Page 216 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

accommodation by squeezing large numbers into a single room, often sleeping in relays.

Fishing families could not do this.

Although Kalk Bay had no cases of plague when it broke out in Cape Town in February
1901, reports on living conditions indicate how bad things were. Hofmeyr's Cottages were

reported to have 1 room each, with 2 families living in each; another cottage had 2 rooms,

inhabited by 3 families - 6 children and 2 women in one, a man and woman in another, and
2 men in the loft. Other cottages were described as infested by rats, the floors and skirting

rotten and the walls dilapidated; some of these cottages had no ventilation apart from the
door.

By the end of the century wealthier homes had laid-on water, adequate sanitation and
regular refuse removal. In poorer homes, however, surroundings were far less sanitary.

Plenty of people testify to the smell from rotting fish heads, the practice of curing fish and

other odiferous activities related to fishing. Although the municipality theoretically
supplied the same refuse removal facilities throughout the village, the reality was that

rubbish was taken away much less regularly in the poorer areas. Dr Benjamin reported on
one occasion:

"As a matter of fact, in far too many cases the back premises and

the ground surrounding these people's dwellings are generally in a
state of indescribable filth. One sees almost every day putrefying

fish, decaying vegetable matter, and refuse of every description
scattered all over the place, not to mention paper, bottles etc."

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