Defences of the Cape. 



29 



make the approacli of a hostile fleet a. work of 

 great difficulty and danger. With these formid- 

 able cannon are placed, more for purposes of 

 ornament than of effective use, fourteen or fifteen 

 seven-ton muzzle-loading guns. These latter have 

 been discarded by the navy, and are considered by 

 expert artillerists, on account of their muzzle- 

 loading aiTangements, their inferior accuracy, and 



The Defences of the Cape — A 9'2 inch breech-loading'gun. 



small penetrative power, to be obsolete. The 

 Home Government, however, considered them to 

 be good enough for the Cape, and at great expense 

 have sent out and mounted a number of them for 

 the defence of Table Bay and of Simon's Bay. I 

 am informed that for the same money an equal 

 number of the new six-inch breech-loading gun 

 might have been furnished, in which case the 

 defences of the Cape of Good Hope in respect of 



