VOYAGE FROM CAPE TOWN TO CHINA. 3 1 



by their wives and children, though possessing artistic 

 merit, could hardly be shown with propriety in a mixed 

 company, and yet from the native point of view they 

 are perfectly proper. Blacks are engaged to discharge 

 and load ocean steamers, and when thus employed they 

 divest themselves of all clothing. 



After an agreeable stay at this place of nearly two 

 weeks, we left on the 26th for Durban (Port Natal). 

 As we skirted this "part of the coast of South Africa, we 

 called to mind the fact that nearly every point of promi- 

 nence is named after some officer or seaman who died 

 while engaged in its survey, or after civilians who were 

 prominent among the early settlers, the city of Port 

 Elizabeth itself being named in memory of the devoted 

 wife of Acting Governor-General Donkin, who " traced 

 out the town." 



It is less than seventy years since Captain Owen, of 

 the Royal Navy, and his small surveying party exhibited 

 to a marked degree the skill and endurance which char- 

 acterize the Anglo-Saxon. It is stated in " Owen's 

 Voyages " that in seven months from the time the sur- 

 veying party " last quitted the Cape" (Cape Town) 

 _*' two-thirds of the officers and one-half of the seamen 

 had fallen victims to the fever," but the work did not 

 stop. 



On the 29th the Enterprise arrived off Port Natal, 

 A strong breeze was blowing, which caused a heavy 

 swell to set in, making it impracticable to send a ship's 

 boat on shore. Indeed, it is usually so rough on the 



