326 PUBLIC GARDENS. blacks and mulattos, keep up the resemblance in these respects to many of the most flourishing towns in Pennsylvania, and the older sections of the state of New York. There is a blending too of city and village in the appearance of the streets, and evident habits of the citizens that is very agreeable; not unlike that seen in the principal towns in the interior of the United States. In one respect, however, it is totally unlike any place in our own country-in the numerous soldiery seen on post and in the streets; several regiments being usually quartered here. The gardens formerly belonging to the Dutch East India Company are a principal ornament of the place. They occupy one hundred and twenty acres immediately adjoining the most compact part of the town-a principal part of which is inclosed and cultivated with fruit and vegetables, &c., leaving a wide and beautiful avenue of oak in the centre, nearly a mile in length, alone open to the public as a promenade. The government house is situated in the gardens on one side of the avenue— -a rural and pleasant establishment, principally in cottage style, without any particular beauty, or elegance of archi tecture. Before returning on board, I called on Mrs. Philip, lady of the Rev. Dr. Philip, superintendent of the missions in South America, under the London Missionary Society. I had previously learned with regret that Dr. Philip himself was several hundred miles in the interior, and that I should be denied the happiness of meeting him. The hospitality of her house was most kindly extended to me, but I have thought RIDE TO CONSTANTIA. 327 it advisable to remain on board ship during the short time we shall remain at our present anchorage. LETTER II. A RIDE TO CONSTANTIA, AND AN EVENING AT Protea, the COTTAGE OF SIR LOWRY COLE. U. S. Ship Vincennes, Table Bay, THE visit of the Vincennes has been received so kindly at the Cape, and all her officers so hospitably entertained by the inhabitants, both Dutch and English, that my time since our arrival has been fully occupied. A daily reciprocation of civility has taken place between the ship and town, to the seeming gratification of all parties, and we shall have much reason to remember with pleasure the many circles of agreeable acquaintance formed at the Cape of Good Hope. A principal object of curiosity in the vicinity is the estate of Constantia, so long celebrated for the peculiarity and excellence of the wine produced from its vineyards, and the Rev. Mr. Beck, a near relative of the present hereditary proprietor of the estate, kindly proposed taking Lieutenants Stribling and Magruder, and myself to it in his carriage, a few mornings since. The road leads directly north from the town, and is a delightful turnpike having an open common 328 THE SILVER TREE. sprinkled here and there with a cluster of white cottages, a single hut, or a windmill-on either side. Seared, at this season of the year, by the winds of the autum, its entire surface is sterile and dreary, like that of a heath in England. After three miles, however, the drive becomes beautiful, the road being completely embowered by groves of lofty oak and pine, and ornamented by handsome gateways, leading to mansions and cottages thickly scattered along the way-the summer retreats of "the powers that be," and of those “rich in this world's goods." The turnpike winds gradually around the bases of the Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, and at the end of six miles passes the small village of Wynberg. Two miles farther brought us to the end of our excursion. The approach to the gate is through a grove of the silver tree-protea argentea-affording us full proof of the appropriateness of their name. The long pointed leaves are thickly set on the branches, and being of a bluish green color, covered with a fine white furze or down, have the appearance, as the rays of the sun fall upon them, of being edged and tipped with silver. Constantia was originally a Dutch government estate, and is beautifully located under the mountains of the range of Table Land, commanding fine views of the surrounding country, and of the Indian Ocean on the eastern side of the cape. It derives its name from the grape of Constantia in France, which was that introduced into its vineyards, and by which it has attained its celebrity. It was sold by the government to a gentleman of the name of Cletoè, an UPPER CONSTANTIA. 329 ancestor of the present occupant, and entailed in his family, subject to certain imposts on the proceeds of the vintage. Since that period, the original estate has been divided into Upper, or Great, and Lower Constantia, from their relative position to the mountains. A new estate has also since been laid out, and planted on ground still more elevated; and, from that fact, called High Constantia. This we did not visit, but had a full view of its vineyards, stretching over the sides of a hill at the base of the mountains. The entrance to Upper, or Great Constantia, is by an avenue of majestic oaks, a quarter of a mile or more in length, descending gradually to the house, a respectable looking old mansion in the Dutch style a century ago. Mr. Cloetè received us with much politeness, and after a conversation of half an hour in a drawing-room, conducted us through the gardens, shrubbery, and fruit yard in the rear of the mansion. The colony of the Cape of Good Hope may be correctly styled the land of fruit and flowers, and the grounds are filled with a handsome variety of both. The walks are lined with hedges of myrtle, and their intersections overspread with arbors beautifully arched and ornamented, by the training of the living oak. In speaking of the value of this noble tree, we were informed by the proprietor of its importance here in a respect which I do not recollect to have before seen noticed, in the sustenance it affords not only to swine, but to horses and cattle. The acorn is a principal food on the estate of these animals, furnished to them in the manner in which VOL. II. 29 330 LOWER CONSTANTIA. Indian corn is in the United States. After being gathered, they are preserved without difficulty, by keeping them covered with fresh water, in which manner they retain all their juices without being subject to decay. A next visit was to the wine house, a long range of building filled with tiers of immense tanks of Constantia. From these a superintendant began at once to serve us with samples of the different kinds made on the estate. All the varieties-white and red, Frontinac, Muscadine, and Pontac, are sweet; too luscious to be drank except as a cordial, with cake, or after coffee at dinner. We then passed through a vineyard of forty acres, inclining handsomely on one side of the house. The vines are kept very low, about three feet from the ground, without stake or trellis, and some of them were pointed out to us as more than seventy years old. The vintage of the season is just past and the grapes all gathered, but a cluster here and there, fully ripe, afforded a luxurious bonne bouche in our walk. An elegant collation awaited our return to the mansion; after partaking of which we visited Lower Constantia, the possession of a Mr. Colyn. We were received in the same hospitable and kind manner by this gentleman, and conducted over an establishment equally rich and beautiful; and left, on our return to Wynberg--where we were to dine with the honorable Mr. Wheatley, a judge of the bench of Bengal-much gratified with the observations of the morning. |