THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

IMPELLED by a consideration of the state of our home population, to lay before our readers an account of distant regions, where the means of comfortable subsistence are attainable by moderate industry and perseverance, we attempted, in our last numbers, to sketch the important colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. With our view still directed to the same object, we proceed to the description of a colony, perhaps more important to Britain than either, on account of its affording a resting-place on the highway to India, and its favourable position for becoming a great emporium of the products of both hemispheres.

It is unnecessary to preface our remarks on the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, by any detailed view of the great continent of which it forms an angle. The same spirit of exaggeration which has distorted Australia, has metamorphosed Africa into a region of contrarieties, a land of contrasts. It has been represented as a vast expanse of sandy desert, parched by an arid atmosphere, and the powerful rays of a vertical sun, traversed by few rivers of any magnitude, and bordered at intervals by mountains and valleys, overgrown by a luxuriant vegetation, in the midst of which animals, of enormous dimensions and ferocious dispositions, dispute the mastery with hordes of savages, as merciless as themselves. It has been considered as peculiarly the land of wild beasts and wild men; but the lions of the African desert are not more numerous than the jaguars of the American savannah; nor are its human inhabitants more ferocious than the plundering bands which Christian Europe has sent forth to trample and exterminate. Some visionaries even see in the western bulging of this continent, a protuberance so exactly fitted to the Gulf of Mexico, and in the eastern protuberance of South America, a bulging so adapted to fill up the Gulf of Guinea, that they imagine the two continents to have been formerly united, forgetful that a gap of such dimensions would have wrought a ruin not so easily repaired as the chink in a ball of clay, to which, in their impotency of conception, they assimilate our planet, with all its mysterious constitution.

Yet Africa has many peculiarities, by which it is distinguished from the other masses of land so strangely distributed over the surface of the globe. It is of a compact form, like New Holland, which it resembles in its geographical constitution, there being few breaks in the outline of its coasts, which run out into four principal promontories: Cape Guardafui, at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf; the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern extremity of the continent, and in the parallel of Australia and Buenos Ayres; Cape Verd, opposite to the West Indies; and the promontory of Tunis, which projects into the Mediterranean. The Gulf of Sidra on the north, and the Gulf of Guinea on the south-west, are almost the only large indentations of the coast-line, which, in its singular uniformity, presents a striking contrast with those of Asia, Europe, and America. Mountainranges occur in various parts, but nowhere, in so far as is known, attain the elevation of those of Asia and South America, and are supposed, like those of New Holland, in some measure to encircle the continent; or the whole of Africa may be viewed as an elevated table-land, rapidly sloping by terraced ranges towards the sea. The rivers are small in comparison to the mass of land, even the Nile being much inferior to the Orinoco, the smallest of the three magnificent rivers of South America. Some of them never reach the sea, but are lost in the central deserts, while others are barred with sand at their mouth, or crossed by ridges of rock, forming cataracts. The soil of the interior is to a great extent arid and destitute of vegetation, or scantily supplied with succulent plants; but the valleys of the mountainous regions are possessed of an exuberant fertility; and some districts are marshy, and teem with animal and vegetable life. The forest trees are generally not remarkable for their size, or the quality of their timber; but the tropical regions often produce trees of enormous dimensions, and the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone and the Gambia furnish excellent timber for naval architecture. The vegetation of Africa is in a great measure peculiar, as is that of the other continents; and it would be impossible in few words to characterize it. Excepting the deserts, almost all parts of this great continent yield in abundance the vegetable products, which contribute to the comforts of man. Various species of palm af

ford esculent fruits, oil and wine. Bananas, plantains, pomegranates, oranges, yams, melons, gourds, and onions, together with maize, rice, dourrha, and various species of holcus and millet, are all easily cultivated, and afford abundant food with little labour. Of the animals of Africa, from the majestic elephant and the ferocious lion, to the locust and termite, it is unnecessary to speak, as we shall mention some of the more remarkable in another place. The hippopotamus, the camelopard, the rhinoceros, the gnu, a whole host of antelopes, the zebra, the quagga, the black oran-outan, the hyena, and other tribes, are almost peculiar to this continent. It is also the principal country of a race of men distinguished by peculiarities of feature and character, and with whom the humane and enlightened nations of Europe have peopled their colonies. The physical peculiarities of the Negroes are well known, from the woolly hair to the projecting heel. Their timidity and inoffensiveness have rendered them an easy prey to the slave-dealer and his allies; and their cheerfulness or levity prevent them from sinking under injuries which would rouse the spirit of other tribes to vengeance, or fret them into disease and death. Besides the Negroes, various other races, the origin of some of which is involved in obscurity, occur in different parts of Africa. The principal are the Moorish race, the Arabs, Turks, Nubians, Abyssinians, Berbers, Hottentots and Caffres; of the latter of which we shall have occasion to say a few words. Upon the whole, however, Africa is distinguished from the other continents by its extreme aridity, its Negro population, and the deficiency of civilization among its native tribes, none of which seem to have retained any rational ideas of religion, or to have formed any competent system of government.

