FROM NEW ZEALAND TO CAPETOWN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9368, 18 May 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

FROM NEW ZEALAND TO CAPETOWN.

No. 11. [By William Gilt..] AT TAMATAVE, MADAGASCAR. In my former notes my journey was brought down to the Mauritius. Leaving there on the 27th of February, with a motley and mixed company of passengers, we arrived at Tamatave on the afternoon of the Ist of March, but owing to some hitch about the bill of health, the s.s. Dunrobiii Castle lay outside the black coral reef which surrounds the little harbour, riding with remarkable ease during a stormy night of thunder, lightning, and rain. Early the next morning I organised a party of good compctgiions da voyage to go ashore. It is a fine clear bright morning, and the lofty hills and majestic mountains for which Madagascar is famed, can be seen with great advantage, whilst the foreground presents such a mixture of foliage and wooded ground that very little of the port of Tamatave, with its 10,000 inhabitants, can be seen. A small boat with its stalwart crew of Hovas behi£ ready, we embark in their frail craft, and soon find ourselves bounding over the crested waves, for with an united will they pull for the shore. Having engaged a respoctablo guide and interpreter, we next hire carriages, for the roads so called are too bad,and the heat too great, for walking. These " carriages " are none of your ordinary " four-wheelers," for thero are none, and not even horses in tho island, although it has a population of 3,500,000 people. Our conveyances I can only describe as a sitting " stretcher," on which one person sits on a canvas seat in the centre of two long poles with cross bars, and is carried shoulder-high by four natives. In this ludicrous fashion we go in procession through the town, and although eyed by a large crowd of dusky Creoles, Malagasy* and a few bronzed Frenchmen, our position is not looked upon as singular. A more miserable place you can scarcely imagine. The streets, without sidepaths, are narrow and of deep sand ; wretched huts and stores are scattered in all directions, abominable drinking saloons are in full force, narrow courts or dens are teeming with coloured people idling about or standing at the corners of streets, waiting to be hired ; the market place is a series of llimsy shanties made out of packing cases, the tin linings from boxes, old canvas and bamboo sticks, with open sewers running through it, and therefore one cannot wonder at malarial fever, which I understand has been very prevalent during the last tew months, or the havoc a hurricane produces. Living is very cheap, and a few coppers go a long way. For the services of the four able-bodied men who carried me about, my guide told me I was to pay one franc, or L'A(l each. You may, therefore, judge of their delight when I pave them half a franc (">d) each. Little did I think as I gazed on Tamatave from the deck of the vessel that I was going to see such a poverty-stricken, disreputable place, but truly "all things are not what they seem," and as I return to the vessel in some measure disappointed, I am glad to have visited such an interesting country as Madagascar is, and a place where so few Englishmen have been. MADAGASCAR

is a large mountainous island, about 900 miles long by 300 wide. It has seen many changes and passed through troublous times, as we learn from history and the old missionaries who laboured there many years ago. It is now an absolute monarchy, under French protection ; its oilieial religion is Christian, bub the bulk of the natives are still pagan. Queen Ranavalona lives at Antananarivo, the capital, which is situated about 100 miles from the port. The island is said to be rich in silver, copper, iron, and coal, and recently gold has been discovered, bub as yet these precious metals have scarcely been touched. The people are ages behind the times, for they have no horses, mules, or carriages, no railways, trams, telegraphs, cables or gas. "Darkness" may be said "to cover the earth," and " gross darkness the people." Bub I must bid adieu bo long-to-be-remembered Taraatave and Madagascar, anil journey on towards Africa. Our jolly Captain Duncan, of the Dunrobin, has given the word of com-

inand, the anchor's weighed and we soon find ourselves running down the east coast of Madagascar, with our living freight of nearly '200 coloured people and a cargo of •J.'iOO tons of sugar. The ship is heavily laden, and for a few days we experience bad weather and ship heavy seas, during which time it is truly pitiable to see the dark races, who are nearly all deck passengers, huddled together. We have Indians, Chinese, Creoles, Arabs, Greeks, Malagasians, and almost every other species of the swarthy tribes on board, and I could nob but feel sorry for the few English third-class passengers who had to mix with such a dirty lob.

