passenger (and here I was the only one) will naturally feel as
anxious and watchful as those to whom that» safety is entrusted.
I saw that our fate depended on the sail, and we knew that to replace
it by another was impracticable at this time. After devising various
plans, I proposed that another sail should be hoisted under the lee
of it, so that in the event of its giving way, the pressure of the wind
would then be sustained by the lee sail. The suggestion was instantly
approved, and no time was lost in carrying.it into execution.
After this we felt as if the crisis of our danger were past, and
looked with some hope for a favourable termination to the tempest.
Drifting at the mercy of the elements, we were unable to estimate
our lee-way, or to calculate with any certainty what part of the
ocean we were in.
Thus passed the whole of the day. In the night the violence of
the wind began to abate a little, and in the course of the forenoon of
the following day (18th) it became sufficiently moderate to allow of
our making sail again. Every one resumed a cheerful countenance,
a n d congratulated each other on having thus happily weathered so tremendous
a storm. Our little vessel was in gratitude praised for many
good qualities ; and the captain, who had been very unfortunate in his
ships, several having been wrecked or cast ashore, some foundered at
sea, and one consumed by fire, now confessed that at one time his
hopes of ever reaching land had deserted him. Every one was busily
employed in repairing damages, and in rectifying the confusion into
which the deck had been thrown. The unusual and unexpected
length of the voyage reduced us to a short allowance of water, and
our stock of fresh provisions had been exhausted three days before.
We shaped our course once more towards the Cape, and continued
sailing, with variable winds and unsettled weather, for four days ; but
on the 23d and 24th the weather became fair and pleasant, and the
wind blew right in our favour.
On the 25th, in the: morning, at a little before eight o’clock,
having a light westerly wind, we again made the Cape land; and rejoiced
to find that the cloud had left the mountain. Having paid so
dearly for our experience and knowledge of the nature of that cloud,
it was with no small satisfaction that we beheld Table Mountain
in its true outline, presenting its broad, flat, and horizontal summit,
unobscured by mist or haze. Although we approached the land but
slowly, we were confident in not meeting at present, on entering
Table Bay, so ungracious a reception as we had experienced the
first time..
The next day, (26th,) by three in the afternoon, we were close in
with the Lion's Head; but being nearly becalmed, we made but slow
progress round Green Point, which, as we sailed along, was very
close on our right hand. Various buildings'began to make their
appearance; the Jutty and Castle came in sight; and, as soon as we
had passed the Chavonne and Amsterdam batteries, Cape Town
itself, backed by the immense precipice of Table Mountain, rising
like an enormous wall, opened full to view.
At first no object attracted my notice till I had sufficiently admired
the majestic amphitheatre of mountains in which the town reposes.
Every thing wore, to my eye at least, a pleasing aspect: it was the
charm of novelty which cast an agreeable hue over the whole scene;
even the smallest object interested me, and whatever I beheld seemed
to present itself as a subject for my future investigation. On the
first arriving at a foreign country, there is a sensation so delightful
and so peculiar to an inquisitive mind, that language can convey but
little of it to a reader. To many these sentiments must remain unintelligible;
to those, at least, who see no other difference in the
countries they may have had the opportunities of visiting, than that
which arises from the language or dress of the inhabitants, or from
the heat or cold of the climate. The strange features which an
attentive observer instantly discovers, in animated as well as in inanimated
nature; the various shades of human character and manners
; the complexion of the mountains and valleys; the ground we
tread upon; all open to us gratuitously an inexhaustible source of
knowledge and of ideas, and an infinite variety of amusement of the
most rational kind. To that cold mind which can look at Nature
with insensibility, nearly the whole of the creation exists in vain,
c