300 WHALING AND FISHING. 



low islets and sand-banks took their pla(,e mak- 

 ing the prospect yet more dreary. 



The bay itself is wide and shallow. It affords 

 but an insecure anchorage, and would not be fre- 

 quented, were there a better one within a hundred 

 miles. The town is situated on rising ground, 

 facing the roadstead. Its white, clean looking 

 houses present a very pleasing appearance. A 

 fortress, called Fort Frederic, crowns a hill adja- 

 cent to the town. Fort Elizabeth is situated at 

 the mouth of Baasheer river, which flows into the 

 bay, near the town. 



Algoa Bay is distant from Cape Town four hun- 

 dred and twenty-five miles. Capes Padron and 

 Recife are the promontories by which it is bounded. 

 The settlement belongs to, and is under the control 

 of the Government at the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The entire district, as far as Port Natal, some dis- 

 tance North of Algoa Bay, is known generally as 

 the Cape Colony. 



Algoa Bay is rather an open roadstead than a 

 safe harbor. Vessels lie at from one to two miles 

 from the shore, with which they communicate by 

 means of surf-boats. Upon entering the roads, the 

 captain chooses a berth for his vessel, and there 

 brings her to, with two anchors. One hundred 

 fathoms of cable are paid out on each anchor. 

 The swell of the Ocean beats in here with the 

 wind at the South-east, and makes rough riding. 

 It is at all times necessary to keep an anchor 

 watch. 



