A Trip Five Thousand Miles Off.

down with wondrous brilliancy and size , ancl seemed reflected in the phosphoric gleam , of the yet troubled sea . A AA'hole bevy of coolies , with their glittering eyes and straight Malay features , awaited our landing , to tivo of Avhom Ave entrusted our carpet bags , ancl then Avalked on through a medley of boats ancl houses across the Grand Parade , until AVC finally

found ourselves in one of the large hotels in the Keizergracht opposite , and the possessors of pleasant apartments overlooking the Parade , and , as Ave found in . the morning , the bay also . Only those Avho , like us , have been long at sea , can guess hoiv pleasant Avas our first dinner ou shore Avith its fresh fish , vegetables , and fruitespeciallthe last . In tho sultry

, y atmosphere of less than thirty-four degrees south of the equator , fruit is prized iu a Ai'ay unknown in our cooler 'climate ; but it needed no extraneous circumstance to win admiration for the exquisite apricots ancl peaches , and the large blushing nectarines frosted with bloom ; nor for the fresh green almonds and dark lowing fi the delicious

g gs , Avater melons glittering Avhen cut like rosy ice ; nor , above all , for the grapes , large dewy heaps of purple and golden fruit , Avith tin ; delicious pine flavour that renders Cape grapes so celebrated .

Attempts have fox some time past been making to gain for tiie Cape Avines a share of public favour . Pontac , even as they sell it at the Cape , Avithout lengthened keeping , is a very agreeable Avino , and Cape sherry is not Avithout merit , but Cape Madeira is decidedly very inferior ; certainly it sells at a very loiv price , thirty to forty shillings being the usual

. sum for eighteen gallons . Of its red and Avhite Constantia - the Cape is exceedingly proud , but they are rich luscious wines , too sweet for my taste , and always remind me of tho currant AAdne of our own farmhouses . The Cape brandy is also an extremely inferior product , and selling at a very low price is a great cause of the intoxication so prevalent among the

• coloured races . But it AA'as Avith a more generous liquor than any of the preceding that Ave flavoured our fruit ou the jubilee of our arrival ; ancl if anything farther Avas needed to add to the interest of the occasion , it AVIIS given by the recollection of hoiv different from the sultry atmosphere , the glowing fruits , and the fluttering leafiness that surrounded us ,

were the frost and snow winch , were CIIAV rapping our native land ; for it Avas the first month of the new year , and the midsummer .. Christmas ofthe south Avas but lately passed . It needed but to glance around us to remember AVO Avere in a foreign land . There was nothing in the South African city to remind us of our OAVU country , except the broad leaves

ofthe oak trees ivith ivhich many of its streets Avero shaded , and the . scai . let uniforms ofthe soldiers Avho wandered beneath them . The Grand Parade was so near us , that thither we ¦ first bent our Avay ; it is a considerable arena iu the centre of ¦ tiie town , of course intended for the exercise of the troops , bit- also used for other purposes , for at one end is erected a

handsome suite of commercial rooms , including an excellentlibra ry , reading room , Ac . In the shade of the- deep border of oaks which surrounds tho Parade , is the fashionable promenade , and there tho inhabitants are accustomed to wander , 'discussing the passing news and listening to the strains ofthe " military bands Avhich play there two or three evenings in the Aveck .

On other evenings the public walles appear deserted , everyone seeming to prefer the at-homeness of sitting or ¦ wal king on his own stoep , as the stone verandas in front of 'houses arc called ; for Avhether raised but a single stop above the pavement or built to a considerable height , all those ' - .-long ing to Dutch people were occupied by family parties , unci it seemed to lisliman accustomed to thestrict

, strange aiiEng seclusion AA'hich wraps , as in an impenetrable veil , tho home -bfe ot his fair country women , to sec ladies—uncovered b y bonnet or shawl—laughing and chatting as gaily as if in the retirement of their own homes , and appearing quite unconscious that they were subject to public observation .

Many were the fair faces that met my eye during my evening Avalk , and many the slender forms , for though the fair skin aud flaxen tresses of the distant Netherlands still prevail among the maidens of unmixed Dutch descent , the quickness Avith which they shoot up to womanhood in their adopted country , has giA'en to their forms the sleudcrness and

fragility of reeds . On the Dutchmen themselves the climate does not appear to exercise the same influence , for thoy are generally tall and stout of person , and florid and jovial in aspect and manner . They are generally good "burghers , " ancl excellent men of business , ancl he must indeed be Yorkshire bred and born who can overreach a Dutchman in a

bargain . They are at the same time the best humoured aud most manageable of husbands , allowing their wives to guide everything domestic , Avhich they do with prudence and judgment ; for no Avhit behind her Hollandish ancestress iu thrift and industry is the Cape housewife .

Cape TOAVU generally delights A isitors by its aspect of extreme cleanliness , an appearance increased by the Avidth of the principal streets , and by the large substantial flat roofed houses being ahvays freshly coloured , cither Avhite , drab , or yelloAV , while the number of gardens relievo the dazzling glare , and the long avenues of trees cast a- grateful shade on

the pedestrian . But , for all that , Cape Town is intensely hot , some degrees hotter than the surrounding country . Facing tho burning north , ancl lying in a nook among mountains , no breath of air visits it unless it bkw a gale , and then the Avincl sends such clouds of sand whirling along the streets , getting into one ' s eyesand striking like burning shot against one ' s

, face that one is able ever after to comprehend the miseries ofthe whirlwind ofthe desert . The Cape people close their doors and windows against its entrance , but iu vain , for its finer particles penetrate everywhere . In the rear of the toivn are the Government House and

gardens , the latter open to the public as a promenade . The gardens are very extensive , ancl intersected Avith broad gravel . Avalka and long shady avenues . I believe they contain many rare plants , but I SUAV them at an unfavourable season , the middle of summer , Allien vegetation is nearly Avithered up ; winter there being , like our oivn spring , the season of leaves and flowersancl then the Avhole land is a Avilderness of

, greenery and bloom . At the upper part of the gardens are the stone dens and cages of a menagerie , but Avhen Ave saAV them they were but scantily inhabited . Among the floating-population ofthe Capo are numbers of the East India Company ' s servants , both civil aud military , come to recruit their shattered health in that delightful

ancl salubrious climate . They declare that what most especially attracts their attention on landing is the rosy faces of the children , so different from the pale little blossoms of tho burninc ; ' east . But what most attracts the attention of

strangers from England is the constant recurrence of brown or black faces . At first to their unaccustomed eyes all seem to be of the same race , ivith some variety of depth of colouring ; but altera iv-hile a difference begins to SIIOAV itself and they gradually discoA-er that they arc surrounded b y a number of distinct races , Avhose only resemblance consists in their

dusky skins . The slender brown Africander , the descendant of slaves , with his strai ght features ancl flowing hah ; differs greatly from the largely built jet black negro of Mozambique , or the burly Kruman of the West Coast , Occasionally a head raised above all others , and covered with little Avoolly knobs in lieu of hair , attracts attention to its g igantic Kafir

owner , Avhose keen glittering eye brightens tho ni ght of his heavy countenance . Contrasting strongly witli him are the lig ht forms ofthe Hindoo servants of the eastern visitors , and the Chinese ancl Lascars so often seen in our own streets , A 1 ' CAV members of other races are occasionall y to lie met in . Cape Town , but the aboriginal Hottentot , I may say , never . The Malay population alone are said to amount to upwards of live thousand . In consequence of a revolt in Malacca