Book Description:
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. THE OLD SETTLED CAPE DISTEICTS. Having made the acquaintance of the metropolis and its environs, the reader may seek to know something of the general aspect and condition of the various divisions of this extensive Colony. The first which come in order of position, occupation, and population, is that portion which formed the ' Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope ' upwards of a century ago. This embraces the Cape peninsula and the lands extending from the sea to the first range of mountains, terminating at Cape Hanglip on the one side, and St. Helena Bay on the other. It is now sub divided into five districts, known as the Cape, Stellenbosch, Paarl, Malmesbury, and Piquetburg, covering an area of over 5,000 square miles, of which 140,000 acres are under cultivation, and containing an aggregate population of about 100,000 souls, chiefly European, or at least of European descent. The railway runs through a considerable part of these districts in one direction to Wynberg, in another to Wellington and Bushman's Rock, opening into the Tulbagh Valley and Worcester, and in a third direction it will soon be extended to Malmesbury, thus affording every facility for excursions from Cape Town to any of these points. But persons who are fond of active exercise, or partial to climbing ' To sit upon an Alps as on a throne', may have a fine panoramic view of the country by getting to the summit of Table Mountain. The path up by the Platteklip ravine, above the Gardens, is a steep and somewhat fatiguing walk of two or three hours; but it is unattended with danger, and many48 Simon's Town. ladies, following the example set by Lady Aniie Barnard and Madame Ida Pfeffier, have accomplished it without any difficulty. The splendid prospect which it commands on a clear day will well re...
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