OUR SAILOR PRINCE AT THE CAPE. 



205 



Simon's Bay, near Table Bay, where Cape Town is situated, is a great rendezvous 

 for the navy; there are docks and soldiers there, and a small town. The bay abounds 

 in fish. The Rev. John Miluer, chaplain of the Galatea, says that during the visit of 

 Prince Alfred, " large shoals of fish (a sort of coarse mackerel) were seen all over the 

 bay; numbers came alongside, and several of them were harpooned with grains by some 

 of the youngsters from the accommodation-ladder. Later in the day a seal rose, and 

 continued fishing and rising in the most leisurely manner. At one time it was within 



CAPE TOWN. 



easy rifle distance, and might have been shot from the ship."* Fish and meat are so 

 plentiful in the colony that living is excessively cheap. 



The visit of his Royal Highness the Sailor Prince, in 1867, will long be remembered in 

 the colony. That, and the recent diamond discoveries, prove that the people cannot be accused 

 of sloth and want of enterprise. On arrival at Simon's Bay, the first vessels made out 

 were the Racoon, on which Prince Alfred had served his time as lieutenant, the Petrel, 

 just returned from landing poor Livingstone at the Zambesi, and the receiving-ship 

 Seringapatam. Soon followed official visits, dinner, ball, and fireworks from the ships. 

 When the Prince was to proceed to Cape Town, all the ships fired a royal salute, and 



* " The Cruise of H.M. Ship Galatea." By the Rev. John Milner, B.A., Chaplain, and Oswald W. Brierly, 



