Our voyage from Muscat to Mozambique was not marked by any particular occurrence, excepting the death of a very young and valuable officer. The southwest monsoon having ended, we were in daily expectation of the advent of the northeast monsoon; but on the morning of the seventh of October, without waiting for a change of wind, as we were ready for sea, we weighed anchor again, in company with our consort, depending mostly upon the assistance of the current; for there was scarcely “a breath, the blue wave to curl.” As soon as the anchor was “apeek,” and the topsails sheeted home and hoisted up, eighteen guns were fired, as a parting salute to the hospitable sultan, (sooltaun,) which was returned with twenty-one. Not wishing to be behind-hand in an act of courtesy, three more were fired. The effect produced by the echo, among the serrated and cavernous rocks and mountains about the cove of Muscat, and the neighbouring hills, was surpassingly fine; loud, distinct, and repeated charges were heard, apparently, for the space of several minutes, until the reverberations died away, in faint echoes, among the distant hills in the southeast, west, and northwestern quarters. The winds were very light, from the southward and eastward, the first part of the passage, until we arrived in about 5° south, when it changed gradually to the northward and eastward, and continued so until we arrived at Mozambique. We had abundance of rain about the equator, accompanied by light squalls and calms; the currents setting generally to the southward and westward; they also set to the southward and eastward, and to the northward and eastward, due west, and to the northwest. A short distance to the northward and eastward of the island of Socotra, (Socotera,) it set in for three successive days, about 70° west, eighty-six miles, and for the seven successive days to the southward and westward, two hundred and sixty-five miles. The particulars of each day, I omit, as it can only interest the navigator; but what I have stated, will serve to show the absolute necessity of having firstrate chronometers, or the lunar observations carefully attended to; and never omitted to be taken when practicable. On our passage through the channel, we entered the small port Quintangony, seeing the Portuguese flag flying on a fort, mistaking it for Mozambique, as the bearings answered to its situation, and the table-land being north of it. We weighed anchor forthwith, and in two hours afterward, on the afternoon of the seventh of November, we discovered the island of St. George, which has a flag-staff and a small battery, and to the southward of it, the island of St. Jago; and at the same time the island of Mozambique, lying to the westward, distant about three miles, with its formidable castle and its neat white houses, appeared in view.

Before the sun had sunk behind the forest of palm-trees, which clothe the mainland of Africa, we found ourselves snugly at anchor, in a fine harbour, surrounded by twenty or thirty coasting craft, and several large Brazilian and Lisbon vessels. The town presented the most respectable and pleasing appearance; our cares were lulled to rest, for the present, being most grateful to the Giver of all good, for having conducted us thus far in safety, though sickness and sorrow, anxiety and death, had caused sad havoc among us—making the ocean the grave and the winding-sheet of many a brave and worthy heart, although clothed with a rough exterior—leaving a sad chasm among companions and friends, among parents and wives, and poor fatherless children. The last death which took place among us, was that of a most worthy and excellent young man, Midshipman Lewis H. Roumfert of Mount Holly, Pennsylvania. Had he lived, he would have been an ornament to his profession, and a most useful member of society; but God willed it otherwise, and, therefore, we ought not to complain. A short distance to the eastward of the island of Socotra, in the Indian ocean, he was laid in his watery grave. The solemn and sublime service of the Protestant Episcopal church was read by our worthy surgeon, Dr. Ticknor; the main-topsail being aback, and the colours hoisted half-mast. The topsails being filled again, we left him, poor fellow, sinking down into an earthless grave:

there to remain, until the last trump shall sound, and the sea shall disgorge its mighty dead.

We had scarcely dropped anchor, before an official visit was made by a lieutenant. A salute was fired in the morning, which was returned by an equal number of guns from the castle. The commandant of the castle, Juan Alexander de Almedia, and the acting-governor, was desirous of receiving us at the fort with military honours, and a message was sent to that effect, but which was declined; and at noon we landed, and were received by the commandant at the grand entrance, with a double file of soldiers with “present arms.” This noble fort was built by Juan de Castro, in 1518, and it is certainly, for the most part, in a fine state of preservation. It is called Santo Sebastiano, and it appears capable of resisting any force which probably will ever be sent against it, notwithstanding the honeycombed state of many of the iron cannon, and the very weak state of the garrison. It is of a quadrangular form, having an extensive bomb-proof citadel, capable of protecting all the inhabitants of the town, in case of a siege, with sufficient magazines for munitions of war and provisions.

