Letters from the Cape Part 7

You would have been moved by poor old Abdool Jemaalee's solemn benediction when I took leave to-day. He accompanied it with a gross of oranges and lemons.

LETTER XV

Capetown, Thursday, May 8th.

AT last, after no end of 'casus' and 'discrimina rerum', I shall sail on Sat.u.r.day the 10th, per s.h.i.+p _Camperdown_, for East India Docks.

These weary six weeks have cost no end of money and temper. I have been eating my heart out at the delay, but it was utterly impossible to go by any of the Indian s.h.i.+ps. They say there have never been so few s.h.i.+ps sailing from the Cape as this year, yet crowds were expected on account of the Exhibition. The Attorney-General goes by our s.h.i.+p, so we are sure of good usage; and I hear he is very agreeable. I have the best cabin next to the stern cabin, in both senses of _next_. S- has come back from the s.h.i.+p, where she has spent the day with the carpenter; and I am to go on board to-morrow. Will you ask R- to cause inquiries to be made among the Mollahs of Cairo for a Hadji, by name Abdool Rachman, the son of Abdool Jemaalee, of Capetown, and, if possible, to get the inclosed letter sent him? The poor people are in sad anxiety for their son, of whom they have not heard for four months, and that from an old letter.

Henry will thus have a part of all the blessings which were solemnly invoked on me by poor old Abdool, who is getting very infirm, but toddled up and cracked his old fingers over my head, and invoked the protection of Allah with all form; besides that Betsy sent me twelve dozen oranges and lemons. Abdool Rachman is about twenty-six, a Malay of Capetown, speaks Dutch and English, and is supposed to be studying theology at Cairo. The letter is written by the prettiest Malay girl in Capetown.

I won't enter upon my longings to be home again, and to see you all. I must now see to my last commissions and things, and send this to go by next mail.

G.o.d bless you all, and kiss my darlings, all three.

LETTER XVI

Friday, May 16th.

On board the good s.h.i.+p _Camperdown_, 500 miles North-west of Table-Bay.

I EMBARKED this day week, and found a good airy cabin, and all very comfortable. Next day I got the carpenter's services, by being on board before all the rest, and relashed and cleeted everything, which the 'Timmerman', of course, had left so as to get adrift the first breeze.

At two o'clock the Attorney-General, Mr. Porter, came on board, escorted by bands of music and all the volunteers of Capetown, _quorum pars maxima fuit_; i.e. Colonel. It was quite what the Yankees call an 'ovation'.

The s.h.i.+p was all decked with flags, and altogether there was _le diable a quatre_. The consequence was, that three signals went adrift in the scuffle; and when a Frenchman signalled us, we had to pa.s.s for _brutaux Anglais_, because we could not reply. I found means to supply the deficiency by the lining of that very ancient anonymous cloak, which did the red, while a bandanna handkerchief of the Captain's furnished the yellow, to the sailmaker's immense amus.e.m.e.nt. On him I bestowed the blue outside of the cloak for a pair of dungaree trowsers, and in signalling now it is, 'up go 2.41, and my lady's cloak, which is 7.'

We have had lovely weather, and on Sunday such a glorious farewell sight of Table Mountain and my dear old Hottentot Hills, and of Kaap Goed Hoop itself. There was little enough wind till yesterday, when a fair southerly breeze sprang up, and we are rolling along merrily; and the fat old _Camperdown does_ roll like an honest old 'wholesome' tub as she is.

It is quite a _bonne fortune_ for me to have been forced to wait for her, for we have had a wonderful spell of fine weather, and the s.h.i.+p is the _ne plus ultra_ of comfort. We are only twelve first-cla.s.s upper-deck pa.s.sengers. The captain is a delightful fellow, with a very charming young wife. There is only one child (a great comfort), a capital cook, and universal civility and quietness. It is like a private house compared to a railway hotel. Six of the pa.s.sengers are invalids, more or less. Mr. Porter, over-worked, going home for health to Ireland; two men, both with delicate chests, and one poor young fellow from Capetown in a consumption, who, I fear, will not outlive the voyage. The doctor is very civil, and very kind to the sick; but I stick to the cook, and am quite greedy over the good fare, after the atrocious food of the Cape.

Said cook is a Portuguese, a distinguished artist, and a great bird-fancier. One can wander all over the s.h.i.+p here, instead of being a prisoner on the p.o.o.p; and I even have paid my footing on the forecastle.

