»5 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES 'X<<^:'' .•K5'''-.'^Ji • ■ ■■'■ ^iCA >c y ^ ^ ^ ^ =q K Three Weeks in South Africa. 3 (J S ^ ^ ^ Kimberley. 71 mand is a marvel, even though It be borne in mind that the population and the wealth of the world are steadily increasing, and numbers of women are now decked out with diamonds who formerly had to be content with garnets. Garnets are plentifully found at Kimberley but being of no value are, as a rule, given away as presents. On Christmas Day, after having received a depu- tation and an address from my co-religionists, we paid a second visit to the compound. Though early it was already overpoweringly hot and I hardly stirred from the shelter of the wooden gallery which surrounds the large tank in the yard. Christmas Day is the only holiday in the year that the Kaffirs really enjoy so that to come in for it was fortunate. For hours the black miners were engaged in athletic sports, which are managed by the Company, and for which prizes and money are freely given. Such a sight I never had witnessed and shall never forget, and to depict it adequately would need the pen of a Rider Haggard or the brush of a Gustave Dore. From 11 00 to 1300 Kaffirs belonging to every tribe throughout the vast realm of South Africa, presenting every shade from brown to the 7 2 Kimberley. darkest black, all healthy young men and tall boys, some attired in the most fantastic costumes, others draped in red or white blankets, many not dressed at all, stood gesticulating, screeching, laughing, ran wildly to and fro, or squatted on the ground in groups round the tank under the gallery. Some appeared as nature had made them but for a loin cloth or a girdle of dried herbs, others merely wore a kind of turban the end of which was drawn through a hole in the lobe of the ear. Some wore their national war dress, tall ostrich plumes waved over their heads, some a grotesque sort of kilt, an indescribable costume, half savage half European, adorned with articles in- tended for domestic use — scissors, knives, household implements of many sorts and of every description. One good nigger had three nutmeg-graters dangling from his knees, others had instruments of the same kind fastened through the lobes of their ears which in consequence were swollen to an enormous size. The ornament they all seemed to value and to adorn themselves with most is a large common white or black hairdresser's horn comb, either circular or straight according to the wearer's fancy, and coquet- tishly passed askew through his woolly hair. Of the feo Kimberley. 73 various sports the most amusing was 'walking a greased pole ' which extended high over the tank. To see the audience alone was worth all the tortures we underwent in the Karroo. Imagine these many hundreds of niggers, their dark skins shining like oiled indiarubber, their white eyes glistening and rolling like marbles to and fro eagerly watching the sport, their huge mouths wide open displaying rows of immaculate ivory teeth ; imagine them in every attitude and with every gesture but always graceful owing to the litheness of their fine figures — monkey -like, if you choose, with their squash noses, and lips swollen like bladders, and woolly hair, but Antinous-like in their shapes ; imagine the brilliant blaze of their costumes heightened as it was by the pellucid glare of the sun, and you will have a pale and inadequate notion of a scene which was as fascinating as it was strange. A few only of the Kaffirs ventured along the pole, none reached its end ; they fell into the tank with a great splash amidst the roars and shrieks of the crowd. When walking the pole had come to an end, a hundred at least of the dusky spectators threw off their scanty accoutrements and jumped into the tank. 74 Kimberley. Mr. Gardner Williams, Mr. Rabenau, and other gentle- men connected with the Company were provided with bags full of shillings which they threw into the water, A wild scramble ensued. Up and down the black men bobbed in the water, diving, fighting, and splashing, groaning hideously and shout- ing vociferously ; their long arms extended like snakes, their feet occasionally coming up like huge toads. It was a prehistoric scene in its every aspect and feature; it was a grotesque and picturesque but loathsome exhibition of uncouth savagery ; it was a nightmare in broad daylight. Before bidding a final adieu to the Kimberley Kaffirs let me say a word in their favour. They may be ignorant, they may be incapable of the same education as the white man, they may remain children to the end of their lives, but they are modest and moral, they enforce the most stringent laws against adultery in their natural condition, they are scrupu- lously clean in their habits, and with very few excep- tions gentle, docile, good-tempered and easily managed. They always retain these characteristics unless they are brought under some bad European influence, which is chiefly exercised by inducing them to partake of alco- Kimberley. 75 holic drink, especially the poisonous ' Kaffir smoke ' which even if only imbibed in small quantities has a violently intoxicating effect and drives the black man for the time being raving mad. In the compounds no alcohol is allowed, and with the money which the Kaffir saves, on returning to his kraal he purchases cattle, which in turn are exchanged, according to the amount, for a wife or several wives, who do all the work while he leads a life of happy idleness and contemplation. While the blacks were enjoying themselves with their sports in the compounds the whites were similarly enjoying themselves in the park, but not being anxious to see an English tug-of-war or bicycle race at noon under an African sun, we went home for a short time and then drove with Mr. Gardner Williams to Kenil- worth. This is a model village which has recently been erected a couple of miles from Kimberley for the use of the white miners and officials. It consists ot small houses constructed of wood, brick, and the in- evitable corrugated iron, which are surrounded by gardens ; close by is a large park, which, when grown up will produce timber and afford pleasant walks and shelter from the heat. Extensive orchards contairi 76 Kimberley. vineyards chiefly, the vines being trained along alleys of trelliswork which extend for distances of looo and 1800 feet. The universal mimosa was in bloom and alive with a black, and yellow finch that builds a long hanging nest like a weaver bird. Owing to his partiality for the grapes this finch, which at home would be an ornament to our aviaries, will have to be exterminated. These vines may prove a superfluous luxury for even should there be hands enough to gather and appetites to enjoy them, still no great profit can be expected from their export though that is one of the objects the Company has in view. Surely, con- sidering this, the poor finches might be spared ^ From Kenilworth we returned to luncheon to the club at Kimberley. The leading spirit of this institution is Captain Tyson, who has now spent many years in South Africa and has presented the club with a splendid collection of the heads of the indigenous fauna. His father was a native of, and if I remember rightly, Mayor of Folkestone and one of the chief political supporters of my uncle. Baron Meyer, who represented that borough. Again, I can only say how small is this world I He also told me that Randolph Churchill during his visit to Kimherley. 77 the place asked him to procure for him, if possible, an ant-bear for my nephew Walter's museum at Tring. By a fortunate coincidence — for these ant-bears though not rare are not easily caught — one specimen of gigantic size happened to be captured shortly after- wards on a Boer farm, being dragged out of a hole by its long tail. The beast was dispatched with considerable difficulty, skinned and stuffed, and is now an object of delight to my Buckinghamshire friends. On Christmas Day, at 4.20, we left Kimberley for Johannesburg, a journey of thirty-eight hours. Mr. Gardner Williams accompanied us to the station, as did also Mr. Rabenau, Colonel Harris, Mr. Moses and other gentlemen whose acquaintance we had had the pleasure of making. Mr. Moses is one of the De Beers officials and notwithstanding his Hebraic name is a Worcestershireman and a Dissenter. And so a very agreeable and interesting visit came to a close. We associate the diamond, if not with ideal, yet with fascinating or pleasant surroundings, but are apt to forget its history from the moment of its discovery until it graces the brow of a queen or even the shirt-front of a Wall Street broker. Still, it is 78' Kimberley. very interesting to see the processes it undergoes until its final stage, as it is diverting to spend Christmas Day in the compound, while nothing could well be more stimulating than the energy of the white miner in that distant exile from his home and his family, or more gratifying than the care and the kindness bestowed on their subordinates by the officials of the Company. fc^ .Si ^ IV. Johannesburg. December I'jth-, i%th, and i^th: THE journey to Johannesburg was less irksome than we had anticipated after our recent ex- perience^ though it was hot and uncomfortable enough. The scenery was as monotonous as that of the Karroo but of a different character. Instead of the arid basins of the desert we now passed through the boundless rolling grass plains of the Veldt. Few farmhouses were to be seen as the holdings are of a great size— from eight to ten thousand acres each — and those we saw were mean-looking, white plastered and featureless buildings, with an apology for a garden where a few stunted trees straggled round a half-empty pool. On the Veldt cattle and sheep roamed in large numbers, and the land is all dotted with anthills two or three feet high. In Mashonaland they are more plentiful still and of very much greater size. 8o Johannesburg. A. M. and I exerted ourselves to the utmost to detect something unusual that would vary the dulness of the scene for it was too hot to read, and we were weary of bezique. A couple of ostriches that had strayed away from their farm, some huge vultures — aas vcgel as they are called by the Boers — owls and hawks of a large species, were perched on the telegraph poles where they roost at night, and a meer-cat, a droll little beast half-squirrel, half-rabbit — were all warmly welcomed and duly appreciated. We met with one experience that was not without some interest — we passed through several flights of locusts. When at rest on the ground the locust looks like an innocent large brown grasshopper and when on the wing it might be mistaken for a white moth — but woe to the country it invades for it devours every scrap of vege- tation. The locusts are not an annual infliction but when they appear the words that Attila boasted of his hordes may be used of them, ' wherever they pass the grass no longer grows.' This year they are a perfect scourge. The swarms are so large that when you are in the midst of one of them you might fancy yourself in a snowstorm, at some distance they obscure the sky like a cloud, and they are so dense at times that they Johannesburg. 8 1 actually impede the progress of a train. They arc followed as a rule by plover-like birds called locust- eaters, which owing to their peculiar intestinal organi- zation, eat them by the score, but it would need many thousands of birds to make any appreciable diminution in the number of the locusts. We reached Bloenifontein at two in the afternoon. Having lunched in our carriage we spent the usual stoppage of half-an-hour in the comparatively cool atmosphere of the waiting-room, into which we were followed by the holiday-makers and loafers and stared at as if we had dropped down from Mars. I soon found myself engaged in conversation with a Mr. Lloyd, a Welshman with a florid face and curly fair hair, who introduced himself as the principal butcher of Bloemfontein. He was most gracious and waxed de- lightfully familiar on the ground of being a brother- Mason and fellow-member of a Friendly Society. Over and over again he would shake hands and beg me to wire him previous to my return to Bloemfontein — where he said I must stay at least a fortnight — and finally presented me to his friend, a Neapolitan inn- keeper, who was overjoyed at having an opportunity of expressing himself in his native tongue. G 82 Johannesburg. I was awake long before we arrived at Johannesburg and was up and dressed at six a.m. I had a good look at the approach to the town from the platform at the rear of our car, where I was soon joined by the Trans- vaal Custom House officer — ^an emaciated, quaintly- shaped, diminutive figure, with a dried-up, wizened, and furrowed face out of which shone a pair of small but bright and keen eyes. He told me, for we made friends at once, that he is a native of Ulm in Bavaria, that he had followed various professions and had been engaged in sundry financial speculations which invariably swallowed up his small savings. He seems now to have found a final and secure haven of rest. Being well known and popular in Johannesburg he receives many a tip in con- sideration of the wise discretion he shows in examining baggage and allowing not a few boxes of cigars and cases of spirits and wine, or silks and satins from Paris, to slip unnoticed through his fingers. Generally these tips take the form of stock exchange advice, which owing to the frequent and substantial fluctuations in the gold share market afford him many opportunities of turning an honest penny. He informed me that a tremendous boom is now in full swing and all gold shares have gone up to fabu- Johannesburg. 83 lous prices. Simmer and Jack, which were quoted at seven when I left London, are now at fifteen. Then the droll little chap pointed out the features of the country, or rather of the suburbs of Johannesburg. They are not unlike those of an English manufacturing town as they consist of artisans' dwellings, workshops, and chimneys, but in one notable respect they differ from those at home for, instead of being shrouded in smoke and fog and smothered with soot, they shone clear and bright in the brilliant and brisk atmosphere. At 6.30 a.m. we steamed into the station and were met by two gentlemen, one of whom as a matter of course, was the head of one of the Jewish congrega- tions who came to beg me to appoint an hour for the reception of a deputation ; the other was Mr. Abe Bailey. With the latter we drove off to the Western Hotel. Mr. Bailey returned at nine o'clock when we had refreshed ourselves with copious ablutions and a copious breakfast, and took us for a drive in the town and its immediate neighbourhood. It lies in a valley, or rather, basin, which forms part of the Rand, and adjoining it is a much larger basin in which the mines are situated — but of these more anon. Johannesburg 64 yohanrteshurg. has a Club for no English-speaking town would be complete without an institution of this kind. It is in a flourishing condition and numbers 600 members. We lunched there in a private room with Mr. Bailey and several of his friends, the chief notabilities of the place. A few words of description of our host and of some of his guests may not be amiss. Mr. Abe Bailey is the best type of the Afri- kander. He was born in Cape Town as was his father before him, and is therefore a Colonial in the real sense of the word. Nevertheless, he and almost every other British Afrikander I met speaks of England invariably as ' home,' and he appears to look on South Africa in the light of a temporary abode though all his interests and possessions are in the Colony. I thought at first that Mr. Bailey referred to Cape Town and it may be taken as a wholesome expression of good feeling and allegiance to the mother -country that not merely residents but the natives of the Colony are anxious to preserve tneir connexion with Great Britain, and look on it as their home. Short, spare, well-set-up, and wiry, his face tanned by constant exposure to the weather, with clear eyes that look you straight in the face. Johannesburg. 85 devoted to sport — shooting, hunting, and racing — a keen man of business, fond of every kind of mental and physical enterprise and adventure, genial, always ready with the most lavish hospitality, and aged 29 — so I may sum up the chief characteristics of Mr. Bailey. When only a boy, some ten years ago, he started on his career with the proverbial shilling in his pocket, and by the ability he sh )wed in various speculations he has made a large fortune. Six months ago he married the pretty daughter of a prosperous Cape Town merchant and they reside in a villa in the suburbs of Johannesburg. He has many horses in training, beats his opponents at billiards, shoots elephants and antelopes during the intervals of business, and when at home entertains his friends and visitors at dinner. Next to Mr. Bailey may be mentioned Mr. Hammond, always most trimly dressed, and from 40 to 45 years of age. He is Consulting Engineer to the Consolidated Gold Mines of South Africa with a salary of ten thousand a year. Fond of good cigars, good wine, and good food, with a pleasant address, polished manner and varied, conversation, he is remarkably able and eminently cautious in his judgments. My continued efforts to 86 Johannesburg. elicit truin him an opinion on the merits or demerits of the various mines, of their individual capacities for production and the probable maintenance of their existing high prices, met with the most discreet re- sponses, Mr, Perkins holds a similar position in con- nexion with the Rand Mines, he like Mr, Hammond being an American and receiving the same salary. He is a more typical Yankee, according to the accepted idea, than Mr. Hammond, and is held to be one of the ablest managers and experts of the Rand, Un- fortunately I had but few opportunities of conversing with him, but I gathered from him, as I did from Mr. Bailey, Mr. Hammond, and in fact all the leading men of the place, that the great ' boom ' which so delighted my friend the Customs officer is at an end, and that sooner or later a reaction must take place.* Great fortunes have just been made and consequently the Johannesburg gentlemen were in high state of exultation — a fact that conduced not a little to the enjoyment of our stay in their midst. Still, though they prophesy in this way and though it is un- * Note, March 25th. — This prediction is not yet fulfilled. The * boom ' still continues. Johannesburg. 