80 COWIE RIVER. 



that a vessel was standing in, which caused no little 

 stir among the inhabitants, some of whom I ac- 

 companied down to the Custom-House, to witness 

 its entrance into their port, the circumstance not 

 being of common occurrence, and rather an interest- 

 ing event, as it had been a matter of dispute whether 

 this port could be rendered of any ultimate service. 

 The vessel turned out to be the Cowie packet, and 

 in crossing the bar the surf broke over her with 

 great violence, driving her high and dry upon the 

 beach, to the great mortification of the inhabitants, 

 who were all sanguine in the expectation that she 

 would enter without difficulty. The sand being soft 

 and the tide receding, she sustained no material 

 injury. Going to the beach on the following 

 morning, I found that she was discharging her 

 cargo, waggons having been drawn up alongside 

 to receive it ; and being thus lightened of her 

 freightage, she got off with the tide. 



It is a circumstance somewhat remarkable that 

 most of the navigable rivers in Africa should be 

 shut up at the entrance by insurmountable barriers 

 of sand. The only rivers which afford the most re- 

 mote prospect of becoming useful to Albany are the 

 Cowie and the great Fish river ; and it is not 

 improbable that, in due time, as the population in- 

 creases, they will be rendered available to the pur- 

 poses of commercial enterprize. Port Francis, how- 

 ever, at the mouth of the Cowie, is at present almost 



