Cape Coast

“ The oceans which this Cape for ever lave
While time shall last is that great sailor’s grave;
And Nature’s self proclaims his honours here,
By such a monument o’er such a bier.{104}
Along the coast they sail. With pleasured eyes
They view new shores—new hills, new plains, arise,
The Cape St. Blaise and Longkloof Mountains past,
The hoped-for, longed-for haven comes at last;
Then, ’midst the glories of an April day,
They cast their anchor in Algoa Bay,
Whose outstretched arms receive in their embrace
Those dauntless settlers of a Northern race. ”

“ The English, masters of the territory officially known as Cape Coast, from the name of its former capital, occupy a section of the seaboard 360 miles long, between the French possessions of Assini and the German factories of Togo. Inland their domain extends to a point 120 miles from the coast, and beyond these limits their political ascendancy is recognised far and wide by the conterminous populations. According to the approximate statistics. Cape Coast has a total area of 17,000 square miles, with a population of over 500,000 in the year 1886. ”

“ Cape Coast Castle (11) , capital of the Gold Coast colony.
Cape Colony (1,527) , comprises the extremity of the African continent south of the Orange River and Natal, and is nearly twice the size of the United Kingdom; the Nieuwveld Berge, running E. and W., divides the country into two slopes, the northern slope long and gradual to the Orange River, the southern shorter and terraced to the sea; two-thirds of the country is arid plain, which, however, only requires irrigation to render it very fertile; the climate is dry and healthy, but hot in summer ”

“ The great ice current, flowing down the east coast of Greenland and diverted by the Gulf Stream, sweeps round Cape Farewell and is closely packed along this shore until late in the season. Almost the whole coast, with numerous islands and entrances to the deep fjords, may be taken in at a glance from Cape Farewell, or at least from Cape Christian to Cape Desolation. It comprises the whole of the ancient colony of the East Bygd. Great precipices face the sea, with black mountains, 3000 to 4000 ft. high, rising above them. ”

“ Gold Coast (1,475, of whom 150 are Europeans) , a British crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa, with a coast-line of 350 m.; from the low and marshy foreshore the country slopes upward and inward to Ashanti; the climate is very unhealthy; palm-oil, india-rubber, gold dust, &c., are exported; Cape Coast Castle is the capital.
Golden Age, the age of happy innocence under the reign of Cronos or Saturn, in which, as fabled, the earth yielded all fulness without toil, and every creature lived at peace with every other ”

“ This rocky peninsula is truly a very wild and unworldlike little territory, jutting boldly out as it does into the mighty bay of Massachusetts, and commanding a view of its whole extent, from Cape Cod to Cape Anne, together with the many islands, towns, and villages scattered along the coast; whilst in front spreads out the Atlantic Ocean.
To sit within the upper gallery of this house upon the cliff, and watch the rising moon fling her golden bridge from the far horizon's edge, until it seems to rest upon the beach below, is a sight which would be worth something in a poet or a painter's eyes. ”

“ Behind the low coast strip rise the hills whose slopes constitute the second region. They rise in most places rather gradually, and they seldom (except in Manicaland, to be hereafter described) present striking forms. The neighbourhood of Cape Town is almost the only place where high mountains come close to the shore—the only place, therefore, except the harbour of St. John's far to the east, where there is anything that can be called grand coast scenery. ”

“ Bass's Two-fold Bay without its being noticed. At nine we came abreast of a smooth, sloping point which, from its appearance, and being unnoticed in captain Cook's chart, I named Green Cape. The shore, for about seven miles to the northward, lies N. 16° W., and is rocky and nearly straight, and well covered with wood: the Cape itself is grassy. On the south side, the coast trends west, three or four miles, into a sandy bight, and then southward to Cape Howe. ”

