TABLE BAY. 89 



have accomplished his object within a much shorter 

 time, and at far less expense. 



With a fair wind we soon shot a-head of False 

 Bay, and rounding the extreme southerly point of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, got under the shelter of 

 what is termed the Lion's Rump : on our entering 

 Table Bay, the beach presented a dismal appear- 

 ance, being strewed with the wrecks of vessels which 

 had been driven ashore during the late north- west 

 gales. On casting anchor, I took the first oppor- 

 tunity of permission to land, and it was with no 

 slight feeling of pleasure that I once more set foot 

 on the old jetty. I could not but feel the full force 

 of the remark, that the sea is not our element : w r e 

 are intruders upon the secrets of the mighty deep, 

 and acknowledge that our arrival on the shores of 

 mother Earth, although in a foreign clime, is as it 

 were a return to home. 



The government schooner " Francis," which 

 about this time left the Cowie river, where the cap- 

 tain had embarked part of his family for Cape Town, 

 was supposed to have foundered in this gale, as 

 nothing has ever since been heard of her, or the 

 unfortunate persons on board. 