An immense cistern stands in the middle of the parade, which is filled by the annual rains. The inhabitants are supplied from this cistern, whenever the rainy season fails, as well as the shipping; the latter being obliged to pay one dollar per cask. Ships-of-war, of all nations, are furnished from it gratis. Our little squadron was supplied from it by means of pipes, made of condemned iron guns, which lead outside the gate. The fort and two water-batteries adjoining it, on the extreme point, mount one hundred and thirty guns, of all calibers, of brass and iron, in all stages of decay, and apparently of all ages, excepting the modern. Some of the large brass ones are highly ornamented, and of a handsome mould. Two of the heaviest enfilade the entrance, and throw each a hundred and five pounds of stone shot, which I should only have expected to meet with at the Dardanelles. The oldest chapel on the island, fronts the grand parade. It is now in a state of dilapidation, being rent through the centre of the stone roof by an earthquake. A small new chapel has been built outside the walls, within a water battery, on the northern side.

In consequence of the death of the governor, the government is now administered by a junta, consisting of the civil, ecclesiastical, and military orders.

Joaquim Xavier Dinir Costa is the acting-governor, although second in the council. Trei Antonio da MaiÀ, bishop, being the first member, and Colonel Francisco Heririquer FerraÒ, being the third. We visited the acting-governor, who offered every assistance in his power, and sent us very generously, out of a scanty supply, as well as the commandant, fruit, vegetables, &c.

A council, consisting of such heterogenous materials, never did and never will amalgamate well together. It is like an attempt to combine vinegar with oil, which has never yet been effected, and so it was with these gentlemen; no two could ever agree upon any essential point, excepting always, to find “ways and means” to obtain their salaries. I omitted to state, that, in examining the magazines within the castle, they showed us a great number of flying-artillery, &c. Our curiosity was highly gratified by the sight of some ancient armour, consisting of helmets, cuirasses, and lances, which were deposited there in bygone days, soon after the fort was built, being brought by Juan de Castro from Portugal. There are two fortifications built at the other extremity of the island, to protect the southern and western passages. The officers in these forts are Canaveens, or natives of Goa and of East Africa, born of Portuguese parents, who, in the lapse of several generations, have become black, although they have no wool or negro features. A more deadly affront could not be offered them than to say they are not white. In the castle, they are from Portugal and Brazil. The island has a coral foundation, and is covered with white sand. It is about a mile and a half in length, and averages less than half a mile in width; it is almost wholly unproductive of vegetation: the inhabitants depending on Cabaceira and Mesuril, on the main, for their daily supplies of fruits, and vegetables, and meat.

The harbour abounds with fish; but they are nearly destitute of boats, (although not from the want of wood or workmen.) Not a single fish was offered us for sale, although the inhabitants have become wretchedly poor, and are overburdened with slaves whose present low rate, from three to eight dollars, and often at half the price I name, holds out a temptation to purchase; although they have but a scanty meal for themselves, and yet, a quarter of a mile from their doors, the waters swarm with food. Such is the curse of the indolent habits produced by slavery. But as a happier day is dawning on them slowly, agriculture is taking place of this vile traffic. It is now said, that coffee, cotton, sugar, &c., may be cultivated from Da Lagoa bay to cape Delgado, with the utmost facility; and that tens of thousands of cattle, and sheep, and goats, may be raised, where the forest occupies the ground, and the wild beasts roam at large. Instead of being dependant upon foreign supplies for almost their daily food, they may become exporters to an enormous amount, in the various products of the forest, the field, the ocean; in timber, in ivory, in cotton and coffee, sugar, drugs, salt, rice. Cocoa-nut oil might be made in any quantity along their coast, yet not a gallon is exported. Already the beneficial efforts made, begin to develop themselves, in the increased quantity of various articles from the interior, more particularly in elephant’s tusks, which have amounted this year to upward of ten thousand Portuguese arrobas, equal to four hundred and thirty thousand pounds; besides the ivory from hippopotami, which is in great abundance. A large proportion of the ivory from elephants, comes from the country of the Majonas, at a distance of about fifty days journey inland. Since slavery has been abolished, the natives come to the seacoast with little fear of being kidnapped. Their confidence is daily gaining ground; and a brisk and praiseworthy trade will take the place of villany and barbarity. I observed previously that they were almost dependant upon foreign supplies for the necessaries of life. It is a fact, that a fortnight previous to our arrival, not a pound of flour, wheaten bread, coffee, sugar, salted beef or pork, or a bottle of wine or foreign spirits, could be purchased in the place; but the very fortunate arrival of several Brazilian and Lisbon vessels, laden with every variety of articles (put up in small packages,) relieved them from great distress.