“ Cape Colony is a huge territory more than twice as large as the United Kingdom. But very little of it is available for tillage, and much of it is too arid even for stock-keeping. The population, including natives, is only seven to the square mile. Nearly the whole of it is high country. All along its westerly coast and its southerly coast there is a strip of low ground bordering the ocean, which in some places is but a mile or two wide, and in others, where a broad valley opens spreads backward, giving thirty or forty square miles of tolerably level or undulating ground. ”

“ All signs point to the fact that the Cape is at that stage in its development where it is becoming widely and favorably known as a summer resort region. Its business facilities are increasing, the quality of its stores improving and from a more or less provincial community it is developing into a region second to none in prosperity along the New England coast. ”

“ It is pretty high, wholy cover'd with wood, and hath very much the Appearance of an Island, by its aspect being so very different from the Land behind it, which is nothing but barren rocky Mountains. At Sunset the Southermost Land in sight bore due South, distant 5 or 6 Leagues; and as this is the Westermost point of land upon the whole Coast I have called it West Cape. It lies about 3 Leagues to the Southward of the bay above-mentioned, in the Latitude of 45 degrees 54 minutes South, and Longitude 193 degrees 17 minutes West. ”

“ The land on the north shore, near the west end of the strait, makes in many islands and rocks, upon which the sea breaks in a tremendous manner. The land about Cape Victory is distant from Cape Pillar about ten or eleven leagues, in the direction of N.W. by N. From the cape westward, the coast trends S.S.W.1/2 W. to Cape Deseada, a low point, off which lie innumerable rocks and breakers. About four leagues W.S.W. from Cape Deseada, lie some dangerous rocks, called by Sir John Narborough the Judges, upon which a mountainous surf always breaks with inconceivable fury. ”

“ The coast in front of this range is of pleasing and verdant appearance; two or three small openings in the sandy beach, with an evident separation in the hills behind, particularly one in latitude 28 degrees 36 minutes, bore indications of rivulets; and the smokes of natives' fires, and the more wooded character of the coast, showed that the country was evidently more fertile and productive than any other part between Cape Leeuwin and the North-west Cape. The bottom at from ten to twelve miles off, is from twenty to twenty-five fathoms deep, and composed of a fine sand, of a dark gray colour. ”

“ I hear that Worcester, Paarl, and Stellenbosch are beautiful, and the road very desolate and grand: one mountain pass takes six hours to cross. I should not return to Capetown so early, but poor Captain J— has had his leg smashed and amputated, so I must look out for myself in the matter of ships. Whenever it is hot, I am well, for the heat here is so light and dry. The wind tries me, but we have little here compared to the coast. I hope that the voyage home will do me still more good ”

“ The coast between Cape Sidmouth and Cape Direction is rather high, and the shore is formed by a sandy beach. Ten miles North-West from the former cape is an opening in the hills; the high land then continues to the northward to Cape Direction, which has a peak near its extremity, close off which are two small rocks, but the depth at a mile and a half off is thirteen fathoms. The peak is in latitude 12 degrees 51 minutes 55 seconds, and longitude 143 degrees 26 minutes 10 seconds.*
(*Footnote. Shoal water extends for about six miles round the north side of Cape Direction. Roe manuscript.) ”

“ On the west side, the water is two or three fathoms deep, close to the shore, and the land attains its greatest elevation by a steep rise from the beach. On the east side there are some precipitous cliffs, but [Pg 212] the coast in general is skirted by shelving rocks. No soil was seen on the Cape, nor any appearance of vegetation, the ground being every where covered, to the depth of a foot, by fragments of limestone, which are detached by the frost from the solid strata lying beneath. ”

“ As has ever been done by all wise people on that coast, a fort was expeditiously erected, overlooking in a peremptory way the native villages and the anchorage; since it is not, for a time at least, safe to trust in such affairs to the conscience of the natives.
Cape Palmas is well suited for such an establishment; the climate is as good as any in tropical Africa. The Cape itself is a small elevation or insulated hill, sloping down towards the continent, into the general expanse of wooded plain or forest ”

