720 The E XP EDITIO N of Commodore Beaulieu Book I. 
During this Calm we faw two great Fifh with long Snouts, 
or Beaks, which feemed to be ot that fort that are known to 
pierce lined Ships. I could fcarce have credited the Story 
of their penetrating through Ships, if the Governor of 
Dieppe had not fhewed me a Piece of the Beak or Horn of 
fucli a Fifh found in the Side of a Dieppe Ship, when it was 
kid up to be caulked after an Eajl- India Voyage *, the 
Captain of which had found fornething ftrike againft his 
Ship, as fhe failed from the Coaft of Brafil to the Cape , 
but did not know what it was till that Difcovery happened. 
This Piece of Horn refembled the Tooth of a Sea-Horfe, 
only it was ftrait all along, and of the Colour of Ivory. Its 
Thicknefs was an Inch and half Diameter. It had run five 
Inches into the Wood, and was broke off, where the Li- 
ing joined the Wood, probably by the ftruggling of the Fifh, 
which could not recover it without breaking. Several Per- 
fons have met with the like Adventure in their Voyages : 
But I fhall only mention one more of a Dieppe Captain, 
who upon a Voyage to thofe Parts had his Boat flaved to 
Pieces by a Blow from one of thefe Fifhes •, for the Fifh en- 
deavouring to withdraw its Horn, disjointed all the Planks. 
Thofe which I faw on this Occafion feemed to be of the 
fmalleft fort, one of them that came juft under me ap- 
peared to be ten Foot long, befides its Beak. It was a 
lleftsy Fifh, though not fo big proportionably to its Length 
as a Porpoife. Its Colour was a dark blue, and its Fins 
and Tail, which were very large, reprefented a bright 
Azure in the Sea. It had a pretty high Lump upon its 
Back, refembling that of a Rechien, or Indian Sea-Calf, 
which fometimes riles above Water. Its Head was not 
unlike a Porpoife, only it was longer, and inftead of a 
Snout had this Horn, or Bill, which was very fharp at the 
Point, and almoft two Foot long, and as thick as a Boy’s 
Wrift. It is a very ftiff and fwift Fifh, for I have feen it 
fly at Bonitoes, with which it wages continual War. I 
have often obfervecl Bonitoes and Albacores wounded by 
this fort of Fifh, and the Sea tindlured with the Blood. I 
am certain there are fome of this fort much greater than 
thofe I faw this Day, which attack the Whales, and pro- 
bably ’tis their miftaking a Ship for a Whale that occasions 
their encountering with a Ship. However, I doubt not 
but a great Ship may be endangered by the fplitting and 
gafhing of its Planks, occafioned by this Fifh endeavouring 
to withdraw its Horn after it has ftruck. 
While the Calm and the exceffive Heat continued, 
we faw a certain white thing about the Bignefs of 
an Oftrich-Egg floating upon the Water, which funk 
when the Ship came within fifty or fixty Paces of 
it ; our Pinnace’s Crew faid they faw a great many of 
them. It refembled a Man’s Head without Hair, and 
fome fay they obferved two black Eyes and a Mouth up- 
on it : We likewife faw a ftrange fort of Fifh, about as 
large as an ordinary Lamprey, and equally round, with a 
large Fin or Creft, which feemed to be above a Foot high 
over its Head, and Hoped in a continued Series down to 
its Tail. It fwims upon one Side, fo that the Fin, toge- 
ther with the Body, reprefents a large Fifh in a triangular 
Form, and it makes its Way by drifting from one Side to 
the other ; but when it catches its Prey, the Fin is ftraight, 
and appears above the Water to be of an afhy Colour, 
though the Body of the Fifh is as white and as round as a 
Tallow-candle. 
5. On the Tenth we were in 31 0 45' S. Lat. the Nee- 
dle varying 12 0 20 1 N. E. the Twentieth our Lat. was 
24°, and the Variation 9 0 30'. Here we faw a great deal 
of Wreck, or Sea-grafs, of a reddifli Colour, which fome 
fay comes from the Trijian de Acuna- IJlands. The next 
Day there happened a violent Storm, the Wind at Weft, 
which had almoft broke down our Malts, our Topmaft- 
Sails being then out. Such Storms are common, and 
very violent in thofe .Seas in Winter *, but it was then Sum- 
mer there, and the Autumn was juft approaching. On the 
8th of March our Lat. was 34 0 , and the Variation no 
more than 20^ which I took for a certain Sign that we 
were not above feventy or feventy-fix Leagues off of the 
Cape of Good-Hope . 
