148 SOUTH AGAIN : NEW ZEALAND AND THE CAPE 
it is a little monument erected on the position of the Tele- 
scope. One could not help looking at the place where 
England's greatest Philosopher lived ; the man too who 
paid us the comphment of calling our Expedition ' the 
Forlorn Hope of Science,' — perhaps though that was 
because it was a forlorn hope to expect any good out of 
such a set as we are, — whether it was intended to flatter, 
frighten, or stimulate us, we take it as the greatest 
comphment ever received. 
A httle further on and Cape Town bursts at once into 
full view, and a most wretched view it is ; the slope of the 
road is bare of trees, the town lies, not nestled but dabbed 
on a gradual slope at the foot of the opposite side of Table 
Mt. to what I described above ; the great bay is before 
it, Lion's Mt. to the right, the high inaccessible (except 
in one narrow gorge) cliffs at the back, and Devil's Mt. on 
the left ; not a tree anywhere, either on the road, town,* 
or hills. The houses look mean, are square, generally low, 
arranged in squares, glaringly white-washed, with blue or 
red tiles. You enter by some dirty hovels and mud walls 
on a road covered with an impalpable red dust, which covers 
and paints three or four wretched fir trees, which are bent 
at an angle of 45° by the S.E. winds ; approaching, it does 
not improve, a short turn of the road almost brings horse 
and gig up against the castle ramparts, which are of a lively 
gray color, abutting on the road, with a foss all round dug 
out of red clay earth, and some dirty hamlets scattered 
without order all round. To avoid this you turn your 
head to the left and meet a glaring white-washed house 
with a red roof, which in such weather at once puts one in 
mind of a red heat and white heat, and further on the sterile 
cliffs of the mountain. Entering the town is, as I have 
described, most unpromising, and as to itself I cannot say 
much more for it. There is a large open space of red clay, 
surrounded with a low wall and ditch, having walks inside 
under stunted Oaks and the vile Firs. This gives shade 
and that is all ; grass will not grow ; and to make it 
attractive, to Ladies I suppose who are naturally fond of 
shopping, there are dirty women sitting on the walk sides 
selhng gingerbread, stale fruit, and lollypops. A httle 
further on is a large building which, with Ludwig's Gardens, 
