Culture in Georgetown. 
43 
Eichhorn in asurea Kuntli., and Limnocharis Humboldtii Rich. It is 
only in this changing and vivid contrast that the landscape succeeds in 
obtaining' that infinitely delightful charm which the Imagination con- 
ceives approximately enough under an atmosphere of ice and snow, hut 
which can only germinate into infinitely sublime Reality in the Tropics. 
155. The lovely avenue soon fills with mysterious rustle, with floral 
fragrance, — the sun hurries on towards the horizon and sheds its gold- 
en rays once more upon the fashionably got-up dandies speeding along 
on their proud steeds, or upon ladies dressed in the latest London styles 
in elegant gigs, bright phaetons or on sprightly mounts. One drives 
or rides a few times up and down, returns home to dine as the sun sets, 
and then goes to bed ad lib. 
15fi. Among the numerous members of the fair sex 1 would have 
awarded the prize for beauty to Miss Ross and to Miss Dalton, had not 
the whole of Georgetown already (.lone so. But however many the lovely 
female forms and attractive features, the faded yellowish tint which 
one generally finds shared equally between the men and women from the 
lowest to the highest, — although the latter never expose themselves to 
the rays of the morning or midi day sun — did not make a very pleasant 
impression on me. The most blooming European complexion, the indi- 
cation of a cold climate, disappears without a trace after a three or four 
months' stay: and with it there also g<»es that buoyancy, that over-bub- 
bling Love of Life, which in Germany is so often the flower-scattering 
companion of Beauty. 
157. In the families of the upper classes 1 generally found a high 
degree of culture, often a combination of the purest womanliness with 
the richest intellectual gifts : the men, at least the senior portion of 
them, have mostly retained the characteristic trait of the race to which 
they or theirs forbears belonged : the younger generation, it is true, almost 
always shows precocity and extraordinary intellectual talent, but ex- 
actly resembles the fruitful tropical soil which, unless carefully tended 
by the owner’s hand, is soon overgrown with weed. 
158. The ladies of the higher classes usually spend their time in 
reading, and now and again, though only to break the tiresome mon- 
otony, in light feminine tasks. The kitchen only knows the lady of the 
house and her daughters by name, and the remaining cares of a house- 
wife are just as much unknown to the former as to the latter. Pleasure, 
Pleasure, that is the everlasting slogan, the sphere, the summit and 
shining light of the fashionable world, just as it is that of the poorest 
negro. On two occasions within a short interval I was afforded the de- 
lightful opportunity of gazing on, and wondering at the absolutely gen- 
teel and lovely world of Georgetown gathered within a limited area. 
The first was at the Races, the second at a private Ball got up by the 
Croesus of the capital. The ball commences at 9 o’clock, and the gentle- 
men must appear in black clothes. 
159. I almost doubt whether Lucullus could have had his table ar- 
ranged with better regulated refinement. Here were the rarest gifts of 
Nature from all parts of the world, united in the smallest of spaces: 
from the Cape to my native Rhine the grape had contributed a supply 
