[Engelse tekst]
Introductory remark.
M.D. Teenstra (1795-1864), a Dutch gentleman-farmer from the province of Groningen, in the Netherlands, stayed at the Cape from 12th March to 7th July, 1825. Actually he was on his way to Java but had been compelled to remain here owing to a very severe attack of rheumatism and gout (possibly rheumatic fever), caused by sudden exposure to wet and cold on board ship. On medical advice he went to the celebrated warm baths at Caledon for a cure and took advantage of his stay there to visit the surrounding farmers, the mission station at Genadendal, the famous ‘Druipkelders’ (dripping lime caves) near Cape Agulhas, returning to Cape Town via Fransch Hoek and Stellenbosch.
Teenstra gives us a full description of the people he met, the places he visited, the social, political and economic conditions prevailing at the time, and his work is remarkable not only for his own intelligent, thorough and accurate observation, but also for his study and use of official statistics and works by other prominent authors on the Cape. He gave particular attention to the language, habits and customs, means of travel, thermal treatment at Caledon, farming methods and system of slavery at the Cape, while his description of the topography of Cape Town is one of the very best. Altogether, particularly for his description of Cape Town, life and habits in that town (mother-city of South Africa and metropolis at that time) and in the districts that he visited, Teenstra can be ranked amongst the first writers on the Cape.
It is difficult to do justice to an extensive work in a summary, as here, about one-seventh of its total length. Many details have had to be left out and many of Teenstra's remarks, sometimes discursive but always interesting and sometimes witty, have had to be omitted. Still, the summarist has tried to retain Teenstra's personal style by adhering to his expression in letter-form and where possible giving those remarks which reveal Teenstra as a cultured man, a good Christian, a good European - but also a good Dutchman.
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