CAPE TOWN 149 
is the saving clause of Cape Town. This building contains 
a fine reading room with every good paper in proper order 
and at hand ; one wing, prettily planted round with rose 
briars and climbing convolvuluses, contains a Library of 
30,000 volumes, all in most excellent order, with the tables 
covered with magazines. . . . 
I found the streets all narrow, ill-paved, hot and dusty, the 
houses generally mean and irregular, some of the shops good 
but little shade anywhere : most of the houses have a long 
narrow terrace just before the door, with a seat for smoking 
at each end and an ugly fir tree or stunted acacia planted 
over each settee. Now these terraces cannot be walked 
over, and as they take up all the room where the pavement 
should be, there is walking straight on, but in the middle 
of the street ; and then the poor advantage of the shady 
side is lost, without you hug the wall and double every 
terrace, crossing and recrossing the zigzag gutter, most 
ingeniously contrived to go the shortest distance by the 
longest way. The Natives are of mixed breed. Hottentots 
are scarcely seen anywhere, Malays are very common, 
both men and women, generally with a red Bandana hand- 
kerchief round the head ; they have a separate meeting 
house and burying place. Next are the Dutch breed, often 
round built, especially the ladies, and inclined to be swarthy. 
They roll handsomely along the streets, are plump and 
often well looking, sometimes very handsome, —the men 
are as often thin and smoke many cigars. All Dutch born 
in the colony are called Africandoes as the colonial 
Australians are called Currency and the St. Helenas Ymn 
stocks. Except the shopkeepers the Enghsh are not much 
seen ; they compose the upper classes, generally live out 
of town, and drive in to shop, etc. The Governor, though 
viceroy of the Colony, keeps a very poor table and only 
gives one ball a year ; the society is quite divided between 
the Dutch and English ; they do not mingle much, though 
I suspect much of the former class to be far superior to 
the latter. Amongst the strangers and occasional visitors 
none are so conspicuous as the Indians [i.e. officers of the 
Indian army] ; they saunter about slowly with white jackets, 
straw hats, and whips in their hands, though ten to one they 
belong to foot regiments ; they may be descried at once by 
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