CAPEOFGOODHOPE. 421 



the cooler one : but for a more particular explanation of this subject, 

 the reader is referred to the diagram map, and the chapter on currents 

 and whaling. 



On the 12th of April, we arrived off False Bay. The temperature 

 of the surface water was reduced to 64°, and the current was setting 

 us rapidly to the north-northwest. The fog and mist that now pre- 

 vailed, prevented my observations for ascertaining the rate of the cur- 

 rent from being as accurate as I desired ; the results, such as they 

 were, gave it a velocity of more than a mile per hour. 



On the 13th, no observations could be obtained on account of the 

 fog and mist; and our situation became rather a perplexing one. On 

 making trial of the current, we found that it was drifting us to the 

 north at the rate of eighteen miles in twenty-four hours. Soundings 

 were obtained in eighty-five fathoms. The temperature of the surface 

 water fell to 54°. Towards evening it cleared up, and our situation 

 was obtained by bearings, which placed us off Snake's Head, about 

 twelve miles to the southward and westward of the Lion's Head. 

 Believing that my only chance of making Table Bay was by keeping 

 as close to the shore as possible, I kept the ship on soundings during 

 the night, and at daylight stood in through a thick fog for what I felt 

 sure must be the position of Green Point. While under way, we fell 

 in with a fleet of small fishing-boats lying at anchor. Their crews 

 were catching a species of bass, as fast as they could haul in their 

 lines. Immense numbers of birds, such as albatrosses, petrels, and 

 gulls, surrounded the boats, and were feeding on the small fish and 

 offal thrown overboard from them. The fish caught here are salted, 

 and being afterwards dried, furnish no inconsiderable portion of the 

 food of the lower orders of the colony. One of the fishermen was 

 desired to come on board, and after he had satisfied me that some 

 reliance might be placed in him as a pilot, he was retained with us. 

 Under his guidance we stood on, and as the fog began to break away 

 reached our anchorage, having passed close to the lighthouse and 

 Green Point, the western point of Table Bay. The captain of the 

 port, Commander Bance, R. N., boarded us soon after we had 

 anchored. I was glad to see this gentleman, to whom I felt under 

 obligations, for civilities and kindness shown me some eighteen years 

 previously, during a cruise off the coast of Peru. 



An officer was despatched by me to call upon, and report our arrival 

 to Sir George Thomas Napier, governor of the colony. 



The falling of the ball at the Royal Observatory afforded us an 

 opportunity for comparing the time as shown by our chronometers 



2L 



