since. In the year 1807, when the capital of the Danes was visited by the British fleet, the city of Copenhagen burnt, and all its ships of war brought over, for security, to ride in the ports of England. Two companies of Sepoys were sent down from Madras, to take quiet possession of Tranquebar, and both that place and Serampore, on the Hoogly, above Calcutta, the only settlements belonging to them in the East Indies, surrendered to us without resistance. Since the late restoration of affairs in Europe to their pretended former footing, both these places have been restored to the Danes, and their national flag was flying here as we passed it to-day.

We continued to enjoy a fine breeze from the S.E., and at four P. M. were abreast of Devicotta, à fort seated on a small island, just within the entrance of the river Coleroon. This place may be known by a thick grove of trees near the sea, and four remarkable buildings father inland, called the Pagodas of Chalambaram, which bear directly west, when on a line with the centre of the grove. There is a dangerous shoal, which stretches from the mouth of this river to the southward, as far as the southern end of the Coleroon wood. It is steep too, on the outside the western, shoaling suddenly from twelve to four fathoms, so that it would be prudent not to approach it within fifteen. His Majesty's ship Falmouth, according to the testimony of Horsburgh, in standing toward this shoal in the night, with an intention to tack, in twelve fathoms, missed stays, and got into four and a half, where she anchored, and was fortunate enough to be able to warp out in the morning, as the weather was fine. The fort of Devicotta is said to be strongly built, and well planned, but is at present without a garrison. In 1768, it was taken from the Rajah of Tanjore, by an English force, under Major Lawrence, when the garrison were put to flight. It was once intended to have been formed into a harbour; and a formal cession of the surrounding territory was obtained by the East India Company, from the Rajah, with that professed view; but this object was abandoned, and it is still a place of obscurity, though still under the government of the Madras establishment.

At sun-set, we had the flag-staff of Porto Novo bearing S.W.W. off shore, about six or seven miles. This is described to be one of the best ports on the coast of Coromandel, but it can only be in southerly winds, when it is sheltered by the Coleroon shoal, just described, to the southward of it. To haul into this anchorage, it is advised to bring the flag-staff to bear W. by N. & N., and the two central pagodas of Chalambaram S.W. by W. W., at the same time, when a vessel may stand in clear of the north end of the Coleroon shoal, and anchor in six fathoms mud, with the southernmost of the pagodas S.W. W., and the flag-staff of Porto Novo W.IN., off shore two miles. The river, or creek, is navigable only for small boats, and the water procured here is said to be bad. It was once a place of sufficient consequence to support both a French and

a Dutch factory at the same time; and there is still current a Porto Novo pagoda, a gold coin of their own mint, which is seen in the list of exchanges at Madras; but at present its commerce is confined to a small coasting trade.

As the breeze continued fresh and fair, and carried us along at the rate of nine knots, we were abreast of Cuddalore before dark. A little to the northward of this are the ruins of Fort St. David, a bone of contention between the armies of Pondicherry and Madras, the possession of which was disputed often and warmly during their contests in this country. The town of Cuddalore, which is about a mile to the southward of it, is large and fortified, and is still considered to be populous and flourishing, as a place of manufacture and trade. The site of the present town, with a small district around it, was purchased for 31,000l. sterling, from a Mahratta Prince, by Mr. Elihu Yale, on account of the English East India Company, in the year 1686. It remained in their peaceable possession for more than half a century, during which period it had been fortified sufficiently to resist two unsuccessful attacks which were made upon it by the French in 1746. This was the year in which the French Admiral, M. de la Bourdonnais, arrived on the coast of Coromandel, with a hostile fleet of eight ships, mounting 398 guns, with which he beat off an English fleet of six ships and 270 guns, and afterwards captured Madras; yet Cuddalore was able most effectually to resist the same force. In 1758, M. Lally, one of the most celebrated of the French Commanders in India, began his operations, by the siege of Cuddalore and Fort St. David. The town and fortress both capitulated, the garrison being unusually slender, and these were all taken prisoners to Pondicherry. The French then demolished the whole of the works of Fort St. David, reducing both it and all the villas and seats of the English in the neighbourhood to a mere heap of ruins. Since which period they have never been restored. The town, however, coming into our possession again at the following peace, recovered its former prosperity, as a manufacturing place, though not its importance as a military one, and thus it still remains to the present day.

Although we enjoyed all the pleasure which sailors never fail to derive from a fair and freshening breeze, yet it was a circumstance of regret to us all, that we should pass by Pondicherry in the night, more particularly as the boldness of the coast admits of sailing along sufficiently near to distinguish the most interesting objects, and as we had read that this capital of the French dominions in India, and seat of their supreme government, was the largest, the strongest, and the most beautiful European settlement in the East.

28th. At day-light we could just perceive the hills of Sadras, and the pagoda near the sea at Mahavellipooram, on our larboard quarter, bearing about S.W. At day-light, we had the town of Covelong bearing N.W. by N., with a ship at anchor in the roads

here, and St. Thomas's Mount N. by W.N. The appearance of this place from the sea is extremely pretty, and some of the houses there seem rather mansions of the rich, than simple dwellings of Native traders. This port was the seat of the Ostend Company's factory, on their first arrival in India; and building a fort here in 1723, they made this their principal settlement, and retained possession of it as such until their Charter was suspended in 1727. It is at present under the government of Madras, and one of the principal places for the production and manufacture of salt.

