6 CAPE-TOWN. [1812. 
him on his visit to England, and her rephes to various 
questions I proposed on subjects of a rehgious nature, 
pleased me much. 
I received a particular account of two earthquakes 
of a peculiarly terrific nature, which occurred some 
time before my arrival. The places of worship were 
but thinly attended before these earthquakes took 
place, but now they are crowded. The small-pox 
coming into the colony immediately after, was a re- 
markable visitation of God; for like a -.plague, it 
spared neither old nor young, but swept them away as 
a besom of destruction, so that churches, coffee-houses, 
the theatre, and shops, were all shut up. A white flag 
was required to be suspended from houses in which 
the disease prevailed, and persons coming from them 
were obliged to wear a white ribbon round their arm. 
These awful providences led many to their bibles and 
to their knees before God, for which they will thank 
God for ever. 
We received a licence from the government to 
preach while we remained in the colony, and having 
obtained from the Cape Society the use of the Great 
Meeting-house, we l)egan preaching there, attended 
chiefly by soldiers of the 93d and 83d regiments, with 
some from the 21st light dragoons, to the number of 
three or four hundred. 
Mahometanism is greatly on the increase in Cape- 
town. They have, I believe, five mosques, where they 