The landing place is in front of the palace square, having the government-house and a church adjoining, on one side, and the custom-house on the other. This last is a building, which reflects great credit upon the place, being neat, commodious, and substantial. The pier is built on arches of faced stone, and extends to low-water mark, and is, at all times, an excellent landing. The streets are narrow, but the principal ones are chunamed on the sides, and some entirely, where the banyans (the principal traders) inhabit. Many of the houses are lofty and flat-roofed; but the larger portion of them are only one story. They show that the inhabitants were once opulent, but are now fast sinking into poverty and distress. The moral and religious character of the people is at the lowest ebb possible. It wants the besom of destruction to pass over the land, to clean out this Augean stable from the filth and pollution which characterize this modern Sodom, giving the innocent a warning, which shall be heard in a voice of thunder. And such is the character of the people, in the present day generally, from Portugal and Macao. The colony in East Africa has been entirely neglected by the parent-country for the last three years, owing to its distressed situation, being wholly unproductive to the crown of Portugal. Hundreds of unhappy exiles are dragging out a miserable existence in this most destructive climate, banished for supposed political offences, without means to live, excepting by a precarious and scanty subsistence, picked up from day to day; separated from their distressed families, denied the solitary comfort of writing, to inform them they are still dragging out a lengthening chain, or receiving a line from them, if, by chance, they ascertain where they are to be found; and as if the diabolical malice of the government knew no bounds, they are banished from the seacoast to the interior, to prevent their escape, or engaging in insurrections. I was informed that there are innumerable instances of persons being taken from their beds at midnight, in Lisbon and elsewhere, hurried on shipboard, and sent to the Portuguese possessions in East and West Africa, without a form of trial, or knowing any cause for this outrage on justice and humanity. Many hundreds have died on the passage from sickness, brought on by distress of mind; others have been obliged to beg their daily bread, and finally died of starvation; while hundreds of others have fallen victims to a destructive climate.

A gentleman, now residing at Mozambique, told me, that he and his brother were taken from their beds at midnight, without being suffered to hold any communication with their families, with nothing but their clothes on their backs, and hurried on board two different vessels, one to West Africa, to Benguela, and the other to East Africa, to Mozambique; and to make it the more heart-rending, all near relations were separated in this manner. We heard similar distressing accounts, when at the Cape de Verd islands and at Macao. The bitter curses which have ascended to Heaven, against the Braganza family, for the last three hundred years, from the exiles of Portugal, to South America, Africa, and India, from aged parents, heart-broken wives, and fatherless children, will shortly sweep from the earth this destructive scourge, and leave on record but a small part of the vile doings of the most heartless, worthless, lascivious, and diabolical monarch, which ever disgraced the face of the earth. When this place was first visited by Vasco de Gama, in the latter part of the fourteenth century, the crescent was flying instead of the cross, and he was welcomed by the Arabs with music and dancing. But the attempt to plant, rather too abruptly, the standard of our holy religion, was received with disgust; and the followers of the prophet flew to arms, but were discomfited by their more warlike foes. In fact, they at length submitted to the conquerors, who then made great exactions of provisions and of every thing else, of which they stood in need. It is stated, that at that time, every part of the country, capable of cultivation, was well attended to; that their flocks and herds were peacefully grazing upon the plains; that the slave-trade had barely a name; and that the people were trading to various parts of the coast, to Zofar, or Zofal, the Sofala of modern days—supposed by some to be the land of gold—the Ophir of King Solomon, to the Red and to the Erythrean sea, or Persian gulf.

From the time the Portuguese took possession of it, till the suppression of the slave-trade, a short time since, peace was banished from the land. The Mocouas, their immediate neighbours, were seized and sold, like beasts of the forest; the lands were made desolate, the palm, the mango, the casheu, (alia acajou,) soon covered the fields; and the wild elephants, the hippopotami, the rhinoceros, and the tiger, were to be seen roaming at large, as they are at this day, where peace, and happiness, and contentment had taken up their abode. The cross, the emblem of our holy religion, instead of proving a blessing, carrying with it, as it does, when duly propagated, a balmy influence, and bearing healing on its wings, has proved calamitous in its tendency. It has blasted the hopes of millions, confirmed the superstition of idolaters, and fixed more deeply the rooted prejudices of the Moslem. Thus the cross has, unfortunately, proved in the Brazil, in East and West Africa, in Arabia, in the East Indies, in China, and Japan; so that the name of Christian has become a by-word and a curse, whereever its doctrines have been propagated by the Portuguese or Spaniards. Every engine, which brutal force could apply, has been used without the slightest compunction. Humanity appears to have had no place in their adamantine breasts, and the mild and peaceful doctrines, expressly laid down by our Saviour, have never been inculcated; but fire and the sword, assisted by a detestable and horrible inquisition, have been preferred in their place, and oppression, fraud, and cruelty have been resorted to in every shape, to answer the most nefarious purposes of the government and its religion, and the sordid views of unprincipled individuals. What might not have been the state of things, if the liberal views of the founder of the Roman Catholic religion, in Maryland, had been propagated, and they had been blessed with a government founded on just and equitable principles! Look at Maryland, and the Roman Catholic religion, as it exists in our own blessed country, and behold the contrast!!! Look at our political institutions, and the happy and prosperous situation of a settlement, begun upward of one hundred years after the Portuguese took possession of their present miserable colonies, by a noble, but persecuted band of English settlers—and see the present situation of Portugal and its conquests. With the exception of Brazil, which has just slipped her leading strings, what can be more wretched? To prove the unappeasable hostility of the nations, in East Africa, towards their oppressors, and every one who wears straight hair, it is a fact well known by all who are well acquainted with the state of things here, and substantiated by the Portuguese themselves, that they dare not go half a dozen miles into the country, without an armed guard. And this is the state of things, from Da Lagoa bay (alias Lorenzo Marques) to cape Delgado, after having had possession of the coast upward of three hundred years; and so it is at BissaÕ, Saint Paul de Loando, Benguela, &c., in West Africa. The Portuguese, under a liberal form of government, unshackled by a state religion, known to be corrupt beyond measure, would prove themselves to be, as they once were, a noble people, zealous in all good works.

