Landscape around Paarl. 219 



On the day after the review the journey was pursued early 

 in the morning to the village of Paarl (Pearl), about four 

 hours distant. We had come as strangers to the hospitable 

 Stellenbosch, and left as old friends, the entire family accom- 

 panying us to the carriage, and the worthy old mother of 

 our amiable host, a thoroughly genuine Dutch matron, was 

 visibly touched on taking leave of those whom, in all pro- 

 bability, she would never see more. 



On the route to Paarl several immensely large ant-hills 

 were met with, some of which measured from two to two-and- 

 a-half feet in diameter, by about three feet high. The insects 

 were partly black and partly of a greyish-brown colour, and 

 must be very troublesome to the farmers. 



Paarl, an extremely neat village, consists of a single long 

 street, and contains nearly 4000 inhabitants, chiefly occupied 

 in the growth of the vine. They are the descendants of those 

 French Protestants who, at the close of the 17th century, left 

 their native country in consequence of religious persecution. 

 All the detached farm-yards were extremely neat, and bore evi- 

 dence of the wealth of their owners. Nothing reminds one of 

 Africa and the neighbourhood of Hottentots, Bushmen, or Caf- 

 fres. The landscape becomes grander the more the mountains, 

 4000 to 5000 feet high, are approached. Among them lies the 

 little town of Wellington, charmingly situated j though but 

 a few years in existence, and numbering only 2000 in- 

 habitants, it has already a joint-stock bank with a capital 

 of £45,000, several schools, and some neat places of worship. 



