462 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



different from that usually pursued, they were arrested by the per- 

 pendicular wall when about six hundred feet below the top. A great 

 collection of botanical specimens amply repaid them for their disap- 

 pointment. 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, Thy- 

 melaceEe, 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 decidedly tropical 

 character. Green Point has a municipal government, and elects its 

 commissioner and ward-masters in the same manner as Cape Town. 

 The lighthouse 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 con- 

 taining 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 operations. 



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 moun- 

 tains, with Robben's Island and Green Point in the distance. 



Among the objects of interest at the Cape, is the Botanical Garden 

 of the Baron von Ludwig. To his liberality we are much indebted 

 for plants and seeds; and in fact every thing that our botanists desired 

 was placed at their disposition. The garden is surrounded by a 

 brick wall, and situated near the foot of the Lion's Rump ; its soil was 



