256 Voyage of the Novara. 



sun prevented from walking in the open air, might escape into 

 cool and most elegant cellars, where our hospitable entertainer 

 had stored large quantities of " spiritual treasures." The costly- 

 nectar which the Cape, and especially High Constantia, pro- 

 duces, finds its way but seldom to European tables, because the 

 quantity produced is very much below the demand ; for 

 although the first cultivation of the grape for wine dates in 

 Cape Colony so far back as I668, the wine manufacture has 

 only of late years expanded in a marked degree, — viz., 45 per 

 cent, from 1855 to 1856, and 70 per cent, from 1856 to 1857, 

 so that at present the entire quantity produced of red and 

 white Cape wine (Pontac and Frontignac) may be stated at 

 24,000 pipes, worth £380,000 sterling. 



At the conclusion of the^^^e we sat down to a splendid ban- 

 quet in the open air, in a shady avenue, so as to admit of all 

 the guests sitting at one long table. At the upper end, under the 

 umbrageous boughs of some venerable oaks, that towered like 

 a canopy overhead, fluttered the flags of England and Austria. 

 The mayor of Cape Town occupied the chair ; the toasts cus- 

 tomary on such occasions were given and responded to, allu- 

 sion being made to the pleasure felt at the arrival of an 

 Austrian man-of-war, as also to the gratitude of the mem- 

 bers of the Expedition for the hearty welcome prepared for 

 them, and expressing an earnest hope that both Governments 

 may ever continue faithfully allied, as both nations are, by 

 descent, sympathy, and intellectual pursuits. A few days after 

 this splendid entertainment, we returned to Simon's Bay, 



