South African Scenery. 199 



opinions of the Malay population exercise some influence on 

 the habits of the Christian settlers of Simon's Town, as no 

 butcher, for instance, would venture to kill and sell pigs for fear 

 of giving off'ence to his Mohammedan customers. 



On a fine spring morning we started in a handsome vehicle 

 from Simon's Bay to Cape Town. The road runs close along the 

 seashore, which, seen from a distance, apparently consists of 

 nothing but sand and rock, but, on more near acquaintance, 

 exhibits at various points delightful nooks decked with most 

 beautiful flowers. Everything indicated, by its glorious bloom- 

 ing garment, the bursting forth of spring. 



One hour's ride led us to a neat little fishing hamlet 

 where an immense number of fish were hanging up to dry 

 in the sun. The bones of whales are used by the inhabi- 

 tants for all sorts of purposes ; they fence their fields and 

 gardens with the ribs, build walls with the vertebrae, make 

 steps and stairs of the shoulder bones, and use the large 

 jaw-bones as arches at the entrances of their huts. One 

 of the owners of this fishino^ station was kind enough to 

 ofi^er us, as a particular dainty, a piece of flesh cut from the 

 jaw of a whale and boiled in fat j but we were not exactly of 

 the same opinion after having, from curiosity, tasted a few 

 mouthfuls. The bay is very rich in the snook-fish ( Thyrsites 

 Atun), of which several hundred tons are pickled here 

 annually and sent to the Mauritius. 



Another fish caught here is said to be extremely injurious 

 to health, and even to endanger life — the small toadfish ( Te- 