“ Like a sculptor working in clay, the ocean currents took much of the eroded cliff material and, carrying it both north and south, created the elaborate forms of the barrier beaches, barrier islands, and sand hooks that give the Outer Cape its characteristic filigreed coastline. Monomoy Island, North Beach, Nauset Beach, Coast Guard Beach, and Jeremy Point are some of the more prominent of these post-glacial landforms, enclosing such important estuaries as Pleasant Bay, Nauset Harbor, and Wellfleet Harbor. ”

“ He took no note of the country about him, as they passed from veldt to karroo, from karroo to the coast plateau, and from the coast plateau down across the Cape Flats, sparsely covered with pipe grass and acacias. Then, as Table Mountain and the Devil's Peak lifted themselves on his right hand, he knew that Cape Town was near, and he braced himself to go through what was before him. ”

“ With respect to the Cape Promontory it lies about three miles east of the meridian of Simon's Town. All the tables of latitude and longitude place the Cape in 34 degrees 29 minutes south latitude; but from many observations off it with good instruments I make it to lie in 34 degrees 23 minutes south, which agrees with its situation as laid down in major Rennel's map. The part which I call the Cape is the southernmost point of the land between Table Bay and False Bay; but the Dutch consider the westernmost part of the coast to be the Cape. ”

“ At daylight on the 7th the cutter was about eight miles East by South from Point Slade, with a projecting bluff cape in sight, which proved to be Captain Cook's Cape Hilsborough.
The country in the vicinity and particularly to the southward of the Cape is rocky and mountainous; but the lower grounds are verdant and well clothed with timber; and, judging from the numerous fires along the coast, it must be very populous; the islands near it are rocky and very barren, but many of them being wooded with pine-tree have a picturesque appearance. ”

“ The shore is barren, consisting largely of stretches of white sand or thin soil sparsely covered with scrub. The Cape peninsula, which forms Table Bay on the north and False Bay on the south, juts pendant beyond the normal coast line and consists of an isolated range of hills. The scenery here becomes bold and picturesque. Dominating Table Bay is the well-known Table Mountain (3549 ft.) , flat-topped and often covered with a “tablecloth” of cloud. On its lower slopes and around Table Bay is built Cape Town, capital of the colony. ”

“ These Islands lay South-East and North-West, and are pretty high, and will, from most points of view, be taken for one Island or a part of the Main; from the South-East point of Hermites Isles to Cape Horn, the Course is South-West by South, distance 3 Leagues. The Appearance of this Cape and Hermites Islands is represented in the last View in the chart which I have drawn of this Coast from our first making the land unto Cape Horn, in which is included Strait Le Mair and part of Staten Land. ”

“ Its greatest length is one hundred miles, and its greatest breadth eighty-five miles. The island is isolated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso, which is twenty-one miles long, and from one mile to one and a half in width. Cape North is about sixty miles from Cape Ray, Newfoundland.
[264] The representation of the coast of Cape Breton Island and of Nova Scotia as trending eastward and westward, as delineated on La Cosa’s map, evidently exemplifies the incorrect conjecture made by Giovanni Caboto respecting the situation of the first land seen by him. ”

“ Hence the coast, now very slightly indented, runs north by east until at Algoa Bay (25° 45′ E.) it takes a distinct north-east bend, and so continues beyond the confines of the colony. Along the southern and eastern shore the country is better watered, more fertile and more picturesque than along the western seaboard. Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope) stands 840 ft. above the sea; Cape Agulhas 455 ft. ”

“ At sun-set, the wind veering round to the south, we tacked and stood off, it not being safe to approach the shore in the dark. At day-break we stood in again, with a faint land-breeze between E.S.E. and S.S.E. At noon observed, in latitude 21° 59' 30", Cape Coronation being west southerly, distant seven leagues, and the foreland S. 38° W. As we advanced S.S.W. the coast beyond the foreland began to appear in sight; and at sun-set we discovered a low island lying S.S.E, about seven miles from the foreland. It was one of those which are generally surrounded with shoals and breakers. ”