As it regards the first circumnavigator of the cape of Good Hope and the discoverer of South and East Africa, the world seems willing to award the whole merit of the discovery to Vasco de Gama, and he is held forth in bold relief, at the expense of others, who are entitled at least to a small share of it. In looking into ancient history, there is much light shed upon it. According to Herodotus, it seems that one of the most illustrious of native Egyptian kings, “actuated by the spirit of a great man, which raised him superior to the age in which he lived, eagerly sought the solution of the grand mystery, that involved the form and termination of Africa.” In furtherance of this noble project and to ensure it success if practicable, he employed the boldest of navigators in those days, to wit, certain Phenicians. Having obtained vessels which were thought suitable for the enterprise, they proceeded down the Red sea and boldly launched out into the Indian ocean, and after a voyage of three years, they made the complete circuit of the continent, passing through the Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar) and up the Mediteranean to Egypt.

They stated that in passing the most southern coast of Africa, they were surprised by observing the sun on their right hand, or to the north of them, a statement which the historian rejected as impossible. This very circumstance, which threw an air of discredit over the whole transaction, was the strongest proof that could be adduced in confirmation of what is known to every one in the present day, that to the south of the equator this must necessarily have taken place.—Some writers have deemed it impossible for other reasons, because of the smallness and weakness of their vessels—but as we see thousands of small craft, in the China, Java, Red and Arabian seas, and from cape Guardafui to Da Lagoa bay, of not more than fifteen to twenty tons burden and some even less, open amidships, or having merely a palmleaf-covering, sowed together with coir spun-yarn the seams being calked with the same stuff and chunamed outside, the rudders being tied on, where we use braces and pintles, which are always unshipped in port, and secured again by the crew who are expert divers—without even pumps, the water being bailed up amidships and poured into a spout which leads from side to side—the wonder rather ceases, and it is certainly a strong and convincing proof that the craft of the Phenician navigators was no obstacle to the enterprise. Added to this, all small vessels as well as more large ones in the seas I have named, always keep in shore and never quit it unless from necessity—and furthermore, by far the greater part do not use compasses. And if further confirmation is wanted, look at the numerous enterprises projected by the Malegashes (people of Madagascar) a few years since, against the Comoro islands and various places in Africa, against the Portuguese settlement and those of the sultan of Muscat, in open canoes, without compass or sails, being propelled by paddles and carrying sometimes upward of six thousand warriors. This shows the practicability of exploring the coast even in more unsafe vessels, and of a much smaller description, for the Malegashes were necessarily out sight of land from two to three days occasionally, as the distance from Grand Comoro to the Querimba islands on the main, where they landed several times, is not less than one hundred and thirty-five miles. Look at the hardy sons of New England also, navigating the Atlantic ocean on vessels of thirty or forty tons, visiting every creek and nook in the Falkland islands, South Shetland and Cape Horn, in search of seals. Furthermore, there was the voyage of Pedro de Cavalho, and he transmitted his description to Portugal.

Now if the account of Herodotus is untrue, still Diaz’s discovery of the cape and Cavalho’s voyage to Soffala, left de Gama but the short distance of one thousand two hundred miles to explore, and therefore he is only entitled to a small share of the credit which threw so much lustre on the Portuguese name, in effecting a passage by sea to the East Indies, which was previously performed by a most circuitous and tedious route by land and by water; for de Gama, on his arrival at Quilmany, obtained pilots to Mozambique, and from thence onward all obstructions were removed.

All that vast tract of country lying between the cape of Good Hope and cape Guardafui, may now be said to be parcelled out among three nations. The English are gradually or rather rapidly settling that whole tract of country lying between the cape district (cape of Good Hope) and Da Lagoa bay. There is a considerable settlement at Fish river, about six hundred miles east of the cape, and there is a small one begun at port Natal, about two hundred and seventy miles to the north and eastward of it, on the coast of Natal, which is about the same distance to Da Lagoa bay, still further to the eastward; and they claim part of Da Lagoa bay by gift from a negro king, Mayetta, the sovereign of Temba. This brings them to the borders of the Portuguese settlements. The Portuguese claim from Da Lagoa bay to the cape Delgado, lying in about 10° south. From the latter cape to cape Guardafui, it is claimed (with all the islands adjacent to the coast) by the sultan of Muscat.

