208 THE SEA. 



a harbour of refuge in Table Bay; now, in addition to this splendid dock, it has a 

 fine breakwater. 



Officers of the Royal Navy may occasionally get the opportunity afforded the Prince, 

 of attending an elephant hunt. From the neighbourhood of the Cape itself the biggest 

 of beasts has long retired ; but three hundred miles up the coast, at Featherbed Bay, 

 where there is a settlement, it is still possible to enjoy some sport. 



To leave the port or town of Knysna where, by-the-by, "the Duke was entertained 

 at a great feed of South African oysters was found to be difficult and perilous. The 

 entrance to the harbour is very fine ; a high cliff comes down sheer to the sea on one side, 

 while on the other there is an angular bluff, with a cave through it. As the Petrel 

 steamed out, a large group of the ladies of the district waved their handkerchiefs, and 

 the elephant-hunters cheered. It was now evident, from the appearance of the bar, that 

 the Petrel had not come out a moment too soon. A heavy sea of rollers extended nearly 

 the whole way across the mouth of the harbour, and broke into a long thundering crest 



* o o 



of foam, leaving only one small space on the western side clear of actual surf. For this 

 opening the Petrel steered ; but even there the swell was so great that the vessel reared and 

 pitched fearfully, and touched the bottom as she dipped astern into the deep trough of the sea. 

 The slightest accident to the rudder, and nothing short of a miracle could have saved them 

 from going on to the rocks, where a tremendous surf was breaking. Providentially, she got 

 out safely, and soon the party was transferred to the Racoon, which returned to Simon's Bay. 



On his return from the elephant hunt, the Prince gave a parting ball. A capital ball- 

 room, 135 feet long by 44 wide, was improvised out of an open boat-house by a party 

 of blue- jackets, who, by means of ships' lanterns, flags, arms arranged as ornaments, and 

 beautiful ferns and flowers, effected a transformation as wonderful as anything recorded in 

 the "Arabian Nights/' the crowning feature of the decorations being the head of one 

 of the elephants from the Knysna, surmounting an arch of evergreens. Most of the 

 visitors had to come all the way from Cape Town, and during the afternoon were to be 

 seen flocking along the sands in vehicles of every description, many being conveyed to 

 Simon's Town a part of the distance in a navy steam-tender or the Galatea's steam-launch. 

 The ball was, of course, a grand success. 



This not being a history of Cape Colony, but rather of what the sailor will find at or 

 near its ports and harbours, the writer is relieved from any necessity of treating on past 

 or present troubles with the Boers or the natives. Of course, everything was tinted 

 coulenr de rose at the Prince's visit, albeit at that very time the colony was in a bad way, with 

 over speculation among the commercial classes, a cattle plague, disease among sheep, and 

 a grape-disease. Mr. Frederick Boyle, whose recent work on the Diamond-fields has been 

 already quoted, and who had to leave a steamer short of coal at Saldanha Bay, seventy or 

 eighty miles from Cape Town, and proceed by a rather expensive route, presents a picture 

 far from gratifying of some of the districts through which he passed. At Saldanha Bay 

 agriculture gave such poor returns that it did not even pay to export produce to the 

 Cape. The settlers exist, but can hardly be said to live. They have plenty of cattle and 

 sheep, sufficient maize and corn, but little money. Mr. Boyle describes the homestead of 

 a Boer substantially as follows : 