S- clambers up like a lively youngster. You may fancy what the weather is, that I have only closed my cabin-window once during half of a very damp night; but no one else is so airy. The little goat was as rejoiced to be afloat again as her mistress, and is a regular pet on board, with the run of the quarter-deck. She still gives milk-a perfect Amalthaea.

The butcher, who has the care of her, c.o.c.kers her up with dainties, and she begs biscuit of the cook. I pay nothing for her fare. M-'s tortoises are in my cabin, and seem very happy. Poor Mr. Porter is very sick, and so are the two or three coloured pa.s.sengers, who won't 'make an effort' at all. Mrs. H- (the captain's wife), a young Cape lady, and I are the only 'female ladies' of the party. The other day we saw a shoal of porpoises, amounting to many hundreds, if not some thousands, who came frisking round the s.h.i.+p. When we first saw them they looked like a line of breakers; they made such a splash, and they jumped right out of the water three feet in height, and ten or twelve in distance, glittering green and bronze in the sun. Such a pretty, merry set of fellows!

We shall touch at St. Helena, where I shall leave this letter to go by the mail steamer, that you may know a few weeks before I arrive how comfortably my voyage has begun.

We see no Cape pigeons; they only visit outward s.h.i.+ps-is not that strange?-but, _en revanche_, many more albatrosses than in coming; and we also enjoy the advantage of seeing all the homeward-bound s.h.i.+ps, as they all _pa.s.s_ us-a humiliating fact. The captain laughed heartily because I said, 'Oh, all right; I shall have the more sea for my money',-when the prospect of a slow voyage was discussed. It is very provoking to be so much longer separated from you all than I had hoped, but I really believe that the bad air and discomfort of the other s.h.i.+ps would have done me serious injury; while here I have every chance of benefiting to the utmost, and having mild weather the whole way, besides the utmost amount of comfort possible on board s.h.i.+p. There are some c.o.c.kroaches, indeed, but that is the only drawback. The _Camperdown_ is fourteen years old, and was the crack s.h.i.+p to India in her day. Now she takes cargo and p.o.o.p-pa.s.sengers only, and, of course, only gets invalids and people who care more for comfort than speed.

_Monday Evening_, May 26_th_.-Here we are, working away still to reach St. Helena. We got the tail of a terrific gale and a tremendous sea all night in our teeth, which broke up the south-east trades for a week. Now it is all smooth and fair, with a light breeze again right aft; the old trade again. Yesterday a large shark paid us a visit, with his suite of three pretty little pilot-fish, striped like zebras, who swam just over his back. He tried on a sailor's cap which fell overboard, tossed it away contemptuously, snuffed at the fat pork with which a hook was baited, and would none of it, and finally ate the fresh sheep-skin which the butcher had in tow to clean it, previous to putting it away as a perquisite. It is a beautiful fish in shape and very graceful in motion.

To-day a barque from Algoa Bay came close to us, and talked with the speaking trumpet. She was a pretty, clipper-built, sharp-looking craft, but had made a slower run even than ourselves. I dare say we shall have her company for a long time, as she is bound for St. Helena and London.

My poor goat died suddenly the other day, to the general grief of the s.h.i.+p; also one of the tortoises. The poor consumptive lad is wonderfully better. But all the pa.s.sengers were very sick during the rough weather, except S- and I, who are quite old salts. Last week we saw a young whale, a baby, about thirty feet long, and had a good view of him as he played round the s.h.i.+p. We shall probably be at St. Helena on Wednesday, but I cannot write from thence, as, if there is time, I shall get a run on sh.o.r.e while the s.h.i.+p takes in water. But this letter will tell you of my well-being so far, and in about six weeks after the date of it I hope to be with you. I hope you won't expect too much in the way of improvement in my health. I look forward, oh, so eagerly, to be with you again, and with my brats, big and little. G.o.d bless you all.

Yours ever, L. D. G.

_Wednesday_, 28_th_.-Early morning, off St. Helena, James Town.

Such a lovely _unreal_ view of the bold rocks and baby-house forts on them! s.h.i.+p close in. Washer-woman come on board, and all hurry.

_Au revoir_.

FOOTNOTES

{27} A lane near Esher.

{30} Near Walton-on-Thames.