The exports from Mozambique do not exceed half a million of dollars, (since the suppression of the slave-trade.) These consist in elephant and hippopotamus ivory, gold dust, tortoise-shell, ambergris, columbo-root, drugs, cowries, rhinoceros-horns, and hides, &c., &c. This is certainly a very meager account of the value of its exports, to which may be added, pearls of a superior quality, there being an abundance about the Bazaruto islands; but its resources are yet to be developed, and I have stated previously of what they may consist, provided the government will throw off all shackles which embarrass trade, and have a duty not exceeding that which is now imposed by the sultan of Muscat, to wit: a duty of five per cent. only, on goods landed and sold, without any other charge whatever. If this is not done, all trade among foreigners must necessarily proceed to the sultan’s dominions, in East Africa. The duties and exactions on foreign commerce are so exorbitant, but more particularly on the American trade, that our flag has almost entirely deserted all the Portuguese ports in West as well as in East Africa. The Americans pay twenty-four per cent. and the English fifteen, on imports, exclusive of an almost endless number of fees, besides export duties.

Imports consist of coarse cotton goods, white, brown, blue, and striped, as well as some fine cottons, and a small quantity of light quality woollen cloth, principally blue, suitable for the army. Powder, arms, beads, sugar, tea, coffee, wine, spirits, &c.; in fact, every article useful to eat, or to drink, or to clothe themselves.

Our passage from Mozambique to Table bay, was marked with storms and tempests, violent and sudden gales, accompanied with a mountainous sea. After passing the dangerous reef of rocks, called the Bassas de India, in the southern part of the Mozambique channel, we were assailed by one gale, with the rapidity of lightning, in the latitude twenty-eight, and longitude thirty-four east, taking the ship “flat-aback” instantaneously, and placing us in a most dangerous and critical situation. It was a doubtful case, for some minutes, whether she would not overset, or go down stern foremost. But “He who holds the winds in his power, the waters in the hollow of his hand,” mercifully decreed that we should once more see the living objects of our affections, and be restored in safety to our beloved country—“to the land of the brave, and the home of the free;” for the ship’s head “payed off,” and she was got before the wind, all sail being taken in, and drove before this furious hurricane for the space of eight hours, under bare poles, the captain not daring to loosen an inch of canvass to the tempest during that time. The first three or four hours, she went at the rate of twelve miles per hour, and when her rate had diminished to about eight knots, having had, in the meantime, every article that would lessen the weight on the spar and gun-decks, placed in the hold and on the berth-deck, she was “hove to.” It would have been done in the commencement of the gale, but as the ship was very light, and the stock of provisions nearly expended, it was apprehended, in bringing her “to the wind,” she would overset, when all would inevitably have perished. We touched on the northeastern edge of bank Agulhas, for the purpose of taking advantage of the strong southerly and westerly current, and we were by no means disappointed, for the ship was set to the extraordinary distance of one hundred and twenty-three miles, in twenty-four hours, south, 71° west, between the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh of November, from the latitude of 32° 36', and longitude 25° 16', to the latitude of 35° 21' and longitude 23° 8'; but it was accompanied by a tremendous wrecking sea. As we had three excellent chronometers, and made the land at daybreak the following morning, about the bay of St. Sebastian; we ascertained, both then and afterward, there was no error; and yet, on the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth, the current was very feeble, not exceeding thirteen miles in the two days. On the thirtieth, we made the most southern land of Africa, being cape Agulhas. It is a low flat point, the sea always breaking over it. We saw, in the course of the day, cape Hanglip, and the cape of Good Hope also, which bound the entrance into False bay. Heavy gales of wind, between west and northwest, continued until the fourth of December, when we made Table mount, and stood into the bay in a violent southeast gale. We then saw, for the first time, the phenomenon of the cloud-capped mount, which is always seen when the wind is from that quarter. One looks with astonishment, at what seems always to be the same cloud, sideling along from east to west, apparently remaining stationary, without being instantly dispersed by the furious tempest; but Doctor Arnott thus accounts for the singular beauty and density of the clouds, which frequently envelop the mount, and the cause of its creation and final dispersion: “The reason of the phenomenon is, that the air, constituting the wind from the northeast, having passed over the vast southern ocean, comes charged with as much invisible moisture as the temperature can sustain. In rising up the side of the mountain, it is rising in the atmosphere, and is therefore gradually escaping from a part of the former pressure; and on attaining the summit, it has dilated so much, and has consequently become so much colder, that it lets go part of its moisture: and it no sooner falls over the edge of the mountain and again descends in the atmosphere to where it is pressed, and condensed and heated as before, than it is re-dissolved and disappears: the magnificent apparition dwelling only on the mountain-top.”

