CHAPTER VI. 

 Bird Island and Saint Croix. 



A S seen from the deck of the incoming steamer, Port 

 Elizabeth cannot be said to present a very pre- 

 possessing appearance. Somehow one misses those 

 odds and ends of buildings and low sheds that have 

 become so associated in the mind with the idea of a 

 port, or harbour, and however undesirable this collec- 

 tion of nondescript architecture may be at close quarters, 

 it cannot be denied that the traveller expects, and has 

 a right to expect, something less solid and respectable- 

 looking than the massive stone buildings which here 

 almost overhang the sea itself. There are no old houses 

 in Port Elizabeth to form a link with the past, and as 

 though to dispel at once any idea of the picturesque, 

 the electric cars which climb the steep ascent of one 

 of its principal thoroughfares are plainly visible from 

 the ship which lies at anchor, perhaps a mile or a mile 

 and a half out to sea. 



If I were asked what my impression of Port Elizabeth 

 was, I think I should describe the town as one represent- 

 ing solid commercial prosperity. Its public buildings, 

 its warehouses, its shops, and even its private residences 

 all told the same tale. " We were built," they seemed 

 to say, " by plain, hard-working men, men who had 

 made their own living, and who had left the old country 



