useless as "To pound water in a mortar[1]"—that is, it would have been labour in vain.
We were supplied from Wynberg with most excellent bread, very good mutton and poultry, vegetables, and fruits.
1844, Jan. 6th.—For the last week we have had days of burning heat—almost Indian heat, with very chilly evenings after sunset; heavy rain has cooled the air to-day, and rendered the atmosphere delicious. Newlands is at present the property of a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Crugwagen.
The servants are very cool at the Cape; my Malay cook came to me in Christmas week, to say she could not dress my dinner on three days in the coming week, as she was going out to dinner parties herself at the houses of some of her friends. I objected to going without dinner to oblige her, and at last was forced to dine on those days at an early hour, that she might be off at 4 P.M. to her parties.
Two of my white muslin gowns came from the wash with the sleeves split open, and a very deep tuck in the skirt; I found they had been lent or hired out to an Africander, who was shorter than myself, and had very robust arms. The people are extremely fond of balls and gaieties, which they attend dressed out in the gayest colours; and you sometimes see a fine French cambric handkerchief bordered with deep lace in the black fist of a floor-scrubbing Hottentot, as she walks grinning along to join a dancing party. The Africanders are very dirty in their persons, and they rub their bodies with a vile-smelling oil; the presence of a musk-rat is quite as agreeable as that of a Hottentot in a room. They appear to have a taste for music, judging from the correct manner in which I have heard the children singing various airs on the mountain.
I do not particularly admire the shops in Cape Town. I was taken to a store, as they call it, and bought a quantity of Irish linen; as soon as the linen was washed, after having been made into jackets, it fell into holes and was useless. At a shop in the Heerengratch I purchased two pieces of mousseline-de-laine; it was
- ↑ Ibid. No. 133.
