Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-02-29
The Cape OF Good Hope.

Among all the geographical James of
the world there are, perhaps, none
which have caused so much confusion
as three capes of South Africa-Cape of
Good Hope, Cape Colony and Cape
Town. The Cape Of Good Hope is the
southern extremity of the continent, the
Cape Colony the name Of the English
province, which includes the cape. and
the Cape Town the name of the city
which is the capital of the province.
Leaving the steamer / landed on the
wharf at Cape Town and walked up
Ader1y street, one Of the principal
thoronghfares Of the city. The emotion
which / naturally felt when l first set
foot on this immense and mysterious
continent, which since my childhood
has excited my Imagination with its
many wonders, can hardly be ex-
pressed. 1 thought of the vivid and re-
markable stories of Paul Du Chaillu
and the travels and adventures of Liv-
ingstone and Stanley, and a confused
panorama Of lions, girai1cs, boa con
strictors, naked savages and diamond
fields passed before my mind. | was
in Africa-the 'Dark Continent" as it
has been called by Stanley, and had a
kind OF mysterious feeling that perhaps
an elephant might appear in the street
at any moment. l looked about me;
everything was strange, remarkably for
eign, yet | was on English territory.
AS I walked up the broad, but some
throng
OF human beings and various equip
ages which We're continually passing, I
could not help asking in some surprise:
"Who are all these people, and where
did they come from?" | was in a city
OF 60, 900 inhabitants, and the buildings
were solidly and substantially built af-
ter the English style OF architecture,
but the citizens what funny people!
OF course, I was in an English colony,
ruled over b. an English Governor ape
pointed by the crown, but the people,
they were rot English, except q very
small per cent. There were Malays in
great numbers (two-thirds OF the popu-
%lation, I am told), Kaffres, Beers and
Hottentots, Hindoos, Dutch, Portu-
guese and Russians, and also a sprink-
ling of Americans. AS l walked up the
street among this foreign %rif-ratf, /
passed faces white, black, yellow and
OlOlIc, ulO tt11 lIlCOlItC SllttCS.
There were pretty faces, and ugly, hpr-
ribly ugly, faces, sad faces and merry
faces, and faces which caused me to
shudder. There were types of eastern
beauty, types of European beauty and
types of African beauty. There were
heads ornamented with rich and beau
tiful ~tresses, and heads as bald as the
desert Of Sahara. There We're people
dry as mummies and awfully old, peo-
pie in rags, and people attired in rich
and expensive costumes. There We're
gentlemen, Adventures, soldiers, sail
ors, heathens. buccaneers, fortunr-hunt-
ers, bandits, savages, cut throats and
villains, all mixed together. There were
samples of all kinds Of humanity, and
children dressed in every conceivable
name from silk velvet to nothing.
AS / regarded these characters and
thought Of the thousands of miles of
distance between this city and our por-
ton of the globe, [ aaid to myself:
''This extreme southern end of Africa
is indeed the end of the world,' the
real 'iumping-off place. Cape Toun
Cor. Springfield (Mass.) Republican.