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HOME, AFTER TWELVE YEARS.

[[London]], July 3rd, 1874

MY DEAR 'COLONIST,'-- Your were kind enough to say,
when I parted with you last April, that my impressions
of [[England]], after twelve years' absence, would be of
interest to your numerous readers.

I doubt this-- but believing they will, at all events,
personally interest so kind a friend as yourself, pro-
ceed to jot down a few observations on men and things
which struck me most.

On the voyage, we had a good view of the [[Eclipse
of April 16th]] ; had we been 200 miles more to the
N.E. [Northeast] , it would have been total. Having once seen a
total Eclipse, I beg to say that there is all the differ-
ence in the world between a total Eclipse and one very
nearly total. In the latter case, no red flames, no
corona, no [italics] nothing [end italics] except twilight instead of day-
light, and a sun of the shape of the crescent moon
scudding through the clouds instead of our usual zsol
with his round and jolly red face.

We were also favored with a nocturnal exhibition of
fireworks, provided for us by Signor [[Aurora Australis]],
consisting of rockets and streamers of all colors, the
whole concluding with a brilliant, but not new design,
of a luminous arch, remaining for some hours in the
South.

The sailors harpooned two porpoises- but no ! I will
not go on with the ordinary log of every voyager- for
there is nothing on earth more commonplace ; and
even dearest personal friends yawn over them.

I had several diaries of voyages from [[England]] to
[[Natal]] placed at my disposal by fellow-passengers. I
made but one extract : it was from that of a lively and
hungry youth of 17.

You are welcome to it : -- 'Dec. [December] 24, 1873- Lat. [Latitude] 40
N. [North] Long. 10 15 W. [West] Christmas Eve.- The biggest pig
killed by the Captain's order. N.B. - Liver and Bacon
for Breakfast to morrow.'

It is delightful to an Englishman, when once he
fairly enters the [[Channel]], to see, how day by day, the
number of ships increase ; every road leads to [[Britain]]
and especially to [[London]]. The shore also becomes,
every mile, more thickly settled ; the houses (or rather
mansions) handsomer, until almost a street lines the
shore from [[St. Leonard's]] to [[Folkestone]].

Then came the white cliffs of [[Albion]], [[Shakspere's
Cliffs]], which man has tunnelled, but cannot quite lick
into shape for building plots yet.

The Light-houses also increase in number, brilliancy,
and expense, as you appraoch nearer to the River
that floats you up to our Empire City.

At [[Dungeness]] you first see the wonderful Electric
light shooting through the darkness more than twenty
miles to sea.

But at the [[South Foreland]], there are now two of these
wonderful Electro-Magnetic lights, which it is worth
taking the voyage to see.

When a tanned brown sail screened the actual lights
from my aching sight, the sea appeared, from us to the
coast of [[France]], as if illuminated by the full-moon.

And twenty-seven miles off, on the coast of [[France]],
old 'Gris Nez' flashed back a revolting Electric light,
both countries thus uniting to 'guard our ship from
foes or wreck.'

No sight in the world, can more impress the mind
with a sense of the wonderful power and intellect the
Creator has bestowed on our race, than this.

I observed that these lights contract and dilate, or
[italics]in[end italics]spire and [italics]ex[end italics]pire, and that on contraction the lovely
whitish bluelight is tinged- faintly, but perceptibly
tinged- with rose or crimson ; on expansion with the
cooler colors, such as green or blue.

We got a Pilot on board at [[Dungeness]], as fine and
hearty as a specimen of John Bull as I ever saw in my
life. His boat was marked '[[London]], No. [Number] 1,' and he
proved to be A 1, for he asked me and my son to come
to his house in [[Dover]] and stay for a week, when he
would give us some good sea-fishing.

When I told him we were six in a family, then said
he 'I'll take you all in, we've bed-rooms enough, rather
than lose the pleasure of seeing you again. Everybody
knows my house. Bellchamber of [[Dover]] ; - called Bell
for short.'

Time would not permit me to accept this warm invi-
tation, but I was glad, on the threshold of the land, to
find [[English]] hospitality the same as ever.

We landed at [[Gravesend]], and found everywhere
buildings increased in size and number, terraces and
streets sprung up in all directions ; and then so along
the railway, past crops, gardens, villas, villages ; all
vegetation in the middle of June, being clothed with the
tenderest and freshest green.

The railway banks were blazing with flowers, a large
proportion of which were poppies and the deep pink

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thrifts peculiar to chalky soils.

