i62 TRAVELS IN 
mofphcre'. The heavens were pure and fe- 
rene ; and I delicioufly abandoned myfelf to 
the enjoyments of this fecond Capua. I be- 
came folitary and thoughtful. At the fame 
time I regretted to fee fo many charming days 
no better occupied than in killing infignificant 
game, and was refolved to arrange matters for 
ray departure; but an unexpeded incident in- 
tervened ftill for a fhort time to delay it. 
Nothing could be farther from my thoughts 
at that moment than that unfortunate vefTel 
the Middelburg, in which I had formerly lofi 
ray whole property, when it was fuddenly 
brought to my recolledion by one of Slaber's 
fons, who came to tell me, that fome neigh- 
bours, having examined the remains of the 
wreck in Saldanha Bay, had diftindly per- 
ceived the hull of the velTel, at the depth of 
twenty feet under v/ ater ; that curiofity, and 
the allurement of the riches it might contain, 
had induced fome of them, w^io were expert 
divers, to plunge into the gulph, and that their 
labour and fearch had not been fruitlefs. Se- 
veral of them, he faid, had brought up fome 
valuable pieces of china 3 and that, fuice, new 
divers^ 
