Capetown, its library still smacking of the old British empire but now, since the very necessary deregulation and abolishment of apartheid, dotted through it's tree lined park with beggars, vendors and drunks. The old buildings here have a beauty similar to those in Singapore-but not as clean. I was not aware of just how old Capetown is. It goes back several hundred years, well past the times of the British Empire.

Table Mountain rises sheer and rocky from it's grassy base and it forms a ridge which seems to wander all over the Cape. It is really not one mountain but several adjoining a ridge.

The coast here at Capetown reminds me also of the mountains around Hong kong. But there are few skyscrapers-so it does not have Hong Kong's cluttered feeling. Overall I'd say the Cape landscape is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. My cousin Pearl, an alacritous blue eyed, seventy year old lady, who gives the impression of being around forty, took me all around the Cape to all the scenic spots and I managed a water color post card or two and saw the haunts of my great uncle Harry, an old missionary hero of mine who followed in the steps of Livingston and Crawford.

The water around the Cape is a lovely blue-green and the beaches are white. In the bright sun shine the beach dazzles the eyes.

Pearl and I had a lovely lunch at a restaurant at Cape Point. After we took the tram to the top and took some pictures, we came down to get in the car to drive the rest of the way down only to be delayed by a troop of about a dozen baboons. One car had pulled over to the side of the road to watch and a very large, about 80 lb baboon sat on the hood watching sagely through the windshield at his watchers. I wondered what the baboon thought of the people. I noticed the driver had kept his windows up. I do not know if the passengers of the car were aware the placid old fellow watching them could pull their arms out of socket. Or as one fellow put it after being put in the ring with a sixty pound chimp, “That's the first time I've ever been hooked in the jaw and kicked in the ass at the same time!”

Those baboons have some very interesting muscle attachments in their arms since they are knuckle walkers and have forearms about a half time longer than humans. I once saw a chimp on TV throw an electric typewriter across a room with two fingers. At the time those typewriters weighed about twenty pounds!

I also rendezvoused (sp?) with my friend E. who showed me some footage of the Zulu stick fighting and other martial arts in S. Africa. He was able to show me some of the basic movements and mentioned care was to be taken when studying with the Zulu, since one fourth of the Zulu population now has AIDS according to some estimates. E. also mentioned his teacher, H. who sounded such a character, I requested E. to introduce me. He did, and I spent an informative evening with an older fellow who traced his techniques to a man named Burnett who had studied with my biographical target, W.E. Fairbairn!

So I saw some things that impressed me and from what I saw I would guess what Fairbairn taught personally was often different than what he taught in his texts. It's amazing what you cannot get in a book! What H. can do with a knife is also impressive, seems he was picked on as a child in school and at that time school was rough. H. learned the knife was an equalizer and he got good with it. Later he cross referenced it with what he learned from Burnett and Judo and the smoothness he had acquired from being a professional dance teacher give him an uncanny grace and economy.

So this lean, lithe, hawk-like man used the language I knew well with his students, “Too tense, shorter movements, don't think- just do, etc.” The waist, footwork and economy are all optimized. His few carefully selected students are good fellows too, keeping their sense of humor while refraining from nonsense. After class H., E. and I chatted, H.'s comments on most martial arts were simple and profound, “They waste too much movement and complicate things far too much,” he summarized. I was so impressed with the gliding feet and ease of technique I told Harry I wanted to see him next year. So hopefully more on this “Falcon of Capetown” next year.