6 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
and on the same day at noon our ship was at anchor in Table Baj, 
The season of the year was too far advanced to render this step 
prudent, but the Captain was induced to venture it on account of 
part of his cargo which he had to deliver at Cape Town ; though 
not, as appears by a remark in his journal, without feeling an 
unpleasant impression that some accident might occur." 
My remarks at the Cape will be almost entirely confined to the 
occurrences of the day ; the description of this colony having 
been so exhausted by preceding writers, especially by the present 
able Secretary to the Admiralty, that I should deem it a trespass 
on the patience of the reader were I to dwell on the subject at 
any length. The introductions I had received from England pro- 
cured me a very gratifying reception from His Excellency the 
Governor Lord Caledon, General Grey, and the Admiral com- 
manding the station, besides many agreeable English families 
resident at the Cape. I also, through the kindness of a friend, 
became acquainted with several Dutch families of the highest 
respectability, which added greatly to the pleasure of my stay 
at the settlement, and enabled me to form a tolerably fair esti- 
mate of its society. Among all the foreign colonies that I have 
visited, I have found no residence so agreeable as the Cape. 
The neatness and conveniency of the houses, the salubrity of the 
climate, and the grandeur of the adjacent mountains, make Cape 
Town, except during the prevalence of the south-east winds, a 
most desirable place of abode ; and the many beautiful rides and 
well sheltered country residences in the neighbourhood, render 
the adjoining country always delightful. To a person possessing 
a taste for the sublime, the scenery here could not fail to interest; 