87 questionable that some of the shares have been puffed up to a point altogether out of proportion to the trustworthiness of some of the mines or the dividends they pay, they don't expect that the reaction when it comes will be as severe as the one which took place some ten years ago, for the reason that a large portion of the shares have been bought for invest- ment. However that may be, one thing is clear, that the market is in the hands of a few gentlemen whose power, if not to be compared to that of the American railway kings, yet to a great extent they control the rise and fall of the shares. But to return to the other guests. There was Mr. Phillipps, a partner in Messrs. Eckstein & Co.; Mr. Joel, a nephew of Mr. Barnato's, a very young man still, who began life penniless but is now Mr. Barnato's partner and a millionaire, and said to be one of the straightest as well as the shrewdest judges of the markets. Then there were the two brothers Leonard, both lawyers, the elder of whom, a tall handsome man, is considered the cleverest legal expert in the Transvaal. An Afrikander by birth, politically he is an English jingo of the most pronounced type and in the course of a long conversation he deplored, in very ornate Johannesburg. language, the neglect by the mother-country of her South African offspring, to which he would like her to extend more political and pecuniary consideration ; Mr. Mein, the Manager of the Robinson's Mine, and finally. Captain Ernest Rhodes, Mr. Cecil Rhodes' brother and representative, who is quite unlike his brother in appearance. He too lives in a villa with a large garden, that was once a lonely Dutch farm- house in the veldt, and where he had kindly invited us to stay during my visit to Johannesburg, an invitation, however, we declined, preferring the independence of an hotel. I have only a vague recollection of Mr. Bailey's other English, German, French, and American guests. They were the minnows among the whales. Men of all classes and nationalities, all speculators, all thriving, all hospitable, all living in perfect harmony with each other, all manifesting the greatest pride in the prosperity of the town which they have created and all forming a mutual admiration society, extolling the marvels of Johannesburg ; a patriotic and pardon- able foible they share with almost every Afrikander in his particular town. When luncheon was over we strolled in the streets and later on accompanied by Mr. Bailey went to see Johannesburg. 89 one of the sights of the town, if that term can be applied to a very reputable establishment, the fashion- able tea-house of Johannesburg. Do not conjure up in your mind visions of a Japanese teahouse in some picturesque locality. Practically it is merely a public- house though it dosis not go by that appellation. What distinguishes it from a gin -palace is that most of its customers ask for the cup ' that cheers but not inebriates ' in preference to alcoholic beverages. Whether you take tea, brandy and soda, or a glass of whisky, you are accommodated with a comfortable arm-chair and a neatly appointed table ; and more- over you are afforded the society and conversation of one of the two presiding goddesses of the shrine — barmaids I dare not call them. They are sisters, not unlike Miss Titlebaum of the Dunottar Castle in appearance, formerly belonging to a troupe of actors with whom they came to Johannesburg. However, they found it more profitable to join the ' trade,' even if assuaged by tea, than to remain on the boards, and, more profitable still to exercise their wiles and fascinations on the not altogether inexperienced resi- dents of Johannesburg. In the evening we dined again with Mr. Bailey at the Club, a monster repast 90 Johannesburg. both in point of the number of guests and of dishes, served in a private room of lilliputian dimensions and consequently suffocatingly hot. We again met some of the same gentlemen who had been present at luncheon, and others whose names have faded out of my memory, Friday, 28th December, was a well-filled day. There are three or four Jewish congregations at Johannesburg. I promised to receive a deputation from one of these at six on the evening of the day of my arrival. But the Secretary of the most important congregation in the place had also requested me to receive a deputation from his body, and I had replied that I should be willing to do so at nine the following morning at the Synagogue. So to the Synagogue I went at the appointed time, but the Synagogue was empty. Having repeatedly rung the bell in vain I at last came across a timid individual, who said he knew nothing about me or my deputation but that he would fetch the minister, who lived in the immediate vicinity. Meanwhile, I solaced myself by talking to the schoolmaster and to the school - children who were learning their lessons in a room adjoining the Syna- gogue, and who were duly made to show off by Johannesburg. 9 1 singing some glees and hymns. No children of their class could have been cleaner, more neatly dressed and generally of a more refined type. Many were fair-haired, and had quite an Anglo-Saxon look, and of these some were the children of Russian immigrants. At last, rubbing his eyes, the minister turned up, having evidently been disturbed in his slumbers or from his theological studies, and looking very much askance at me. My letter, he said, had not come to hand, it must have been incorrectly addressed or the messenger had taken it to the wrong person, but if I would wait he would collect the members of the deputation, and then the address would be duly presented, &c., &c. But an hour at least must elapse before the deputation could make their appearance ; every minute of our time had been planned out, and we were expected at ten at the Robinson Mine. We all looked very foolish, the minister and I haranguing each other, the schoolmaster and his pupils gaping at us from the green, and A. M. grinning down from the landau. I waxed rather wroth, and left the place abruptly, advising the minister to manage things better on another occasion. Late in the evening a large parcel was delivered to me at the hotel. It contained the address, which was magnificently illu- c;2 "Johannesburg, minated and suitably framed, and with it was a note stating that my letter had not yet been received. I felt truly sorry for the mishap, vented my choler on the hall-porter and wrote a reply to the donors couched in the most grateful terms, accompanied by a cheque for the poor. Thus a ridiculous episode came to what I trust was a satisfactory finale. A, M. and I drove off from the Synagogue to visit the famous Robinson Mine which is situated at one extremity of the Gold Mining District. I do not propose to enter into a description either of the Mine or of the manner of its working, being no expert in such matters. Our visit, into the bargain, was not a very protracted one for the heat had now become almost intolerable, and however interesting sightseeing may be there can be no pleasure in being shown things you do not and cannot understand, and having processes ex- plained which no amount of explanation can drive into your mind in a tropical temperature. Our cicerone was Mr. Mein, an American, like most of the Johannes- burg mine managers and engineers. Not old but a very old-looking man, very tali, very thin, very wizened, and very clever. So much I must say— that the working of the mine is to be largely increased, Johannesburg. 93 a great number of new stamps being in process of erection. Much of the machinery had been imported from America, it being both cheaper and better than English machinery, though for some special purposes connected with the mines British plant is preferred. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the works is the new Cyanide process somewhat recently invented in England, but here employed for the first time on a large scale. By this process fifteen shillings worth of gold is saved from each ton of tailings which previously was treated as waste. But yet it is known that a certain amount of gold still remains in the tailings even after they have been treated by the cyanide process, which doubtless some chemist will discover a method of saving before very long. Half dead with heat and blind with the glare we drove to the com- pound where the coloured miners reside, though they are not kept in the same rigorous imprisonment as at Kimberley. I amused myself by throwing a few shillings into the crowd — they had just returned from dinner — and they fought for the coin like children after which they gave a loud cheer but by no means an English cheer. There was no hurrahing ! but a peculiar burring sound, a combination of a hoarse 94 Johannesburg. shout and a suppressed bark, which, coming from so many human throats, made a very singular effect. Cheering with them it seems is a national custom and is not the outcome of their association with the British. We lunched with Captain and Mrs. Rhodes, and then went for a long drive, A. M. and the Captain in a landau, Mr, Hammond and I in his Cape cart, along the mining district of the Rand. The Rand — the gold-mining district — is a large, oval-shaped and irregular basin, close to the one m which the town lies. It is from forty to sixty miles long and fifteen to twenty miles wide. The formation is quartz, the best and richest formation for gold. The reefs extend all round the ridges of the basin almost up to the surface of the ground and go down, it is said, to unfathomable depths in the centre of the basin. At present, the upper crust, the high levels only are being worked, but from borings which have been made all over the Rand the deep levels are known to be as auriferous as the upper ones, and when these latter become more or less exhausted the turn of the deep levels will come. Although the shares in , the deep levels do not yet pay any interest they are quoted at a very high figure. No doubt their vield will be ve'-" Johannesburg. g^ considerable but it must not be forgotten that the deeper you work into the ground the greater is the difficulty and the expense. The mines with their workshops and chimneys extend about half round the basin and in a few years' time will form a complete circle. Many of these mines are unquestionably a good security and their yield for some years is secure, others are purely speculative and vory uncertain, as some gold reels which at first are most plentiful, for some unimaginable reason suddenly ' peter out.' Geologists and engineers puzzle their heads as fruit- lessly over the origin of the gold mines of Johannes- burg as they do over the diamond mines of Kimberley. A similar formation is unknown in any part of the world. Gold is found in alluvial deposits oftener than quartz and it remains to be seen whether the gold mines of Rhodesia are of the Californian or of the Johannesburg pattern. All this and very much more was shown and explained to me by Mr. Hammond in the course of our drive, during which, much to my regret, I noticed that large canteens stood next each of the mines where the unfortunate native is poisoned and maddened with drink. Could not the Government of the Transvaal be induced to pass a gC Johannesburg. law preventing the sale of this villainous stuff to the natives as is done at Kimberley ? On our way back we were overtaken by a thunderstorm which cooled the air and laid the dust, but we were spared the sight of one of the great dust-stgrms which are of such frequent occurrence both at Kimberley and Johannesburg and which, though detestable as they obscure the atmosphere as much as a yellow fog does in London, would still have been for once a curious experience. The Rand, let me finally say, might be compared to a combination of Newcastle and Wim- bledon. Johannesburg itself mainly consists of villas or at any rate of houses surrounded by gardens situated on sloping ground and bearing some resem- blance to the general aspect of Wimbledon, while the long line of chimneys and workshops which surround the Rand are not unlike one of our manu- facturing towns. At half-past seven we dined with Mr. and Mrs. Bailey at their delightful residence. The party con- sisted of the usual people with whom we afterwards went off to Phillis's Circus. The performance was a very creditable one, though more attractive for the number and variety of tamed wild beasts than for the feats of the Johannesburg. 97 equestrians of both sexes. An American animal tamer put a party of lions and lionesses through their evolutions in a huge cage, which was surrounded by men armed with rifles at full cock. This precaution is needed as on some former occasion the tamer had been attacked by a huge lion, and, but for the instantaneous firing by one of the men it might have gone hard with him. Fortunately for the beast, the bullet only grazed it and blinded one of its eyes, but it has become so savage that it is no longer allowed to take part in the performance. When the performance was over we visited the lion, together with a number of the other animals, and, on seeing the tamer, the poor maimed beast flew at the bars of its cage with a loud roar, for it is now in solitary confinement. Such a heterogenous collection of animals is seldom to be seen, Malay, Java, and Shetland ponies were eating out of the same manger and elephants of all sizes enjoyed their supper of hay. There were monkeys that turned somersaults, trained zebras, quaggas, kangaroos, pigs and an Australian hairless mare ; carnivorous animals of all sorts — among them a tame tiger which I was invited to pat on the back, I did so though I confess not without some inward feeling of reluctance. Still, now I can say that H 9 8 Johannesburg. I patted a tiger ! At eleven o'clock we retired to rest thoroughly tired out. The next morning Mr. Bailey appeared soon after breakfast to take us to visit Mr. Lippert. Mr. and Mrs. Lippert are natives of Hamburg, and are of the purest and truest specimens of the North German race. Mining enterprise brought him to Johannesburg, by which he is said to have lost money, but he has made a considerable fortune from the concession of the monopoly for the manufacture of dynamite in the Transvaal, that article being extensively used in mining operations. They are both sighing for the day of their return to the Fatherland — a day which need not be far distant, as their means are ample, they have no family to provide for, and there is not much to detain them in South Africa. Of the two, it is said that the lady has the brains ; and she is unquestionably a good housewife as was evident from the dainties she offered us, chief among which we appreciated some excellent German gingerbread. Like most Germans, Mr. Lippert is an enthusiastic forester. He has formed a Company with a capital of 70,000/., in which he is the chief shareholder, for the purchase of a considerable tract of land to be devoted to farming, building and yohanneshurg, 59 forestry. The farms do not and probably will not pay, but the forestry portion of the estate is likely to prove a success. About 1500 acres have been planted with wood, eucalyptus and pinus insignis, which when fully grown will afford useful timber for the mines, for hedges and for various building purposes. Though sown only four years ago they already present quite a venerable appearance as trees in this climate grow from five to ten feet in a year. The heat now became very trying, yet Mr. Lippert took us through every part of his wood and looked somewhat irate as my enthusiasm did not come up to his expectation. But with the best will in the world I could not go into ecstacies over the yearly growth of every pine and every eucalyptus. Mr. Lippert is undoubtedly a benefactor to Johannesburg, and future generations when reposing in the shade of the present saplings may well set up a statue to his memory. However, the matter of the statue is perhaps after all somewhat questionable, as he is not the only benefactor in this line. As far as the eye can reach in the town trees are rapidly rising from what was formerly bare ground around the villas, in the public park and gardens, around every public edifice, almost along every street and every road. 1 00 Johannesburg. We went home and exchanged our flannels for more suitable apparel and then we drove off to the races. It was not Johannesburg, it was Ascot or Doncaster. Ascot for the brilliancy of the company, the smart gentlemen and the smarter ladies — the stand, enclosure, paddock, ring, in fact all the features of Ascot race- course ; and Doncaster for the distant, picturesque view of the wild plains. There was the same betting, the same crowds, the same ring-men, I may almost say the same racehorses, while most of the jockeys come from England, with one peculiar exception, namely Mr. Bailey's jockey who is a Bushman, a race that like the Hottentot is becoming nearly extinct. He is a dwarf, about four feet high, with a numerous family and is a grandfather. Last though not least, there were the same tents and the same luncheon as at Ascot or Doncaster. In the evening we dined with Mr. and Mrs. Phillipps to meet much the same people we had met before. Their house is some little distance from the town on the borders of the Rand in a wild and solitary position, very much esteemed for the view to be obtained in the daytime. After a very good dinner served in a very hot room, I had a game of billiards Johannesburg. i o i with Mr. Bailey — which I need not say I lost — in a specially constructed billiard-room, and after having thanked my many new acquaintances for their hospitality and kindness, I drove off to the station to take the 9 p.m. train for Bloemfontein. Johannesburg is one of the wonders of this enter- prising, speculative, scientific, progressive, and creative age. Seven or eight years ago it was bare veldt, with one small Dutch farmhouse, at present Captain Rhodes' villa, a stray hut or two and a solitary policeman. Now it is a large city, with a population of 60,000 inhabitants — 40,000 Europeans and 20,000 blacks; fine, large, wide streets, lined with stone and brick dwellings, banks, theatres, music-halls, circuses, shops filled with all the latest English and Parisian novelties, a racecourse, and roads that extend for miles, lined by villas surrounded by luxuriant gardens. Trees, as I have said, are rising all over the neighbourhood, eucalyptus especially. Water, which is still a some- what scarce commodity, is being provided by the erection of waterworks. Not only wealth with its luxuries but comfort and happiness pervade the whole atmosphere, and but for one cruel drawback nothing I02 Johannesburg, is needed to make the place perfect : owing to the deficient water supply typhoid of a malignant form is endemic and claims many victims. It may be alleged by the Puritanical critics of so many of our modern movements that all this wonderful creation is to be deplored, being but the outcome of the cupidity, the greed for gold and the selfishness of man ; and those who are more pessimistic may add that sooner or later, and sooner rather than later, when the mines of Johannesburg are exhausted, this rank and artificial flower of civilisation will wither and perish, the many thousands of workmen and adventurers will be deprived of their livelihood and will become outcasts on the face of the earth. In reply, first to the pessimists, it may be said that a generation or two at least must pass before the mines are exhausted, that doubtless their prophecy may some day partly become true, and Johannesburg to a certain extent share the fate of Kimberley. But the decline of Kimberley was caused by the rise of Johannesburg and merely pro- duced a displacement of energy and thrift ; but even should some further Johannesburg arise in Mashona- land and take away some of this town's inhabitants, even then it may be doubted that it will fall into in- Johannesburg. 