1698.] CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 273 



rejoyn'd us some few days after before Isle Bobben} At 

 length the Wind being appeas'd, and becoming favourable, 

 we Anchor'd in the Bay the 12th of Fehruary 1698. Next 

 day we went a-shoar, and every one provided himself with 

 such Eefreshment as the time would permit him to get. 



Since we are happily arriv'd once more at the Ccqjc of 

 Good Hope, I'll keep the promise I formerly made, and add 

 some Particulars to what I have before said.^ 



The Point of the Cape, which is, as every one knows, in 

 the 35th Degree of Southern Latitude, advances a great way 

 into the Sea. The violent Stoims^ that reign there are so 

 terrible, that the most skilful Mariners are at a loss how to 

 manage them, so that the Bay which seems to be fine, is 

 render'd disagreeable by these Tempests. The Sea- Winds 

 drive in such prodigious Surges,^ that no Cables hardly are 

 able to oppose them. 



The last Fleet had a sad experience of this, losing many 

 of its Ships, and if the Tempest had lasted but half an hour 

 longer, 'tis probable not one would have escap'd, since those 

 few that did ride it out, did it by the good hold of their last 

 Anchor.^ 



^ Kohben, or Seal Island., five miles N. by E. from the Green Point, 

 at the west side of the entrance to Table Bay. An infirmary for lepers 

 and lunatics is situated on the south-east part of the island, which has 

 recently been described in Blackwood's Magazine for September 1889. 



2 Vide siipra, p. 33. 



3 " II s'y eleve aussi souvent de furieux tourbillons, qui se precipitent 

 du sommet des montagnes & du milieu des nues avec tant de fracas, 

 qu'on diroit que le ciel va s'abimer & la mer rompre ses bornes & 

 inonder toute la terre. 11 n'est par sur pour les vaisseaux de tenter 

 I'abordage de cette cote, tant que cet orage dure." (Dapper's ^4/rica, 

 French edition, 1686, p. 383.) 



* In orig. : '' avec tant d'impetuosite," omitted by translator. 



5 "In the afternoon of the 24th May 1697, the Company's home- 

 ward bound ships Waddingsveen and Oostei-land, with valuable cargoes 

 on board, were driven ashore at Salt River mouth in a great gale, and 

 were dashed to pieces at once. Two other ships, out of a large fleet that 

 was lyicg in the bay, narrowly escaped the same fate. Only seventeen 



T 



