under sail alone, with winds
of moderate strength. Balloon canvas was freely used.

[Illustration: Off the Cape]

Table Mountain is admirably described by Huebner as a mighty buttress
confronting the restless billows of the Southern Ocean. It was
covered, on the morning of our arrival, with the graceful wreaths of
mist which have so often excited the admiration of travellers. A
strong south-east gale was blowing on the occasion. Table Mountain
presents to the dwellers in Cape Town a scene of beauty which changes
from hour to hour. Every veering of the wind brings some new yet ever
effective adjustment of a mantle of vapour, seldom cast aside, which
is sometimes silver, sometimes purple, and from time to time subdued
to a sombre tone by an approaching fall of rain.

In former years many and disastrous were the losses of life and
property in Table Bay. Gales from the N.W. and the NN.E. are frequent
in the winter, and blow occasionally with resistless fury. In the old
sailing days ships caught at anchor in the bay by one of these
terrible storms were doomed to destruction. By the enterprise of the
Colonial Government, and the skilful engineering of Sir John Coode, a
wide area of sheltered anchorage is now afforded. The breakwater has
been extended to a length of 560 yards, and a further extension is far
advanced, which will give a total length of breakwater of 1,500 yards.

A wet dock has been formed, capable of receiving the largest steamers
in the ocean mail service, and broad enough for an ironclad. The
principal dimensions are: length, 540 feet; breadth, 68 feet; depth,
26 feet. An outer harbour, 44 acres in extent, will be gradually
formed under the protection of the breakwater. When these works are
completed, Cape Town will afford advantages to shipping such as are
scarcely exceeded in any port of Great Britain.

Cape Town contains not a few buildings of which the inhabitants of an
older capital might justly be proud. The House of Assembly is a noble
structure. The admirably kept and beautifully situated Observatory,
the banks, the railway station, and the docks are all excellent. The
Botanical Gardens, and the shady avenue dividing them from Government
House, would be an adornment to the finest capital in Europe.

Considerable as are the attractions of Cape Town, they are far
exceeded by the charm of its picturesque suburbs, extending for some
miles along the foot of Table Mountain on its eastern side. The
co