234 TRAVELS IN 
Others are of opinion, that a moderate force of infantry 
and artiilcr}^ janded at Three Anchor Bay, might easily suc- 
ceed in getting possession of Amsterdam battery in the rear, 
as well as the Chavonne and Rogge Bay batteries, after vvhich 
the castle would no longer be tenable, and the town would 
be at the mere}' (rf the attacking party. This is very true, 
if the landing could be reduced to a certainty ; but this bay 
is a mere narrow ^creck, choaked with anchors, and nine da3^s 
out of ten subject to a heavy rolling swell that makes it dan-^ 
gerous for a boat to attempt a landing. Perhaps the strongest 
impression might be made by combining the operations 
agreeably to the two opinions ; though a large force might 
probably prefer landing on the eastern beach of Table Bay, 
where there is nothing to interrupt them, cross the Salt' 
River, and carry the lines by a Coup de Main^ after which, 
as I have before observed, the castle must immediately fall, 
and the garrison surrender at discretion. 
The Dutch garrison, at the evacuation of the colony by the 
English, in March 1803, were certainly not capable of op- 
posing any extraordinary resistance, or to defend the place 
against a spirited attack, conducted by an officer of skill and 
local experience; and their numbers since that time have 
considerably been reduced. Three or four ships of the line, 
with four thousand men, would be fully sufficient to carry 
their point; provided the Dutch should receive no reinforce- 
ments from tlie French, which, hitherto, there are no grounds 
for supposing to be the case. The whole garrison, when 
complete, was intended to consist of three thousand men; of 
these were already arrived, at that time, baicly two thousand. 
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