30 CABO TOEMENTADO. [169I. 



reason of which is, partly for that one of those Mountains 

 which ought always to be a shelter to it, is sometimes, and 

 even frequently a fatal Source of those impetuous Gusts, that 

 presently put all the Ships into a terrible Disorder ; besides, 

 the Sea- winds are very furious, they blow with a frightful 

 force, and the Anchorage not being very good, Ships are in 

 great danger of running a-shoar, or oversetting, and no Boats 

 are then suffer'd to come off to them. This bad Mountain is 

 near the Point of the Cape, and call'd the Devil's 3Iountain, 

 on account of tlie mischief it do's. , 'Twas in the year 1493 

 that Bartliolomeio Diaz^ was sent by John II, King ofFortugcd 

 to discover this Cape ; but he says, the dreadful Winds that 

 always blow there, hinder'd him from Landing, and for that 

 Eeasoh he gave the Place the Name of Tormeniado, the 

 Tempestuous. The story adds, the King reply'd they shou'd 

 not be so soon discourag'd, and that he wou'd himself give 

 that Land the Name of the Cape of Good Hope} 



1 A Portuguese expedition under Bartholomew Dias was despatched 

 by King John II, from Lisbon, in 1487, along the west and south 

 coasts of Africa, to find a route to the Indies, and successfully reached the 

 Cape, named Cabo I'ormentoso, afterwards Cabo de Boa Esperan^a, which 

 name, some say, was given it instead of Agesingue, its proper designa- 

 tion, because that was the farthest the Portuguese King hoped to 

 extend his explorations and conquests, or because this Cape gave expec- 

 tation of better countries and discoveries beyond it. (Weise.) 



2 The southern promontory of Africa, commonly called the Cape of 

 Good Hope, is a peninsula twenty-eight miles in length, composed of 

 a vast mass of mountainous and rocky land. The north end of this 

 promontory forms the west side of Table Bay, on the south coast of 

 which stands Cape Town, having near it, on the west, the Lion's Moun- 

 tain, 2,180 feet high ; at two miles from it, to the south, the Table Moun- 

 tain, 3,550 feet, eastward of which is the Devil's Berg, 3,270 feet, and 

 other elevations. 



The Cape, on approaching, either from the east or west, has the 

 appearance of a large island. Of all the land the most remarkable 

 feature is Table Mountain, which appears to have a flat, level summit 

 with perpendicular sides. It is composed of a sandstone and quartzose 

 rock resting on a granite base. 



When the S.E. wind blows at the Cape, a remarkable phenomenon 



