In Consequence Of Which,
Many Privileges Were Extended To Us, Very Unusual To Be Granted To Strangers.
We Were Allowed
The liberty of making short excursions into the country,
and on these occasions, as well as when walking in the
City, the mortifying
custom of having an officer of the garrison attending us was dispensed with
on our leaving our names and ranks, at the time of landing, with the adjutant
of orders at the palace. It happened, however, sometimes, that the presence
of a military man was necessary to prevent imposition in the shopkeepers,
who frequently made a practice of asking more for their goods than
the worth of them. In which case an officer, when applied to, always told us
the usual price of the commodity with the greatest readiness, and adjusted
the terms of the purchase.
On the morning of the fourth of September we left Rio de Janeiro,
amply furnished with the good things which its happy soil and clime
so abundantly produce. The future voyager may with security depend on
this place for laying in many parts of his stock. Among these may be
enumerated sugar, coffee, rum, port wine, rice, tapioca, and tobacco,
besides very beautiful wood for the purposes of household furniture.
Poultry is not remarkably cheap, but may be procured in any quantity;
as may hops at a low rate. The markets are well supplied with butcher's meat,
and vegetables of every sort are to be procured at a price next to nothing;
the yams are particularly excellent. Oranges abound so much, as to be sold
for sixpence a hundred; and limes are to be had on terms equally moderate.
Bananas, cocoa nuts, and guavas, are common; but the few pineapples
brought to market are not remarkable either for flavour, or cheapness.
Besides the inducements to lay out money already mentioned, the naturalist
may add to his collection by an almost endless variety of beautiful birds
and curious insects, which are to be bought at a reasonable price,
well preserved, and neatly assorted.
I shall close my account of this place by informing strangers,
who may come here, that the Portuguese reckon their money in rees,
an imaginary coin, twenty of which make a small copper piece called a 'vintin',
and sixteen of these last a 'petack'. Every piece is marked with the number
of rees it is worth, so that a mistake can hardly happen. English silver coin
has lost its reputation here, and dollars will be found preferable
to any other money.
CHAPTER VI.
The Passage from the Brazils to the Cape of Good Hope;
with an Account of the Transactions of the Fleet there.
Our passage from Rio de Janeiro to the Cape of Good Hope was equally prosperous
with that which had preceded it. We steered away to the south-east,
and lost sight of the American coast the day after our departure.
From this time until the 13th of October, when we made the Cape, nothing
remarkable occurred, except the loss of a convict in the ship I was on board,
who unfortunately fell into the sea, and perished in spite of our efforts
to save him, by cutting adrift a life buoy and hoisting out a boat.
During the passage, a slight dysentery prevailed in some of the ships,
but was in no instance mortal. We were at first inclined to impute it
to the water we took on board at the Brazils, but as the effect was
very partial, some other cause was more probably the occasion of it.
At seven o'clock in the evening of the 13th of October, we cast anchor
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,
these unhappy people were irrecoverably lost to the world and their friends,
by being detained among the Caffres, the most savage set of brutes on earth.
His Excellency resides at the Government house, in the East India Company's
garden. This last is of considerable extent, and is planted chiefly
with vegetables for the Dutch Indiamen which may happen to touch at the port.
Some of the walks are extremely pleasant from the shade they afford,
and the whole garden is very neatly kept.
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