DEPARTURE FROM MOSSEL BAY.

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pensive. The country was represented by them as a barren sandy district; but there were sufficient farm-houses on the road to receive them every night. Having obtained a most abundant supply of fruit and vegetables, besides a stock of fresh provisions, with an anxiety to see more of the Cape colony, we started from Mossel Bay for Table Bay on the 7th July.

The passage cost us a week to perform, for we had westerly winds nearly all the way. The weather was generally fine, so that we had ample leisure to anticipate a pleasant interval of rest at the Cape without being put out of humour by such boisterous gales as those which obliged us to take refuge in Mossel Bay. In the night of the 9th we fell in with an English merchant ship. After we had shown a light, she passed within hail, and we found her to be the James Grant, Peter Ingles, master, from the Mauritius, bound to London. This was a capital opportunity for us to send home letters, and we therefore requested him to wait till daylight, to which he very readily assented. We accordingly kept company; and the following morning sent our despatches on board of her in charge of an officer, after which we parted company.

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MOORED IN TABLE BAY.

CHAPTER XII.

Moored in Table Bay.-Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope.-Cape Town. The Heregracht, Churches, and Public Buildings. - Articles of Manufacture. - Amusements. Inhabitants. Boat and horse hire. - Public Library. Carriages and their drivers. Cape Wines.Management of the Vine.-The Observatory.- Capital Punishments. Respect of the Malays to the Bishop of Calcutta.-Dutch Hospitality and Customs.

AT daybreak on the 16th July we discovered the celebrated Table Mountain, about forty miles from us, bearing north-north-east. As we approached the coast, the rocky strata of the sandstone became more distinct, resembling turreted battlements. The weather being remarkably fine, we had a good opportunity of enjoying the magnificent scenery before us. We were not long in gaining the land; and as we rounded Green Point, (which, by the by, is a downright misnomer,) the majestic Table Mountain in all its grandeur, with its broad and wall-like front

DISCOVERY OF CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 233

lay before us. At the foot of the mountain we observed the little assemblage of houses called Cape Town, so well known to all who have visited this part of the world. It is seated at the base of the mountain which towers above it, and on the shore of the bay into which we were running. In the evening we found ourselves snugly at anchor at a convenient distance from it.

Those who are conversant with the history of this part of the world in the time of the early Portuguese navigators, will perhaps remember the following lines of Mickle's Lusiad:

At Lisbon's court they told their dread escape, And from her raging tempests, named the Cape; "Thou southernmost point," the joyful King exclaimed, Cape of Good Hope, be thou for ever named!"

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History informs us that when the Portuguese navigators of the fifteenth century extended their voyages to the southward along the coast of Africa, with a view to find a direct and easy route to the East Indies, under Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, they encountered such a continuance of boisterous weather as obliged them to put back without effecting their object; that when they returned to Lisbon, they gave such an

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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

appalling account of the dangers of the cape which they had reached, its perpetual storms and mountainous sea, that it immediately received the name of Cabo Tormentoso. So forbidding a name it was destined to hold till the more fortunate Vasco de Gama, following the track of his predecessor Diaz as far as he had gone, soon doubled the formidable promontory, and led the way by sea to the golden treasures of the East. On the accomplishment of this glorious event, John, the reigning king of Portugal, transported with the prospect which it appeared to present of acquiring wealth and grandeur, emphatically named it the Cape of Good Hope. Nevertheless, the early fame of its boisterous seas has not suffered in after-times, and its haven is looked forward to as a refuge from them by vessels on their way to India. High are the expectations formed by the weary passenger of the rest he will enjoy at the Cape; and, tired of the continual sameness of a sea voyage, many an anxious enquiring look does he cast from the approaching vessel to the lofty mountain at the foot of which is the little establishment of Cape Town,

where he knows that he will find plenty of good cheer and a relief from all his wants.

So much has been written and said concerning the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, that one would suppose little remains to be told. Much, however, of what I saw I had neither heard nor read of. 66 Africa semper aliquod novi offert," was the language of Lucian, and the motto of Barrow in his excellent work on the Cape of Good Hope; therefore I shall not hesitate to add the few observations which I made, to the general stock of information concerning it.

The Dutch were the first to establish themselves in the colony, and in the year 1562 they built the first house where Cape Town now stands. In 1795 the fortune of war transferred the possession of it to the British. It was restored to the Dutch in the short peace of 1801, but was again taken by the English in 1806, and has since remained a colonial possession of Great Britain.

The effect produced on the mind of a stranger by a first view of Cape Town from the anchorrage is generally not much in its favour. But