knew from the
letter that he was heir to Sir Charles Wilmot, and therefore that he was
not likely to be going out as a speculator or emigrant.

It hardly need be said that Alexander made no hesitation in confiding to
one who could so materially assist him in the object of his voyage.

The other passengers were three young ladies bound to their friends in
India, and a lady returning with her two marriageable daughters to
rejoin her husband, who was a colonel in the Bengal army. They were all
pleasant people, the young ladies very lively, and on the whole the
cabin of the _Surprise_ contained a very agreeable party; and soon after
they left Madeira, they had fine weather, smooth water, and everything
that could make a voyage endurable.

The awnings were spread, chairs brought up, and the major portion of the
day was spent upon the quarter-deck and poop of the vessel, which for
many days had been running down before the trade-winds, intending to
make Rio, and there lay in a supply of fresh provisions for the
remainder of her voyage.

One morning, as Alexander and Mr Fairburn were sitting together,
Alexander observed--"You have passed many years at the Cape, Mr
Fairburn, have you not?"

"Yes; I was taken prisoner when returning from India, and remained a
year in Cape Town during the time that it was in the hands of the Dutch;
I was about to be sent home as a prisoner to Holland, and was embarked
on board of one of the vessels in Saldanha Bay, when they were attacked
by the English. Afterwards, when the English captured the Cape, from my
long residence in, and knowledge of, the country, I was offered a
situation, which I accepted: the colony was restored to the Dutch, and I
came home. On its second capture I was again appointed, and have been
there almost ever since."

"Then you are well acquainted with the history of the colony?"

"I am, certainly, and if you wish it, shall be happy to give you a short
account of it."

"It will give me the greatest pleasure, for I must acknowledge that I
know but little, and _that_ I have gleaned from the travels which I have
run through very hastily."

"I think it was in the year 1652 that the Dutch decided upon making a
settlement at the Cape. The aborigines, or natives, who inhabited that
part of the country about Cape Town, were the Hottentots, a mild,
inoffensive people, living wholly upon the produce of their cattle; they
were not agriculturists, but possessed large her