d the equipment of His Majesty's
ships. It was remarked to me by an officer of discernment, captain of the
flag ship, that instances of vessels being driven from their anchors by
winds blowing into Simon's Bay, were exceedingly rare. He had observed
that the strain upon the cables with these winds, was much less than with
those of equal strength blowing off the land; and he accounted for it
from the water thrown into the bay by sea winds, rebounding from the
shore and forming what is called an under-tow, which tended to keep a
ship up to her anchors. This takes place in Simon's Bay, with the
south-east winds, but not in Table Bay with those from the north-west,
which blow into it; owing, in part, to the distance at which ships there
ride from the land, and apparently, also, from the under-tow passing out
on the eastern side of the bay, clear of the anchoring ground.

The Cape of Good Hope cannot now be supposed to furnish much of novelty
in the department of natural history, especially to transient visitors;
but it still continues to afford much amusement and instruction to
English botanists. It did so to our gentlemen, who were almost constantly
on shore upon the search; and their collections, intended for examination
on the next passage, were tolerably ample. They were sufficiently
orthodox to walk many miles for the purpose of botanising upon the
celebrated Table Mountain; for what disciple of Linnaeus could otherwise
conscientiously quit the Cape of Good Hope? In taking so early a
departure, though it were to proceed to the almost untrodden, and not
less ample field of botany, New Holland, I had to engage with the counter
wishes of my scientific associates; so much were they delighted to find
the richest treasures of the English green house, profusely scattered
over the sides and summits of these barren hills.

CHAPTER III.

Departure from False Bay.
Remarks on the passage to Terra Australis.
Gravity of sea-water tried.
Cape Leeuwin, and the coast from thence to King George's Sound.
Arrival in the Sound.
Examination of the harbours.
Excursion inland.
Country, soil, and productions.
Native inhabitants: Language and anatomical measurement.
Astronomical and nautical observations.

[TOWARDS NEW HOLLAND]

WEDNESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 1801

At daybreak of November 4, a light breeze from the eastward enabled me to
quit Simon's Bay, after a stoppage of eighteen days. The high land of
Great Smit's Winkel afterwards becalm