146 
THE VILLAGE OF STELLENBOSCH. 
21 April, 
this chapter. In an open square, near to the church, is the Drosidy, 
or residence of the Landdrost, a large and commodious building. 
At the back of this, flows the Eerste (First) river, having its 
source in the great mountains rising up immediately behind the town. 
These mountains are a part of the Great Western chain, already 
noticed, and constitute an essential feature in the beauty of the 
situation. A number of new dwellings are yearly increasing the 
size of the town, and the accommodations are superior to those of 
other villages, but the expences of living are said to be nearly the 
same as in Cape Town ; from which it is distant, due east, not more 
than thirty miles. A stage-waggon carries passengers to and from the 
Cape, and the post arrives and returns twice a week. From its 
proximity to the metropolis, it is much better known to foreigners, 
and to the English, than any of the other villages : a more detailed 
description of it in this place, is therefore the less necessary. * The 
country immediately surrounding the town, offers no beauty of 
scenery to charm the eye ; but the mountains form a back-ground of 
the finest kind, and are of so great a height, that, for several days in 
the winter, their rugged summits are capped with snow. These 
I much desired to ascend, in order to examine their productions, 
but the weather would not allow us to make the attempt. I have 
the less reason to regret this disappointment, as it happened that 
circumstances, four years afterwards, put it in my power to explore a 
neighbouring part of this range, and to add to my collection several 
things which are peculiar to these mountains, and which will be more 
particularly mentioned in another place. 
At two o'clock in the afternoon, we left Stellenbosch to return to 
Cape Town, and were again unfortunate in the day, which, soon after 
our departure, set in with rain and wind; and, to increase our misfor- 
tunes, one of the horses fell lame, while the other stumbled at every 
* I visited Stellenbosch again in April 1815, when I found a considei-able increase in 
houses had taken place, and the town much improved. I profited by this opportunity to 
make several drawings of it: the Vignette at page 136 is a part of one of them. 
