in Table Bay, and found many ships of different nations in the harbour.

Little can be added to the many accounts already published of the Cape
of Good Hope, though, if an opinion on the subject might be risqued, the
descriptions they contain are too flattering. When contrasted with Rio
de Janeiro, it certainly suffers in the comparison. Indeed we arrived at
a time equally unfavourable for judging of the produce of the soil and
the temper of its cultivators, who had suffered considerably from a
dearth that had happened the preceding season, and created a general
scarcity. Nor was the chagrin of these deprivations lessened by the news
daily arriving of the convulsions that shook the republic, which could
not fail to make an impression even on Batavian phlegm.

As a considerable quantity of flour, and the principal part of the live
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,