Robert Michael Ballantyne

Six Months at the Cape Robert Michael Ballantyne

Publisher Marketing: Dear Periwinkle, -Since that memorable, not to say miserable, day, when you and I parted at Saint Katherine's Docks, (see note 1), with the rain streaming from our respective noses-rendering tears superfluous, if not impossible-and the noise of preparation for departure damaging the fervour of our farewell-since that day, I have ploughed with my adventurous keel upwards of six thousand miles of the main, and now write to you from the wild Karroo of Southern Africa. The Karroo is not an animal. It is a spot-at present a lovely spot. I am surrounded by-by nature and all her southern abundance. Mimosa trees, prickly pears, and aloes remind me that I am not in England. Ostriches, stalking on the plains, tell that I am in Africa. It is not much above thirty years since the last lion was shot in this region, (see note 2), and the kloofs, or gorges, of the blue mountains that bound the horizon are, at the present hour, full of Cape-tigers, wild deer of different sorts, baboons, monkeys, and-but hold I must not forestall. Let me begin at the beginning. Contributor Bio:  Ballantyne, R M Robert Michael Ballantyne (24 April 1825 - 8 February 1894) was a Scottish author of stories for young people.