morning we were aroused from our slumbers by horrible shouts. and yells, and shrill screams. Our detached carriage was surrounded by a horde of Kaffirs and Fingoes, who jumped up and down on the foot-boards, and laughed and sang, and quarrelled in a fashion far from delightful. These fellows were workmen on the line, and had been granted a half holiday in honour of the extension jubilee, which they had improved in the manner peculiar to the native, by inserting into their internal mechanisms unlimited draughts of Cape smoke (brandy). I felt somewhat like poor Richard III. on his last night's rest before the battle of Bosworth field. Much as my equanimity was disturbed by these scamps, the thought that I had been the innocent means of causing the keenest disappointment to a fair votary of the mazy dance unmanned me still further. There was nothing for it, however, but to keep quiet, grasp tightly my knob kerrie, and evoke kindly Morpheus to send me downy sleep. The next morning, by the six o'clock train from Worcester, we returned to town, and with us the lady, to whom, we had only too just reason for fearing, that we might have given mortal offence. Our fears were, however, too extravagant by far; we might have dispensed with them altogether. Inventive woman! I ought to have known that there is not one of the sex incapable of manipulating a ball dress at a pinch. Whether this was done in my friend's case I don't know. Maybe she had the prudence and forethought to provide herself against all emergencies by taking with her a duplicate dress. I could never get at the truth of this matter. Grapes are proverbially sour, and must I confess that I did not feel very sorry to hear that the whole affair at Worcester had been a failure. The speeches dull to a degree, because the refreshment caterer had been behind-hand in his duties. Not even a bottle of soda could be procured, no lights in the ball-room, and nothing to eat until three o'clock in the morning; not very inconvenient to those who can live on love and air perhaps, but far different to epicurean members of parliament and Civil Service men. The governor had one hotel to himself, and the other taverns, as well as every available house, were full to overflowing. I was sorry A COLONIAL GANYMEDE. 301 not to have seen Worcester, which is, I hear, the loveliest village in the colony; and to have witnessed the excitement of the people on a fete day of this magnitude would have been a profitable subject for study. Alas! for poor human nature, I fear that the failure of the affair did not cause me the pain it would have done, had I been present. In The colonists are very proud of their railway progress, and they have a right to be so, but their lax method of conducting business arrangements is more apparent here than in anything else. the first place, a private individual is able to order about the officials and servants of the government, of his own sweet will. A fellow-passenger of ours to Ceres was in a position to coerce the railway guards and porters in this manner. This very eccentric individual was a rich storekeeper. He always travelled, so he assured us, with a grocer's wine-basket, containing sundry bottles of liquor. There were no restaurants on the road, and our worthy did not see the force of being without refreshments. To do him justice he was not selfish in his self-indulgence, and had a mind to freely dispense "rich bounties from his ample store," to all who were inclined to profit by his generous impulses. By this means also he secured the friendship and good-will of all the railway employés, the engine-driver being especially open to his alcoholic charm and power of persuasion. Upon arriving at a station, he called to Jack, Tom, or Harry, to unlock the door, which in accordance with the bye-laws and regulations, should be kept under lock and key. He invariably alighted, and obliged the train to wait while he made sundry guards and porters happy. When the train was again in motion he leant out of the window, and by a private signal to the engine-driver, he induced that votary of Bacchus to increase steam, and so propel the locomotive at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, instead of the orthodox speed of fifteen miles. Having sufficiently displayed his power over the driver, he gave himself over to the bottle and ultimately became so screwed" as to be unable to get out of the compartment unaided. In this condition he suddenly determined to take the engine's reins himself. Imagine our dismay. It is true that we only suspected, and did not know for certain, what was going forward until afterwards. It is a fact, nevertheless, that all the time we were at the mercy of this man, in a greater or less degree, we were accomplishing circuitous and abrupt curves and steep gradients, with which the line of railway bristles, as it passes through, or rather round, the mountain kloofs. alighted from the engine blackened from top to toe. At Ceres he The telegraphic department is also open to some censure. The sole reason forthcoming in explanation of the non-arrival of our telegram at Worcester was, not that the line was broken, but that the reporter of a certain Cape Town newspaper had contrived to get the undivided control of the telegraphic lines for the entire day. Strange that such a monopoly should be possible in a free and independent colony. Nevertheless, despite these drawbacks, the progress made in constructing this railway is marvellous, when we consider the complex engineering work which had to be accomplished, to say nothing of labour difficulties. The railway is on the broad gauge system to Wellington, but beyond, the narrow gauge is substituted. In some places the road is excellently and substantially constructed, and the carriages run smoothly and evenly. There is but a single line however, which is, I fancy, shortsighted economy. The country through which this Worcester railway passes is attractive and mountainous. There is a stretch of hills on either side extending the whole distance from the metropolis. The Drackenstein are very imposing, and numerous villages cluster at their base. Stellenbosch, which was destroyed by fire some ten years since, sprung up again with Chicagian rapidity. The houses are chiefly built of wood, and to insure as much as possible against the recurrence of their late disaster, smoking in the streets of Stellenbosch has been constituted a punishable offence. The Paarl is very beautiful, six miles of vineyards, "where health, happiness, and good wine, reign supreme". Wellington with Bain's Kloof, the loveliest pass through the mountains in the colony, is more than pretty. This kloof is six miles up, and six miles down. The Piquetberg and Tulbagh Kloofs run it very close. Through these kloofs the sheep find their way to the Cape Town market. Beside the railway, runs ARRIVED AT THE TERMINUS. 303 the road, beyond both there is a steep descent, at the bottom of which a river bed is often to be espied, and still further the rugged hills rise again in all their wild and gaunt majesty. It is a pity that local jealousies, especially the soreness between the Eastern and Western portions of the colony, should have often led to impolitic deviations of lines, and to a want of system generally. This however is a matter which will in the long run effect its own cure, although much waste and ruin will be entailed in the process of settling down. The railways of the Cape Colony cost upon an average about £7000 per mile. CHAPTER XLII. CAPE STEAMERS. "WITH YOUR FLOATING BRIDGE THE OCEAN SPAN." "How beautiful she is! How fair "So shalt thou instant realm assign'd -Longfellow. In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind- Promiscuous, every guest to every bay." -Pope's Odyssey. THE progress which the Cape has made in material prosperity during recent years receives as much attestation from the number and calibre of the steam packets of the two services, the Union Company and the Donald Currie Line, which ply backwards and forwards to the colony, as from any other outward and visible sign. The history of steam navigation in connection with the Cape is an interesting tale of gradual progress from small beginnings to important issues, but I will not stop to minutely follow the step-by-step advance which the colonists have achieved in this respect. They are now served by two fleets of boats, of which they are justly proud, and of which, in fact, any colony might be proud.* These boats vary in tonnage from 2700 to * I may mention that a third line of steam packets are now running to the Cape. The Ducal Line calling there en route to India and Australia. This line has obtained the immigration contract. Scarcely fair to the two companies who have served the government so faithfully and well in this respect, but I daresay they would rather be without the pother of the immigrants, for reasons which are obvious. |