At Cape Town I received the first proofs of the kind and lavish
attentions which everywhere in South Africa were subsequently bestowed
upon me. From everyone, without exception--from His Excellency the
Administrator and Mrs. Smyth, and the members of his staff--from all the
public men and high officials--from members of the Cape Government, and
from the leaders of the Opposition, besides from innumerable private
friends, Dutch and English alike, I received such cordial tokens of
goodwill, that I can only express my deep sense of appreciation of their
most genial and friendly hospitality. I bid adieu to Cape Town (which I
was visiting for the first time in my life) with the conviction that I
was truly in a land, not of strangers, but of real friends, who desired
to do everything in their power to make my visit to South Africa
pleasant and agreeable to me; and this impression I carried with me ever
afterwards at every place I visited during the whole of my tour.
On Wednesday, May 29, I left Cape Town at 6.30 p.m. for Kimberley,
passing Beaufort West, the centre of an extensive pastoral district, and
De Aar, the railway junction from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
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