Of the Vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. 231 



pleasure boats. We saw a French man-of-war firing a salute, but as 

 the wind was against us, we heard no report. All around us was aw- 

 fully still : we saw not, nor heard a living thing. At the entrance 

 of the harbor lay Robber's Island, the Botany Bay of the Colony. 

 To the east and north, were high ranges of mountains, which, were it 

 not for three or four passes or kloofs, would entirely exclude the dis- 

 trict of the Cape from any communication with the rest of Africa. 

 Immediately to our left, stood the Lion's Head, a bare conical mass 

 of rocks, over two thousand feet in height, and once probably joined, 

 even at its summit, with Table Mountain. Stretching to the north- 

 ward of this is the Lion's Rump, another high eminence, which de- 

 fends the harbor from the winds of the Atlantic. To our right, and 

 joining Table Mountain, was the Devil's Mountain, frightful by its 

 chasms, and almost as high as Table Mountain itself. To the south, 

 stretched along the rugged mountains of the Cape Peninsular, even 

 to the Cape of Good Hope. In this direction the Table land of 

 Table Mountain gradually slopes, and at its foot lies the beautiful 

 village of Wynberg, embosomed among firs and oaks, and adorned 

 . with silver trees. 



We found it quite chilly on the summit. The Table-cloth we 

 noticed coming on the mountains south of us, in connexion with the 

 south-east wind just breezing up. It always accompanies this wind. 

 The account given by Barrow in his Travels in South Africa, in or- 

 der to explain this phenomenon, seems to be very rational, only (if 

 I may be allowed to express an opinion) he multiplies words too 

 much respecting it. The same causes which produce fogs or clouds 

 upon the tops of high mountains in the vicinity of the sea, when a 

 strong wind is blowing upon the shore, are doubtless in operation 

 here, but especially in reference to Table Mountain, because of its 

 height and peculiar situation. The mountains are so situated to 

 the south and east of Table Mountain, that a south-easter coming 

 from off the ocean through False Bay, would be directed somewhat 

 as through the mouth of a tunnel immediately up the inclined plane 

 of Table Mountain. Owing to the diminished tempe]'ature of the at- 

 mosphere upon the mountain's top, it is surcharged with vapor by 

 the warmer air from the ocean, and the fog is produced. The wind 

 blowing strongly in the above direction, forces it over in immense 

 volumes, rolling down the perpendicular sides of the mountain, 

 threatening at times to deluge the town beneath ; but as soon as it 

 .arrives at a point where the temperature is equal to what it was on 



