AFRICA. 8j 
4DCcafion I formed a more intimate connedioa 
with Mr. Gordon, the commander of the 
troops, who thought my intended enterprize 
rather too hazardous; efpecially at a time when 
the CafFres were at war with the Dutch plan- 
ters, and confequently with the Hottentots: 
and, though he approved of my plan, he did 
not conceal the dangers to which I fhould be 
expofed in the execution of it. What he re- 
lated concerning the rifks which he had run 
in attempting a like projed, ferved only to 
redouble my ardour: and I believed myfelf to 
be proof againft all thofe misfortunes, which 
he took a pleafure in exhibiting to my view ; 
and which, I muft own, were far from being 
encouraging. 
Whilft my people were employed in pre- 
paring my baggage, I examined, with parti- 
cular attention, the city and its environs. 
I feveral times vifited the Table and Lion 
Mountains. Though the former, feen from 
the bay, feems to reach to the city, I found, 
however, that it was njore than a league dif- 
tant from it. 
The bottom of this mountain is covered 
with a great number of fragments of rock ; 
' G 2 which 
