CHAPTER 1. 
APPROACH TO, AND ARRIVAL AT, THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
At five in the afternoon, (13th November, 1810,) the sailors on deck, 
who had for some time been anxiously looking out, called to us that 
land was in sight. At this pleasing intelligence we hastened up from 
the cabin, and although nothing could be seen but a small cloud, 
which seemed fixed on the horizon, and was at first not very easily 
to be distinguished, the captain, who was well acquainted with the 
singular appearance of the cloud which rests on the Table Mountain 
during a south-east gale, declared that the land which we had now 
before us was that of the Cape of Good Hope. 
It appeared gradually and slowly rising out of the ocean, while our 
sails, well filled with the gentle gale, bore the gliding vessel over the 
blue waters of the deep, and forced its foamy prow resistless through 
the yielding waves. Every other thought was banished, and our whole 
attention was now turned towards the distant cloud. The tedious 
and protracted length of our voyage was felt no longer ; every coun- 
tenance became enlivened, and each one with new alacrity assisted 
in the preparations for bringing the ship into port. The land was 
distant nearly one hundred miles in the direction of north-east ; but a 
pleasant south-easterly breeze was carrying us on rapidly towards it, 
B 
