Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

with a thin straw. Take them out of the pan, and put immediately into cold water. After a few minutes take them out and drain well. In the meanwhile make a clear syrup by taking dry white sugar (of the same weight as the fruit) and water in equal proportions, set it to boil, and when clear strain through muslin ; allow it to get cold, then put it in the pan again with the fruit boiling gently, until quite tender and transparent. Should the fruit be quite done before the syrup is thick enough, remove the same, boil the syrup alone until of the proper consistency, after which the fruit can be added again and allowed to simmer for a little while. Boiling it too fast or too long will harden the fruit and give it a brown colour, instead of green. For Preserving Water-melon Peel, Spanspek Peel, or Green Figs with dry Sugar. — Lay the same in very weak lime-water (about a dessertspoonful to 5 or 6 quarts of water) for one night, next day wash and set to boil in a preserving-pan with cold water (for figs add only a little salt to the water). When done, so that a thin reed may easily pierce them, take out of the water and put immediately into cold water for about 20 minutes. Then take out and drain well, put them in the pan again and strew dry white sugar of the same weight as fruit over each layer, adding just enough water to moisten the sugar — then cover the pan and set on a slow fire, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar is dissolved, let it boil steadily until nearly done, keeping it covered all the time. Remove from the fire, and the next day let it boil again until the syrup is quite thick, when it will crystallize. The figs should be thinly pared and a cross cut at the top, and the melon peel must be pricked with a silver fork before laying in the lime-water. The Market.— Melons of all kinds are sold in the markets, THE MARKET. GEELBEK. SMOORPISH Feh. where the great heaps of them side by side with scarlet chillies, red and yellow tomatoes, and other bright-coloured fruit and vegetables, make masses of colour which would delight an artist, and the subject is still better for sketching when the stall is presided over by Malays in their bright-coloured dresses. How many subjects an artist would find to paint in our markets ! You will see an old Malay with one of the broad hats like a little thatched roof on his head, and wearing the Malay pattens instead of boots, with perhaps a turkey under each arm, or with a bamboo over his shoulder, from which hangs a basket at each end, one filled with geese and the other with apricots ; and so on, a never-ending series of pictures; the Malay gala dresses are always of beautiful colours. February 5.— Fish.— Cape Salmon.— The fish in season now are very much the same as in January. But we have a great addition to our list this month, the latter part of February, in the Geelbek, commonly called Cape salmon. This fish, which is caught with a hook, often attains to 40 or 50 lbs. weight. It is a silvery green colour with a yellowish tinge, and the lips and inside of the mouth are a bright orange tint. When half grown it is excellent boiled or fried, or if full grown, part of it can be salted and sun-dried (by being cut into pieces the size of one’s hand and hung in the sun), and makes good fish-pie, “smoorfish,” “engelegte,” or pickled fish (see Hilda's Where is it, pp. 70-71).