e
stock, which was to store our intended settlement, were meant to be
procured here, Governor Phillip lost no time in waiting on Mynheer Van
Graaffe, the Dutch Governor, to request permission (according to the
custom of the place) to purchase all that we stood in need of. How far
the demand extended, I know not, nor Mynheer Van Graaffe's reasons for
complying with it in part only. To this gentleman's political sentiments
I confess myself a stranger; though I should do his politeness and
liberality at his own table an injustice, were I not to take this public
opportunity of acknowledging them; nor can I resist the opportunity
which presents itself, to inform my readers, in honor of M. Van
Graaffe's humanity, that he has made repeated efforts to recover the
unfortunate remains of the crew of the Grosvenor Indiaman, which was
wrecked about five years ago on the coast of Caffraria. This information
was given me by Colonel Gordon, commandant of the Dutch troops at the
Cape, whose knowledge of the interior parts of this country surpasses
that of any other man. And I am sorry to say that the Colonel added,
these unhappy people were irrecoverably lost to the world and their
friends, by being detained among the Caffres, the most savage set of
brutes on earth.

His Excellency resides at the Government house, in the East India
Company's garden. This last is of considerable extent, and is planted
chiefly with vegetables for the Dutch Indiamen which may happen to touch
at the port. Some of the walks are extremely pleasant from the shade
they afford, and the whole garden is very neatly kept. The regular lines
intersecting each other at right angles, in which it is laid out, will,
nevertheless, afford but little gratification to an Englishman, who
has been used to contemplate the natural style which distinguishes the
pleasure grounds of his own country. At the head of the centre walks
stands a menagerie, on which, as well as the garden, many pompous
eulogiums have been passed, though in my own judgment, considering the
local advantages possessed by the Company, it is poorly furnished
both with animals and birds; a tyger, a zebra, some fine ostriches, a
cassowary, and the lovely crown-fowl, are among the most remarkable.

The table land, which stands at the back of the town, is a black dreary
looking mountain, apparently flat at top, and of more than eleven
hundred yards in height. The gusts of wind which blow from it are
violent to