OUT OF THE TROPICS, Where I have been sweltering for nearly a month, I am able to pursue my reading with more comfort, and have just finished " Robert Elsmere." As we near the coast of Africa drooping spirits revive. The Greeks pub on their purple and fine linen, the Arabs their bright silk garments and caps, and all seem animated and cheerful at the prospect of getting ashore. The African shores are sighted on Thursday, the Bth of March, and at five p.m. we are anchored off Port Natal, about a mile from the bar, which is considered dangerous, and cannot be crossed by such large vessels as the Dunrobin. To the chagrin of everybody on board, it was either too late or too rough for the steam launch to come out to vis; so we had to ride oil the briny ocean another night, with Durban, the seaport town, in the dim distance. Early the next morning the launch and lighters came alongside, but, with a rough sea and a heavy swell, the passengers had to be swung in a large wickerwork basket, holding about three or four persons, from the ship to the launch. This process took a considerable time, but eventually all were safely landed, and began to wend their way to the town, Durban, 1 r l , miles from the landing-place. Nearly all the passengers left the ship here, and as far as I could gather three-fourths of them were bound for the wonderful gold fields which have been discovered, and of which Johannesburg is the centre. Speaking of this town, although it has no railways yet within 300 miles, it is one of the most extraordinary towns in the world for rapid growth, wealth, and development. Two years and a-half ago it had a few solitary houses, now it has substantial buildings and a population roughly estimated at 40,000. It has quite eclipsed the diamond fields, and bids fair to be the greatest and richest gold-producing country known. But I am digressing from my story, and I fear making my notes too long.

DURBAN, Like many colonial towns, has one long wide street, in which are the principal buildings and shops, with other streets running parallel and at right angles to it, but only partly built up. It has a line Town Hall, very many years in advance of the times, and pretty suburban residences

lining the hill sides contiguous to the town. The harbour is good, and breakwaters are being constructed at the entrance, and the bar is being improved. When these works are carried out Durban will be a most important place. Here we met the Zulus, a tine, powerful race of men, as we have known to our cost. From Port .Natal to East London is only one day's run, and after a hasty visit to this small but well-laid-out place, and making acquaintance with Kaffirs, for I hero successfully interceded for one I saw brutally treated, we steam on to

PORT ELIZABETH IN ALGOA BAY. Here I find a thorough English-looking place, with a preponderance of English and Scotch people. The Dutch element — powerful and objectionable in Cape Town — is almost entirely absent here, and the Kaffirs and other black races have their own quarters outside the town, and are not allowed on the streets after nine o'clock at night. The town runs down to the bay, is w> l and substantially built, has a line Town Hail, Public Library, a General and also a Feather Market, and the best and largest wool stores in Africa. It was a gala time when I was there, so I did not see much of business, but I was convinced it was there, and the export of wool, feathers, etc,, proves that it stands in

the premier "position in the colony. The English cricketers were contending against an African picked team, and the Agricultural Society of South Africa were at the same timo holding their annual show. I was invited to both, but time would not admit —the Warwick Castle was leaving that night, so I joined her, and after a two days' run we sighted Robbens Island, then the great Table Mountain, a veritable Rock of Ages," standing up in bold and sublime grandeur 4000 eet above the sea level, with Capetown nestling under the shadow of this great rock, but almost hidden from view by a fog, which had barely cleared off as I entered a cab, passed the Customs, and drove to Claridge's Family Hotel. A description of Capetown and the goldfields, and also some account of the people I met on board, I must reserve for another time. I arrived at the Cape on the 14th of March, having covered a distance of 11,134 miles. Capetown, March 30th, 18S9.