1 03 significance. Both for geographical and commercial reasons it is unlikely, at any rate for many years to come, that the importance of Johannesburg as a trade centre for South Africa will be interfered with as it has the great advantage of possessing coal mines in its immediate neighbourhood. No doubt the Pharisee is correct in saying that its prosperous and flourishing condition is due to man's greed for gold, and no doubt also this greed leads to some rascality and vice.. I have never been to California or Mexico and am therefore unable to compare Johannesburg with an American mining camp, but in Johannesburg there is none of the wild life or the crime of which Bret Harte has given us such a graphic idea ;" ^nd though there is much undue speculation with its inevitable evils, still its moral atmosphere is singularly unpolluted. More- over, it must be borne in mind that of the thousands of struggling European families who have found perma- nent employment there many have been made wealthy and happy. Many Russian Jews who had to fly from the persecution in their native country are living here in comparative ease and in perfect security, following the avocations for which they are best fitted not only with advantage to themselves but to that of their fellow- 104 Johannesburg. townsmen with whom they work in complete harmony. Schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions of all kinds are springing up for all races and creeds, telling of the philanthropy of the successful miners. But the best proof, it seems to me, of the advantage bestowed on humanity by the rise of Johannesburg is that a barren desert has been transformed into a happy and flourishing community. The almost magical rapidity with which the town has come into existence is all the more wonderful considering that when the gold fields were discovered there was no railway communication with Johannesburg, and the whole of the building material, mining plant and everything else required for the work had to be brought for some hundreds of miles in bullock waggons, some of which, with their teams of twenty oxen, we saw in the market-place. Un- questionably, to appreciate the mental and physical qualities of the British race, its power to organize, to develop and to rule, one must see what they have achieved in Johannesburg which is not even a British colony. Johannesburg is situated 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and its climate though hot is salubrious and exhilarating. You are familiar with the fact ~~^ Johannesburg. 105 that the Transvaal was declared British territory in 1877. An insurrection of the Boers, led by Messrs. Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius followed, and in 1881 a British force was repulsed with heavy loss. Shortly afterwards Sir George Colley was defeated and killed at Majuba Hill. But subsequently in face of an increase of the British forces an armistice was agreed upon between the Dutch and Sir Evelyn Wood, who succeeded Sir George Colley, followed by an agreement placing the government of the Transvaal ^under the suzerainty of the Queen. But finally, under the Cabinet of Mr. Gladstone, the suzerainty was withdrawn and complete independence was restored to the Transvaal. It is not for me on this occasion to comment on the wisdom or otherwise of this proceeding, and instead of reverting to the past I prefer thinking of the future which appears to be tolerably clear. But for British energy and capital the Transvaal would probably have long remained a comparatively undeveloped and uncivilised country. From being all but bankrupt it has at this moment a million sterling in its treasury. The total white population of the Transvaal is 160,000 souls and at Johannesburg there are 40,000 Europeans, almost entirely British, but these io6 Johannesburg. Europeans are regarded and treated as aliens, if not as foes. They are not allowed to import firearms and gunpowder, they have no vote, they are not eligible for election to the Transvaal Parliament. On the other hand, the results of their industry, and their comforts, are unmercifully taxed. It is impossible that narrow- mindedness, unselfishness and conservatism in their very worst forms should much longer impede the progress of civilisation. The British population will rapidly increase, and European influence backed up by that of the residents of Cape Colony will not allow things to continue in their present abnormal condition. There may be neither a war of aggression nor a new war of independence, for, as it is, the old Transvaal Boers who detest the vicinity of the British speculator and settler are trekking away and leaving the field clear. It seems probable, in my opinion, that in the Transvaal within a short period a silent revolution will be effected. The first move I should say will be in the reform of the tariff and customs,' and the commercial revolution will lead to a political one. Whether the present form of government be nominally retained and the Transvaal flag be preserved is immaterial, but it will either be incorporated with the Cape, or join a Johannesburg. 107 South African Federation, and to all intents and purposes become a British possession. Some delay may be caused by the respect entertained for and the influence exercised by its present President, Mr. Kruger, but he is a man of seventy, and perhaps even he may not be able to stem the rising tide. V. Bloemfontein. December 3 1 J/ •• WE arrived here yesterday — Sunday — at two, after the usual shaky, hot, and tiresome journey (a temporary infliction to which we are becoming inured), through the same monotonous scenery, the same roUing plains, the same scattered farmhouses, and the same swarms of locusts. For the first time in my life I saw mirages. The fields had become lakes with islands and trees rising out of the water. How is it, that in a country where water is so scarce, an optical delusion should produce not only what is not in existence but the very thing that is most wanted ^ Mr. Lloyd, the Bloemfontein butcher, was not at the station this time, an omission which I did not deplore, and President Reitz having invited us to stay with him, we drove off with his secretary to Bloemfonteitt. 109 the Presidency. Like Mr. Hofmeyr, the President of the Orange Free State is of German descent, his family having settled two centuries ago at Cape Town, where until he was elected President, he had practised as a lawyer. He is of average height, well-set, with auburn hair, a long, flowing, auburn beard, and a frank and genial expression. His face, however, bears traces of care, for which the state of his health might account, but which must be aggravated by the inadequacy of his means to the demands of his office. His salary is £3000 a year, ' but in addition to his household expenses, which must be considerable in view of the colossal size of the Presidency and the maintenance of a numerous family — having five sons by his first wife and three children by his present one — he is expected to enter- tain the residents of Bloemfontein on a large scale, as well as visitors from foreign lands. He introduced me to Mrs. Reitz, a prepossessing young lady who had been a teacher in the Bloemfontein school ; a Hollander by birth — the word Dutch being only applied in South Africa to the descendants of the ancient Dutch immigrants. She has presented him with a child every year and I may surmise from no Bloemfontein, her appearance is likely to continue to do so for some time to come. She is simple, unaffected, dignified and well able to hold her own. The President showed me over his garden, which in spite of the locusts maintains a cheerful appearance, oleanders, pomegranates, and Marshal Niels being in full bloom, alternating with fig, pear, and walnut trees, shrubberies, and vegetables of all kinds. At half-past seven we dined ; fortunately there were no guests, the party consisting only of the President's family. We did full justice to the repast, especially to a pudding, half African, half Dutch, which did all honour to Mrs. Reitz's culinary talents. Until late in the night we sat talking with President Reitz under the porch of the house, in the mildest and balmiest atmosphere, under a cloudless sky in which the stars were shining brilliantly. The President is a well-read man, and converses most agreeably on the political, scientific, and literary questions of the day, but I doubt if he is a ' strong ' man in the usual sense of the word, and in the eyes of the citizens of the Orange Free State he may not contrast altogether favourably in this respect with his predecessor, Mr. Brand. The agricultural Bloemfontein. 1 1 1 conditions are similar in the Free State to Cape Colony and the Transvaal. There are no minerals save a few diamond mines, the State is entirely agricultural, which industry, owing to its depressed state, is not particularly remunerative. The average size of a farm, whether freehold or leasehold is from 7000 to 10,000 acres, the rental only amount- ing to about a shilling an acre, while in the southern parts of the Cape Colony it is much more. Among the different subjects on which we touched was astronomy, of which, however, I know precious little. While discussing the merits of the Southern Cross he told me a story of Mr. Rhodes which is characteristic of the man. Either this year or last, Mr, Reitz and he were seated talking under the same porch and the same sky, and referred to the possibility of the planets being inhabited. Mr. Rhodes remarked that as far as he was concerned he hoped they were not inhabited, for if so the position and importance of man in the universe would be diminished. This morning, December 31st, we visited the House of Parliament. It is a one-chamber house, and though not as large as that of Cape Town, and 1 1 1 Bloemfontein. unprovided with a billiard-table, it is equally out of proportion to the number of its members. On our return to the Presidency we found a Kaffir with a basket containing three baby ostriches which he had just caught on one of the President's farms. Seeing how much I admired the birds, Mr. Reitz presented me with two, which I gratefully accepted hoping to show them off to my friends at home. After luncheon — with a new pudding as good as the one we had had at dinner — and the expression of our thanks for the hospitality we had enjoyed, we drove off to the station. VI. LoVEDALE. January md^ i895> Kingwilliamstown : WE have virtually come to the end of our railway journey for I can hardly reckon the few hours which, after the three-day expedition we are projecting from here, we shall have to under- take before we reach Port Elizabeth, Mr. Milton joined us from Cape Town at the junction at six in the morning on New Year's Day, and will prove a pleasant and useful travelling companion for the rest of our tour. The country through which we passed on leaving Bloemfontein and on the morning of the following day bore a close resemblance to that of the Karroo and the Transvaal, but it changed very markedly as we got near Kingstown — as Kingwilliams^ town is called for short by the people. It is more fertile, more varied and more picturesque. Some of I 114 Lovedale. the rocks are covered with African aloes of such large size that they look in the distance like small palms ; many wild flowers cover the ground, the most beautiful of them, a crimson convolvulus, growing all over the banks. Here we are in KafFraria, the true Kaffirland, which formerly was under British protection but which now forms part of Cape Colony. All along the line we saw the native kraals, not altogether genuine kraals however, as they were built under the supervision of the missionaries for the farm-hands. We were met at the station at Kingstown by one of the local magistrates and Mr. Hennessy, a relative of the late Sir John Pope Hennessy, the only Irishman I saw outside Cape Town. He is second in command of the Cape Mounted Police, which is the only Colonial military force, the imperial troops being garrisoned at the Cape. The Mounted Police have to keep order in a district of 36,000 square miles, with a population that amounts to half the whole population of the Colony. The area of the entire Colony is 250,000 square miles but the country round Kingstown is its most densely populated part, and the work of the consbabulary officers, who have to spend most of their \ f r^-hf\ A Steep E>nhank>nt'nt. Love dale. 115 lives on horseback riding great distances, is most arduous. Kingstown is a small, dull and very hot place where the advent of a stranger causes a commotion. We were told wonders of the market which is held in the square at five in the morning, but at the appointed time when I had torn myself out of my bed to have a look at the Kaffirs, the bullock waggons, and the produce they had brought to the town, which is principally sold by auction, there was not as much as one vendor or one purchaser to be seen. We visited the Botanical Gardens, the honours of which were done by Mr. Lister, the head of the Forestry Department, the Curator being away on leave. Mr, Lister is an expert in trees which are being planted in great numbers on the hills, but his knowledge of shrubs or flowers is limited. The gardens are badly kept but full of curiosities, to describe which the Curator would have been most useful. Here, too, many European flowering plants have been introduced. Their colour and luxuriant growth — of the cocks -comb especially — was amazing. An excellent dinner awaited us at the inn, served by a ' boy ' who showed us the skins of various snakes he had killed, and with which the 1 1 6 Lovedale. neighbourhood abounds. Among them was one of a poisonous pufF-adder six feet long. To bed at nine after a very long day. January jr*^, 1895 : Despite much bodily and mental fatigue January 'jrd, 1895, will remain a red-letter day in my recol- lection, as from first to last it was fraught with new and indelible impressions. At 7.30 a.m. punctually, three conveyances stood at the door of the Central Hotel at Kingstown — a large Cape cart drawn by four horses for our luggage, a Cape ' spider ' also drawn by four horses, for our servants, and a South African waggon drawn by six horses with a Basuto driver, for ourselves. The landlady strongly advised us to make use of the spider but Mr. Milton persuaded us to enter the waggon. Alas for us that we acted on his suggestion ! We went off at a thundering pace through the town but had barely left it when our six horses jibbed at the ascent of the very first hill. No cajoling, no whipping, no shrieking would induce them to budge. I thought they were simply screws which were shirking their work, but the Basuto told me that they were only too fresh as they LovedaJe. i i 7 had not been in harness for some days. Jacob, our driver's name — and a most accomplished driver he is — turned the team sideways, took them at a racing gallop round the hill and having thus thoroughly warmed them, they proceeded well enough. Off we went at a great pace over a road the like of which I had never seen and hope never to see again. It was not a road but a track through fields, over deep gulleys and ruts, and big boulders; metalling these tracks had never known and probably will not know for some time to come. The waggon itself was something the shape of a French char-a-bancs^ a huge, lumbering vehicle with springs, but, to judge from the rattling of our bones and the saltos mortales we made, apparently springless. Though it was roofed we were exposed to the blazing sun and the parching dust. We could neither sit up nor lie down; whatever position we assumed was irksome, having to watch the coming terrors of the road and bend our bodies in unison with the swaying of the conveyance to avoid being jerked out. This acrobatic performance lasted more or less the whole of the twenty-five or thirty miles from Kingstown to Love- dale, which we accomplished in about six hours 1 1 8 Lovedale. though we out-spanned twice for one and a half hours each time. We passed through endless stretches of scrub, pastures and allotment fields, where the Kaffirs grow maize and the plant from which they make their beer — a somewhat insipid but pleasant beverage not very intoxicating — and over undu- lating plains with a dark blue mountain range far away on our right. Birds were scarce but here and there the prew displayed the sheen of its indigo plumage, a solitary stork of a kind unknown to me, large hawks, butcher-birds and white-necked crows occasionally arrested our attention. Kraals, this time the genuine native article looking like great bee- hives, were dotted abundantly over the fields. In front of them Kaffirs stood or squatted, some wearing European dress, others no dress at all, but most of them a red blanket from the use of which this tribe are called the Red Kaffirs. We picnicked for luncheon in the bed of a small river under a mimosa bush, as wherever there is water there are trees and shrubs of all kinds. Thickly entwined round the branches of these riverside shrubs was a parasite with drooping tufts from one to two feet long which looked like hay, but was of a vermilion hue. A poet might Lovedale. 