CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
^9 
separate the Minerva and the Lord Eldon, we were to proceed 
together to Bengal. 
Finding that I was Hkely to continue at the Cape a fortnight at 
least, I consulted with my old friend, Brigadier-General Hall, 
whom I had the pleasure of finding here, respecting a visit to the 
interior, who kindly promised to go with us, and his Brigade 
Major, Hippisley, obligingly undertook the whole arrangement of 
the party. The 23d was fixed on as the day of our departure. 
October 51.— At seven in the morning General Hall called, with 
horses, to take me and Mr. Salt to breakfast with a Mr. Kersteen, at 
Wineberg. The day was clear, and the sun not very powerful 
during our ride ; the road was good, and led over ground nearly 
level, covered with a brush-wood of Ericas and Proteae, with the 
Table Mountain rising majestically on our right. I was much pleased 
with the scene for its novelty, and could scarcely at first refrain 
from stopping to observe more closely many Ixias, Geraniums, and 
other plants which I had with care cultivated in England, growing 
neglected in such immense profusion : the Aristaea cyanea pre- 
dominated. 1 observed many plants, that still continue scarce in 
England, probably because every collector supposes they must have 
been previously sent thither on account of their vicinity to the Cape 
Town. Our host gave us a polite reception: we consulted him re- 
specting our intended expedition on the morrow, and he not only 
assisted us with his advice, but gave us letters of introduction to a 
friend of his, at whose house we were to stop the first day. Finding 
we were but five miles from Constantia, where the celebrated wine of 
that name is made, and knowing that we should not have any other 
opportunity of visiting it, we determined to continue our ride 
