THE IBIS RELIGIOSA. T5 
distance, we returned without having seen anything 
except the carcase of a dead whale which had been 
driven upon the rocks by the surf, and on whicha 
multitude of gulls and other aquatic birds were 
feasting. Near this spot I observed a number of 
the Ibis Religiosa, a bird supposed to be confined to 
the neighbourhood of the Nile, and remarkable for 
having been an object of worship amongst the 
Egyptians. On our return, I met a young gentle- 
man who had come from Cape Town in. search of 
his father, an old and respectable Cape merchant, 
who had only a few days before embarked as passen- 
ger on board the Jessie. After a fruitless inquiry, 
and feeling assured from what he had seen and 
heard, that there could be no ground for hope of his 
father’s safety, he determined to quit the scene of 
this melancholy disaster, and accompany me back to 
Cape Town. 
We had not long quitted this spot when, upon 
crossing an open country, we observed a party of 
horsemen at some distance. Upon coming up with 
them, to our surprise, we found that among the party 
was the Captain of the vessel, and a Mr. Dixon, a 
passenger, who with several of the seamen had suc- 
ceeded in reaching Port Beaufort in the long-boat, 
after having been cast about at sea for two nights 
and a day, suffering the greatest privations, as the 
following extract of a letter written on the spot will 
abundantly testify. It is dated the 12th of October, 
1829. | 
