The manner in which we were received at Stellenboſch afforded a ſtriking contraſt with the frankneſs and cordiality of our reception at Bottelary. This was a very pleaſant village; but we found that we were not to expect every where that agreeable frankneſs of manners, which characteriſes the planters of the Cape. We had imagined that a letter of recommendation from Colonel Gordon, addreſſed to M. Hoffman, would be ſufficient to introduce us: but it was not till after he had carefully examined our paſſport, that he invited us to remain at his houſe. There are no public inns at Stellenboſch, no more than at the Cape Town; but the Dutch inhabitants of the town accommodate Grangers at a ſettled price, which indemnifies the landlord. We were lodged at M. Hoffman's very nearly upon the ſame footing as at the Cape.
On the following day I viſited the hills in the neighbourhood of Stellenboſch.
The beautiful tree called brabeium ſtellulifolium, remarkable for its fruit, which reſembles in ſhape that of the almond-tree, grew here upon the banks of a rivulet that runs through the village.
I enriched my collection with ſeveral kinds of orchis, and with the ſpecies of the protea, called mellifera, pallens and ſpecioſa; beſides a number of other plants.
