144 
THE PAARL. — FRANSCHE HOEK. 
20, 21 ApniL, 
tlie church. This village appeared to be by much the most agree- 
able and pleasant situation, as a residence, of any I had hitherto 
seen, and is superior to Stellenbosch in rural beauty. Those who 
would be desirous of passing a few months from Cape Town, for the 
sake of the amusements and pleasures of a country life, would not be 
disappointed by taking up their abode at the Paarl, where, within a 
short ride or a walk, a great variety of scenery may be found. It 
takes its name * from the neighbouring mountain, on the summit of 
which, among others, of the same kind, is an enormous rock called 
the Paarl (the Pearl), having, at the distance at which we viewed it, 
the rounded form and outward appearance of granite. 
Leaving the village, we continued our way along a level sandy 
country covered with bushes, among which the ProtcEa corymbosa 
predominated. It may easily be distinguished by its long slender 
upright stems about four feet high, (having at top a corymbe of 
short branches) springing from a dense base of suckers and leaves ; 
a singularity of growth not observed in any other proteaceous plant. 
Small trees of Rhus villosum, ten or twelve feet high, were not 
unfrequent. ' 
We passed through one end of the division of Drakenstein, which, 
with Fransche Hoek (French Corner), may be called the vineyard of 
the colony. Fransche Hoek, which lay on our left in a deep and 
extensive bosom or bay of the mountains, was the spot where vine- 
yards were first established by the French refugees already men- 
tioned. The mountains which surround it, are lofty and sublime, 
having their craggy summits divided into rocky masses of the 
m-andest forms. 
During a heavy shower, we took shelter, near a farm house, 
under two very fine oak trees, the largest which I had seen in the 
colony : their trunks measuring between four and five feet in diameter. 
A little further on, we came to a very romantic pass between 
steep and high mountains, where, in the ravine below the road, the 
noisy waters of a torrent were hastening down its rocky bed. This 
* Perhaps more properly written Paarldorp. 