119 compare them to the long tresses of a nymph, and indeed, it would require no great stress of imagination to take — in the distance and in the twilight especially — the weeping trees for sirens bending and waving their fair hair over the water. When we had finished our repast we walked up to the office of the Resident Magistrate, Mr, Verity, a very smart officer, who was born in the Colony. Having presented me with a bundle of assegais, which the natives are no longer allowed to keep, he fetched old Kama, the chief of the local Kaffirs, who lives in a square European house not far from the church. Kama, who must not be confounded with the great Khama who spells his name with an ' h,' is the chief of a small tribe numbering 15,000 members. He is a tall, thin, plain old man, and arrived accompanied by his Councillor and several of his men, they all being attired in seedy European costume. We had a ' palaver ' in the Court Room where the Magistrate and the Chief usually dispense justice together. Mr. Verity opened the ' palaver ' with an address in English, introducing and complimenting us, to which I duly replied. When these speeches had been translated into the Kaffir tongue, the Chief and his Councillor responded with 1 20 Love dale. two speeches in their vernacular which Mr. Verity rendered into English. Both the Chief and his Councillor urged me to inform Her Majesty personally,- immediately on my return to England — the Queen is ' Kukususama ' in Kaffir — of their deep loyalty to her Majesty and their entire satisfaction with her rule. I gravely answered that I should not fail to carry out their wishes. The Chief then presented me with another bundle of assegais, in acknowledgment of which I handed him ^i and his Councillor loj. That they were altogether satisfied with this present which they pocketed however with much alacrity my conscience does not permit me to affirm. During this exchange of civilities A. M. ' kodaked ' the Chief and the group of tribesmen around him, some of whom seized the stump of a cigar I had thrown away, but no man was allowed more than one puff, and having enjoyed that, he was obliged to pass the cigar on to his neighbour. It was the first occasion on which I had heard the Kaffir language fluently spoken and I was much struck not only with the softness of the language, but of the Kaffir voice. The language is chiefly composed of vowels and the Kaffirs drawl them out in a way that almost reminds one of Italian. o Lovedale. 1 2 1 After leaving this village the scenery improved, and fortunately for our poor martyred bodies, the road improved as well. In spite of the continued drought — for the thunderstorms which are of daily occurrence are of no account in this sun-baked land — the extensive garden cultivation which surrounded the Kaffir kraals had a healthy appearance, and the innumerable herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats were less lean than might have been expected. On the hilly ground and in the deep vales there were large groups of euphorbia — the ' milk-tree,' as it is called by the natives from its milk-like sap — tall aloes and the inevitable mimosa, but in much diminished numbers. The road now be- came lively with foot-passengers — Kaffir men, bare- footed and carrying their boots in their hands, running and sustaining a good speed for many miles at a stretch, the women, with pitchers or baskets, often heavily laden, on their heads, and bearing themselves not unlike the Egyptian women of the Nile. Boers were trekking along in their waggons ; others had outspanned on the roadside, the bullocks peacefully feeding and the men fast asleep on the ground under the waggon. This is their usual place of rest at all times as the waggon shelters them from the sun in the 122 Love dale. day and at night from the chill air. Groups of black families squatted near pools of water in a state of semi- nudity. On seeing us the men hastily drew their red blankets over their shoulders and the women concealed their questionable charms as well as they could, for the law compels them to observe our notions of modesty when in the immediate vicinity of the highway, though in their kraals they are allowed to conform to their own customs. We now beheld Kaffir women for the first time in full dress — a combination of short skirts, a bodice cut very low and a blanket, all dyed the usual red, and their faces plastered with red ochre. Anything more grotesque or gruesome than a red- ochred Kaffir woman cannot be imagined. The cheeks, nose and forehead — in fact the whole face — is caked with this stuff, except for a dark rim left round the eyes and the thick lips, which are allowed to display their natural colour. The faces of these women will haunt me for the rest of my days, and I shall never be able to shake off the fiendish and ghoulish impression they made. This custom of colouring their faces obtains for several reasons. It is their manner of washing, for the ochre, it seems, cleanses them — at any rate, better than soap and hot water ; then it is supposed also &3 Lovedale. 123 to soften the skin ; and, last though not least, it attracts the women's admirers. After all, why should we demur to the habit ? It is only their way of rougeing, and now that our own ladies of fashion arc so free with rouge why should not the ladies of Kaffraria keep in the running and out-Herod their European sisters? Taste is but a conventional idea. We have our standards of beauty — the Kaffirs have theirs. At 3 p.m. we arrived at the village of Alice, so named after the late Grand Duchess of Hesse, It is an English townJet in appearance, with cosy white houses, gardens, large plantations of oak and eucalyptus, a bright stream, and a church of no mean proportions, and is inhabited by a considerable number of Europeans. About a mile further on is Lovedale, the most im- portant mission station in South Africa. When at Cape Town Mr. Laing had strongly urged us to visit Lovedale, and promised us a hearty welcome and excellent accommodation at the hands of the chief missionary, Dr. Stewart. We did well to follow Mr. Laing's advice. The short road between Alice and Lovedale might vie with any of our own high roads and we sped along at a splendid pace. A sharp 124 Love dale. turn leads into the grounds of the Mission, where we found a sentinel posted a few yards ahead to signal our approach, and on observing us he ran on to announce our coming. Jacob gave a loud shriek and deftly bringing the long thong of his whip across the backs of the leaders, our six horses galloped more furiously than ever, the huge waggon swinging round the sharp corner perilously near the gate. Boys dressed in a kind of blue uniform stood like guards along the private road to the Mission House. They had been slaves who were rescued from an Arab dhow by H.M.S. Osprey four years ago on the east coast of Africa. We next saw a crowd of Kaffirs of both sexes draped in red blankets, but Jacob galloped through the midst of them unheeding. Close by stood a second large batch of natives in European dress, the red-blanketed Kaffirs being still heathens while the trousered ones are Christians, At last we pulled up with a jerk and a bump in front of the Mission House, on the threshold of which stood Dr. and Mrs. Stewart with their fellow-missionaries, whilst a crowd of natives, both heathen and Christian, pressed forward, gazing and muttering unintelligible sounds. In the background thickly flowering bushes and green trees formed a happy frame to this rare picture. e; Lovedale. 1 2 5 After an exchange of civilities Dr. Stewart intro- duced me to his friends, and then took me for a walk among the crowds of natives, who fell into groups in dead silence as we passed through them. Of these the Fingos were the most remarkable. They devote themselves to commerce instead of to warfare and agriculture. Physically they are splendid specimens of humanity and some of the young girls are almost good looking. Having applied their wits to money- making they are wealthy, but are contemned by the other Kaffir tribes because of that occupation. Both men and women adorn themselves with a headgear of glass beads and wear similar ornaments round their necks and ankles. The beads are imported from Eng- land, but the ornaments into which they are fashioned vary in shape and colour, the beads being embroidered on leather by their women, some of whose designs are extremely effective and even beautiful. I was much amused at the faces of a few of the most stalwart men when I examined their necklaces more closely than they evidently appreciated, their eyes rolled up and down as if they were in prayer and presented an expression of anguish which told clearly enough that they feared I might despoil them of their treasures. 126 hove dale. When the inspection was over, Dr. Stewart ascended the steps from the terrace to his house, the European inhabitants of the Mission being grouped around him, with A. M., Mr. Milton and myself at his side, and he addressed the throng in English. The speech in which he introduced us to his friends though not extolling my ' virtues ' and ' the purity of my life,' still contained compliments of the most laudatory de- scription. After this speech, which was translated sentence by sentence by a black Christian interpreter, I had to return thanks in a speech which was inter- preted in the same way. It was no trifling ordeal, considering this unusual way of expressing myself, the abnormal conditions of the situation, and the fatigue of a long day I had undergone. Yet, interesting as the scene was, had any one asked me at that moment what I was most struck with, I should have replied as the Doge of Genoa did on being shown the glories of Versailles. ' To see myself here ! ' The drollest effect of all was produced at the conclusion of my oration by the English cheer given by the natives. On hearing a cramped ' hip- hip-hurrah ! ' from those dark throats, both A. M. and I had much difficulty in repressing our laughter. Love dale Industries. Love dale. 127 The crowd now melted away, and Dr. Stewart took us over the Station. It is, I need hardly say, Presbyterian, and is sup- ported by the Foreign Mission Company of the Free Church of Scotland at a cost of 10,000/. a year, towards which the Colonial Government contributes a grant for education. We first visited a large hall where meetings and service are held ; then a library, which contains 7000 volumes, mainly second-hand books from Mudie's which are sent out twice a year. The chief feature of the Mission is the school, where not merely children but young people, both heathen and Christian, are educated. In extensive workshops the natives are trained as carpenters, waggon-makers, and blacksmiths, whilst printing, bookbinding, and even telegraphy are also taught. In these schools, between 700 and 800 Kaffirs annually receive schooling and board, for which they pay about 8/. a year. There are fifteen European missionaries as well as several native ones. We found some of the pupils at tea, feasting on buns, maize and cold meat. Here Dr. Stewart related some incidents from his experience of the Mission. Like the Red Indian, the Kaffir usually obtains a grandiloquent title from a 128 Lovedale. distinctive trait of his character, his position or his pursuits, or is called after an animal, a plant or even a domestic implement. This appellation he has to drop on becoming a convert, when he adopts a new name which he selects according to his taste or fancy, but in keeping with our customs. In almost every case the Kaffir evinces a marked partiality for the names of the Old Testament in preference to those of the New. One Kaffir was restrained with much difficulty from being christened Beelzebub, another desired to be called Nebuchadnezzar. On one occasion Dr. Stewart found a young Moses lying on the floor crying bitterly. He inquired, 'What has happened, my boy^ — are you hurt.^' ' I have been fighting, and was knocked down,' he whimpered. ' By whom } ' asked Dr. Stewart. ' By Aaron,' replied Moses. Any visitor would be delighted with the organi- zation of the Mission, the neatness, cleanliness, order, care and thought which pervade it all. Of the genuine love, nay enthusiasm, which Dr. Stewart, his wife and their assistants throw into their work there can be no question, and one's first thought must be the wish that the results may repay the trouble and the Love dale. 129 expense. But, after some little reflection and inquiry it becomes a matter of serious doubt, not merely whether the results are commensurate with the expenditure but even whether these results are in themselves satis- factory. Dr. Stewart stated that only about five per cent, of the converts relapse into heathenism, that the Kaffir after being trained to a trade finds plentifiil and remunerative occupation, and that the improvement not only in his spiritual but his mental condition is maintained. But Dr. Stewart, naturally enough, is an interested witness. Jacob, our Basuto driver, though a Christian himself and the son of converts, tells me that many of the converts 'fall oiF.' 'Do many more "fall off" than "remain on" ?' I asked him. ' Well, more " remain on," ' he answered. ' What proportion " fall off" .? ' ' About half,' was his reply. I have since ascertained that Jacob's calculation is rather pessimistic. Although the majority of the con- verts certainly ' remain on,' still one is driven to the conclusion that mission work in South Africa perma- nently raises the moral standard of the natives only to a small extent. They do not even profit very much K 130 Lovedale. by the trades they are taught, and with the exception of the waggon-makers they do not pursue them with any effect, if at all, after they return to their kraals, as they are unable to compete with the white artisans. Finally, I must add that whoever I asked, whether at Cape Town, Kimberley or Johannesburg, it was the universal verdict that the moment niggers turn Chris- tians the men become thieves, knaves and vagabonds — Jacob certainly is a glorious exception — and the women ■ — well, the women become worse. It is regrettable to be obliged to express the opinion that the main good done by the Mission Station of Lovedale seems to be to provide an interesting and congenial occupa- tion and a comfortable home for fifteen Scotch missionaries and their families. We had dinner at seven which was served by the blue-uniformed liberated slaves. The pudding is un- questionably the feature of South African cookery and I should have some difficulty in deciding to which I should award the palm, to the Bloemfontein or the Lovedale one. When dinner was over, Dr, Stewart held forth to us on the Glen Grey Act. This Act, which Lovedale. 1 3 1 was passed on the 1 5th of August last, is a new departure in race legislation. It is being applied in the first instance to the district of Glen Grey, and if the experiment proves successful there, its operations will be extended to the other native lands of the Colony. The first object of its fi-amers is to meet the labour question. It provides that land hitherto held on communal tenure as native property shall be surveyed and divided into small allotments, to which titles, guarded by a strict male entail, shall be granted ; the land being held subject to a nominal quit-rent. The holders are prevented from raising money by mortgage, they cannot subdivide their holdings and they cannot transfer them without the assent of Government. Every male native within the district who does not hold a title to land is subject to a tax of ten shillings a year, which will be applied to local improvements and expenditure, but the magistrate has power to remit the tax to those who can prove that they have been working either in or outside the district for at least three months in the year. The upshot of all this is that the increase of the black population, which now amounts to about a 132 Lovedale. million and a quarter souls, an increase which is being steadily maintained, is becoming a serious difficulty. The whites want to push out the blacks in their hunger for the land, and the blacks in addition to their own ancestral affection for and claim to the soil are naturally incapacitated from coping with the white man in intelligence and progress, and know no other means of livelihood than that afforded by farming in their own fashion. The Act is supposed to satisfy the earth hunger of the Kaffir by giving him a secure title to his land, whilst it will not altogether prevent land from passing into the hands of the white man. The idle Kaffir who loafs about his kraal will have to pay the tax, but the industrious Kaffir who works and abstains from the use of intoxicating liquor will acquire influence and respect, and reap his share of benefit from the work of development. Overcrowding in particular localities will be prevented by the fact that the Kaffir will have to spread over the Colony in search of work. Dr. Stewart and the missionaries of South Africa who look upon the Kaffir as the only inhabitant of the country worthy of interest or consideration, are opposed to the Bill which they say means forced labour and slavery in disguise, Lovedale. 