26-TH NOVEMBER. 



WE HAVE had a week of perfect weather and plenty of hard 

 work. The birds are awake and giving song by 5 a.m., the 

 piet-myn-vrouw 's insistent voice rings down the valley, but 

 otherwise at that hour there is complete peace a peace rounded 

 off by the crooning of the doves and the robin's plaintive 

 song. When it is 6 a.m., the farm bells ring out, and we must 

 be up and doing. The rattle of watering-cans begins, and a 

 boy stands by the stream of irrigating water and gently directs 

 it to tomatoes and mealies. All day long the work goes on, 

 mostly seed-collecting for me and taking cuttings of mesem- 

 brianthemums and pelargoniums now that they have finished 

 flowering, while the boys wrestle with the overwhelming weeds, 

 worse than ever this year because the rains continued later than 

 usual. 



When one is thoroughly exhausted at 6.30 or 7 p.m., it is 

 good to sit on the stoep and watch the milky purple shadows 

 creep up the foothills of the great mountains ; and once again 

 there is silence. All day the little coloured children whose 

 mothers are working in the vineyards fight and yell ; children 

 of five and six are paid to look after infants whose screams 

 rend the air until someone gets desperate and a mother is sent 

 to quell the disturbance. But by sunset they are all at home 

 far down the valley, lighting fires and cooking the evening 

 meal ; and with us " peace comes dropping slow ". 



A rosy glow, the reflection of the sunset, lights up the great 

 peaks. While the purple shadows creep slowly up towards 

 them, the glow fades, the shadows have reached the summits, 

 the distant ranges can hardly be discerned, a few stars glow 

 dimly, and night is here. 



And how nights vary ! Since I always sleep outside, I am 

 an authority on nights. I acknowledge that most nights are 

 just a time to go to sleep, and we who work hard outside all 

 day find no fault with that ; but there are many nights that are 

 quite different. Sometimes it is all jollification : that is when 

 the frogs take over. They have grand assemblies where every- 

 one shouts at once, and then two will hold forth in a dialogue 



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