The 1 i th we faw Trambs, or Sea-weeds, about three 
or four Fathoms long. Cormorants, Sea-Bears, and the 
Fowls called by the Fcrtugueze Alcatras, which are white 
all over, only the Tips of their Wings are black ; and all 
thefe were certain Signs of our approaching to the Land. 
We likewife faw innumerable Shoals of Porpoifes, and a 
great many Whales f towards Night we difcovered Land, 
and found the common Navigation to be very juft, bein«- 
then in 330 Lat. which is over-againft the Bay of de Sot 
daigna. We refolved to fleer our Courfe to the Table- Bay , 
which lay from us about twenty Leagues S.E. a Quarter S„ 
in order to take in Frefti-water ; but the Wind being con- 
trary, that is, S. and the Tides being N. N. W. we did not 
arrive at the Table- Bay till the 15th at Night, at which Time 
we call Anchor there, having loft only one Boy in the Voy- 
age. The next Day I fent fifty Men on Shore with Sails 
to make Tents of ; when the Boat returned, they told me 
they had found feveral Corpfe of dead Men and Cloaths 
fcattered up and down, and a fmall Fortification of Earth, 
which we gueffed to be built by the Danes , for one of the 
Natives that fpoke a fort of Jargon of broken Englifo, gave 
us to underftand, though more by his Signs than his Lan- 
guage, that five Ships had failed from thence to the Eaft~ 
ward about three Months before. 
The 19th it continued to be very ftormy, with a North- 
Eaft Wind. Some Mufquetteers, whom we had fent in 
Queft of a Soldier who had ftraggled from us, reported, 
that they had paffed along the South-Side of an Inland 
Mountain, joining to the Table Mountain, where they 
faw an Infinity of very large Baboons and Monkies ; and 
from thence continued their Courfe along the declining 
Part of the Mountains that bound the Weftern-Shore, till 
they delcried the Sea about half a League off, which I took 
to be another Bay between this and the Cape of Good-Hope , 
that then they turned back, and when they were upon the 
Mountains,delcried the Sea to the Southward, which muft be 
that to the Eaftward of the Cape of Good Hope . That they 
had a plain View of other Mountains, between which and 
thefe they were upon, there lay an open Plain about ten 
or twelve Leagues broad, the Soil of which was very 
good, and capable of producing feveral Fruits, the Plain 
terminating upon the Sea, without any Mountains between 
Cape-Falfo and the Cape of Good-Hope. That at the Foot 
of the Weftern Mountains they met with "Woods and large 
Trees, like Apple-trees, which bore no Fruit, but were 
very hardWood ; and in the fame Place were very pleafant 
Paftures, and fome Cattle, and excellent clear Water. 
This Report infpired me with a Curiofity to fee the 
Country •, accordingly, the next Day, I walked out by the 
Back of the Table Mountain, and when I was got three 
Leagues into the Country, obferved very good Grounds, 
fprinlded with Grafs and pleafant Flowers, with a fmall Ri- 
vulet of Freih-water gliding along the Plain, and lofing 
itfelf in the Sea at the Foot of the Bay, at a Place where 
there is no great Confluence of Water, which we call 
the River. This Rivulet rifes out of the Mountains that 
lie between the Point of the Cape and this Bay, and ferve 
for Boundaries to the Weftern-Sea. I likewife obferved 
that this Rivulet makes feveral Fens to the Northward, 
along the Downes or Banks of Sand, that terminate the Bay 
and to that Place which we call the River, where Barks of 
fifty or fixty Tun may enter at High-water. I returned 
along the Mountain, and, at the Foot of the Table Moun- 
tain to the Southward, met with a great many Trees, fome 
of which afford Planks a Foot broad, and eighteen or twenty 
Foot long, their Trunks being ftraight like that of a Pear- 
tree, their Leaves whitifli and fmall ; their Bark about two 
Inches thick and reddifh ; the Heart of the Wood white 
and hard, and the whole Tree full of Sap. 
I likewife obferved Herbs of the fame Nature with thofe 
in our Country, fuch as Sorrel, Fern, Broom, &c. From 
this Mountain I faw Cape-Falfo , and the Sea that waflies 
the Eaft-fide of the Cape, which forms a large Bay as far as 
the Cape, where a great many Rocks fhoot out into the 
Sea, that muft needs be dangerous to Ships on a South- 
ern Wind. Upon the Side of the Mountains of Cape-Falfo 
there runs either a great River, or an Arm of the Sea, that 
fhoals very far up ; and I obferved the like upon the In- 
land Side of the Mountains upon the Cape of Good-Hope. 
Upon all thefe Mountains there are great Quantities of 
Goats, Fallow-deer as big as Harts, Partridges, and all Sorts 
of Fowl * Baboons, Monkies, ’Lions, white Wolves, Foxes, 
Por- 
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