TRAVELS IN 
Point to the River Koussie on the north, that an army of ten 
thousand men would scarcely be sufficient to keep out an 
enemy, if he were determined to effect a landing. A large 
force, however, landed at any great distance from the Cape, 
could not possibly be subsisted. At Mossel Bay it might, 
perhaps, receive a small supply of corn, but no cattle ; at 
Plettenberg's Bay, neither the one nor the other. At Algoa 
Bay an enemy might, at all times, create a great deal of mis- 
chief, by putting arms into the hands of the Kaffers and 
Hottentots, who might very easily be encouraged to drive the 
whole colony within the limits of the Cape peninsula ; a 
measure, by which the garrison and the settlers would be 
reduced to the danger of starving for want of provisions. It 
is obvious that such a step would be attended with the ruin 
of the settlement, and would not, on that account, be resorted 
to but by a desperate or a Machiavelian enemy. The Dutch, 
I understand, have stationed at this bay near three hundred 
troops, to keep the peace between the boors, the Kaffers, 
and the Hottentots, but the greater part would, undoubtedlv, 
be withdrawn on receiving intelligence of the present war ; 
the weakness of the garrison not admitting of so large a de- 
tachment being sent off the peninsula. 
One effectual way of distressing the garrison would be to 
land detachments at various points not very distant I'rom the 
Cape Peninsula ; as, for instance, at Saldanha Bay, from 
whence, by getting possession of Roode Sand Kloof, all 
supplies of cattle would be cut off from the interior — at 
Gordon's Bay, in the north-east corner of False Baj^ wliose 
proximity to Hottentot Holland's Kloof would afford an easy 
