414 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XXIV. 



Here all Her Majesty's vessels touch in rounding the Cape, 

 Table Bay being too exposed a situation, mth no shelter 

 from west and north-westerly gales, though in this latter 

 place all merchant ships anchor. Simon's Town, as it is 

 called, is a cluster of white houses at the base of the lofty 

 and barren lulls which connect the Cape of Good Hope with 

 Cape Town. The shores are piled with boulders of granite, 

 and more than one laVge tabular mass appears above the 

 water, affording resting-places to thousands of cormorants, 

 which during the day make periodical excursions to the 

 sandy beaches at the head of False Bay, streaming in long 

 black lines along the surface of the water, and at midday 

 leaving without a single occupant those rocks which at morn- 

 ings and evenings are blackened with their numbers. They 

 were of the common species — (Phalacrocorax carbo). It 

 was curious to watch these birds feeding here and there upon 

 the shore upon substances thrown up by the tide. Standing 

 in the water just where the waves broke, they would have 

 been tumbled over by every advancing billow, but, watching 

 the critical moment, they would rapidly dive under the wave 

 and thus avoid it, and then proceed with their search tUl the 

 next came, when they would repeat the process. 



Such numbers of fish-eating birds (and besides these there 

 were plenty of gannets and terns) argue large quantities of 

 fish, and Simon's Bay has the reputation of abounding with 

 them. I myself saw, when looking over the bay from a slight 

 elevation, at least half a dozen large shoals at the same time, 

 splashing about and disturbing the water like so many cat's- 

 paws upon the surface. One of these shoals, which I ob- 

 served close under the ship, consisted of myriads of fishes, 

 averaging from two to eight inches long. 



The first thing which strikes the botanist on landing at 