The ship came to anchor, about one mile from the landing, soon after sunrise, and a beautiful home scene was presented to our view. The town is on a sloping plane, and rises gradually to the foot of the celebrated Table mountain, a distance of about three miles, the height of this precipitous mountain being three thousand six hundred feet. The town is seen stretching out also on the right towards the Lion’s Head, which is at an elevation of two thousand eight hundred feet, and again to the extreme right towards the Lion’s Rump, which is at an elevation of one thousand one hundred and forty feet. Around the base of this hill, which is called Green Point, are a great many neat villas and cottages. On this point stands the light-house, containing two excellent lights on the same level. On the left again, farmhouses are scattered about the base of the Devil’s Peak, which is three thousand three hundred feet high; the road leading to Wynberg is seen winding round it. The vine-fields were beautifully verdant, the grape just beginning to fill out, and the fruit and ornamental trees appeared to be abundant in the city and about the cottages; but still the general appearance of the country was far from being verdant, and the few trees called the protea dispersed about the elevated and uncultivated parts of the land, disappoint an American eye, being deficient in noble forest-trees. The violent southeast gale of the previous day having subsided, ushered forth a day redolent with sweets to the weary mariner, being calm, mild and beautiful; the smoke was ascending from a thousand fires in the town, preparing the early meal; a school or church bell was heard in the distance; the people who visited us, speaking the English language, forcibly reminded us of home and a thousand endearing and painful recollections, after an absence of nearly two years; but our cares were once more hushed, and the stormy Indian ocean and its ten thousand perils were almost obliterated from our memories, like the forms of last year’s clouds; and with grateful hearts we found ourselves again within the pale of civilization, in a bracing and healthy climate which we had long and ardently desired to meet, to recruit our debilitated frames, which were nearly exhausted by the baneful climates of Java and Manila, Siam and Muscat, Mocha and Mozambique. An interchange of salutes took place on our arrival, but the effect of the echo, was not comparable to that produced by the amphitheatre of rocky hills and caverns which encompass Muscat. In passing up from the landing, we went through the water street of every seaport town, across the grand parade to George’s hotel, in the street called Heeregracht, through the centre of which is a canal which conducts off the waste water flowing from the base of Table mount. From the same source the town and shipping are supplied, the fountain-head being at the beautiful seat of Mt. Breda, by means of iron pipes which conduct it to the jetty: hose being led into the casks from the conductors, boats are enabled to load with great ease. The canal is shaded on either side by the cape oak; it also passes through a fine shaded walk which is still called the public garden, although a very large portion of it is appropriated, most ignominiously, to the culture of vegetables: it is probably two thirds of a mile in length. The town is regularly laid out, is said to contain about twenty-two thousand inhabitants, and has a neat appearance; there are shops in abundance, but prices are extravagantly high. The houses are generally made flat-roofed, so that the violence of the winds may less affect them: they are built of ordinary brick and stuccoed; the interior arrangements of the richer class, are similar to those in larger cities. One is very much reminded of a Dutch American town in the state of New York, excepting that soldiers are stationed at every principal place, as though the inhabitants were not trustworthy; they are seen before courts of justice, the government-house, postoffice, and custom-house, but they are never seen in my own country, even before the palace of the President.

The climate of Cape Town is unquestionably very healthy, and not surpassed in equability and in the agreeableness of its temperature. In fact, the transition from heat to cold is very inconsiderable, in comparison with many other climates. It seems, from a meteorological table, kept for several years, that the mean temperature of Cape Town, was at 67¼° of Fahrenheit; the mean temperature, for the coldest winter month, was 57°, the hottest, 79°, and the least heat during summer was 63. Although the proportion of deaths is more than double that of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, yet this number is greatly augmented by invalids from India, who there find their graves; but in the other districts it is about in the same ratio as Portsmouth, averaging about one and a half per centum. It was truly refreshing, to see the rosy-cheeked children, and the healthy appearance of the inhabitants generally, after having spent many months among the pale, sallow complexioned and dying East Indians. Here an Indian may renovate his exhausted frame, and be cured (if it be possible) of that never-ending source of complaint, a diseased liver. There are good roads, pleasant country-seats, fine horses, and good carriages; and he must be very fastidious in his taste, who cannot be suited in his viands, for here are fish, flesh, and fowl, in great variety. As to fruit, the quality is excellent; the prices are very low, and the variety is certainly extraordinary—for in January there are plums, apricots, peaches, almonds, strawberries, mulberries, grapes, apples, oranges, lemons, figs, muskmelons, and watermelons. In February the same. In March the same, adding thereto lemons and pomegranates. In April, add pears, limes, and quinces. In May, medlars, jambos or rose-apple, loquats, a Chinese fruit, &c. In June, add shaddocks and citron, with various kinds of apples and pears. In July, August, and September, the same, adding oranges to the last month. In October, adding guavas, &c. In November, early figs, strawberries, green almonds, and the fruits of September and October. In December the same. And as to vegetables, they are in every variety, almost at all seasons of the year. And who could be so devoid of taste, as not to be gratified with the sight of the immense variety of flowers, shrubs, and parasitical plants which greet the eye at every step? It may, therefore, truly be called Florida, or the Land of Flowers. The luxuries of Europe, of America, of India, of China, and Australia—in short, of the world, are here; and as to the inhabitants, so far as I had the pleasure of being acquainted with the English part of them, they deserve every commendation it is in my power to bestow, for their hospitality and unwearied kindness—more particularly the acting-governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Wade, the Honourable Mr. Justice Menzies, A. Oliphant, Esq., the attorney-general, J. B. Edwards, Captain Bance, and the officers of the seventy-second Highlanders; Captain Stevens, the commander, and the officers of the ninety-eighth regiment.

