Chap, vi.] SIMONS BAY. 121 



is the showing through in all directions of the red soil between 

 the bushes and clumps of vegetation ; the interspaces not 

 being filled in with grasses, and no continuous covering of 

 vegetation being formed. 



In the flowering season, from June to August, which depends 

 here on the rainy season, and thus falls in mid-winter, the 

 aspect of the landscape is entirely changed, and whole tracts of 

 country are coloured of most brilliant hues. We were too 

 late for this, but nevertheless could form an idea of what it 

 must be like, because, though the greater numbers of plants 

 of each of the various species blossom all together at the 

 regular season of the species, there are always to be found 

 stragglers lilossoming at other seasons, and nearly every plant 

 can be collected in flower by search at almost any period of 

 the year. 



Simons Bay is 24 miles from Cape Town by road, but a 

 railway runs from a village called \V'ynberg, about 14 miles 

 distant from Simons Bay, to the town. There is practically 

 only one road at Simons Bay, for though two others start with 

 great promise, the one along the shore towards Cape Point, 

 and the other up the steep hill at the back of the town (Red 

 Hill), they soon lose their character and dwindle to the con- 

 dition of mere tracks over the moorland, very difficult for a 

 stranger to follow, as I more than once found. Hence " going 

 up the road" or "down the road," is the term at Simons Bay 

 for visits to and from Cape Town. 



The road follows the shore, being cut out on the side of the 

 steep coast, and crosses at several places sandy sea beaches, 

 where the driver keeps the horses with their feet at the very 

 verge of the surf, because the sand is harder here, as everyone 

 knows who has had to walk along a sandy shore. 



The conveyances are two-wheeled carts with a hood cover, 

 open in front and with two parallel seats placed transversely. 

 There is a pole to them, and a pair of horses are always driven, 

 great care being taken as to balancing. I never saw a pair of 

 horses thus driven in a two-wheeled vehicle before. 



The drivers are mostly Malays, of whom there are large 

 numbers in Cape Town and Simons Town, emancipated slaves 

 of the Dutch, or progeny of these. Those who disregard 

 expense take four horses to one of these traps, and the mail 

 always has four. It is a shabby cart, like the rest. The Malays 

 drive well, and manage a very long whip to a nicety. The 

 travelling is not dear; a cart and pair to Wynberg, i.e., 14 or 

 15 miles, costs \^s. 



Half-way to Wynberg is a noted wayside inn, called "Farmer 

 Peck's," with a lona; rigmarole about the Gentle Shepherd of 



