18 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



fleeted the clouds and sky so clearly on its glassy surface, 

 tbat a most extraordinary optical delusion was produced. 

 The ships seemed suspended in the air between two layers of 

 clouds, whilst the water in which they floated had the appear- 

 ance of a vast plate of glass placed between two firmaments 

 exactly similar to each other. We entered the chasm, and 

 proceeded through the bottom of it, enormous cliffs over- 

 hanging us on each side. As we advanced, the passage 

 gradually narrowed, complete silence reigned around us; 

 birds, insects, and every indication of animal life had dis- 

 appeared, we hurried on in spite of the steepness of our path, 

 and gained the top of the mountain after about four hours 

 very hard labour, and great fatigue. 



The summit is nearly level, and is about a mile and a half 

 long, and half a mile in breadth; the view very similar to the 

 one we had obtained at the bottom of the precipice. The air 

 was delightfully cool and refreshing, and soon with renewed 

 vigour and elastic step, we retraced our way to Cape Town. 



Our next visit was to the celebrated vineyards of Con- 

 stantia, where, as is the case with all visitors, we were most 

 kindly and hospitably received by the Dutch proprietor, who 

 derives a princely income from his comparatively small pos- 

 sessions. The finest wine was offered to us, but it is of too 

 rich and clogging a nature to drink much of, although some 

 juvenile votaries to Bacchus, in the shape of midshipmen, 

 and full-grown ones, in the form of corpulent skippers, have 

 been known to exceed the exact bounds of propriety in their 

 potations of this rich and luscious liquid. One of the most 

 extraordinary facts connected with this and other products 

 of the vine, is, that apparently with the same description 

 of soil, the same aspect and the same temperature, one 

 vine, a few yards distance from another, and of the same 

 kind, should produce a totally different wine. This can only 

 be explained by some peculiarities of the soil itself, but is a 



