an extensive and ornamental building, begun in the year 1772, originally
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 performance
of amateurs. Cape Town possesses several other buildings appropriated
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 plentiful
streams, from Table Mountain; and in 1813, iron pipes, sent
from England, were laid down, for the purpose o f conducting a supply
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 Bondebosch, Wynberg, and Constantia,
¡s 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 Bump,, 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, 181,9; and the Butcher’s Hail,
another building, equally convenient for business, was added in the following year.
of Good Hope Proper, or Cabo Tormentoso, discovered by Bartholo-
meo Diaz, in the year 1487, and doubled by Vasco de Gama, in
1497. This Peninsula is connected with the mainland, by a wide,
flat, sandy isthmus, of about twelve or thirteen English miles in
breadth, separating False Bay from Table Bay.
The shape and extent of the colony may be more easily known
by an inspection of the map, than by description. But, in an agricultural
view, great deductions should be made from its size ; as many
parts of it are barren and uninhabitable from want of water. Such
parts are called karrb, (a Hottentot word signifying dry) ; some of
them are of great extent, being not less than 50 miles across in the
narrowest part. They are very level, and, though destitute of grass,
are generally covered with short stunted bushes and succulent plants.
In the rainy season, however, a more luxuriant vegetation springs
up ; and at th ii time thé neighbouring boors remove with their
flocks, and take up a temporary residence in these plains, until
drought again obliges them to return home.
The colony, which is intersected in various directions by several
ranges o f high mountains, is divided into eleven districts *, of very
unequal sizes ; these are the districts of the Cape, of Stellenbosch,
Caledon, Tulbagh, Clanwilliam, Swellendam, George, Uitenhage,
Graaffreynêt, Albany, and the Tarka ; and to give some idea of their
situation, they are here enumerated in the order of their distance
from Cape Town, the Tarka being the most .distant. Each is
placed under the superintendance of either a Landdrost or a deputy
landdrost, who administers the government, in most respects, as the
representative of the governor; and it is through him that all laws,
proclamations, and inferior regulations, are carried into effect The
districts of Caledon, Clanwilliam, Albany, and the Tarka, are under
the deputy-landdrosts of Swellendam,Tulbagh,Uitenhage, and Graaff-
reynet, respectively. Each district is subdivided into a number of
* This is the division which existed at the date of these Travels; but various subdivisions
into new districts have since been made by the government
L 2