Extent and Face of the Country.

1803. interruption, however, was experienced from the August. native Hottentots: the Europeans soon discovering the predominant passion of this weak and peaceable people for spirituous liquors, and that a bottle of brandy was a passport through every horde; a cask of brandy was the price of a whole district; and nine inches of an iron hoop the purchase of a fat ox. Finding it unnecessary to limit the extent of their possessions, they spread themselves wide over the country, encouraged by the mildness of the climate, and fertility of the soil. As the Dutch advanced, the natives retired; and those that remained with their herds among the new settlers, were soon reduced to the necessity of becoming their servants.

The extent and dimensions of the territory composing the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, are as follow:-Mean length, 550 miles; mean breadth, 233 miles; comprehending an area of 128,150 square miles. A very great proportion however, of this territory, may be considered as an unprofitable waste. Level plains, consisting of a hard, impenetrable surface of clay, thinly sprinkled over with chrystalized sand, and condemned to perpetual drought; and chains of vast mountains, that are either totally naked, or clothed, in parts, with sour grapes only, compose at least one half of the colony of the Cape.

The first great chain of mountains that runs east and west, encloses between it and the southern coast, an irregular belt of land, from twenty to sixty miles in width, indented by several bays, covered with a deep and fertile soil, intersected by innumerable streamlets, well clothed with grass, well wooded in many parts with forest

Mountainous Appearance.

trees, supplied with frequent rains, and enjoying, 1803. on account of its proximity to the sea, a more August. mild and equable temperature, than the more remote and interior parts of the colony.

The Cape district is chiefly composed of that mountainous peninsula, whose southern extremity was first called by Portuguese navigators Cabo dos Tormentos, or Cape of Storms, on account of the tempestuous weather which they so often experienced in their attempts to double it, which, when they effected, they changed to that of Cape of Good Hope. The Table Mountain, flanked by the Devil's Hill on the east, and the Lion's Head on the west, forms the northern extremity of the same peninsula. The length from north to south is about thirty-six, and breadth eight miles. It is composed, properly speaking, of one mountain, broken indeed into several masses, more or less connected by inferior gorges. Some of these masses have horizontal summits; others, peaked or cone-shaped; some consist of naked fragments of rock; others are clothed with verdure. This peninsula is connected with the continent by a low flat isthmus, with few irregularities of surface, except such as are made by ridges of sand, that seem to have been adventitiously brought together, by the strong southeast winds, from the shores of False Bay, a large arm of the sea enclosed between the Cape promontory and a chain of mountains on the continent to the eastward of it.

False Bay and Table Bay; the one washing the southern, the other the northern shore of the isthmus, are the usual resort for shipping trading to, or calling for refreshments at the Cape of

Table and False Bay.

1803. Good Hope. During the summer season, when August. the S. E. winds are predominant, which may be

reckoned in general from September till May, Table Bay affords the most secure shelter; and Simmons' Bay, a cove or indent on the western shore of False Bay, for the rest of the year, when the northerly or north-westerly winds are strongest. In neither of them is there any sort of security or convenience for heaving down and repairing ships; nor do they appear to admit of any contrivance for these purposes at a moderate expense.

There are also two small bays on the west side of the peninsula, one called Hout, or Wood Bay, and the other Chapman's Bay. The latter is exposed to the west and north-west winds, but the former is sheltered from all winds. The confined anchorage, which is said to admit of, at the utmost, ten ships only; and the eddy winds, from the surrounding high mountains, which make it difficult for ships to enter and get out; are the objections that have been stated against the use of Hout Bay. All these bays, the passes of the mountains, and indeed every part of the peninsula, are capable of being strongly fortified.The pass at the fort of Müisenburg, a steep, high mountain, washed by False Bay, and the only road of communication between Simmons' Bay and the Cape, may now be considered impregnable. It is the Thermopyla of the Cape; and from several breast-works lately constructed along the heights, a chosen band of three hundred riflemen ought to stop the progress of an

army.

Cape Town, the capital, is pleasantly situated

Cape Town.

at the head of Table Bay, on a sloping plain that 1803. rises with an easy ascent to the feet of the Devil's August. Hill, the Table Mountain, and the Lion's Head, before mentioned. Stretching to the northward in a long, unbroken hill, of moderate height, is King James's Mount (the Lion's Rump of the Dutch), and affords shelter against the westerly winds to ships in Table Bay. It most completely commands every part of the town, and the castle to the north-east of it; and this, with the Amsterdam and Chavonne batteries, command the anchorage in the bay.

The town consisting of about eleven hundred houses, built with regularity, and kept in neat order, is disposed into straight and parallel streets, intersecting each other at right angles. Many of the streets are open and airy, with canals of water running through them, walled in, and planted on each side with oaks; others are narrow and ill-paved. Three or four squares give an openness to the town: in one is held the public market: another is the common resort of the peasantry, with their waggons, from the remote districts of the colony; and a third, near the shore of the bay, and between the town and the castle, serves as a parade for exercising the troops. This is an open, airy, and extensive plain, perfectly level, composed of a bed of firm clay, covered with small hard gravel. It is surrounded by canals or ditches that receive the waters of the town, and convey them into the bay. Two of its sides are completely built up with large and handsome houses.

The barracks, originally designed for an hospital, for corn magazines, and for wine cellars,

Public and Private Edifices.

1803. are a large, well-designed regular building, which, August. with its two wings, occupies part of one of the sides of the great square. The upper part of this building is sufficiently spacious to contain 4000 men; the castle affords barracks for 1000 men, and lodgings for all the officers of one regiment: magazines for artillery stores, and ammunition. Most of the public offices of government are within its walls. The other public buildings are a Calvinist and Lutheran church; and a guard-house, in which the burgher senate, or the council of burghers, meet for transacting business relative to the interior police of the

town.

Of

Between the town and Table Mountain are scattered over the plain a number of neat houses, surrounded by plantations and gardens. these, the largest, and nearest to the town, is that in which the government-house is erected. It is in length near 1000 yards, and contains about 40 acres of rich land, divided into almost as many squares by oak hedges. The public walk runs up the middle, is well shaded by an avenue of oak trees, and enclosed on each side by a hedge of cut myrtle.

Timber of all kinds for building is an exceeding scarce article at the Cape; the article of fuel is so scarce at this place, that a single cart load of it sells in the town for seven dollars.

In most families a slave is kept for the express purpose of collecting fire wood. He goes out in the morning, ascends the steep mountains of the peninsula, where waggons cannot approach, and returns at night with two small bundles of faggots, the produce of six or eight hours of hard labour,