The articles of export of the most importance, are aloes, oil, raisins, and other dried fruits; salt, tallow, and wool. There is exported also excellent salted beef and butter, and bread, but no pork. The following prices were paid for sundry articles, purchased by Mr. Stockton, the purser, for the Peacock:—ale, two Spanish dollars per dozen, (Cape made;) geese, one dollar; sheep, two dollars; fowls, fifteen rix dollars; per dozen; flour, averages generally from ten to eleven dollars, it is rarely as low as eight dollars fifty cents, frequently at twelve Spanish dollars per barrel, of one hundred and ninety-six pounds; hams and bacon, from Europe, twenty-three to thirty-five cents per pound; butter, (Cape,) thirty-one and a quarter cents, including keg; potatoes, six dollars per barrel, including barrel; pork, (Irish,) twenty-five dollars; salt beef, (Cape,) eleven dollars per barrel, two hundred pounds, including barrel, or four and a quarter cents per pound without; beef, (fresh,) five cents; biscuit, five cents, including bags; bread, (soft,) four cents; cheese, (Dutch,) twenty-one cents; brandy, (Cape,) including pipe, which costs ten dollars, sixty cents per gallon; Cape Madeira wine is from five to eighteen pounds sterling per pipe of one hundred and ten gallons, according to quality and ripeness; cordage, sixty shillings per one hundred English pounds; ratline and spunyarn, fifty-four shillings; Stockholm tar, fifty-four shillings per barrel; blocks eight-pence per inch; sperm oil, seven and sixpence per gallon; linseed oil, seven shillings; nails, ninepence sterling per pound; fir-plank, four-pence halfpenny per foot; carpenters, six shillings per day; spirits of turpentine, seven shillings and sixpence per gallon; pump-leather, five shillings per pound; three and a half sides, tanned leather, cost sixty shillings sterling; houseline, seven shillings and sixpence per dozen. The four kinds of the celebrated Constantia are sold as follows:—