133 and will result in the land rapidly passing into the hands of the whites. Dr. Stewart says the new District Councils will also prove a sham as far as the natives are concerned, for though composed of natives, they will be presided over by a white magistrate who will wield all the authority. The Parliamentary Opposition in Cape Town hold that the Bill will be a dead letter, and that the overcrowding of the congested districts will not be obviated as native labour can be obtained to the full extent required already in every part of the Colony. It seems to me, if I may venture to express my own opinion, that no Glen Grey Bill or any other Bill will impede the increase of the Kaffir or prevent the Briton from eventually asserting his supremacy over the black. The Boer in spite of his conservatism and opposition to all progress is gradually being driven back and super- seded by the Englishman. In time the Kaffirs must become the servants of the whites, for nothing can check the advance of British civilisation. Some injustice may be done by the Bill but legislative injustice after all is better than warfare and bloodshed, better than the prevailing anarchy of former times when the Kaffir was free, and better far than the violence and wholesale IJ4 Love dale. destruction which are inseparable from conquests such as that of the Spaniards in America. To whatever his influence may be due, whether it be the outcome of fanaticism or true religious zeal and philanthropy, Dr. Stewart made an impression on me that will not readily fade. A tall, lean, high- shouldered, gaunt-looking man of sixty-three, with a long flowing beard, prominent features denoting strong character, semi-American, semi-Scotch, he reminded me of the pictures of John Knox. The right-hand man and most prominent pupil of Dr. Livingstone, he has wandered and lived for many years in the wildest and unhealthiest parts of Africa, laboured and sufi'ered, and, according to his lights, done much. A generous, affectionate, liberal-minded enthusiast, may he reap the reward of his efforts. VII. Fort Brown. January i^rd and ^th : THE red-letter day has been succeeded by what might perhaps be called a black-letter day. Two roads lead from Lovedale to Fort Brown, the one a short cut across the hills, the other ten or twelve miles longer via Beaufort East. Of the short cut little was known save that it was somewhat rough, whereas the longer road was said to be smooth and easy. I was for taking the longer route but the missionaries recommended the other. To settle the question, Mr. Milton went down after dinner to the village to consult with Jacob, who in order to save his horses begged for the short road. The first result of this diversity of opinion was that Mr. Milton over-exerted himself climbing up the hill on his way home, became heated and caught a bad chill 136 Fort Brown. from which he afterwards suffered severely. The next result was that instead of leaving Lovedale at 7 a.m., in the cool of the morning we once more took up the discussion after breakfast and continued to wrangle so long that it was 9 when we started, having finally — but contrary to my inclination — decided to take the short cut. Compared to this one the track we had ploughed over on the previous day was as smooth as a billiard-table. That I survived the buffeting in that tropical heat was only due to the peculiar quality of the air, which however burning it may be, is always bracing and has the most wonderful power of sus- taining the nervous system. Though I was thrown backwards and forwards, panted and ached, and was gradually reduced to pulp, Jacob, heedless of my agony, sent his team merrily forward over every obstacle. Yet I enjoyed the drive for the scenery was splendid — splendid in its wildness. A grand panorama of deep purple mountains stretched all round, no longer bare but richly timbered ; the hills we traversed were a dense mass of vegetation, euphorbia, mimosa, aloes, prickly pear growing into and out of each other, and a profusion of other shrubs covered with flowering creepers. A crimson Fort Brown. 137 flowered plant grew in abundance, the bulb of which, Jacob informed me, is roasted by the Kaffirs for the rich gum it then exudes. The wild tangle was alive with birds — prews, hornbills (a small toucan) and others not larger than our wrens, but with bright plumage. There were few butterflies as their season has not yet come, and those we saw were white with red tips on their wings or yellow with green stripes. In my young days I should have chased them eagerly. We were to have been followed by the " spider " and the luggage cart, but we had now proceeded for an hour and neither one nor the other was in sight. We waited and halloed and Jacob emitted the most unearthly shrieks. At last the two vehicles were sighted in the far distance ; they had taken a wrong turn and precious time was lost in recovering the truants. More precious time was again lost from another cause. The land to which we now came was fenced in and in the enclosures ostriches pertly strutted about amongst cattle and sheep. Once more the ' spider' had disappeared.. It could not have taken a wrong turn as there was no turn to take — what could have occurred } Eventually it reappeared, and Bonnard (our cook) emerged from a 138 Fort Brown. dust cloud triumphantly waving a bunch of feathers in his hand. A grand old cock ostrich it seems had been looking at him or the vehicle he was in, and was so completely fascinated that Bonnard got out of his trap to make his closer acquaintance. A black boy who happened to be on the spot was induced — how, I could not make out, as he could scarcely have understood French — to take hold of the ostrich by the neck while Bonnard proceeded to pluck the feathers out of his tail, which operation took some time to accomplish. Then we came to a stream deep down in a valley which we had to ford. Down we galloped into it at full cry, but when half-way across our horses jibbed. Jacob coaxed them, cajoled them and flogged them alternately, but the more he cajoled and the more severely he applied the lash, the less inclined were the horses to move ; they plunged, they reared, they turned round and would have upset the coach — had it been possible to upset that lumbering and cumbersome concern — but they would not go on. We sat for half an hour looking at the horses and the water and envying the Kaffirs who forded the river on foot with their blankets tucked up under their arms or -J-, ' fe y i,; ^ ^ c*. Fort Brown. 139 piled on the top of their heads. We should have been there still had not our luggage boy stepped into the water, taken hold of the leaders and led them to the opposite bank. After all this worry and fatigue it was deemed necessary to outspan for an hour and when we in- spanned again the sun was at the meridian and was beating down fiercely. By this time we should have been at a wayside inn which is the usual resting-place, but to reach it we had to plod on for two hours more. At one o'clock being thoroughly worn out I refused to proceed any further and on espying a small farmhouse ordered Jacob to pull up. Regardless of all propriety I swung open the door, entered the first room to which I came and collapsed on the sofa. Just as I was falling into a sweet sleep a hideous black female entered and disturbed me with a note from her mistress — a Mrs. Johnston — requesting me to move oiF at once. On inquiring the why and the wherefore of this peremptory command, I was told that Mrs. J. had just been confined of a son and heir, that she could not bear any noise and would have no visitors or intruders. But a return note from Mr. Milton explaining that we were in a far more lamentable 140 Fort Brown. condition than the happy mother of the new infant, and promising that we should keep perfectly still, elicited a gracious and satisfactory reply. So I was allowed to slumber on peacefully, and when I awoke rested and refreshed the same hideous black female graciously assisted our servants in cooking and serving our luncheon. The inn to which I have alluded is situated at the junction of the short cut and the Beaufort East Road and on seeing the smooth surface of the latter I sighed over the unnecessary misery to which we had been subjected. We now proceeded to Fort Brown with- out any further trouble or delay and arrived there about 6 p.m. In former days, when the country was still under the sway of the Kaffirs, Fort Brown was a strong military post and the fort a real fort. Now it is a dilapidated ruin and the happy feeding ground of ostriches, while the inn from being a thriving establishment is but the halting place of a stray farmer or commercial traveller. Our worthy landlord whose larder as a rule contains only bread and cheese and a hunk of bacon, in order to present us with some niore acceptable fare had ridden that day to Grahamstown, a distance of twenty-five miles, and returned with a Fort Brown. 141 haunch of mutton, a hamper of champagne and a basket of strawberries, all of which we duly appre- ciated, while he humbly apologised for having vainly endeavoured to obtain a turkey. On our arrival at Fort Brown we were welcomed by two of the sons of Mr. Douglass whom Mr. Laing had apprised of our visit. Mr. Douglass, who resides six miles from Fort Brown, is a Scotsman by birth or extraction, a member of the Cape Parliament, a land- owner and farmer, and the proprietor of the largest ostrich farm in South Africa. Smarter or brighter young fellows than his two boys I have seldom met ; they were full of smiles, civilities and proferred kind- nesses, and begged us to accompany them to -stay with their father, holding out as an inducement the attraction of a baboon hunt. But we were too tired to continue our journey that day and too hungry to delay our evening meal, so we politely declined their father's hospitality and the baboon hunt, which was to take place at 4 a.m., an hour when I must confess that I am still loth to leave my bed. I might have made an effort for the sake of the sport but hardly con- sidered it sport to shoot down an ape, though it was alleged that he is artful and difficult to kill because 142 Fort Brown. of his tough hide. The baboon is despised as vermin, hated and relentlessly pursued by Mr. Douglass as he shows too great a partiality for his ostrich eggs. So we thanked the young Douglasses, who then said that they would return the next morning at seven and show us the way to their fathers place. And the next morning at seven they both were at our door. Mr. Milton who still felt very queer despite copious draughts of ammoniated quinine, went on direct to Grahamstown with our servants in the waggon, while A. M. and I took the ' spider ' and were preceded by the young Douglasses on horseback. We both ruefully deplored not having followed the advice that was tendered to us by the landlady at Kingstown ; for though the six miles of road was, if anything, worse than the short cut from Lovedale, the ' spider ' hopped easily and lightly along and we were retrospectively envious of and furious with our servants, who had enjoyed such a good time whilst we were suffering the direst discomfort in the waggon. It was a most picturesque drive through a wild tract of hilly land, amongst scrub and heath, whilst the purple mountains in the distance were not unlike the highlands of Scot- land in form and hue. A curious plant grows freely Fort Brown. 143 here. It is called the ' Thin Man ' by the Kaffirs because of its tall and spare growth. It sprouts out of the soil from a bulb, is devoid of all foliage, and is merely a spike from three to four feet high, covered with small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers. We saw hun- dreds of small tortoises, over which Jacob remorselessly drove for he said nothing could injure them. We took up one with the intention of bringing it home, but it looked so miserable in its confinement and made so many pitiful attempts to climb out of the carriage that we restored it to liberty. Mr. Douglass's residence is a large, square, white building, flanked by a tower which has quite a grim and menacing appearance. It was erected during the last Kaffir war when Mr. Douglass was fully prepared to stand a siege and fire on the enemy with musket and cannon ; but there was no need of using these weapons as he was never attacked. Some twenty-five or thirty years ago he came out to Fort Brown and has lived there ever since. The three parliamentary months of the year he spends at Cape Town, the other nine here with his family. The boys are well-mannered and manly, and the daughters an ornament to their sex. They occasionally have visitors but the greater part of 144 -^^^^ Brown. the time they live in complete isolation. There is no telegraph and no postal service to his domain, the nearest inhabited place is Fort Brown ; and Grahams- town, the nearest town, is eighteen miles distant. But though they are often for many days without any communication with the outer world, the Douglasses are happy and content. The men hunt, ride, shoot, and attend to the farm, while the ladies read, work and look after their household duties. We breakfasted at nine, and then went into the farmyard where the ostrich chickens are nursed and tended by the Kaffirs. The yard is of considerable size ; Kaffir huts — some of the blacks were Hottentots and hideously repulsive in appearance — dotted the yard, their occupants being engaged in their morning toilette, which, on the part of the women consisted in the preparation of their beloved red ochre. A. M. 'kodaked ' them in groups, as well as the young ostriches as they crowded round their fond and anxious mothers. From the yard we proceeded to the paddock, A. M. on horse- back, and I with Mr. Douglass in his Cape cart, in which we went along at a furious pace over another vile road. In normal years the ostriches feed them- selves but this year owing to the long drought, they Native Woman Grinding Ochre, Mr. Douglasses Ostrich Farm. From a photograph by A. M ] o Fort Brown, H5 have to be artificially fed on mealies and prickly pears. This prickly pear is now spreading so fast that it is becoming a great nuisance, and the ostriches, who, as you know, are not remarkable for wisdom, do not know how to avoid the thorns, so that in passing through the bushes they often lose an eye, if not both eyes. The paddock is but a portion of the rough country which is enclosed with a wire fence. The process of feeding, though simple was curious. A huge waggon laden with mealies and prickly pears cut into small bits moved slowly along a grass drive, and black men threw the food from it to the birds. About 250 ostriches went behind in twos and threes picking up the food as they strutted in a long file like soldiers on the march. The moment the birds were assembled — for they had been driven in from all parts of the paddock — Mr. Douglass at once exclaimed that three birds were missing, and he was right, for after a minute the trio turned up. I asked him how he could know and count them so quickly. * Does not a huntsman know his hounds ^ ' he replied ; * I know my birds.' The birds were perfectly tame and good-tempered, and took no notice of us. In the breeding time, however, they are L 146 Fort Brown. savage ; the cocks sometimes kill each other and they will attack you if you are foolhardy enough to go within reach of them, striking forwards and upwards at you with their great hoofed feet, ripping you open, and the only way to escape from an infuriated bird is to fly into a mimosa bush, whose huge thorns the ostrich dare not face. On one occasion Mr. Douglass had to remain in this somewhat undignified position for upwards of an hour, the bird glaring at him all that time. Their hatching customs are peculiar. The hen sits on the nest in the daytime, the cock at night, and the male bird is so punctual in his habits that if the hen happens to be late he hunts for her and drives her back to her duties. Our host told us that the birds require no drink. He believes that they became used to abstaining from water because their ancestors invariably fell a prey to the lions and leopards as soon as they went to the rivers to drink. But to assist their proverbial digestion, they swallow pebbles which grind against each other until they become pulverised into an innocuous dust. He invited us to take hold of a bird and lay our heads against its side to hear the rattling of the stones in its inside, but though the breeding time was M3 - o G Fort Brown. 147 virtually over and the birds looked meekly at us, we prudently declined the offer. We were then asked to walk a mile and see a hen hatching her eggs, but the temperature had risen to 100^ in the shade, as we found out on reaching the house, and there being no shade in the paddock we pr^iferred to return home. After inspecting the store-room where the ostrich feathers are kept for sale we went to luncheon. In the intervals of the many good courses which Mrs. Douglass had ordered for her visitors, her husband gave us the statistics of the ostrich farm. He owns or farms 7000 acres of land, with 600 head of cattle, and 550 ostriches. During the last eleven years he has made an average of 9)5 per cent, clear profit in ostrich-farming, taking into account the cost of the land and all the expenses of the farm, though he does not charge himself with rent. The ostrich lives to the ripe old age of 100 but after he is twenty years old his feathers deteriorate in quality. The best feathers are obtained from the wing of the male ostrich and are sold wholesale on the spot at from two shillings to half-a-crown a-piece (I believe in London they are sold for a guinea each), and Mr. 148 Fort Brown. Douglass could not be induced to part with any to us despite our request. Cattle-farming is unprofitable and yields about sixpence or at most a shilling per acre. This average of 9^ per cent, on ostrich-farming may not be maintained for Australia, California and Egypt are competing largely in this industry. After luncheon we rested awhile, and then had another long chat with our host about the missionary work, the Glen Grey Bill, and Mr. Rhodes's achieve- ments as a Minister, On these subjects Mr. Douglass expressed very much the views I have already noted. Mr. Douglass is a great talker, his words flow on in an incessant stream, but of him I must repeat what I said of Dr. Stewart — a more hospitable, energetic, hard-working, sanguine and persevering man you could not find, and on bidding him farewell, I silently prayed that his ostriches might prosper and multiply and not be beaten out of the field by their transatlantic and transpacific rivals, and that his gallant sons will find careers and professions suitable to their tastes, and meanwhile shoot many a koodoo, a spring- bok, a leopard, and a baboon. VIII. Grahamstown. January 6th : WE reached Grahamstown early in the evening and we put up at an old EngUsh inn, now kept by a young German couple. Frau — I am sorry to say I have forgotten her name — has hair that was nearly golden, eyes that might have been blue, and a complexion that was almost creamy. She was in a great state of bustle and trepidation, as having recently taken the inn, she and her husband had had much trouble in getting things square and straight. This and much more she explained sitting beside us while we were having our dinner. Grahamstown, which was intended at one time to be the seat of Government and the capital of South Africa, is called the ' City of the Saints/ partly because I f o Grahamstown. of its having a cathedral, a bishop, and the best educa- tional and theological institutions in the Colony, but also on account of the real or assumed saintliness of its inhabitants. It lies in a hole — and a very hot hole it is — is surrounded by thickly wooded hills, has a splendid avenue down its main street, and the only botanical garden worthy of the name in the country. To this garden we went the morning of our arrival, but as at Kingstown, the Curator was away on leave, and we had to be content with the -^company of a most inefficient gardener — inefficient, at any rate, in his information about the horticultural treasures. Still, he pointed out an oak-tree which though only planted about seventy years ago, is as gnarled and stately as some English oaks that date from the Conquest ; an Australian coral-tree that when it sheds its leaves, puts forth spikes of crimson blossom, from which it derives its name ; a large, dark-blue convolvulus with pink stripes from Zanzibar; and a new hybrid scarlet passion-flower, of which he promised to send me some seeds. From the gardens we went to the Museum. Un- fortunately, our time was too limited to examine it thoroughly. The Curator for a wonder was at hand, Grahamstown. 