286 



CAPE VOLTAS. 



[1828. 



are all, except the Knysna, rendered inaccessible by a bar of sand or 

 a reef of rocks across the mouth. 



The land bordering on the seacoast in this latitude is very sandy, 

 and only fit for grazing fields ; and for many miles into the interior it 

 seems to be destitute of arable soil. Many kinds of skins, however, 

 may be procured here, including those of the leopard, fox, bullock, &c, 

 together with ostrich-feathers, and valuable minerals from the head of 

 Koussie River. Vast numbers of horned cattle are raised in the 

 interior. 



From the mouth of this river the coast tends north-north-west, a 

 little westerly, twenty-eight leagues, to Cape Voltas in latitude 28° 24' 

 S., long. 16° 28' E. ; variation per azimuth 25° 55' westerly. There 

 is a bank of soundings that puts off to the west of this cape, about 

 thirty miles, at which distance there is forty fathoms of water ; the 

 depth becoming gradually and regularly reduced as we approach the 

 shore. This bank extends southerly along the coast, quite to the 

 Cape of Good Hope, varying from thirty to fifty miles off-shore ; and 

 from Point St. Martin's to the last-named cape there are many dangers, 

 lying from two to five miles off-shore. But north of St. Martin's to Cape 

 Voltas, there are no dangers more than a quarter of a mile from the 

 land. 



The Socos Islands, laid down on the charts as lying in latitude 29° 

 35' S., long. 16° 34' E., said to be about twenty miles from the land, 

 are not to be found. They have been represented as four in number, 

 with several small islands between them and the continent. But I can 

 assert positively that no such islands exist ; neither is there any island 

 of any description lying between St. Helen's Bay and Cape Voltas, 

 more than half a mile from the main. 



Cape Voltas is also very erroneously laid down, in latitude 29° 20' 

 S., and long. 16° 31' E., with a deep bay running in on the north side 

 of the cape, twenty-five miles, in an east-south-east direction, with deep 

 water all over the bay. Now, the true and correct situation of Cape 

 Voltas is in latitude 28° 27' 30" S., long. 16° 17' E. The cape is a 

 high bluff point, projecting into the sea, and there are several rocks 

 lying about half a mile to the west of it, beyond which there are no 

 dangers. About one mile north of the cape there is a small bay, not 

 more than two miles in length, and one and a half in width ; within 

 which the anchorage is not safe, as the ground is foul, and heavy 

 rollers are continually heaving in from the westward, at all seasons of 

 the year. Ships, however, which are in want of firewood, may lie 

 off and on, and obtain any quantity from the head of the bay, where 

 they will find a thousand cords piled up on the beach, which come 

 down the Orange or Gariep River, the entrance to which is about two 

 leagues to the north of Cape Voltas. 



The land around the cape, and to the south as far as Koussie River, 

 is high on the seaboard, running back into elevated mountains. The 

 hill-sides are covered with very good grass for grazing cattle, but the 

 summits of these eminences are one mass of volcanic productions. I 

 know not how far north of Table Bay Mr. Barrow travelled, without 

 discovering " a volcanic product ;" but I am positive that such relics 



