ays, and Negroes--still the greater number are English,
and one fully feels that he is in an English town, and living under
English laws. The most remarkable feature of the picture, to be seen in
every direction, is the Cape waggon--long and low when laden with heavy
goods, drawn by twelve or more oxen, and driven by a Hottentot with a
long bamboo whip. Lighter articles are conveyed in lighter waggons, and
drawn at a quick pace by horses. The town is defended by a castle of
considerable strength, and several lesser forts. The dust, which
sprinkles everybody and everything with red, and the strong winds, which
blow ships on shore, and commit other species of damage, are the things
most objected to in Cape Town.

Having introduced them, I hope that I may be considered to have given a
fair picture of the place as it appeared to me when, the day after our
arrival, I went on shore in the afternoon with Mr Henley. All the
passengers who were to remain at the Cape had disembarked, and the rest,
who were going on to Natal and the Mauritius, had gone on shore to live
till the ship again sailed.

I at once delivered the letters I received from my old schoolfellow
Lumsden at Teneriffe, and met with the kindest reception from all his
father's friends to whom they were addressed. My story excited a great
deal of interest among them, and they all expressed an anxiety to help
me in finding out my brother Alfred. This, from their connections with
all the ports in that part of the world, they were well able to do, and
my hopes of success increased as I talked the matter over with them: and
they suggested various places to which he might have gone, and the
different occupations in which he was likely to have engaged. On one
point I felt very certain--and may all those similarly placed feel the
same. I had passed through many and great dangers, and had been
mercifully preserved by Providence; and I had the assurance that the
same kind Providence would continue to watch over and preserve me in all
the perils and difficulties I might have to undergo.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

CAPE COLONY--TABLE MOUNTAIN AND ITS TABLE-CLOTH--A STORM--SAIL FOR THE
MAURITIUS--PORT LOUIS AND PIETER BOT MOUNTAIN--JOURNEY INTO THE
INTERIOR--PAUL AND VIRGINIA--DISAPPOINTMENT--AN ESTATE IN THE
MAURITIUS--WILD ANIMALS--SAIL FOR CEYLON.

My ship, I found, was to remain but a short time at Table Bay before
proceeding on to the Mauritius. I had been in great