sion that the Cape of Good Hope was the most southerly point of
Africa. It is nothing of the sort. Cape Agulhas, not far distant, is
the real extremity of South Africa. We doubled it on the 3rd of April.

Oh! Bartholomew Diaz and Vasco da Gama, what would you say if you knew
that we "doubled the Cape"--the "Cape of Storms"--the "Cape of
Torments"--in calm and sunshine, at the rate of thirteen knots or
thereabouts, without a stitch of canvas, with ladies and gentlemen in
every attitude of lazy ease upon our deck, and troops of children
romping round them? How vast the difference between the "doublings" of
the 15th and the 19th centuries! Then--the ships were small wooden
tubs; now they are huge iron kettles. Then,--a few bold and sometimes
turbulent spirits faced the dangers of unknown seas under the leadership
of famous and heroic men; now, hundreds of men and women--timid and
brave mixed undistinguishably--are carried in safety and comfort over
the well-known ocean, by respectable captains of whom the world knows
little or nothing beyond their names. Once in a lifetime was the daring
feat attempted _then_. Once or twice a week is the trifling trip
accomplished _now_.

But enough of moralising. Suffice it to say that we doubled the Cape
without sails, without anxiety, without care, and with no triumph
whatever,--but not without interest. Calm and sunny though it chanced
to be, we could not look upon that barren, mountainous, rocky shore,
without reflecting that it still is not less now than in days of old,
the Stormy Cape, and that danger as appalling as that of yore may
sometimes be encountered, while heroism quite as exalted as that of the
ancient Portuguese navigators is sometimes displayed by modern Britons.

There is a point not far from Cape Agulhas--between it and the Cape of
Good Hope--named Point Danger, where courage of the highest kind once
calmly faced and fought with Death. On that Point, in February 1852,
the _Birkenhead_ was wrecked. It may be truly said that courage
conquered on that occasion, because the end for which it fought was the
deliverance of women and children from death, and this end was gained,
though above 400 of the gallant men who fought the battle perished in
the hour of victory.

The _Birkenhead_, a large iron steamer, was engaged in the transport of
troops to the frontier, where war with the Kafirs raged at the time.
These troops were detachments from several regiments u