Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-02-09

Special correspondence.
Capetown. Cape Colony, South Africa.
Jan. From the time / left my home
In Utah, 1t took me just two months to
the day to get here, and l had n very
enjoyable trip. Seymour Wells and l
did as much sightseeing as we could
together. both In America and IN
Europe. We saw London and Paris to-
gether but there we separated.
had splendid trip from Liverpool
was Just q days ON the water, but
the sea was calm and the weather de-
lighful. There were many Interesting
things to see while passing through tho
torrid zone, and the time passed very
quickly. Various amusements were IN
dulged in on board, such as dances and
races, concerts, etc, thus breaking any
monotony that may arise.
was greatly surprised with South
Africa. had the exaggerated Ideas
that most of our people at home have.
Although ] knew there were great
number of civilized people here | eX-
pected to see many barbarans. The
land. TOO, | thought would be almost
desolato. but found 1t to be otherwise.
Cape Town is the first part of South
Africa | saw. 1t stands Just beneath
Table mountain. which can be seen for
several hours before arrival When
] landed the atmosphere was very clear
and the sea as calm as Great Salt lake.
1t was a very beautiful sight. Every
thing is green, and flowers grow every
where. Clear TO the top of Table noun
tain is a vertable forest of pines, palms
and tropical trees. | learned that they
all had been planted as an experiment
to make the climate more moist l do
not know If the desired effect was OBJ
tanned, but the trees certainly do not
detract from the appearance of the
country.
The town itself is about the size Of
Salt Lake, II has everything modern,
such as hanson cabs, electric cars
and automobiles. Some of the buildings
are massive structures, though not sky
scrapers Everything, at first sight,
appears to be up-to-date. In the de-
partment stores are found sliding stair
cases elevators and other conveniences
met with in any large city, though
some OF the improvements are of an
early pattern.
1t is interesting to note the differ
ences in the people, ! dare say there Is
not race on earth not represented by
some Of its people, There are Arabs,
who still wear their heads wrapped in
bright colored cloths; Greeks. Turks.
wearing the fez; Indians. Maays. and
colored people of all types. Most OF
them dress as we do, except for the
headgear. In nearly all cases, the na~
tive dress on the head is worn. The
English people predominant. but Amer
leans seem TO be holding their own In
business. All along the streets are seen
the large signs of American insurance
companies and other firms doing "a unie
Versal business. The kafiirs, or native
negroes. are very numerous. They are
employed by the city to clean the
streets and do other mental labor They
also do a great deal of peddling, selling
every kind of fruit in season, and fish.
They speak both Dutch and English
and many OF them have their native
jargon besides.
The carts they use are cumbersome
two wheeled affairs, like our dump
cart" and mules or oxen supply the
motive power. Sometimes as many as
five yoke of oxen are used While pass
ing through the city, the law requires
oxen to be led. so a little kafiir IS seen
leading the large bulloeks by only a
piece of string.
This country has very good railroad
service. The trains resemble those used
In p,gland except for the locomotive.
which looks like our American engines.
The trains are narrow gage, and run
slowly, but they are very frequent. 1t
Is said that over 300 trains pass through
but I believe that is overestimated. The
government controls and operates all
trains. as well as other public utilities.
The Cape Town station is large and
up-to-date, much like the north station
in Boston. / do not see many freight
trains Most of the traffic appears to
be passenger. Probably the reason for
SO much passenger train service is
that nearly all the people live in the
suburbs. All of the well-to-do people,
with few exceptions live just about
10 or Is minutes ride from Cape Town.
Notwithstanding the beauty of the
country, 1t seems to me not to be n
desirable place to live, 1t Is not self
supporting. and is very dependent on
England and America. There are some
farms here but they are small and do
not supply tenth of the demand.
Living here, is quite expensive. Most
of the food stuffs are American made.
or English. Fuel is about three times