151 and he hur/iccUy showed us specimens of those curious parasitic insects, some of which in shape and colour are like the leaves, others like the veins of the leaves on which they live, their identity being so complete that the most experienced eye could not distinguish one from the other. They remain motionless all day on the leaves but at night they go forth in search of their food. This provision of nature ensures them security from their winged and other foes. Then the Curator drew our attention to a case that contains a small portion of the 'trunk of a tree. Inside the trunk was a hornbill hatching her eggs; outside on a branch stood the male bird feeding the hen through a narrow crevice in the roof which he had built over the top of the nest to guard its inmates from the intrusion of snakes. A similar nest with its two birds had been promised to the Curator and he offered to send it to me when put in order — an offer which I gladly accepted. At a junction at which we were delayed for an hour we experienced a violent thunderstorm, and the rain poured down in buckets. Punctuality is not a feature of the South African railways, to which the axiom does not and apparently need not apply that 152 Grahamstown. time is money, for they keep no time and make much money. On humbly suggesting to some of our South African friends that their railway system might be improved, they replied — not without a sneer and a touch of pompous indignation — that I should have travelled in the Colony a few years ago and have seen and felt what locomotion was then like. But I did not travel in the country a few years ago and can only judge of what travelling is there now, and I maintain that it could and should be improved, not only for the personal comfort and convenience of the inhabitants but as an attraction to European travellers. As long as the trains crawl and the cars shake as they do now and no food but bad tea and coffee, unripe fruit and suspicious-looking sandwiches are to be obtained over distances of many hundreds of miles, but very few persons from the other side of the Equator will be tempted to visit the country for pleasure. At Port Elizabeth we found Captain Webster waiting at the station. He hurried us on to a tender in which we at once left for the roads where the Vunottar Castle was lying at anchor. When we thought of her former numerous and gay company she now presented almost a deserted and dismal appear- Grahamstown. 1 5 3 ance. While we were reading the letters and cables the Captain had brought us and making ourselves comfortable in our cabins, the siren rang out, she weighed anchor, and off we went in the darkness on the Indian Ocean. IX. Cape Town Again. 'January "jth^ Sth, <^th : THE voyage of thirty hours from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town though short was very un- pleasant. The sea near the Cape of Good Hope, on this eastern side especially, since the days of Bartholo- mew Diaz has been known for its terrors. Of terrors we experienced none but a heavy sea confined Mr. Milton and me to our berths. Poor Mr. Milton is a pitiful sailor and when I visited him in the course of the day, though feeling somewhat queer myself and full of sympathy for a fellow-sufferer, I could not help smiling on seeing him as green as grass, his head swathed in wet bandages, and complaining of the hate- ful screw. On Monday, January 7th, we landed at Cape Town at 9 a.m., and proceeded at once to Mr. Laing's office Cape 'Town Again. 155 to thank him for his good advice a.id kind services. Much to my regret, when I told him of Mr. Reitz's present of ostriches, he informed me that the exporta- tion of these birds was forbidden under a fine of ^ 1 00 a head. This being too high a price to pay for two chickens who might not survive the voyage, I resolved to offer them to Lady Loch for the menagerie at her summer residence. In the course of the afternoon we had tea with Lady Loch, and without being wished to be thought a Lovelace, I must confess that the sight of the pretty and well-dressed young ladies was by no means unwelcome. Diamond and gold mines, Kaffirs and kraals, ostriches and baboons have their merits, but a bevy of bright English girls in muslin and ribbons, and even more mature ladies with a dignity of their own, are to say the least, more pleasing to the eye. Whilst the youthful members of the company were playing at tennis, I was introduced to various notabilities of my own respectable age, but again owing to the shortness of the time — wherever we went and whatever we saw our time was always too short — I could only exchange a few words with each of them. First, there was the Bishop of Cape Town, the head of the South African clergy, and Mrs. Koopans the leader of Dutch 156 Cape Town Again. society, a widow, childless and aged, a grande dame in the true sense of the word and altogether a very- clever and remarkable lady. She is thoroughly con- versant not only with the present condition but with the past history of the country, and drew my attention to the writings of Dr. Dapper who over two centuries ago described the ruins and mines and the various resources of the vast regions now known as Rhodesia, But I had to part with Mrs. Koopans to be presented to Mr. Sauer, the Leader of the Opposition, who impressed me as being a gifted and clever man, and who chatted on the same subjects as had Mr. Douglass — the Glen Grey Bill, the labour, the Dutch and the railway questions, but with views of his own and more authority. Lady Loch's other guests were so numerous, and our talk was so desultory, that their names have gone clean out of my memory, and I have but a vague reminiscence of the smart frocks and pretty faces of the fair, jumbled up with the frock coats and sedate mien of the sterner sex. On the following day we returned to Government House for luncheon, and met Sir Henry de Villiers, the Chief Justice of Cape Colony, and, when lunch was over, Khama, the greatest living Kaffir chief, who Cape 'Town Again. 157 is now on a visit to the Governor, Attired as a European, the Kaffir — an old Kaffir especially — is a scarecrow. Our clothes sit on him stiffly, strangle his movements, and harmonise ill with his dusky com- plexion. Barefooted, draped in his red blanket, old Khama would look far better than in a black jacket and trousers. Yet even in these he preserves some of his natural dignity, and shows that he is a leader of men and should be addressed as such. A black interpreter translated the compliments we exchanged with each other, after which we took leave of Sir Henry and Lady Loch and drove to Constantia. Mr. Laing had given A. M. a letter for the manager of the vineyards, but, on arriving at his house, we were told that a Company meeting was being held there and we should have to wait until it was over ; so, thinking that we were not too welcome, we turned back. In the days of my childhood Constantia wine was considered a great luxury ; since then, however, it has gone out of fashion. For this the ravages of the phylloxera and the diminished care bestowed on its fabrication are accountable. We were amply com- pensated for not having visited the vineyards by our drive, with its beautiful woodland scenery and its 158 Cape Town Again. peeps over Table Mountain, the sea, and the plains, past villas of all sizes and all styles with gardens all aglow with bloom, and small villages thoroughly- Dutch in their trim neatness. On our way home we called on Sir Henry and Lady de Villiers at their very pretty villa at Wynberg. Sir Henry is the descendant of a noble Huguenot family which emigrated to the Cape after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He is tall, spare, sedate, and dignified, is every inch a gentleman, and considered one of the ablest men in the Colony. In the evening we dined at the City Club with Mr. Hofmeyr and Mr. Graaf. Though the party numbered only fourteen, the banquet lasted two hours, and we toasted each other in flowery language, piling up the ' butter ' in unmeasured quantities, I was seated between Mr. Hofmeyr and Sir Thomas Uping- ton, and opposite Mr. Kotze, Chief Justice of the Transvaal — a clever, bright, genial, and unaffected gentleman, known for his enlightened views and his rigid impartiaUty in deciding the delicate questions that arise out of the friction between the Dutch and English residents of the Transvaal. I should have been very glad of the opportunity of conversing with Mr. Cape Town Again. 155 Hofmeyr and Mr. Kotze, but the talk was mono- polised by my right-hand neighbour, Sir Thomas Upington. A little gentleman, with a pinched, pale face, black eyes, and glossy hair, he fails to convey the notion that he has been Prime Minister, the best orator in the Colony, and is considered one of the best conversationalists in Cape Town. He is now a judge. An Irishman and very proud of his native country, he held forth in a voice which he modulated with would-be dramatic effect, and treated us to a few specimens of Irish humour which delighted his friends but somehow failed to make on me the same impression as they did on them. In his opinion apparently brevity is not the soul of wit, for the two or three stories he related took up the best part of the dinner ; and the evident consciousness of his superior talents, which he ineffectually disguised by an assumed tone of humility, rubbed me the wrong way. Do not think me ill-natured for making these comments on a dis- tinguished statesman who did his best to please, and whose efforts, being a little out of sorts, I may not have duly appreciated. On Wednesday, the 9th, we did some shopping, and at two o'clock went on board the Dunottar Castle., 1 60 Cape Town Again. after having taken an affectionate farewell of Mr. Milton, whose unceasing kindness and good company I shall always gratefully remember. At four o'clock, having shipped the mails, we left South Africa, never, I fear, to see it again. X. From Cape Town to Teneriffe. 'January \c^th: A SLIGHT indisposition, the result of the in- cessant racket of the last three weeks, which confined me to my cabin for the first two days after our departure from Cape Town, and a lack of material are responsible for a break in my diary. Repetitions rarely afford any interest. We are glad, it is true, to repeat the voyage with the same captain and officers, in the same vessel with its un- equalled comforts, and to a certain though a very limited extent with the same passengers, but we are not likely to meet with any adventures, or to have any new impressions ; we can no longer become excited at the sight of flying fish or porpoises and unknown constellations, whilst the everlasting blue sea and blue sky and the never-varying routine are painfully trying. M 1 62 Frcm Cape Town to Teneriffe. The inevitable Sports and Amusements Committee has been duly constituted, but it performs its work without zest, and the company joins but languidly in the revels. There is none of that subdued emotion which pervaded the whole atmosphere of our ship on the voyage out to the Cape, and which might be com- pared to that which animates and thrills an audience on the ' first night ' of a play. Instead of the joyous expectation of seeing a new land and a new order of things, and a sanguine disposition to accept the trivial annoyances that are inseparable from a long voyage, we fret at the length and the monotony of the day, and become once more preoccupied with the more serious and engrossing thoughts of the duties of life to which we are returning. Fortunately the trade winds are helping us on ; we have been making runs of 390, 400, and 404 knots, and if all goes well we shall reach Teneriffe on the expected day, the 2 1 St inst. I have been keeping much to myself and my books. Victor Hugo's ten volumes of Les Miserables have beguiled many a tedious hour ; Alone in Mashonaland^ written by the editor of a Pretorian newspaper, amused me greatly with its humour and its blood-curdling From Cape Town to Teneriffe. 163 adventures; and Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic is now doing good service. But I am not suffering from the blues nor have I turned hermit. No, I play quoits with the ship's officers and see much of the company. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Hagard, who had been indulging in a dolce far niente at Cape Town while we were visiting the Colony, are again with us, and two members of Sir Henry Loch's household. Captain Ponsonby and Mr. Fort. On the eve of our departure Sir Henry Loch's aide-de-camp had received the distressing intelligence that his father, Sir Henry Ponsonby, had had a paralytic seizure. He at once resigned his office, and is going home, in the hope of finding his father still alive. The loss of so faithful, useful, and devoted a servant will grievously affect the Queen. Captain Seymour Fort, of late Sir Henry Loch's secretary, was for some years a magistrate in Mashonaland has travelled about all over the world and his description of the birds and vegetation of New Guinea makes my mouth water. Amongst the forty first-class passengers there are all sorts and conditions of men and women, and not a few who in their way have interesting, curious, or remarkable traits. There is Mr. Stokes, 1 64 Frotn Cape Town to Teneriffe. also a Mashonaland magistrate, full of South African information; Mr. Wirth, an Australian circus pro- prietor and rider, who says that Americans of both sexes are the most accomplished circus performers; a Birmingham manufacturer whose performances on the trapeze would bring down the Alhambra ; a French engineer who wears knickerbockers, and when he is in want of exercise dances a pas seul on deck that would make a Vestris look green ; and Mr. S , the lessee of several theatres in Cape Colony. Gossip credits him with having run away from home at the age of twelve, then taken service in an American barque, after leaving which he projected a filibustering expedition to New Guinea which the then Lord Derby nipped in the bud, and finally led a wild, roving, but profitable life until he engaged in his present profession. This is his twenty-seventh voyage between the Cape and England, and it is not likely to be his last, as he travels backwards and forwards with the members of the various theatrical companies whom he engages in England. Perhaps the most sensational passenger is a young lady in the second-class, whose name I must discreetly with- hold. She is not unlike Mrs. Langtry, and has large, From Cape Town to Teneriffe. 1 6 5 grey, almond-shaped eyes, a pale oval face and dark hair that rolls in undulating waves over her shoulders. When I first saw her it was in the moonlight and I thought her beautiful. Her eyes seemed to glisten with an inner glow, and deepen with a mysterious emotion. My disillusionment was great the next morning when the sun revealed an ordinary, untidy, and common English girl. Still, she is unquestionably very pretty, and round her hangs a tale. Mr. S had engaged her in London to perform in tahleaux- vivants at a Johannesburg music-hall, but on arriving at Cape Town she found a cable — whether from the Colonial Office or from her father I was unable to make out — stating that she was under age, not even eighteen years old, that she had run away from England, and ordering her home at once; an order which the Cape Government endorsed. The infuriated S thus defrauded of his star and her passage- money, swears that the contract was duly signed by her mother, that she is over twenty years of age — the ladies on board affirm that she is at least twenty-seven — and that the cable was forged by a whilom admirer of hers who for reasons of his own allowed her to depart, but who as soon as she had left wanted her t66 From Cape Town to Teneriffe. back a^-ain. On that unfortunate individual Mr. o S vows he will be revenged. Whatever the truth of this tale may be, the young lady looks very peaceful and contented, flirts handsomely with our young bloods, and makes some of the members of her sex rather jealous. Last but not least in the list of the passengers, I must mention the general favourite — a small baboon, whom our captain obtained at Durban and intends presenting to the Zoo. Poor little ape ! he will never again have so good a time. He is petted and fed by all of us all day long on bananas, oranges, grapes, pineapple and peaches and every conceivable European and African delicacy. It will be a wonder if he survives these orgies. Yet, in spite of all his comforts and luxuries, he pines for liberty, and occasionally breaks away from his chain and his little hut, climbs up the rigging and rushes along the deck, causing a stampede amongst the ladies and children. He shows a most ungrateful disregard of the amiable overtures of the latter by tearing their frocks, and even biting them when they venture too near him. During his last escapade he made his way over the side of the ship through an open port From Cape Town to Teneriffe. 