The climates of Africa are generally unhealthy; its rivers are not navigable for any considerable length; its unbroken shores afford no means of penetrating into the interior; its inhabitants are rude or ferocious; and its products are excelled in the estimation of Europeans by those of Asia and America. For these and other reasons, our intercourse with Africa has been extremely limited, and commerce has been little benefited by it, unless through the slave-trade, of which enlightened individuals have not blushed to become advocates. While almost the whole

of America, the discovery of which is so recent, has been colonized, Africa, known from the earliest periods of our history, and itself a source of civilization, possesses few European settlements; the principal being that which we now proceed to describe.

The southern promontory of Africa, discovered by Diaz, who named it the Cape of Storms, and first rounded by Gama, the celebrated Portuguese navigator, is situated about the 34th degree of south latitude, and 18° 30′ of east longitude. It was first colonized by the Dutch, who founded Cape Town in 1650, and remained in their hands until 1806, when it was ceded to the English. During the period of its occupation by the Dutch, the colony had no precise limits; but, at present, it is bounded towards the interior, by a ridge of mountains, of which the highest part is named the Nieuwveld Gebirge, which separate it from independent tribes of Caffres and Bushmen; towards the east, by the Great Fish River of the Dutch, the Rio. d'Infante of the Portuguese, which separates it from Caffraria; and toward the west by the Orange River, which enters the southern Atlantic Ocean in lat. 28° 50′ S. The whole of this region appears to consist of alternate ranges of mountains, or rugged and steep declivities, and arid plains or table-lands.

From the mouth of Orange River southward, along the western coast, the shore-line presents few or inconsiderable indentations, until we approach Cape Town, when we meet with St Helena Bay, Saldanha Bay, and Table Bay, on which the capital is situated. Between Table and False Bay, a hilly peninsula is formed, the extremity of which is properly the Cape of Good Hope, although Cape L'Aguillas, farther to the east, is the southern extremity of Africa. Beyond this is St Catharine's Bay, from which, to the eastern limit of the colony, on the Great Fish River, the coast is sinuous. From the Cape to the eastern boundary a great bank extends to about the 37th degree of south latitude, which, together with the heavy swell and violent surf, renders the coast peculiarly dangerous. As we do not write for mariners, it is unnecessary for us to describe the harbours and anchorages of the Cape, which are well known to be less numerous and less secure than might be wished, for so important a station. The two bays in the neighbourhood of the capi

tal are both open and insecure; but Saldanha Bay, in latitude 32° 54′, is the best harbour on the whole western coast of Africa, being large enough to contain several fleets, surrounded by hills, and secured against the effects of the westerly winds by three little islands placed at its mouth. This bay abounds in fish, and the soil around it has been found exceedingly fertile; but no good water can be obtained. All the bays of the southern coast are similar, having generally on the western side a projecting cape, formed by a branch from the mountains, but usually ending in reefs.

The largest river of this region is the Orange or Gariep, which, from its sources at King and Yattaba, has a course of 800 miles. Elephants River, to the west, Gaurits River, Chamtoos River, and Great Fish River, although much inferior in size, are the next in importance. Besides these, and their tributaries, there are numberless rivulets, which traverse the district in various directions, chiefly from north to south. All the rivers are subject to periodical floodings, when they carry down immense quantities of mud and sand, which are driven back by the heavy surf at their mouth, and form bars by which ingress is prevented from the sea. In the dry season, the smaller rivers are entirely dissipated, and most of the others are reduced to pools. In the greater part of their course, they usually occupy the bottom of deep ravines formed by the action of their waters on a clayey or sandy soil; and as the country is hilly, numerous cascades occur, some of which possess considerable beauty, although, in general, the river scenery is not remarkable for variety or contrast.

In describing the geological constitution of the Cape district, we may commence with the peninsula, a mountainous ridge, running southward to a length of forty or fifty miles, and connected with the continent by a low sandy isthmus, having Table Bay on one side and False Bay on the other. At its northern extremity, the peninsula is terminated by three remarkable mountains, or rather by a single mountain, separated by deep ravines into three portions. The most imposing of these is named Table Mountain, on account of its flattened summit, and has an elevation of 3582 feet. It is separated from the other masses, the Devil's Peak and the Lion's Head, by deep fissures,