l??l ROUND THE WORLD. 355 



we continued to see as long as we were upon the 

 bank which stretches off Anguillas to the distance 

 of forty leagues, and extends along the shore 

 to the eastward, from Cape False, according to 

 some charts, one hundred and sixtv leagues. The 

 real extent of this bank is not exactly known ; it is 

 however useful as a direction to shipping when to 

 haul in, in order to make the land. 



While we lay here, the Houghton Indiaman sailed 

 for England, who, during her stay in India, lost by 

 sickness between thirty and forty men ; and when 

 she left the Cape had many in a helpless condition 

 with the scurvy. Other ships suffered in the same 

 proportion, who had been little more than twelve 

 months absent from England ; our sufferings there- 

 fore were comparatively light, considering that we 

 had been absent near three times as long. 



Having lain here to recover the sick, procure 

 stores, and perform several necessary operations 

 upon the ship and rigging, till the 13th of April, I 

 then got all the sick on board, several of whom were 

 still in a dangerous state, and having taken leave of 

 the governor, I unmoored the next morning, and 

 got ready to sail. 



The Cape of Good Hope has been so often de- 

 scribed, and is so well known in Europe, that I shall 

 mention only a few particulars, which, in other rela- 

 tions, are omitted or misrepresented. 



Notwithstanding all that has been said to the con- 

 trary, no country that we saw during the voyage 

 makes a more forlorn appearance, or is in reality a 

 more sterile desert. The land over the Cape, which 

 constitutes the peninsula formed by Table Bay on 

 the north, and False Bay on the south, consists of 

 high mountains, altogether naked and desolate : the 

 land behind these to the east, which may be con- 

 sidered as the isthmus, is a plain of vast extent, con- 

 sisting almost wholly of a light kind of sea-sand, 

 which produces nothing but heath, and is utterly in- 

 capable of cultivation. All the spots that will admit 



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