167 into a cabin, where he was secured after no small trouble. One excitement we have had, and a greater one than the capture of the baboon. We were all but shipwrecked — well perhaps not shipwrecked but disabled — and to be disabled in mid ocean would have been appalling. Our recollection of the fate of the Union liner Moor made it doubly appalling. Her engines broke down some weeks ago off Cape Verde, and her passengers had to spend a whole fortnight in one of the unhealthiest parts of the West Coast of Africa until they found a small vessel to convey them to Cape Town. To my infinite regret I knew nothing at the time of what was happening, being engrossed in my book in the Captain's cabin. The ship had received a great shock which sent some of the ladies and gentlemen bounding out of their seats. Thev rushed to the bulwarks and to the stern, and lo ! and behold ! there was a huge patch of blood on the water. We had struck a whale ! It was no mistake, nothing less than a whale. There was no sunken reef to account for the shock, nor could so much discoloration have been due to a wound inflicted on anything smaller than a whale ; in corroboration of 1 68 From Cape Town to Teneriffe. which view it was affirmed that one had actually been seen. Sea serpents have often been seen by the most trusted and experienced sailors, yet sceptics deny their existence, but in our case the whale was no myth, and had the monster collided with and broken the propeller instead of being hit by the keel the result must have been awkward. The Amusement Committee have chosen the two hottest days for the sports as to-day we are crossing the line. Truly the robustness of the Briton is prodigious ! No wonder he rules the best part of the world. January i ^th : The sports on the whole have been rather a failure, not because of the heat for our athletes exerted them- selves as vigorously as if the glass were below zero, but it seemed to me as if there were no ' go ' in the proceedings. Some of the games, however, were amusing — ' chalking the pig's eye ' especially created much merriment. Fortunately the voyage is now coming to an end ; ♦■he heat is most oppressive and the company is ghastly dull. Some of our party have enlivened us by quarrelling over their whist, and for one whole day From Cape Town to 'Teneriffe. 169 none of the players were on speaking terms with each other. One called his partner a beggar, which drew forth a volume of retaliatory abuse ; another exclaimed to his adversary that he was not a gentleman, but the individual so stigmatised being of a meek disposition forbore from replying, and silently withdrew into his tent — I should say, his cabin. At the very outset of our first voyage I felt convinced that a prolonged rubber would lead to wrangles and ' words,' and I therefore judiciously resisted the temptation of taking a hand, January 10th : Land is not yet in sight and we have seen but one ship, a small French coaster. But the sunsets afford much compensation for the monotonous blue of the sea and the sky. Do not be alarmed. I shall not inflict on you a description of their gorgeous coruscations, which at times stirred up strange emotions. Of one however I must say a few words — which you may skip if you choose and I shall not be offended. To be accurate, it it was not exactly a sunset for the sun had already vanished. A pack of clouds gathered on the horizon so black and heavy that it seemed they must break into a storm. These clouds rolled over each other in front lyo From Cape Town to Teneriffe. of a silvery haze that spread out like a veil, through which rose the moon, and between the clouds which parted at times, the moon poured a flood of light on the sea. Then again the clouds would close up and obscure her, and then again they would fitfully part and allow her to be seen. I almost imagined I saw in that struggle between light and darkness the con- tending forms of my good and my evil genius. But the result was satisfactory for finally the clouds melted away, and when the moon had fully risen peace and quiet reigned in the starry skies and on the listless Cj w XI. Teneriffe. Orotava^ Tuesday^ January iind : J E arrived early yesterday morning at Santa Cruz, too early indeed for the convenience of the pilot and the pratique officers who kept us waiting some time, much to the annoyance of our captain who was anxious to put us off — we were the only two passengers for the Canaries — and proceed quickly to Madeira. For some time before we reached Santa Cruz, I was on deck feasting my eyes on the land, the trees, the houses and the small dots I fondly con- ceived were human beings. The coast, which is not unlike that of Madeira, is mountainous and covered with buildings. The Peak was invisible, being en- veloped in clouds, though it is often to be seen forty miles out at sea. Spaniards are never in a hurry. ' Mariana ' (to- 1 y 2 Teneriff'e. morrow) seems to be their equivalent for our ' all right,' and a person of a hasty or irritable disposition can hardly be recommended to travel in any portion of his Catholic Majesty's dominions, unless it be to take a lesson in patience. Still, everything comes to those who know how to wait, and by nine a.m. the usual harbour formalities had been accomplished. The captain's dog, a large black spaniel who had borne his long im- prisonment on board with exemplary patience, tore round the deck with joy when the gangway was lowered. But the happy sensation of treading the firm earth was not yet to be his. Anxious as I was for that sensation myself, I was sorry to part from the ship which had become like a home ; for of the seven weeks that have elapsed since we left Southampton we have spent over four on the Dunottar Castle, and sorrier still to part from the captain and from our officers — as with some of these very good fellows we had been on the friendliest terms. Santa Cruz is a small Spanish town with a small harbour and a small trade, and dirty, like all Spanish towns. The English Hotel, which is kept by a Portuguese who married an Englishwoman, was at one time the residence of a Spanish Grandee, and has Teneriffe. 173 preserved in its patio a marble fountain, a relic of its ancient splendour. It represents a Venus coming out of a shell supported by nymphs and dolphins, and is worthy of more aesthetic surroundings. In the same patio, the walls of which were a blaze of bougainvilliers, we were delighted to find lying on small tables copies of many English papers with the last news from home. Meanwhile our carriage was announced. No in- habitant of or visitor to TenerifFe who has any claim to self-respect, drives less than three horses abreast. We were told we could never get up the steep hills with less than five, so off our carriage grandly went drawn by its five steeds. Our servants followed with a team of three, and a mule cart with our luggage. Our coachman — whom I was afterwards told had been dragged from his box to undergo a process of scraping and soaping while we were at breakfast — drove away at a great speed through a gaping crowd over the ill-paved streets of the town. We soon reached Laguna, and then proceeded at a more leisurely rate. The weather was dull and on the high ground we encountered a Scotch mist which compelled us to shut up our trap, but on descending again to the valley the mist cleared away, and though the Peak 174 Teneriffe. remained invisible, we were afforded a fair glimpse of the country. Orotava lies on the other side of the island from Santa Cruz, the two being connected by an excellent road cut right through the Island. Perhaps on a clear day we should have thought highly of that drive and of the scenery, but the touch of the sun was required to lend its enchantment to the sea which was of a dismal grey, to the hills that are denuded of trees, and to the fields which are all market gardens. Such an extent of la petite culture I have not seen even in France. The small fields are enclosed by stone walls, cover the plain and reach right up to the summit of the mountains which are some thousands of feet high. Enough vegetables are grown here to make our Parish Councils green with envy. We arrived about midday at Orotava, at the English Grand Hotel which is situated on high ground, about a mile from the sea above Puerto Orotava (the port), a townlet built in rectangular streets of small square houses. It is only a port in name for there is no harbour and no shipping, and only a short mole capable of affording protection to small craft. High up on the opposite side from the hotel, about six miles. ;im Teneriffe. 175 I should say, as the crow flies, on the slope of the hill stands Villa Orotava (the town) at the foot of a long range of mountains. The hotel, a huge building forming three sides of a square, with flower-beds in the centre and spacious gardens, is in the hands of a Spanish company, but seems to be managed by the housekeeper, an Englishwoman, an ex-hospital nurse, and the wife of the German head waiter. She is buxom and fair, a regular little busybody, and has already overwhelmed us with attentions of all kinds, offers of drives, rides, and excursions, and even entertainments to be got up for our benefit. We had some little difiiculty in con- vincing her that we had been surfeited with sightseeing and hospitalities, and all we required and longed for was complete idleness and rest. The day wore on but the mule-cart with our lug- gage failed to appear, and had not even arrived when dinner was announced so that we had to take our places in the saloon in our travelling clothes, which clashed distressingly with the smart regulation dress of the company. Most of the gentlemen wore evening coats and white ties ; the ladies satins and silks. One antique and portly dame, who hailed from Clapham, fascinated me so completely that I was hardly able to 176 Teneri^e. bestow the attention it deserved on the bill-of-fare — though because of her cap not of her personal attrac- tions. To do justice to this cap is beyond my de- scriptive powers but I would fain make the attempt. It was a composition of white flowing lappets, pinned to a brown wig, and embroidered with white jet which glittered in the electric light ; from the centre rose three tall ostrich plumes that waved gracefully over her brow. The Prince of Wales's crest must have been the pattern for this remarkable headgear. No news of the mule-cart. Has it been upset into the sea, or has the conductor bolted with our things ? We fumed and fretted in vain, and went to bed abusing las cosas espaTiolas. January 2i^rd : Our mule-cart arrived at six a.m. The man in charge offered no explanation of the delay and it would have been useless to expect any from a Spaniard. He .will not be bustled or hurried, and can wait ; why should we not wait as well ^ So long as each Spaniard can procrastinate and put off till to-morrow what he ought to do to-day, Spain will have to wait for better times. T'eneriffe. 177' The clouds had disappeared during the night, and the sea and the hills were brilliant in the golden light. The Peak rose in all its glory but though it is 12,000 feet high, and dominates the whole island, from the immediate neighbourhood it shows to little advantage as it is largely hidden by a long, flat, and ill-shaped line of hills. Our first expedition was to the Botanical Gardens, to which we proceeded on donkeys, and where we found the Curator, a Swiss who rejoices in the name of Wildpret. Poor old fellow ! an enthusiastic horticul- turist, he lamented the parsimony or penury of the Spanish exchequer which leaves him without a peseta for the improvement or even the maintenance of his establishment, for the dilapidated condition of which hs tearfully apologised. The bougainvilliers, however, came to his rescue. Familiarity with this creeper never breeds contempt, for not only is its growth luxuriant and its hues brilliant, but there are twelve varieties which flower at all times of the year. In the afternoon we took a long drive. Though the colouring is less vivid and it is far less denselv populated, the country reminds me of some portions of the Riviera, but instead of pine woods and orange and N 1/8 Teneriffe. lemon groves cornfields and market gardens cover the land, relieved by occasional groups of palms, the indigenous Canariensis. Here and there, generally by the side of a cottage, stands a dragon-tree. The fame of this tree which is but a giant dracena, cannot be due to its beauty, nor to any special originality of form, but probably rests on its extraordinary longevity. The oldest and largest specimen in the island has recently been blown down and was chopped up into small bits, which are preserved as rehcs, Humboldt asserted that it must have been 6000 years old — older consequently than the creation of the world according to Biblical records. The dragon-tree is neither graceful nor imposing but has a weird look, and in the distance the branches of the stem, which form a dense green canopy, have a faint resemblance, if not to a dragon, yet to a cluster of coiled snakes. We passed many villages. In front of their white- washed abodes were groups of Spaniards. The men are tall, lithe, and dignified ; the young women as a rule graceful and handsome, though the more mature are repulsive old crones. We passed many country folk, chiefly women, all gaily dressed — far more so than the Spaniards of Spain, and far less Dragon Tree, Teneriffc. Teneriffe. ijg moody. They were all chatting or singing and laugh- ing and joking with us ; but being ignorant of the language, we could only respond with a nod or a wave of the hand. The men are swarthy, the women are pale and dark-eyed ; but both are fairer than the pure Iberians, for which, perhaps, as well as for their com- parative geniality of temper the mixture of blood may account. When Teneriffe was conquered at the beginning of the sixteenth century the Spaniards, instead of exterminating the native Gaunches, as they did in the other Canary islands, spared and intermarried with them, and no gentler race than these white aborigines is said to have existed. "January i\th : There was a ' festa ' yesterday in the neighbour- hood, Festas are of no uncommon occurrence in Catholic countries. In Spain as in Italy every Saint has his festa ; of the procession, the ceremony, the costumes and the local colour, our little housekeeper promised wonders. So we ordered a trap, drove down to the Puerto and up again to the grounds of a Mrs, Hubbard where the Saint has his chapel. There was a procession, but there were no banners, 1 8o 'Teneriffe. no richly draped statues carried by the worshippers. Mass was said in the chapel but there was no special feature in the ceremony; the dresses had come direct from Manchester, and the only local colour was that ot the blue sea. Mrs. Hubbard was nowhere to be met — maybe she was in her shoe — but her garden was merry with the holiday folk, who strayed in and out of the chapel, idled in the bright sun, bought cakes which old women hawked round in large baskets, and pursued U3 for pesetas. January i^th : There is not very much to be done here. There is only one high road, and when you have driven on it once to the left and once to the right you have explored it sufficiently. Riding is the order of the day. Every one here rides — natives and visitors, the doctor, the tradesman, and the workman. We, too, shall ride and canter along the iron roads or grope our way amongst the loose stones of the lanes. Boating is out of the question as the wind at this side of the island is generally high, and there is a heavy swell on the sea as we can perceive from the fact that a small coasting trader which is lying at anchor Teneriffe. i 8 i near the mole rolls as if she must capsize, Orotava is a health resort only and is recommended chiefly to persons suffering from pulmonary complaints, who are well satisfied with the unemotional and uneventful routine of the daily life in consideration of the relief from their sufferings which this unique climate affords. But the stray visitor who is passably well feels and thinks differently, and however he may welcome the rest, some little variety would be highly acceptable. All the resources of Orotava, unless you choose to ascend the Peak or make a twelve-hour excursion, are centred in and around the hotel. There is no lack of indoor material comforts, and there are outdoor con- veyances of every style. Horses and donkeys stand all day at the door for the robust, landaus and pony traps for the less energetic, and hooded and cushioned hammocks slung on poles and carried on the shoulders of two stalwart bearers, for the frail and sick. But the stiff and conventional atmosphere hangs over this that hangs over every other foreign settlement or watering-place exclusively patronised by the Briton. In the hotel gardens there are no snug restaurants — no kiosks with vendors of sweet- meats, papers, and toys, as in France ; and there is 1 8 2 T'eneriffe. no band, as there would be in Germany. For your meals you have to conform to rules almost monastic in their punctuality and solemnity, during which the harassing cough of an invalid is only to be heard above the droning hum of hushed voices. There is no casino and the mere thought of gambling or dancing at Orotava is enough to make one shudder ; so, unless you linger in the drawing-room where your musical proclivities may be indulged by listening to English or Scotch ballads sung by old spinsters, you have nothing to do in the evening but to retire at nine. A speciality of Orotava is its frogs. They are never to be seen — at any rate, I have not discovered any as yet ; but at night they make themselves heard with a vengeance. This infliction does not arise from any dampness in the ground, which consists of lava and is perfectly dry, but from the numerous large tanks and water-courses constructed for purposes of irrigation, in which the frogs repose in the daytime and in which they croak at night. January 26th : I rode yesterday to Villa Orotava. My barb though somewhat groggy and lazy was surefooted, and Teneriffe. i 8 3 when urged on by its Spanish attendant he cantered at a fair pace, while the man ran alongside without showing any sign of fatigue. The town stands, or rather sleeps on the slopes of the hills ; a large, ancient city, with a Mansion House, a Cathedral, a Convent, and many antique houses adorned with long wooden balconies supported by wooden columns which in turn support a projecting roof These balconies and columns are richly carved ; some are almost works of art. The pavement of the wide, silent streets, where the rattle of wheels is seldom if ever heard, is overgrown with grass, and the piazzas might be taken for lawns. The windows of the houses are closed all day with heavy shutters like doors, being made in square panels. At the sound of a footstep outside one of these panels rises like a trapdoor, and discloses the face of a brown-eyed maiden. As I rode up the still main street I thought of the fairy tale. Orotava has fallen asleep long long ago and I wondered by what magic touch it would be revived. January I'-jth : Yesterday I rode up again to Villa Orotava accompanied by A. M. After ascending the main 184 T'eneriffe. street we turned round a sharp corner into the Alameda, as the public garden or square is called which is to be found in every Spanish town. Even the Puerto boasts of an Alameda. I was struck dumb, for I should not have believed that Orotava seen from any point of vantage could make such an effect. At some little distance below is the sea, flecked with white horses tossing the surf into foam on the dark volcanic rocks of the shore ; high up in the background the long range of mountains, massive and purple, form a huge crescent from east to west, where towers the snow-clad Peak. Close by, in a line with the Alameda gardens, yawns a wide gulf — a rocky ravine that long ago before Spaniards or Guanches were thought of, Nature tore like a great gash in the hillside. Its depths are a wild tangle of greenery ; on the opposite side, on the broken and choppy ground that sinks into the plain, is the town — a maze of quaint buildings rising in tiers above each other and scrambling pell-mell out of sight : some look giddily into the gulf, others turn towards the sea or stare at the Peak; here and there is a campanile; low down the Cathedral, with its great dome. Some of the houses are of a fair size, others are Teneriffe. 