Visit to Constantia. 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



Cape observatory. 



Ascent of Table Mountain. 



353 



an expedition to assert their proper supremacy. 

 Troops were proceeding to Port Natal at the time 

 of our visit. 



During our stay we visited, as all strangers do, 

 the estate of Constantia ; it is situated about thir- 

 teen miles from Cape Town. There are three 

 small estates that bear this name, viz. High, 

 Great, and Little Constantia. The country we 

 passed through, although barren and sandy, was 

 apparently well settled : the village of Wynberg is 

 the residence of many persons who come here to 

 enjoy the delightful air that generally blows from 

 the eastward ; most of the residences are pretty 

 cottages, and some have the appearance of hand- 

 some villas ; they all have an air of neatness and 

 comfort about them. Oaks and the pine are 

 almost the only trees met with, and one is some- 

 what surprised that even these should be found ; 

 for the country is, to appearance, a barren waste, 

 and many miles of it are quite unproductive for 

 agriculture. The scarlet heath, blue oxalis, and 

 the yellow compositse, not only enliven this waste, 

 but give it somewhat the character of the flowery 

 prairies of Oregon. The sandy soil looked like the 

 sea-shore, and bears indubitable marks of having 

 been once covered by the ocean. 



The estates of Constantia lie east of the Table 

 Mountain, on False Bay, and from their peculiar 

 situation are adequately watered by the mists con- 

 densed by that lofty mountain. The soil of these 

 estates is far from being rich, but is rather a light 

 and in some places a gravelly soil. The graperies 

 lie for the most part on the slope to the south-east, 

 while some are situated on the low lands, which 

 are carefully ditched to preserve them dry. They 

 are divided into fields of some four or five acres 

 each ; the grape-vines are planted in rows four 

 feet apart, they are never. permitted to grow higher 

 than three feet, and the whole is kept free from 

 grass and weeds. In the spring, the vines are 

 pruned ; the grapes come to maturity in April ; 

 while they are growing, all unnecessary leaves 

 and sprouts are removed, to give free access to 

 the sun and air, and full advantage of the growth 

 of the parent stock. 



The grapes are allowed to remain on the vines 

 until almost converted into raisins : they are then 

 carefully examined, and all the decayed and bruised 

 ones removed, before being gathered. The same 

 process is used for expressing the grape here as at 

 Madeira; but they have in some places advanced a 

 step, and use the screw-press. The buildings for 

 the storage of the wines are of one story, and 

 arranged into three apartments ; two of these are 

 appropriated to the manufacture of the wine, and 

 the third to that which is kept ripening for sale. 

 The wines are of four kinds, Pontac, Frontignac, 

 and the white and red Constantia. These are 

 named in the order of their celebrity and price, 

 which is usually a fixed one : the wine here is sold 

 by the aam and half aam, equivalent to a barrel 

 and half barrel ; the cost for the last quantity is 

 one hundred dollars for the first kind, eighty-five 

 for the second, seventy-five for the third, and sixty 

 for the fourth. To L. V. Renen, Esq., the pro- 

 prietor of the High Constantia, we are indebted 

 for many attentions. The grounds of Constantia 

 were ornamented with some plaster statues of 

 Hottentots and Caffres, which were said to repre- 

 sent the true type of these natives. 



I paid a visit to the Cape observatory, famous 

 from the labours of Sir John Herschell, on the 

 southern constellations. It is now in charge of T. 

 Maclear, Esq., who was at the time of our visit 

 absent, being engaged in the measurement of an 

 arc of the meridian. His assistant Mr. Smyth, 

 and Lieutenant Wilmot, of the magnetic observa- 

 tory, showed us the instruments. Lieutenant 

 Wilmot has four non-commissioned artillery officers 

 for his assistants. The day of our visit happened 

 to be term-day, when an almost uninterrupted 

 series of observations are taken ; our stay was 

 therefore but short, as I was disinclined to inter- 

 rupt the 'constant duties of the observers. During 

 our visit at the observatory, the weather was beau- 

 tifully clear ; no clouds were to be seen except 

 over the Table Mountain, and objects viewed 

 across the sandy plain were much distorted by 

 refraction. 



The botanists attached to the expedition at- 

 tempted, during our stay, to ascend to the top of 

 Table Mountain; but having taken a path different 

 from that usually pursued, they were arrested by 

 the perpendicular wall when about six hundred 

 feet below the top. A great collection of botanical 

 specimens amply repaid them for their disappoint- 

 ment. They visited the valley between Table 

 Mountain and the Devil's Peak, and found it to 

 consist of a dry spongy soil, densely covered with 

 rutacese, intermixed with low bushes of heath, 

 thymelaceae, diosmas, and compositse, having a 

 close resemblance and analogy to the upland bogs 

 of New Zealand. 



The drives around Cape Town are pleasant; the 

 one to Green Point is the most agreeable : this is a 

 straggling village, with the houses having pretty 

 gardens in front, laid out in the English style: the 

 distant view of the ocean, with the heavy surf 

 breaking upon the rocky coast, are fine objects to 

 seaward. The sides and tops of the hills in the 

 rear are bare of trees, but the roads are lined with 

 cacti of large growth, giving to the scenery a de- 

 cidedly tropical character. Green Point has a 

 municipal government, and elects its commissioner 

 and ward-masters in the same manner as Cape 

 Town. The light-house is within this district: it 

 is quite unworthy of the name, being decidedly the 

 most inferior British establishment I have seen. 

 This surprised me the more, because there is here 

 a great necessity for a brilliant light. 



There is a commercial exchange at Cape Town, 

 possessing a public library, consisting of about 

 thirty thousand volumes, and containing a reading- 

 room, as well as a large hall, which is used for the 

 public meetings and festivities of the inhabitants. 



Different sects of Christians are vying with each 

 other, to carry civilization and the Gospel to the 

 tribes in the interior; but, as usual, there are many 

 who deny the purity of their principles, and 

 spread scandalous reports concerning their opera- 

 tions. 



The walks near the town are pretty, and kept in 

 neat order. One that leads along the brook in the 

 rear of the town, whose banks are occupied by hosts 

 of washerwomen, is peculiarly picturesque; as soon 

 as you ascend to the top of the hill, you, overlook 

 the town, bay, and shipping, and gain a view of the 

 sandy plain and distant mountains, with Robben's 

 Island and Green Point in the distance. 



Among the objects of interest at the Cape, is the 



