country. It has regular communication with the rest of the colony three times a week. The vehicle, however, in which the letters and packets are forwarded, in consequence of the wretched roads in the interior, and with the view of expediting the transmission of mail matter, is simply a light, open, eminently uncomfortable, two-wheel waggon, in which but one passenger can be taken each trip. Day and night, up hill and down dale, it continues its journey, changing driver and horses every two hours, only the unfortunate passenger being condemned to remain glued to the jolting uncomfortable car, until he has attained the end of his journey. We were told of an English captain, who once travelled on urgent business 400 miles in fifty hours in this fashion, and arrived at his destination in such a pitiable plight, that he had to be lifted from the car and put to bed forthwith, which he kept for several weeks, before he was able to get about again. Unfortunately, we were not told whether this unlucky passenger returned to Cape Town by a similar conveyance.
In the dining-room of the farm we made acquaintance with several families from Graaf Reinet, in the north of the colony, who were en route for Cape Town, and had been already three weeks on the road, during which they must have passed every night in their unwieldy waggon, or under tents. There was also among the assembled travellers a Quaker Missionary, of Worcester, who was on his way to the opening of the Spiritual Synod at Cape Town, and who was so kind as to furnish us, on the spot, with some introductions to his friends in Worcester, a lovely little town, which we reached towards the evening. There are places which charm at the first glance, just as there are many men who take us by storm as it were. Worcester is one of these; so neat, so clean, with a pretty garden in front of each little house, every wall of which was entwined with roses, and in the back-ground all around, bare, but picturesque groups of lofty hills of a blueish-grey tint, which imparted to the entire landscape a peculiar and almost magical colouring. Worcester, a creation of yesterday, has about 4500 inhabitants, chiefly employed in vine growing and sheep pasture. There are some of the peasantry here who own flocks of 3000 to 4000 sheep! The rich vegetation of the valley has an eminently northern character. Alongside of oaks, pines, poplars, willows, will appear a tree of Australian origin, of the order of Myrtaceæ, the blue gum-tree (Eucalyptus Globulus), which, on account of its rapid growth, is planted before each door for the purpose of shade. One of these trees was shown to us of but four years' growth, the stem of which was already twenty feet high! The leaves have a highly aromatic odour, and must be especially suitable for the extraction of oil, as the rind is full of camphor; as yet, however, the tree is not used by the colonists for any other purpose than to supply shade to their gardens.
It is surprising what comfort the traveller encounters among these new settlements, from which, even already, all traces have been eradicated of the difficulties that originally beset the colonist; so that at every turn one meets with evidences of the highest European civilization. Whenever, indeed, he finds himself at a settlement, he will remark that it is not merely provided with the necessaries of life, or the mere products of the soil, but that it sparkles with numerous objects of luxury and refined taste; such as handsome furniture, pianos, and other musical instruments, engravings, English classics, besides telescopes, barometers, thermometers, and other similar evidences of high cultivation. At the hotel at Worcester, we met with a degree of comfort such as is found only in the chief cities of Europe. Several of the inhabitants, among others Dr. Esselin, a missionary of the Moravian brotherhood, and Dr. Meynard, of the Episcopal Church, laid us under particular obligations by their participation in the objects of our inquiry. The latter gentleman sought us out at our hotel, and, after a hearty welcome, remarked that he possessed, in his collection, several highly interesting petrifactions from Beaufort, about 400 miles north-west of Worcester. We satisfied ourselves, however, by a visit which we paid to Dr. Meynard at his own house, that his collection was far from possessing the interest he claimed for it. In all probability, however, judging by what we heard, Beaufort must be a classic soil for the palæontologist, as there are numberless fossils in that district, especially of reptiles. In like manner, the stalactite grottoes, known as "The Congo Caves," 300 miles from Worcester, have never yet been scientifically examined or described.
Dr. Esselin, who is a native of Hesse, was so kind as to accompany the naturalists of the Novara Expedition to the hot springs of Brand Vley the following morning. The road thither, which lies through a valley partly overflowed towards the end of the rainy season, was exceedingly trying to the horses, and, but for the kind offices of Dr. Esselin, who was acquainted with the difficulties of the route, and undertook the guidance of the waggon through the constantly recurring swamps and morasses, we should in all probability have had to retrace our steps halfway, or even have stuck fast, which would have been a still more serious matter. Only after unspeakable exertions did we succeed in threading the valley of Worcester as far as the shores of Breede (or Broad) River. Several times we were compelled, in order to lighten the waggon, to dismount, and wade up to our knees in water. Once the quag was so deep, that to avoid sinking in it we had to be carried, one by one, on the back of our Malay driver.
CROSSING THE BREEDE RIVER.