185 mere cottages, but all are covered with the large, round, red tiles peculiar to the Island. All are painted different colours — white, red and buff — stained and mellowed with age and toned down to the softest hues; all have projecting gables and verandahs of carved wood that has darkened to the deepest brown. None are without a terrace or a garden thick with bananas or trees and enclosed by a low wall made of loose uncemented stones all aglow with creepers. Far away at the bottom of the hill stands a palm so tall that he rises over the Cathedral — a giant sentinel that witnessed the Spanish Conquest and now seems to guard Orotava from the intrusion of factories, chimneys, and tramcars, and the many incongruities and vandalisms of our modern civilisa- tion. Not a soul was to be seen, not a sound to be heard while I took in the various features of this unrivalled picture. All around was inanimate, all but the vivid atmosphere and the rank vegetation. Suddenly a hawk of the large species common to the Island hovered over the ravine, gyrated slowly craning its neck towards the abyss — a harbinger of death in this deathlike stillness. Death, alas ! has been busv p<- homp and on the 1 86 'Teneriffe. receipt of every cable I tremble lest it should add one more to the long obituary. But to turn from the dead to the living. Colonel Weathered of the Bucks Volunteers, and one of my colleagues in the County Council, has selected Orotava for his winter residence and has purchased a property of thirty-five acres on which he is building a house within a stone's throw of the hotel. Land here is cheap, the price varying according to the quality of the soil and the amount of irrigation that has been introduced. But it is always a remunerative invest- ment, for even the poorest soil yields three crops annually. In former times the two great industries were cochineal and wine, malmsey, both dry and sweet, and canary, said to have been the sack of Elizabethan times, which was exported in large quantities at a fabulous profit. At the beginning of this century both of these industries fell into neglect : cochineal was super- seded by Manchester dyes and dropped from four to one shilling a pound, but wine-growing is being revived. Farming is carried on on the French metayer system, the landlord and the tenant dividing the profits, which amount to about £^\q on two acres on an assumed rental of about ^5. The British farmer and the Boer 'Teneriffe. 187 may well sigh on reading of such returns. Labour is comparatively even cheaper than the land, for the wages range from five to ten shillings a week. The staple industry now is fruit and vegetables, bananas and tomatoes being grown in the numerous gardens of the Island, mainly for exportation to England. No wonder that in this land, not of milk and honey, but of bananas and tomatoes, with a climate that hardly varies from one end of the year to the other, the people are happy, contented, and good-tempered. January I'jth : We have ridden once more to Villa Orotava in order to visit the gardens of the Marchesa de la Quinta Roba — pronounced Rocha — an aged and child- less widow, the Marquise de Carabas of the place. Her name is on every one's lips. She spends the winter at Puerto Orotava and the summer at Villa Orotava. On this occasion the town was all alive and astir for the Alcalde had been informed by his son, one of the accountants in the Hotel, of the uuusual event of the visit of two strangers. Despite their hatred of John Bull whom they cannot yet forgive for defeating the Invincible Armada, the 1 8 8 Teneriffe. Orotavians on the bidding of their Mayor turned out in numbers. Nature, all- beneficent in these well- named ' Fortunate Islands,' has done for the Marchesa what art could not have achieved and did not attempt to achieve. The gardens consist of several broad terraces, one above the other, filled with orange and coffee-trees ; camel ias, bougainvilliers, and roses are in bloom; the whole an unkempt but luxuriant wilderness of verdure and flowers overlooking the town, the sea, and the hills, which in spring-time must be inde- scribably lovely. Though it has a distinct character of its own, semi-Spanish semi-tropical, the garden reminded me of Verona, and its walls would be a suitable frame to Romeo and Juliet whispering love to each other. When having expressed my admiration of the ancient town the worthy Alcalde looked aghast, and replied that he had cut down some old timber to afford a peep at our Hotel, than which a more garish specimen of practical modern architecture could not be imagined — a blemish to the whole scene. . He then added with a sigh that he was longing for a railway to Santa Cruz. This, no doubt, will benefit his fellow- citizens, but those who seek places where the unsophis- ticated past lingers on, places beautified by the slow ^ Oh 'Teneriffe. 189 growth of centuries and undefiled by the interference of man, whose inhabitants but for their Alcalde, doze peacefully through their lives — these will deplore the day when the first engine rushes into Orotava and wakes it up to the consciousness of the bustle and the cares of the big world far away. Laguna^ January i^tk : Here we are at Laguna, a couple of miles from Santa Cruz, and to-morrow Messrs, Rennie's cargo steamer, the Dabulamanxa (1600 tons and 200 horse- power), is to convey us to Madeira. During our three hours' drive we almost perished with cold. The climate changed soon after we left Orotava from semi-tropical became semi-arctic, and for the first time since we left England we were glad of our overcoats. But though cold it was clear, and we were afforded a capital view of the Peak. It is colossal and gives the impression of size ; but while disclaiming the im- putation of being irreverent, I must confess that the Peak looked to me a cross between a plum-pudding and a sugar-loaf. It has neither the majesty of Mont Blanc nor the grace of Vesuvius. Our landlord here, although the son of a Spanish i^o Teneriffe. mother and married to a Spanish wife, and has lived here eighteen years, has remained a Briton to the backbone. His head waiter, however, is a true Spaniard as was evident from the strong perfume of garlic diffused by his presence. He said that the Canary Islands are daily becoming more popular, that the traffic with the Continent is steadily increasing, and that the tonnage of the passenger ships using the port of Las Palmas is equal to the entire tonnage of Barcelona, a statement of doubtful accuracy though it must be taken on trust. Not only for the sake of Laguna but of Orotava I hope that many tourists will find their way to Teneriffe ; though unless you are an invalid or your nerves are shattered, unless you hate the face of your kind and despise news from home, or are a poet or a painter and are content with the silent contemplation of the beauties of nature, my advice to you is to visit Teneriffe by all means, but think twice before making a prolonged. stay at Orotava. Some day, perhaps, a fast and comfortable line of steamers will bridge over the short distance between Santa Cruz and Cadiz ; foreigners as well as Britons will cover the island with villas and introduce their luxuries and amenities; weekly if not daily mails will Teneriffe. i g i keep you in touch with the outer world, and you will be enabled to spend a short and pleasant holiday in a land of which merely to breathe the air is a joy in itself. V- Santa Cruz, January 30/// ; The 'Dabulamanza is a day late, but we hope to start this evening when she has loaded her cargo. This English hotel is after all merely a kind of pothouse with a bar where the visitors smoke, gossip, drink, and play billiards. It was creaking all night with uncanny noises and buzzing with mosquitoes. An impatient horde of individuals of various nationalities is waiting to be off by the Dabulamanza, which cannot possibly accommodate them on board. XII. From Teneriffe to Lisbon. On board the ' Trojan^' February ind : WE sailed from Santa Cruz on Wednesday the 30th of January at 8 p.m., and reached Madeira before daybreak on Friday the ist of February in a thunderstorm and a deluge of rain when we had to put back to sea and return some hours later, as our captain would not anchor in the dark. Our voyage in the Dabulamanza will long live in my recollection. In the first place she had only ten berths and we were eighteen passengers ; in the second she carried no cargo to speak of and was a mere toy on the waves, which tossed her about like a cork; in the third place she was a filthy craft, alive with cockroaches and covered with inde- scribable dirt. Our poor servants slept anywhere and anyhow ; A. M. had the chief mate's cabin, and I the captain's; how the rest of the travellers were put up From 'Teneriffe to Lisbon. 1 93 I did not inquire. I remained the thirty-six hours of the voyage in my cabin, dozing the most of the time, and using very bad language to myself. I just caught a glimpse of one of the lady passengers who had come all the way from Natal in the Dabulamanza. She was the divorced wife of an English resident in the Colony, and her appearance and demeanour were suffi- cient warrant for the statement that six co-respondents had been implicated in the suit. Of course she assumed the title and airs of an Italian countess and asserted that she was intimately acquainted with the whole of our peerage. We remained at Madeira until 3 p.m., but as it was pouring rain we went on board the Trojan at once, as she arrived immediately after we did, and never stirred from her deck, inconveniently crowded as it was with Portuguese vendors of wickerwork chairs and tables, linen embroideries, shawls, filagree oraaments, birds, parrots, monkeys, and fruit. The inevitable divers — regular acrobats of the deep — were in attendance and performed the same antics as had amused us so greatly during our former short stay off the Island. The Trojan is one of the oldest of the Union liners and the one in which the Empress Eugenie o 104- From 'Teneriffe to Lisbon. returned to England from her sad pilgrimage to Natal. She is one of the intermediate steamers, but though slow and not over and above clean, is very seaworthy and steady. She is the noisest vessel in which I ever embarked, and in my cabin which is close to the engine-room I obtain no rest. At three in the morning they began washing the decks, and the pumping, scraping, and knocking, and the heavy tread of the sailors overhead would give a fit to a cat or a hippopotamus. The captain, with whom I meekly remonstrated, kindly promised to put off the operation to-morrow to a more rational hour. February ^^d : It has been blowing a ' moderate ' gale for the last thirty hours, but the wind was aft and though we rolled fearfully and lunched and dined with the ' fiddles ' on the table we were free from all pitching. In the midst of this storm an unfortunate Portuguese woman had been delivered of a still-born child. Her appearance is lamentable, she is sitting on deck with the doctor, who will endeavour to convey her ashore. For here we are now in the Tagus. We have just crossed the bar and are in sight of Lisbon, waiting for the pratique From Teneriffe to Lisbon. 195 and custom-house officers and the tug which is to convey us to the quay. Lisbon is smiHng down from her sunny heights and looks radiantly beautiful. There is the small castle of Belem, a gem of mediaeval architecture, but cruelly backed by gasworks and chimneys ; in the distance, far up the river, is a forest of shipping, and all along the shore of the broad estuary, which reminds me of the Bosphorus, palaces and churches rise above each other and glitter in the sun as if they were of marble. I shall now close this diary. I shall have nothing further to record, and shall be content to dwell on the recollection of the many rare sights I have seen and the interesting persons I have met. My dismal and discouraging presentiments on leaving England have been unrealised, for nothing could have been more enjoyable than my South African trip ; it had only one drawback — it was too short. Let me recommend my friends who have kindly perused these pages to follow my example, and, instead of spending their every autumn at a German watering-place or at Cowes or in the Highlands, to make a tour in Cape Colony ; and, though they be no better sailors than I am, they will not suffer much, even in the Bay of Biscay 196 From I'eneriffe to Lisbon. from the ill-temper of the cross-grained god Neptune, in ocean liners as roomy and comfortable as the Dunottar Castle. But they should select either our spring or autumn, and not our winter, for the ex- pedition, for then the heat is terrific although even then the climate is so healthy that sunstroke is un- known in South Africa, and so exhilarating that they will do more in a day than they would at home in a week. They will enjoy an unwonted sense of freedom and independence, and will not meet any parties of Cook's tourists to offend their fastidious eyes and ears. But, unless their time is limited, as was the case with us, they should allow themselves five or six weeks, stay longer than we did at Cape Town and Johannesburg, visit Pretoria, make a more extended tour in the eastern part of the Colony, and, if possible, visit Natal. Of Naples it has been said, ' See it and die.' Of Cape Colony I should say, ' See it and live ; ' for, if you are an Englishman, you will not only enjoy the beauties of the Cape peninsula, but be inspirited on beholding the grand labours of your countrymen in a land far off from your own. Of the immediate future of Cape Colony From 'Teneriffe to Lisbon. 197 I must speak with some reserve. In our time the expansion and greatness of a colony depend much on its natural resources and the homogeneity of its inhabitants. The natural resources of the oJd colony are but scanty as is proved by its trade and exports ; and the diversity of the races making up its popula- tion is a serious obstacle to amalgamation. Moreover, there are provinces as large as one of our European kingdoms which though under British protection or influence, contribute but little to the general weal. To take a single instance, Basutoland, which is called the Switzerland of South Africa, Its natives are the most capable of all the black tribes and its soil is so fertile that it might grow enough wheat to supply the wants of the whole of South Africa ; but our sway over Basutoland is not much more than nominal, and communication with it is so defective that its products cannot be exported. But the day will come when the British flag will wave over the whole of that portion of the southern hemisphere, and Boers, Dutch, Britons, and Kaflirs, after having gained a better understanding of each other as well as of their own interests will derive the same advantages 1^8 From Teneriffe to Lisbon. from being under the same laws and sharing the same duties. With the statesmen who are now at the head of affairs this process may be more quickly furthered than you might anticipate, and to appre- ciate these men you should see them at the wheel. There are many problems to be solved in the accomplishment of the work that has to be done, and perhaps the key will be found in the development of Rhodesia. I have no personal knowledge of Rhodesia and the information I gathered at the Cape is but an inadequate supplement to what we all know of it. Though tropical, it is said to be on the whole healthy ; and, though but partially explored, it is known to be fertile ; though at a great distance from Cape Town, it is being connected with the capital by railways ; and, though fast becoming populated by the white man, it is still a happy hunting-ground for the sportsman. But whether its mines will yield the same abundance of gold as those of the Transvaal, though the most trusted engineers believe they will, has still to be proved. There are great uncertainties and great difficulties to be met with and conquered ; but the adventurous spirit of our people, their pluck, their From Teneriffe to Lisbon. 1 99 endurance and their energy have surmounted in the past greater obstacles than will beset them if they bring these qualities to bear on Rhodesia, and enable them to found another flourishing empire in those vast regions which are brimful of a mysterious fascination. 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