A Winter Tour in South Africa | Page 4

Colony.
At the Record Office attached to the House of Parliament, I went into
the vaults, and inspected the early manuscripts of the Dutch, during

their original occupation of the Cape of Good Hope. These are most
deeply and historically interesting, and valuable. The minute accuracy,
with which every incident is recorded is most remarkable. There are
bays in these vaults, filled with records, which must be of priceless
value to an historical student, and they are now in course of
arrangement by the able librarian, Mr. H.C.V. Leibbrandt, who is the
author of a most interesting work entitled "Rambles through the
Archives of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope."[A]
At the South African Museum I found a valuable collection of beasts,
birds, fishes, &c., not only from South Africa, but from various parts of
the world. The collection has been enriched by valuable contributions
from Mr. Selous, the distinguished African traveller, and sportsman, his
donations consisting chiefly of big game, including two gigantic elands,
(male and female), buffaloes, antelopes, &c. The series of birds
comprises the large number of two thousand species.
A visit of great interest to me was to the South African Public Library,
which boasts of about 50,000 volumes, and embraces every branch of
science and literature. It contains three distinct collections, viz., the
Dessinian, the Grey, and the Porter. The first-named was bequeathed to
the Colony in 1761 by Mr. Joachim Nicholas Von Dessin, and consists
of books, manuscripts and paintings. The Porter collection took its
name from the Hon. William Porter, and was purchased from the
subscriptions raised for the purpose of procuring a life-size portrait of
that gentleman, in recognition of his services to the Colony. As,
however, Mr. Porter declined to sit for his portrait, the amount
subscribed was appropriated to the purchase of standard works, to be
known as the Porter Collection. By far the most valuable, however, is
the Grey Collection, numbering about 5,000 volumes, and occupying a
separate room. These were presented by Sir George Grey, Governor of
the Cape Colony from 1854 to 1859, and still an active member of the
New Zealand House of Representatives. Here are many rare
manuscripts, mostly on vellum or parchment, some of them of the tenth
century, in addition to a unique collection of works relating to South
Africa generally.

Among the places of worship in Cape Town the most important are St.
George's Cathedral, which was built in 1830, and is of Grecian style of
architecture, and accommodates about 1,200 persons; and the Dutch
Reformed Church, which possesses accommodation for 3,000 persons,
and is not unappropriately named the Colonial Westminster Abbey.
Beneath its floors lie buried eight Governors of the Colony, the last one
being Ryk Tulbagh, who was buried in 1771.
No account of Cape Town would be complete without a reference to
the important Harbour Works, and Breakwater, which at once attract
the attention of the visitor, and which have been in course of erection
for several years past, from the designs of Sir John Coode. These works
have been of the greatest importance in extending, and developing the
commercial advantages of the port. The Graving Dock now named the
Robinson, after the late Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, was formally
opened during the year 1882, and it so happened that the first vessel to
enter it was the Athenian, in which I returned to England, at the
termination of my tour. The whole of the works connected with the
building of the Docks and Breakwater reflect credit upon all who have
in any way been engaged upon their construction. The amount
expended on them up to the end of 1887 was £1,298,103.
Before leaving Cape Town, at the invitation of the Naval
Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Wells, I paid a visit to Simon's Town,
the chief naval station of the colony. The railway runs at present as far
as Kalk Bay, which takes about an hour to get to from Cape Town.
Kalk Bay is a pleasant seaside resort for the inhabitants of the colony,
the air being regarded as particularly invigorating. The remaining
distance of six miles to Simon's Town is performed in a Cape cart,
which is a most comfortable vehicle on two wheels, drawn by two
horses with a pole between them, and covered with a hood, as a
protection from the weather. The scenery from the Kalk Bay station to
Simon's Town is very picturesque. A bold sea stretches out on one side
of the road, and the mountain on the other. Amongst other things which
attracted my attention at Simon's Town was the Dockyard, which
embraces about a mile of the foreshore, and contains appliances for
repairing modern war vessels, a repairing and victualling depôt, and a

patent slip, capable of lifting vessels of about 900 tons