148 SOUTH AGAIN : NEW ZEALAND AND THE CAPE 



it is a little monument erected on the position of the Tele- 

 scope. One could not help looking at the place where 

 England's greatest Philosopher hved ; the man too who 

 paid us the compHment of calling our Expedition * the 

 Forlorn Hope of Science/ — perhaps though that was 

 because it was a forlorn hope to expect any good out of 

 such a set as we are, — whether it was intended to flatter, 

 frighten, or stimulate us, we take it as the greatest 

 compliment ever received. 



A little further on and Cape Town bursts at once into 

 full view, and a most wretched view it is ; the slope of the 

 road is bare of trees, the town hes, not nestled but dabbed 

 on a gradual slope at the foot of the opposite side of Table 

 Mt. to what I described above ; the great bay is before 

 it, Lion's Mt. to the right, the high inaccessible (except 

 in one narrow gorge) cliffs at the back, and Devil's Mt. on 

 the left ; not a tree anywhere, either on the road, town, 

 or hills. The houses look mean, are square, generally low, 

 arranged in squares, glaringly white-washed, with blue or 

 red tiles. You enter by some dirty hovels and mud walls 

 on a road covered with an impalpable red dust, which covers 

 and paints three or four wretched fir trees, which are bent 

 at an angle of 45° by the S.E. winds ; approaching, it does 

 not improve, a short turn of the road almost brings horse 

 and gig up against the castle ramparts, which are of a lively 

 gray color, abutting on the road, with a foss all round dug 

 out of red clay earth, and some dirty hamlets scattered 

 without order all round. To avoid this you turn your 

 head to the left and meet a glaring white-washed house 

 with a red roof, which in such weather at once puts one in 

 mind of a red heat and white heat, and further on the sterile 

 cliffs of the mountain. Entering the town is, as I have 

 described, most unpromising, and as to itself I cannot say 

 much more for it. There is a large open space of red clay, 

 surrounded with a low wall and ditch, having walks inside 

 under stunted Oaks and the vile Firs. This gives shade 

 and. that is all; grass will not grow; and to make it 

 attractive, to Ladies I suppose who are naturally fond of 

 shopping, there are dirty women sitting on the walk sides 

 selHng gingerbread, stale fruit, and lollypops. A little 

 further on is a large building which, with Ludwig's Gardens, 