The last costing nearly six dollars per gallon. There will probably be added to the list of exports in a few years, olive-oil, cocoa, figs, almonds, nuts, dried, pickled and smoked fish, raw silk, cotton, tobacco, grapes and currants. If the British government would impose a reasonable duty on cape produce at home, the quantity of wine, brandy, dried fruits, &c., would be vastly increased, and many a barren field and neglected hill would blossom like the rose, and pour forth riches inexhaustible. That any duty at all should be paid, seems most strange and unnatural to an American, but that it should amount to a prohibition (as on wine) is unbearable. At their own sister-colonies, they are obliged to pay as follows; at Mauritius, six per cent. at New South Wales, five, and at Hobart town, Van Diemen’s land, fifteen per cent.: whereas in Brazil they pay only the latter duty. What would seem more strange to an American planter in Louisiana, than to have his produce most extravagantly taxed, or taxed at all in the state of Maine, but most fortunately it is prohibited by the constitution of the United States. No less a duty than two shillings and six pence sterling per gallon is paid on cape wine in England, and dried fruits are extravagantly taxed. Taxation without representation was one of the causes of revolution, and the stamp act was another, with both of which their colonies are burdened. It matters not whether they tax their colonists, on the spot where there domicil is, or whether it is done in England on their produce. The duty on imports and exports is the most important branch of the revenue of the cape. Great Britain requires the colony to pay the whole expense of her establishments, except the army and navy, and yet all important offices are filled by the crown. As it respects the local taxes they are almost innumerable. Among these enumerated, I find every male or female, bond or free, who has arrived at the age of sixteen, pays an annual tax of six shillings sterling each, and ten shillings more on every servant, besides a tax on horses and carriages, on the productions of the farm, wine, brandy, &c., &c. In reference to household expenses, meat, fish and bread are cheap, but wood is extravagantly high, and ever will be, as no coal has ever yet been found in this, or in any other part of Africa; it is frequently as high as six to seven pounds ten shilling sterling per chaldron. Sydney can furnish it at a much cheaper rate, and it will probably soon be brought altogether from that quarter. Servants’ wages are higher here than in any other country, and house rent is at about the same rate as in New York. It seems almost incredible, yet it is unquestionably true, that the contract price for fresh beef and mutton (for 1833) to supply the garrison at the cape, should be at a fraction less than a penny per pound, and that bread should be furnished at a penny per pound; but I presume it is made of barley and oats, and probably a proportion of beans, as it is frequently in England, for it cannot be made of wheat for three times the price. This information is derived from Governor Wade. It is most surprising, that not a single whale-ship belongs to the cape, when whales are so abundant, even within sight of their harbours. There are two small boat-whaling establishments in False bay, one at Cape Town, one in Algoa, and one in Plettenberg’s bay. The boats are mostly of a bad construction, and too small; they fish only for cow whale, when they come into still water to calve, and cleanse themselves with sand; but this kind of fishery is very destructive to the species, and they have greatly diminished in numbers, so that the business is scarcely worth following. Neither do they dry, pickle or smoke fish for exportation, and yet the bays swarm with them, and there is a mine of wealth yet untouched on the bank of Agulhas. The Brazil and La Plata, the Mauritius, &c., would furnish good markets, and a fine hardy set of seamen would be raised for commercial and other purposes. The fishing on the bank is not so hazardous as that of Newfoundland, and they save a tedious voyage, in going and returning; in fact, it may be said they may be always in sight of their own homes. Salt is abundant, and the weather never cold, they can make their own lines and leads, lead being found in the colony, and they can raise cotton and make their sails and cordage, and there is a plenty of timber on the east and northeast coast. There are but eleven vessels belonging to the cape, of all descriptions, which are principally employed in coasting voyages to Port Elizabeth; they are from forty to one hundred and seventy tons, and their united tonnage is but one thousand one hundred and four tons. The colony has been represented to me, by many gentlemen, who have visited all the districts, as being poor, the soil generally very light and thin, and very deficient in water, the rivers being deep seated, which drains off the moisture from the surrounding country, subject to long and destructive droughts, and cursed with locusts and grasshoppers, and the karras or plains being very extensive, and totally unfit for cultivation, and withal very mountainous. But still, I am convinced, that abundance of grain can be raised to advantage, and wool, raw silk, wine, dried fruits, beef, &c., &c., besides the products of the ocean, can be exported to a large amount, but Saxony or Merino wool must become the most prominent article among the exports. The farmers are wisely rooting out the wire-haired, big-tailed cape sheep, and substituting those which have wool on their backs. It is not an article of luxury like wine, subject to fluctuations from mere change of fashion. If his late majesty, George the fourth, had taken a fancy to cape, instead of xeres, (sherry,) as he did a few years since, it would have been a fortunate circumstance for the colony: the hills would have been clothed with vines, instead of a green patch, here and there, dotting the surface like the oases in a desert.

The cape of Good Hope, from its fine geographical position, being placed on the highway between the world’s nations, must become a place of great importance, when the India and China trade is left free and unrestricted, as it ought and must be. It is a most convenient stopping place for the interchange of commodities, or to touch for supplies, or to obtain information; all they now want is an unshackled commerce, and a moderate duty laid on their produce in the parent-country, and by their sister-colonies. Without this reasonable aid, their agriculture, fisheries and commerce, will make but slow progress, and if the colony does not become a burden, it can never be of much advantage to England, excepting to draw off a part of her surplus population, or in case of a war. But the commerce of the Cape has latterly increased, notwithstanding burdens and the neglect of the parent-country. The number of foreign arrivals in Table bay (which was in every month in the year) from December seventeenth, 1831, to thirtieth November, 1832, was one hundred and ninety-seven; and at Simon’s bay thirty-six, including ships-of-war. At the time the Dutch held the Cape, no vessels lay in Table bay during the winter months, but now I am informed, no difference is made in the premium of insurance, between the winter and summer months. Hempen cables of an extreme size (and anchors of course in proportion) are always preferable to chain cables in any roadstead, where there is a heavy swell and violent gales from the ocean; but the first few fathoms from the anchor, should be chain to guard against rocks and other obstructions and anchors, and it can readily be secured to the hempen one. But still no cable is equal to coir, having three valuable properties, being strong, buoyant and exceedingly elastic. In the La Plata and elsewhere, it has been found, that riding by two or more hemp cables in one string, in a violent gale and heavy sea, enables the ship to rise with buoyancy, but if a great length of chain is veered out, it lies upon the bottom and operates against the rise of the vessel, and she therefore feels the full force of the sea, which causes her to plunge deeply, or the sea to break over her, and consequently there is more danger of foundering.