A V O Y A G E ROUND THE WORLD.
The environs of Falfe Bay are more dreary than thofe of
Table Bay, the country being almoft entirely defart, if we
except the commander’s houfe, two or three other houfes
belonging to private perfons, and fome magazines and
work-fhops, the property of the Company. The colour of
the mountains, however, is lefs gloomy, and the variety of
plants and birds which we found there is furprifing. Antelopes
iikewife refide in great numbers, fome among the
mod inaccellible cliffs, and others amidft the fmall dry
graffes and fhrubberies in more level fpots. We fpent a
whole morning in climbing thefe hills, and returned ex-
ceffively fatigued from the immoderate heat of the day.
On the mountains we faw feveral over-hanging rocks,
forming fmall caverns, where the Dutch frequently pafs the
night,' when they leave the town to fhoot antelopes.
Simmon’s Bay is that part of Falfe Bay, where the fhips
are beft Sheltered from the violence of the N. W. winds,
which prevail here during the winter months. A pier
clofe to the commander’s houfe is built out into the fea,
where the boats can take in water and all kinds of ftores,
with the fame facility as in Table Bay. Fifh of the beft
and moft palatable forts are caught here in great plenty,
and all kinds of refrefhments are eafily procured from the
plantations on the ifthmus, or from the Cape-Town itfelf,
which is only twelve miles diftant. The arrival of the
fliips
A V O Y A G E RO UND THE WORLD. SS3
(hips draws feveral inhabitants from thence to Falfe Bay, ap” L
who confine themfelves in narrow lodgings, for the fake
of enjoying the company of ftrangers. This peculiar fitu-
ation affords many favourable opportunities towards forming
more intimate connexions, which, we were told, the
ftrangers feldom neglcft, efpecially as beauty and vivacity
are not uncommon at the Cape.
After a flay of three days, we returned to the Cape-Town,
where we palled our time in examining the animals at the
Company’s garden, and fearehing all the furrier? fhops, in
order to colleX an affortment of antelopes fkins. We were
Iikewife favoured with the fight of a live ourang-outang,■ or
ape, from the ifland of Java, of that fpecies which has the
honour to be adopted as a near relation by feveral philofo-
phers. This animal was about two feet fix inches high,
and preferred crawling on all fours, though it could like-
wife fit and walk upon the hind-legs. Its fingers and toes
were remarkably long, and its thumbs very fhort, its belly
prominent, and its face, which was as ugly as it can well
be imagined, had a nofe more refembling the human than
that of other monkies. This animal has, I am told, been
fince brought over to the menagerie of the Prince of Orange,
at the Hague*.
* T h is creature died at the Hague in January 17.77 > but, through the grofs
ignorance and canine malice o f the keeper, the ableft anatomifts in Holland were
difappointed in the hope of differing it. He cut off its head, in order to prevent
their examining the organs of fpeech j and its hands arid feet, to preclude the pof-
Vof.. I I . 4 B Ability