LETTERS FROM THE CAPE. By Lady Duff Gordon. Annotated by
Dorothea Fairbridge, with an Introduction by Mrs. Janet Ross. (Oxford University Press. 10s.
These Letters from the Cape were first published in 1864. On their first appearance they were bowdlerized, but are now published as they were written. Exceedingly humorous and lively, they give an intimate picture of the life of Cape Colony some sixty odd years ago. A traveller in search of health, Lady Duff Gordon crossed the ocean in a sailing ship which bounded like a tiger," established herself in a primitive boarding-house in Cape Town and found time and courage to take long journeys Into the. neighbouring villages, and register her impressions' day by day for the amusement 'of her-husband at .home. Fascinated by the scenery, she does not, however, give much time to its description, but writes chiefly of the strangers whom she meets, the Dutch farmers, the Hottentots, and the Malays. An admixture of races is only just beginning. Its dangers are unknown- The French strain among the Boers still shows very distinctly, does indeed lend distinction. The half-bred Hottentots charm her. Those of "mixed Dutch and Hottentot origin, (correctly Bastaards), have a sort of blackguard elegance in their gait which is peculiar to them." The women have " the elegance without the
blackguard looks. All are slender, most are tall, all are graceful." These half-castes are, she thinks, far above the pure Hottentots in intelligence, are indeed " equal to Whites." Hottentot old women are " the grandest hags," with faces like Andrea del Sarto's old women. We have quoted enough to show the charm of the author's style. Space forbids us to do justice to her matter.
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