74 
A SKETCH OF CAPE TOWN, 
an extensive and ornamental building, begun in the year 1772, ori- 
ginally intended for an hospital ; and between this and the Castle is the 
Custom-house, built in 1813. Close to the entrance to the Govern- 
ment-garden, is a large and handsome building, completed in 1815, 
which contains the Court of Justice, the Secretary's office, and most 
of the principal public offices. The Theatre is situated in the Boer 
Plein ; but was seldom used, as it depended chiefly on the perform- 
ance of amateurs. Cape Town possesses several other buildings ap- 
propriated to business of a public nature, such as may easily be 
supposed requisite for a large town and a considerable population. * 
The whole is protected, on the side of the land, by fortified 
Lines, extending from the Devil's Mountain to the sea-shore. The 
town is supplied with excellent water, which issues, in several plen- 
tiful streams, from Table Mountain; and in 1813, iron pipes, sent 
from England, were laid down, for the purpose of conducting a sup- 
ply of it to every street. 
On the ' Lion's Rump' is a signal-post and look-out station, 
where, by hoisting certain numbers of black balls, immediate notice 
is given of all ships seen in the offing. There is also a telegraphic 
communication between Cape Town and Simon's Town in False 
Bay, the place of rendezvous of all ships of war belonging to the 
Cape station. 
Southward of Cape Town, a great number of elegant villas are 
scattered about between vineyards, plantations, and groves of trees ; 
and the country, as far as Rondebosch, Wynberg, and Constantia, 
is really delightful, and, more than any other part of the colony, 
resembles the rich cultivated scenery of England. 
That which may be called the Peninsula of the Cape of Good 
Hope, includes Cape Town, Camps Bay, Hout Bay, and Simon's Town, 
and consists of an irregular range of mountains, commencing at the 
Lion's Rump, and terminating at Cape Point ; which last is the Cape 
* Other edifices have since been erected ; particularly the Exchange, built by the 
merchants of Cape Town, and founded on 25th August, 1819; and the Butcher's Hall, 
another building, equally convenient for business, was added in the following year. 