In the afternoon, we anchored safely in Madras Roads.

I love to hear the Anthem's sweep
Through old cathedrals dim and high,
Like swellings of the midnight deep-
Like echoes of the opening sky ;-

Yet more I love the first faint tone
That dies along the breeze's wing;
Now thrilling sweet, now dim and gone,
As if a spirit touched the string.

I love thee, Genius, in the hour

When triumph round thee pours its blaze ;
When stands in bright consummate power
The Spirit for a nation's gaze.

Yet more I love the first rich glance

Of thy dark eye through early glɔom,
The whisperings of thy half-waked trance,
The first wild rustlings of thy plume.

IN

A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ; CLUDING HINTS ON THE MEANS OF IMPROVING THAT EXPENSIVE AND IMPORTANT COLONY.

As all information relating to our Colonies must prove highly interesting to our readers, we have condensed into the present paper a succinct account of Southern Africa, so that the reader may perceive almost at a glance, and within a compass of a few pages, the natural capabilities and internal resources, as well as the peculiar advantages, of that important settlement.

Whether the ancients had any knowledge of the southern extremity of Africa is a doubtful point: but the first European navigator, who had the honour of doubling that promontory, was Bartholomew Diarz, an officer in the service of John the Second, King of Portugal. He proceeded to twenty-four degrees south, one hundred and twenty leagues beyond the track of former navigators; and then, stretching boldly out to sea, never approached the coast again till he was forty degrees to the eastward of the Cape, which he had passed without seeing it. He then advanced as far as the River del Infanta, upwards of six degrees to the eastward of Agulhas, which is the most southern point of that vast continent, and near a degree beyond the Cape of Good Hope. The occasion of his return is unknown, but five and twenty leagues short of the above river, he erected a cross on an islet, or rock, which still bears the name of De-la-Cruz, in the bay of Algoa, or Del Algoa, so called from its having furnished a supply of water. The grand promontory which Diarz saw on his return, he named Cabo Tormentoso, from the tremendous storms which he had to encounter in his passage; but this appellation was afterwards changed by his sovereign to that of Bona Esperanza, or Cape of Good Hope, as expressive of the prospect which the discovery held out of a sure path to India. The path, however, was not explored till ten years afterwards, when the same Diarz served with his brother under that great commander Vasco de Gama, who touched at the Cape, but without making any settlement there. Next to De Gama, was the Portuguese admiral Rio d' Infanti, who strongly urged his government to establish a colony on the southern coast of Africa, fixed upon a river for that purpose, to which was given his own name, but now called the Great Fish River. Some other attempts were made by different voyagers, belonging to the same nation, to colonize the Cape, but none of them proved successful, for the want of sufficient energy and management.

In 1620, the commanders of two English ships in the East India Trade, took formal possession of Saldanha Bay, under the authority of the Company and crown; but no farther notice was taken of the Cape till the year 1650, when the Dutch East India Company sent out Von Riebeck to form a settlement there. That commercial body

however, never made any efforts to extend the Colony, or to improve the local advantages which they possessed, confining all their care to the Cape itself, as a port for the refreshment of their ships. Thus limited in their ideas, and fearful, perhaps, that a more flourishing colony would require an expensive military establishment, they threw every obstacle in the way of new settlers, allowed no trade to be carried on but what passed through their own servants, and made the Cape entirely dependent upon the government of Batavia. The wretched and jealous policy of the Dutch, was strikingly displayed in the law which they passed, that the nearest distance from house to house, in the interior, should be three miles, thereby keeping the settlers apart from each other, and preventing, as much as in them lay, a thriving population. Thus, a country abundant in natural riches and the means of subsistence, was neglected; the colonists became unsocial in their manners, and the natives either retired as they advanced, or, if any of them remained, it was only to be reduced to a miserable state of slavery, under the usurpers of their natal soil. Another proof of the selfishness, or sluggish indifference of the Dutch government, is the fact, that no geographical survey of the Cape, was ever made till the country fell into the hands of the English, when a map was constructed by the order of Lord Macartney. From this survey, it appeared that the extent and dimensions of the territory, composing the colony of the Cape, formed a parallelogram of five hundred and fifty miles in length, and two hundred and thirty-three in breadth, comprehending an area of 128,150 square miles. This great space of ground, excluding the population of Cape Town, was peopled by about 15,000 white inhabitants, so that each individual might be said to possess eight and a half square miles of ground. The whole territory is divided into four districts, viz. that of the Cape; of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein; of Zwellendam and of Graaf Reynet. The Cape district is chiefly composed of the mountainous part, which gives a general name to the whole Peninsula. The Table Mountain with the Devil's Hill on the east, and the Lion's Head on the west, forms the northern extremity of the peninsula, being in length from north to south about thirty-six, and in breadth eight miles, connected with the continent by a low flat isthmus.

False Bay and Table Bay, one washing the southern and the other the northern shore of the isthmus, are the usual places of resort for shipping. This last affords secure shelter in the pleasant season, that is, from September to May, when the south-east winds prevail; while Simon's Bay, on the western shore of False Bay, is safest for the rest of the year, when the northerly and north-westerly winds are strongest. The latitude of Table Bay is 33° 55′ S.; longitude 18° 33' E. Of Simon's Bay, the latitude is 34° 9′ S. and longitude 18° 32′ E.

Cape Town is situated at the head of Table Bay, on a declivity;