by a range of granite rocks, along the fides <5f which Clipping
might be hove down to repair, the water being four
fathoms deep, clofe in with the rocks. The Dutch ihip Middle-
burg, that was fet on fire when Commodore Johnftone appeared
off the bay, went down with her fides juft touching thefe rocks,
where ihe now lies under water as if alongfide a quay.
The entrance of Saldanha bay lies in latitude 33° iq' fouth,
longitude 18° eaft, and the diftance from Table bay is eighteen
leagues north by weft. About nine leagues to the fouthward o f
the entrance is a low flat ifland, not many miles from the main
land, called Daffen ifland, which is faid to be conftantly covered
with rabbits and penguins. The former may generally betaken
with great eafe ; for on the appearance of people on the ifland,
the penguins take poffeffion of the rabbit holes, to the exclufion
of the rightful owners. Saldanha bay, the ihores of Daffen
ifland, and Robben ifland, in the mouth of Table bay, abound
with the different kinds of fiffi peculiar to this part of
the world. Saldanha bay, in the winter feafon, is frequented
by vaft numbers of the black whale. At this time they were
juft beginning to fet in. A whaler that had entered the bay, on
trial, found no difficulty in picking up a large fifh every day.
From the many conveniences that Saldanha bay poffeffes, as a
fecure harbour for fhipping, at all feafons of the year, where
they may be repaired, and even built, muft, on the other hand,
be dedudted very ferious difadvantages, without the removal of
which it will ever be prevented from becoming the general rendezvous
of a fleet; thefe are the want of wood and of frefh water.
The firft might indeed be fupplied, to a certain degree, from
the adjacent country. In the fand hills, that furround a part of the
bay, grow feveral kinds of fhrubby plants, whofe long and thick
roots are eafily drawn out of the loofe fand, and in fuch abundance,
as fcarcely to be credited. They form a kind of fubter-
ranean foreft. The fides of the hills alfo, and the extenfive
plains, are. covered with fruitefcent plants. Was the country
planted with the oak, poplar, filver tree, and others that grow
near the Cape, plenty of firewood might, in a very few years,
be furnifhed for any number of fhipping that would ever
frequent the bay.
The fcarcity of water is a much more ferious evil than that of
wood, and perhaps more difficult to obviate. There are two
fmall fprings towards the fouth end of the bay, but the water o f
both is flightly impregnated with fait. The farmers feem to
have no idea o f digging wells, or of opening a fpring to let it
ru n ; on the contrary, the ufual pradtice is that of making a
large dam clofe to the fpring: by fo doing, they expofe a greater
fiirface to the adtion of the fun, which is certainly an unwife
meafure, on a foil fo ftrongly impregnated with faline fubftances,
and in a climate where evaporation is fo powerfully, carried on.
On a trial being made, by order of the late Admiral Sir Hugh
Chriftian, to obtain water by digging near the landing-place of
Hootjes bay, a mafs o f granite rock, of a fteel blue color, was
entered to the depth of thirty or forty feet, and the fmall quantity
of water that oozed through the feams, was found to be
impregnated with fait.
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