13 October 1787

Table Bay, on the north-west side of the Cape of Good Hope, is named from the Table Mountain, a promontory of considerable elevation, at the foot of which, and almost in the centre of the Bay, stands Cape Town, the principal Dutch settlement in this territory.  This Bay cannot properly be called a port, being by no means a station of security; it is exposed to all the violence of the winds which set into it from the sea; and is far from sufficiently secured from those which blow from the land.  The gusts which descend from the summit of Table Mountain are sufficient to force ships from their anchors, and even violently to annoy persons on the shore, by destroying any tents or other temporary edifices which may be erected, and raising clouds of fine dust, which produce very troublesome effects.  A gale of this kind, from the south-east, blew for three days successively when Capt.  Cook lay here in his first voyage, at which time, he informs us, the Resolution was the only ship in the harbour that had not dragged her anchors.  The storms from the sea are still more formidable; so much so, that ships have frequently been driven by them from their anchorage, and wrecked at the head of the Bay.  But these accidents happen chiefly in the quaade mousson, or winter months, from May 14 to the same day of August; during which time few ships venture to anchor here.  Our fleet, arriving later, lay perfectly unmolested as long as it was necessary for it to remain in this station.

False Bay, on the south-east side of the Cape, is more secure than Table Bay, during the prevalence of the north-west winds, but still less so in strong gales from the south-east.  It is however less frequented, being twenty-four miles of very heavy road distant from Cape Town, whence almost all necessaries must be procured.  The most sheltered part of False Bay is a recess on the west side, called Simon’s Bay.

The Cape of Good Hope, though popularly called, and perhaps pretty generally esteemed so, is not in truth the most southern point of Africa.  The land which projects furthest to the south is a point to the east of it, called by the English Cape Lagullus; a name corrupted from the original Portugueze das Agulhas, which, as well as the French appellation des Aiguilles, is descriptive of its form, and would rightly be translated Needle Cape.  Three eminences, divided by very narrow passes, and appearing in a distant view like three summits of the same mountain, stand at the head of Table Bay.—­They are however of different heights, by which difference, as well as by that of their shape, they may be distinguished.  Table Mountain is so called from its appearance, as it terminates in a flat horizontal surface, from which the face of the rock descends almost perpendicularly.  This mountain rises to about 3567 feet above the level of the sea.  Devil’s Head, called also Charles mountain, is situated to the east of the former, and is not above 3368 feet in height; and on the west side of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, whose name is also meant to be descriptive, does not exceed 2764 feet.  In the neighbourhood of the latter lies Constantia, a district consisting of two farms, wherein the famous wines of that name are produced.