In a short time we arrived at [[Charing Cross Station]],
and put up at the [[Charing Cross Hotel]], which is in fact
a Palace for the million, or, to speak more correctly,
for the thousand. Glorious large rooms with mirrors
of enormous dimensions ; gilt and illuminated ceilings ;
glass and or-molu chandeliers, large enough for a thea-
tre or [[Windsor Castle]] ; sideboards, always spread with
cold collations ; and [[French]] cooks in snowy white dresses
and caps to take your orders for [italics] friandises [end italics]. Coffee-room,
Dining-room, Smoking-room, Reading-room at the ser-
vice of all the guests, each strikingly different from
the others, and all a study of architecture and decora-
tive art, form some of the advantages of this Aladdin's
Palace.

Then, although the noble staircase, covered with the
softest carpet, is so wide and the steps so easy that it
is a pleasure to [italics] descend [end italics] it, there is a hydraulic lift, free
of charge- where one of our fellow-creatures (what a
life !) politely sees to you and your baggage going to
and from your bedroom, without charge, and as often
as you please from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. - fifteen hours a
day, poor fellow !

Our bill, for five, including an almost endless Table
d'Hote, ices, and a bottle of claret, was £4 0s. 6d. for
one day's board and one extra lunch, which cannot be
called dear for such entertainment. Bear in mind when
you come to [[London]] you save one cab-hire by putting
up at this establishment, for the Hotel porters take
your luggage from the station free of charge.

Not to see the interior and working of this and simi-
lar Hotels, such as the [[Langham]] (which, by the bye,
pays the Shareholders 15 per cent.), or the [[Midland
Counties]], or [[Great Western Hotel]], is to miss one of
the most striking and novel sights of [[London]].

From our bedroom window, at the very top of this
lofty building, burst on our delighted sight, a bird's-eye
view of the [[Thames]] with [[St. Paul's]] in the background,
crossed everywhere with magnificent bridges ; the
[[Thames]] embankment is to the left and in the fore-
ground.

It was a blaze of lgiht- [[Vauxhall Garden]], in its
palmiest days, was not so bright, The lamps along
this broad and beautiful road are of large dimensions
and in excellent taste. On the next, Sunday, afternoon,
we took a stroll along the embankment, and were de-
lighted with the beauty of teh grass and beds of flowers,
which were everywhere well kept, and frequented by a
large number of promenaders of all classes, including
many healthy and happy looking children.

The peculiar impression [[London]] presented to me,
after so many years' absence, I find hard to describe.
When asleep, I have had it presented to me in dreams,
as consisting of pieces of streets, which I knew, with
other buildings inserted here and there, which were
strange. Now really it was something like this ; shops
and houses here and there were unchanged and many
of the names the same, but next door to these perhaps
a splendid new building, half as high again as its neigh-
bors ; some business establishments also seem to have
grown so colossal that you wonder when you are to
come to the end of them, such as [[Meekings]], [[Woollen
Draper]] in [[Holborn]], [[Mudie's Library]], [[Jackson &
Graham's Upholstery Warehouse]], and [[Marshall & Snell-
grove's]] in [[Oxford Street]]. As regards the people, they
undoubtedly dress much better, and especially you
wonder where the money comes from to pay for the
velvet, silk, satin, lace, and jewellery that adorm the
fair sex.

One thing was at once odd and unexpected to me ; I
was startled every now and then by meeting, not indi-
viduals I had once known and lost sight of, but types
of race and character that I had not seen for years. I
had fallen into the idea that we had some of all sorts in
[[Natal]]. It is not so ; I had forgotten how small a com-
munity we are. Perhaps, also, there are small subtle
lines of expression that alter under the very different
circumstances in which a [[Londoner]] and a [[Colonist]] are
placed.

We took a lodging near the [[Strand]], after a good deal
of trouble to get suited, finding [[London]] unusually full,
even for the time of year. Strangely enough, just as I
felt quite tired and bothered by an unsuccessful search,
I saw across the way in [[Cecil Street]], [[Strand]], a kind
friend from [[Maritzburg]], who had been in [[England]]
over a year, and through whose efforts and information
we are now comfortably located.

In a month's time, I hope to send you some account
of the sights of [[London]].

I forgot to mention that we have here an unusually
cold and dry spring, with slight frosts at night every
now and then, up to the longest day. Even now, in
July, my friends are wearing great coats in the evening,
and insist on my wearing one also.

H.B.