Environs of Cape Town. 21 



Lie that the peojjle of Cape ToAvn have a 

 tendency to a liability to such an accusation, 

 but those who are fortunate enough to know 

 and understand them will readily confess that 

 the defect, if it exists, may be counted among 

 their attractions rather than among their faults. 

 The environs of Cape Town in the direction of 

 Wynberg are of surj^assing beauty. Forests, 

 groves, plantations of oak, pine, eucalyptus, owing 

 their origin to the provident forethought of the 

 early Dutch settlers, thickly cover the ground 

 from the slopes of the mountain almost to the 

 shores of the sea. Miles of shady lanes, extending 

 in all directions, make ridin"* and drivino' an un- 

 failing pleasure, while on every side old-fashioned 

 villas and country-houses, with perfect and well- 

 kept gardens, disclose alike the cultivated taste 

 and the love of country life which characterize 

 the wealthier portion of the resident community. 

 English people afilicted at home by a winter climate 

 which year after year grows more intolerable and 

 more interminable, fruitlessly, and at great cost, 

 seek sunshine and "^varmth in the south of Europe 

 amid unsympathetic foreigners. A three weeks' 

 voyage, unaccompanied either by hardships or 

 risk, Avould bring them to this lo\'ely spot, where, 

 among people of their own race, speaking their own 

 language, and thinking their own thoughts, they 

 would tind and enjoy the most temperate and 

 equable summer weather, with all the attractions 

 of sea-side existence which the earth can offer. ^ 

 Socially a very happy change has, in recent years, 

 been effected in the Cape To^vn community. The 



