Cocks letter diary, 1916-1919 / Verner Cocks - Page 27
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[Page 27]
P.S. In some of my letters posted on board & wich would be censored I said several apparently meaningless things to try to tell you we were going to Durban but such is not necessary when we are in port.
11.6.15
Cape Town grow to profusion & are alive with squirrels. Sometimes one strikes an old Australian gum. The grounds abound in all kinds of wild animals including huge tortoises & caged lions tigers & beautiful birds. The Rhodes Monument is like old Roman ruins with its huge columns of solid granite set at the top of a wide terrace of several flights of stone steps, the latter lined with great bronze statues of crouching lions. At the bottom of the terrace is a huge statue of a figure on a horse representing Physical Energy & in amongst the columns at the top is a casting of the man in whose honour & memory the structure was erected. The whole is placed 800 feet up on the hill side & the panoramic view is glorious & most extensive embracing the whole of the town & harbour, the surrounding mountains & ocean & behind it rises sheer up, the Table Mountain & Devil's Peak for 4000 feet.
The Cape Colonial architecture is of the column design. The verandahs are miniature cloisters into which open beautifully carved doors. The place is inside & out plastered white & the whole of the fittings are wooden mostly oak except a part which was rebuilt after a fire in Cecil Rhodes time & which has been completed in teak, very like oak in appearance. The front door - very solid with a huge brass handle, opens like a stable door - the top half first then the bottom - into a square hall where there is a visitors book. The exit from the hall
(continued in next letter)