manufacturers; and its inhabitants, by using a large quantity of British
manufactures, afford employment to thousands of persons at home, who
would otherwise of necessity be idle. By my calculations, every three
or four Englishmen who go to one of our southern colonies, and are
prosperous, afford employment to one person of those remaining at home;
and we thus see how immediately the mother country is benefited by an
extensive colonisation. Those very emigrants, or those who have taken
their places, had they remained, it must be borne in mind, might have
been idle and paupers; while the money which is now circulating,
usefully affording employment to others, would have been employed in
supporting them in idleness. However, the subject is irrelevant to my
history: I mention it because I want to draw the attention of my young
friends to the value of our colonial possessions, that when they become
men, they may do their utmost to increase the prosperity of the
colonies, being assured that they cannot turn their attention to a more
patriotic subject.

We remained several days in Table Bay; during which time most of the
passengers lived on shore, and some even ventured a considerable way
into the interior. Cape Town extends along the shores of the bay at the
foot of the far-famed Table Mountain, towards which the ground gradually
rises from the waters. The streets are straight, regularly constructed,
and run at right angles to each other. They are lined with elm and oak
trees, which in summer afford a grateful shade.

There is a clean nice look about the place, which reminds one of an
English town. I visited it many years after the time of which I am now
speaking, for which reason I am able to describe it. The squares are
well laid out, and the public edifices are numerous and substantial.
The private houses are built chiefly of red brick or stone, with a
terrace before the door shaded by trees. Here not only the Dutch, but
the English, as was once the custom in the old country in days long gone
by, delight to sit and work in the shade, when the sun is hot, or in the
evening to enjoy the fresh breeze from the open sea.

There are upwards of 25,000 inhabitants, half of whom are white, the
majority being Dutch or of Dutch descent.

Cape Town is strongly fortified. The entrance to the bay is commanded
by a battery called the _Mouille_. There is a castle to the left of the
town, and several other forts and batteri