259 



a Camera Lucida, and they may therefore be relied on as 

 correct. For the satisfaction of such as mi"ht wish to know 

 more of them than a figure could convey, I drew up concise 

 descriptions, and attached to each a specific name, to which 

 I added the local appellation, as far as I could ascertain it." 



But we must accompany our Naturalist to Algoa Bay, re- 

 specting which place, and its people and productions, we 

 shall make copious extracts from his Journal. 



ALGOA BAY. 



" On the 14th April, 1807, 1 embarked in the John, transport, 

 for Algoa Bay. A detachment, consisting of one hundred 

 men of the 72d and 93d regiments, under the command of 

 Captain Lawrence, was ordered to relieve an equal force of 

 the 83d regiment, stationed at that outpost. A desire to 

 visit a spot so remote and so little known, induced me to 

 become a volunteer on this occasion : and as none of those 

 who possessed a prior claim had a taste for travelling, no 

 objection was made. On weighing anchor, the morning of 

 the 15th, we had an opportunity of witnessing the partial 

 action of the south-east wind, which frequently occurs in 

 Table Bay. While the John lay like a log on the calm 

 unruffled surface of the water, another ship, which had stood 

 out at a short distance from us, having caught the gale, shot 

 across our bow at the rate of eight knots an hour. It soon, 

 however, reached us also, and carried us speedily out of the 

 Bay. 



" Our progress to the eastward was retarded by baffling 

 winds until the 24th, when a small breeze from the north- 

 east sprung up, and, passing rapidly into a furious gale, 

 obliged us to lie to for the space of twenty-four hours. It 

 died away at length in repeated showers of rain. After a 

 variety of delays, occasioned chiefly by our ignorance of the 

 coast, we arrived at our destination on the 2d May, and 

 landed the detachment on the 3d. 



" Algoa Bay lies in the same parallel of latitude as Table 

 Bay, the line of coast running from the latter with little 

 variation due east. It is an immense excavation of the 



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