Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

574 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. June, 1836. lands, but at the opposite extremities of a range of moun- tains, which extending parallel to the mainland, is joined to it by a low sandy flat. The road skirted the base of these mountains : for the first fourteen miles the covmtry is very desert, and with the exception of the pleasure which the sight of an entirely new vegetation never fails to commvmi- cate, there was very little of interest. The view however of the mountains on the opposite side of the flat, brightened by the declining sun, was fine. Within seven miles of Cape Town, in the neighbourhood of Wynberg, a great improve- ment was visible, and here the country-houses of the more wealthy residents of the capital are situated. The numerous woods of young Scotch firs and stunted oak-trees form the chief attraction of this locality. There is, indeed, a great charm in shade and retirement, after the unconcealed bleak- ness of so open a country as this. The houses and planta- tions are backed by a grand wall of mountains, which gives the scene a degree of uncommon beauty. I arrived late in the evening in Cape Town, and had a good deal of diffi- culty in finding quarters. In the morning several ships from India had arrived at this great inn on the great highv^ay of nations, and they had disgorged on shore a host of pas- sengers, all longing to enjoy the deUghts of a temperate climate. There is only one good hotel, so that strangers generally live in boarding-houses ; — a very uncomfortable fashion to which I was obliged to conform, although I was fortunate in my quarters. In the morning I walked to a neighbouring hill to look at the town. It is laid out with the rectangular precision of a Spanish city : the streets are in good order, and Mac- adamized, and some of them have rows of trees on each side ; the houses are all whitewashed, and look clean. In several trifling particulars the town had a foreign air, but it is daily becoming more English. There is scarcely a resi- dent, excepting amongst the lowest order, who does not speak some English. In this facihty in becoming Anglefied, there appears to exist a wide difference between this colony and