34 
JOURNAL OF A 
two former joining in the use of the great church. The. latter have 
lately obtained permission to build one for themselves. 
The streets are laid out in right angles; the houses stuccoed, 
whitened, and chiefly consisting of two stories, though a few of them 
exceed that height. Their general appearance is neat and clean. 
As in the towns in Holland, and some parts of German}^ large carved 
door-cases, grotesque decorations of gable-ends, and huge gates, 
leading to small houses, are met with here and there; but, in general, 
it may well pass for an English town. 
I gave notice of our arrival to the Missionaries at Groenekloof, 
by the usual Sunday's post, forwarded by a dragoon. We were sorry 
to miss the celebration of Christmas-Eve, in one of our settlements. 
25th. Christmas-day. We attended divine service in the Lutheran 
church, of which the Rev. Mr. Hesse is minister. German hymns 
are sung, but the sermon is delivered in Low Dutch, a language, as 
yet, unintelligible to us. 
The church is a handsome building, Avitli three aisles; the roofs 
supported by columns of the Ionic order; the galleries judiciously 
placed behind them. The organ is new, and of considerable mag- 
nitude. Tiie church has no steeple, but a short pyramid is placed on 
the pediment over the entrance. 
When the service was over, Mr. Hancke accompanied me to the 
house of Mr. Alexander, the colonial Secretary. Here I delivered 
my letters of introduction, and afterwards called on the President of 
the court of justice, Mr. Trotter, and on the Fiscal, Mr. De Nyssen. 
Some missionaries from other societies paid us agreeable visits. 
With one of them I took a walk towards evening, and noticed se- 
veral objects, new to me. The mountains were enveloped in clouds, 
but the sky otherwise clear. We passed by some vineyards. The 
vines grow without espaliers, placed in rows, like currant-bushes in 
our gardens. When arrived at a certain height, the upper shoots 
are taken off, to increase the quantity of grapes. Fences of the 
large aloe, and of cactus or Lidian fig, are common. Of pisang, 
we saw several large beds. 
