5th
Parade for 2 hours before dinner. Got passes and went to town. Went to stores and got some things. Had a walk in Government Park. Sent silver leaves to father and Aunt Katie. Cape Town has some very fine buildings in it. There are the Grand Mansions Victoria and Grand Parade hotels, the Post Office, Government buildings and some churches and stores. Most of the streets are stone and sandy but very narrow. Some are dirty and muddy in the lower parts. Side walks narrow some made of ashphalte. People walk on the street about as much as they walk on the side walk. You can get a good view of the Town off the hills back of it. Colin and Henderson and I went up one hill on Sunday afternoon and viewed the Town and the Harbour. Could see the Maine laying out from the Dock. The people of Cape Town are rather a mixed race of people. There are Europeans of every description and then there are Kafirs, Malay & Hotentots. The Malays dress very extravagantly. You can tell the women by the silk handkerchiefs they wear on their heads and the men by the red cap with a tassel on it. I saw some Malay women on the Street with as expensive looking dresses as any I saw while in Winnipeg. I guess they live on rice curry and fish and a lot of them pack in a small house. Policemen get from 90 to 120 pounds a year. Motormen and conductors on the tramway get 75 f day (12hrs) Board very expensive. Good meal at a restaurant 2s or 3s perhaps more. Street cars are called Tramway cars. The company is called Cape Town Tramway Co. The Canadian General is the only motors I saw. They charge 3d a ticket 1 cent dearer than in Canada. A lot of the cars are two storey . Not covering over the motorman. They run out 5 or 6 miles 6d to go out to Rhodes Farm.