have conftru&ed it in his clofet from recollection, otherwife
errors of two and even three hundred miles in latitude, as we
fhall prefently fee, could not have happened. Tbunberg, another
Swede, travelled a great deal within the limits of the colony,
and made many valuable additions to the difcoveries of
Sparrmann in the natural hiftory of the country ; yet, although
he defcribes objects as they prefented themfelves before him,,
and touches on a variety of fubjccts, his book, being made up
of a collection of incomplete and unconnected paragraphs,
whofe juxta-pofition are fometimes whimiical enough, conveys
neither accurate topography nor even a general idea of the colony.
The work of our countryman Mr. (now lieutenant-colonel)
Patlerfon, is a mere journal o f occurrences, with defcriptions
o f a few fubjefts in natural hiftory, fome of which, at that
time, were new; but the information it contains, with regard
to the extent and population of the colony, the character of
the fettlers and of the natives, is very flight; and he has re-
publiihed the very defective map of Sparrmann.
There are, allb, two modern publications of travels made
by Dutchmen. The one is by Hoppe, who attended an expedition
that was fent from the Cape to the northward, in fearch
of a nation that were reported to wear linen clpathing. This
expedition made very little progrefs on account of the want of
water, and the failure of their cattle. The nation, in all probability,
was the Portugueze colony on the fouthern part of
Angola }- or, perhaps, ibme fcatneij belonging to.a whaler that
had touched at Artgrd Peqttena, à fittali bay in latitude 26’ $6'
fouth, might have been fèfen by the Damaras, or thé Gréât Nà-
maqoas. The other publication is a Journal of Vah Reen'en,
who, with fame of the Dutch peafantry, proceeded through
the Kafier country, in ftaffch of the paflengfetts irid crèfv óf the
Grofvenor that was Wfeèked Ori the coàft a little to thè fouth-
ward of De la Goa Bay. This journal was pttbiiftïèd by ’Cifp-
tain Rim in England,, with the addition of a ittàp, cottftruCied
from the materials contained in thè journal, âfadthè ittfdfrilatîoh
of a Dutch navigator. It is therefofe Hardly n'éceflary to ob-
ferve that, from fuch data, it could not be otherwife' than cfeiJ
feâive in moft of the eflential points that cOnftifütë thé' Value*'
of a fea-chart. It is incorred in the latitudes and longitudes,
in the indentations of the eoaft, and in the fìzè and ihape of
the bays. A partial map of thé colony by De let Rocbètte has
allò been lately publiihed, which is fo far incorrect, even in the
vicinity of the Cape, that the fiur-and-twinly rivers afè madb
to flow in an oppofite direCbion to that whieh is adttsfljr thé
cafe.
In fpeaking of charts, it may not, perhaps, bé confidèrcd unimportant
to obferve in this place', that the Whole of the coaft
.of South Africa, between Algoa or Zwartkop’s Bay, and that
of De la Goa, ftretches, in reality, much farther to the eaftward,
(making the continent in this part much wider,) than it is laid
down in any of the fea-charts that have hitherto been publiihed ;
by feveral degrees more eafterly than fome of them make it.
To this circumftance may, probably, have been owing the lois
of the Grofvenor Indiaman, and many other Ihips that have
von. 11. d been