18 TRAVELS IN 
or lefs depth ; night comes on ; and the city, 
the road, aad the whole neighbourhood, enjoy 
a fpe£l:acle fo much the more magnificent, as 
the caufe of it is known ; and people are eri- 
tirely free from that great terror which fuch a 
phenomenon would otherwife occafion : for 
the height and extent of this conflagration 
give to the mountain a more awful appear- 
ance than the lava does to Vefuvius, when it 
burfts forth with the greateft fury. I never 
faw this majeftic illumination but once ; and 
I can fay that it afforded me the utmoft plea- 
fure. All the inventions that might be made 
to d^ired fhips at the diftance of twenty leagues 
at fea, would never approach this Pharos, kin- 
dled accidentally by fome fmall bufhes, which 
a thoughtlefs negro has fuffered to catch fire. 
It is impoffible to reach the Devil's Moun- 
tain by the Table Mountain, though it is a 
part which has been feparated from it at the 
fummitj either by fragments fucceffively fall- 
ing, or by earthquakes ; but one may eafily 
arrive at the Lion Mountain, which, like the 
other, is alfo a part of the Table. It is how- 
ever imprafticable to get to its fummit v\^ithout 
a rope, by which one may clamber up, though 
with 
