A SOUTH AFEICAN RECEPTION. 3Q7 



Nos patriam fugimus ! now we are here, 

 Vivamus ! let us live by selling beer. 

 On donne a boire et a manger ici ; 

 Come in and try it, whoever you be.' 



This house was decorated with evergreens, and over the door was a stuffed South 

 African leopard springing on an antelope. A little further on, after discussing lunch 

 at a half-way house, a goodly number of volunteer cavalry, in blue-and-white uniforms, 

 appeared to escort the Sailor Prince into Cape Town. The road passes through pleasant 

 country ; but the thick red dust which rose as the cavalcade proceeded was overwhelming. 

 It was a South African version of the ' Derby ' on a hot summer's day. At various 

 places parties of school-children, arrayed along the road-side, sung the National Anthem 

 in little piping voices, the singing being generally conducted by mild-looking men in 

 black gloves and spectacles. At one place stood an old Malay, playing 'God Save the 

 Ciueen ' on a cracked clarionet, who, quite absorbed as he was in his music, and apparently 

 unconscious of all around him, looked exceedingly comic. There was everywhere a great 

 scrambling crowd of Malays and black boys, running and tumbling over each other, 

 shouting and laughing; women with children tied on their backs, old men, and girls 

 dressed in every conceivable kind of ragged rig and picturesque colour, with head-gear 

 of a wonderful nature, huge Malay hats, almost parasols in size, and resembling the 

 thatch of an English corn-rick; crowns of old black hats; turbans of all proportions and 

 colours, swelled the procession as it swept along. When the cavalry-trumpet sounded 

 ' trot/ the cloud of dust increased tenfold. Everybody, apparently, who could muster a 

 horse was mounted, so that ahead and on every side the carriage in which we were following 

 the Duke was hemmed in and surrounded, and everything became mixed up in one thick 

 cloud of red dust, in which helmets, swords, hats, puggeries, turbans, and horses almost 

 disappeared. The crowd hurraed louder than ever, pigs squealed, dogs howled, riders 

 tumbled off ; the excitement was irresistible. ' Oh ! this is fun ; stand up never mind 

 dignity. Whoo-whoop ! ' and we were rushed into the cloud of dust, to escape being 

 utterly swamped and left astern of the Duke, standing up in the carriage, and holding 

 on in front, to catch what glimpses we could of what was going on. . . . Some of 

 the arches were very beautiful; they were all decorated with flowering shrubs, flowers 

 (particularly the arum lily) and leaves of the silver-tree. In one the words WELCOME 

 BACK* were formed with oranges. One of the most curious had on its top a large 

 steamship, with Galatea inscribed upon it, and a funnel out of which real smoke was 

 made to issue as the Duke passed under. Six little boys dressed as sailors formed the 

 crew, and stood up singing ' Rule Britannia/ " And so they arrived in Cape Town, 

 to have levees, receptions, entertainments, and balls by the dozen. 



While at the Cape the Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation of a grand graving- 

 dock, an adjunct to the Table Bay Harbour Works, a most valuable and important addition 

 to the resources of the Royal Navy, enabling the largest ironclad to be repaired at that 

 distant point. The dock is four hundred feet long, and ninety feet wide. For more 

 than forty years previously frequent but unsuccessful efforts had been made to provide 



* Alluding to the previous visit of Prince Alfred when a midshipman. 



