The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-11-17
The BOYS of Cape Town,
InY Z. pIoaAR.1

Africa. 1t is in a beautiful and quiet valley,
where the sun shines brighter and clearer and
warmer than in England, or even in most
parts of America. Just above the city there
rises mountain, which is more than $500
feet right over the sea, and almost straight
up and down like wall for more than half
its height
They call it Table Mountain, because it is
wide and broad and fat ON the top. 1t can
be seen long way at sea-nearly hundred
miles-and then it looks like great square
block rising out of the ocean.
Often when all the rest of the sky Is quite
clear there will be white clouds hanging
over this mountain. They are a sign of the
southeast winds, that blow very hard there,
and, when people see them, they say, "the
table-cloth is laid on the Mountain"
At the foot of Cape Town there is a large
bay called Table Bay. Where the town is
built is called Table Valley; so there you
have three tables-Table Mountain, Table
Valley and Table Bay.
Nowwe will sit on one of these tables and
see what the boys do in Cape Town. There
are strange lot boys here. / suppose you
think because it is Africa, they are all
negroes-such as you see in the pictures
with hardly any clothes to wear.
sure, but there are plenty of white boys, too
plenty of brown boys. yellow boys, olive
boys, and nearly red boys, and boys of all
shades of colors.
The fathers and mothers of these boys
come from all parts of the world; not only
from England. Scotland, Ireland. Germany,
Sweden, Russia, France and those other
LIT nd
from China, from the Malay Peninsula,
from Japan, from St. Helena-where Napo-
leon died-and, in fact, from almost every
place, except from among the poor Indians
out West. And there are some boys there
whose fathers and mothers used to live in
New York and Boston.
And such funny clothes some ofthese boys
wear here in Cape Town. There is white
plaster house, with square top and fiat
roof, and the boy setting in the door is dressed
all in bright red.
Why, he looks like some little boy in a
circus. His red cap is small and round,
with no peak on it, and no trimming, except
black tassel on the top. His red coat comes
down to the bottom of his red trowsers,
nearly, and looks like a nightgown trimmed
with yellow cord. He gets up and turns
round to come out, and we see he is quite
olive colored. What country is he from2
His grandfather and grandmother were
brought here as slaves about hundred
years ago from the Malay country, in Asia,
many hundred miles away east.
Why does he wear that kind of dress2
Because his people are Mohammedans by
religion, and he has been with them to
Mecca and Medina, in Arabia, where Mo-
manned lived.
Many Mohammedaus in Cape Town go to
Mecca as pilgrims, and when they come
back they wear long gowns, to show that
they have been there. They are then called
a Hadjie.
How proud this boy struts up the street,
You would think he hao been all round the
world, and to Mecca, too. We see him go
among a crowd of boys at the street-corner,
and such a crowdl Ali sorts aud sizes and
colors. There is a good-looking white boy,
well dressed, and fit to be your cousin, talk
ing and hob-nobbing with boy as black as
charcoal, but well dressed, too.
Some white boys would not associate with
him, but this boy does, for the colored boy
and his people have always lived here. and
he is well-behaved, and goes TO school and to
Sunday-school with white boys.
Another boy among this crowd is nearly
as black, but his skin is very smooth-looking
his features regular, and his eyes large and
bright He has no shirt or necktie under
his coat, and is barefoot. He seems shy, and
does not feel at home among the others. He
is Kafir, and has not lived long in the
town; that is why he is bashful.
Perhaps he comes from the land of the
Galikas. a tribe of negroes who were con-
quered by the white people of the Cape, and
many of them captured and brought down
to Cape Town, where they were compelled
to work as servants for two or three years.
Or perhaps he is Kafir all the way from
Zululand, the place where King Cetywayo
lived.
By-the-way, Cetywayo is now here in
Cape Town, prisoner in the "Castle,"
where they keep the cannons to defend the
town.
In the crowd there is dark brown lad.
like AN Indian, with straight, black hair and
black, sharp eyes, and thinner nose than the
rest. He has a small, round cap, too, and is
dressed nearly like the boy in red. And
who is he2 Well, his father is what they
call "ccolie"-that is, native of East In
dia, who works as laborer He came here
from another country in Africa. called Ma
tai, where they work in the sugar planta-
ton.
Now there is another boy, standing by
this coolie boy, that might be his brother,
they look so much alike. But yet this one
comes from st. Helena, an island in the
Atlantic Ocean, about 800 miles northwest
from Cape Town, and not northwest where
India is
And here is funny little fellow, with
face pale-yellow and body as thin as a ghost.
His hair is curly, but not jet black, like most
of the Others. His nose seems fiattened
down on his face; his lips are very thick,
and his mouth very wide.
There is queer kind of wrinkle
down his face; his cheek-bone sticks out
very much, and the skin of his eye-Iids
seems to be folded somehow over the corner
of his twinkling eyes.
Perhaps you know by the picture books
who this boy is. He is Hottentot, Some
would say he is bushman boy, but he is
not. There are none of these bush boys
here in this crowd, but we could find them
if we walked about the town.
But can not begin to describe each boy
in the crowd, there are so many different
kinds and colors and races.
There seem to be mixtures of all those we
have noticed. Perhaps one of these lads
may have father who is Malay, and q
ruothar Who IL a a fir or naoro And so