ALGOA BAY—IMPORTS—POPULATION OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE—PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS—NEWS-PAPERS—DEPARTURE FROM THE CAPE—ARRIVAL AT RIO JANEIRO—DEPARTURE FROM RIO JANEIRO—ARRIVAL AT BOSTON HARBOUR—STATISTICAL TABLE.
The village in Algoa bay now called Port Elizabeth, is rising into importance most rapidly. Twelve years since, it contained four houses, and now it has upward of one hundred, and its residents are rated at above twelve hundred persons. It is one of the most prominent portions of the Cape colony, a place of resort for vessels to or from India. Subscriptions to the amount of five thousand pounds have been raised, for the purpose of building a lighthouse on cape Receife, and a jetty for the landing of goods. There are five ships connected with the direct trade to Europe. The number of vessels which have visited the port this year is about fifty. There is a good road leading to Graham’s Town, ninety miles in length; it is in the Albany district, and is said to contain upward of six thousand inhabitants. All imports and exports by sea, from Graham’s Town, &c., and the adjacent district of Uitenhage, are from this port. The imports in 1828 were fifty-five thousand two hundred and one pounds, and had increased in 1832 to one hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred and forty-five pounds, and the exports from forty-one thousand two hundred and ninety pounds, to eighty-six thousand nine hundred and thirty-one pounds. Provisions of all sorts are in abundance, and ships can be watered with great facility by pipes, leading from a pump to the sea. The exports are wine, brandy, vinegar, ivory, hides, skins, leather, tallow, butter, soap, wool, ostrich-feathers, salted beef, wheat, candles, aloes, barley, &c., &c.
Plettenberg’s bay is another place of resort for vessels in the winter season, bound home from India. The roadstead is open to southeast, but the anchorage is good, in eight, nine, and ten fathoms. The bay is spacious, with sufficient room to beat out, in southeast gales. The number of inhabitants is about four hundred, upward of one half being white. Cattle and sheep are plentiful, and it is noted for the excellence of its butter; and the timber is abundant.
There is no port of consequence lying between Plettenberg’s bay and Da Lagoa excepting port Natal, and this has but thirteen feet of water at its entrance; but it is well sheltered from prevailing winds. A few English traders are only to be found there at present, but there is no doubt that the British government will have a small garrison stationed there in the course of 1834. The merchants at Cape Town are preparing to take immediate advantage of this well-situated port, and protection from the government follows of course. The traders now penetrate one hundred and fifty miles along the southern coast beyond Natal, and far into the interior, in a northerly direction. There are no other ports, suitable for large ships to visit, than those already named, lying between False bay and Da Lagoa. The country about Natal is represented as being very fertile, well wooded and watered, and the climate healthy; it was exceedingly populous until the modern Attila, Chaka, took possession of it, and slaughtered most of the inhabitants. It abounds in cattle, and ivory is abundant. The Kowie and great Fish rivers, where there is a great number of English settlers, may be made good ports, whenever suitable improvements are made at their embouchures; they are barred like most of the rivers from the Cape to Da Lagoa, or I may as well say all the rivers in Southern, Eastern and Northeastern Africa, or from the cape of Good Hope to cape Guardafui.
The whole line of North Africa, or the coast leading from the cape of Good Hope to Benguela, is represented as being worthless, Saldunha bay, and the coast lying between it and Cape Town, being the only part where European settlers are found. Saldunah bay is well sheltered from violent winds, having a sufficient depth of water, but the country is very sandy and agriculture but little attended to; a few cattle and sheep are raised among the scanty herbage. Except one or two bays where whales resort, the remaining part offers no inducements to adventurers.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
I herewith present the amount of the imports and exports into Table, Simon’s, and Algoa bays, for the year 1831:—
| Pounds sterling. | ||
| The imports into Table bay, from Great Britain, were | 271,687 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 35,620 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 35,833 | |
| „ „ „ United States of America | 1,207 | |
| 332,527 | ||
| Pounds sterling | ||
| The imports into Simon’s bay, from Great Britain | 120 10 0 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 1,352 5 0 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 628 5 0 | |
| 2,101 | ||
| Ditto, ditto, Algoa bay, port Elizabeth, from Great Britain | 9,458 5 0 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 778 15 0 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 187 0 0 | |
| 10,244 | ||
| The whole amount of imports into the Cape of Good Hope colonies | £345,052 | |
| The exports from Table Bay to Great Britain were | 100,509 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 64,596 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 11,513 | |
| £176,618 | ||
| Ditto, ditto, Simon’s Bay to Great Britain | 2,941 0 0 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 1,561 0 0 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 1,296 0 0 | |
| „ „ „ Navy supplies | 5,476 0 0 | |
| 11,277 | ||
| Ditto, ditto, Algoa Bay, port Elizabeth to Great Britain | 24,019 0 0 | |
| „ „ „ British colonies | 4,800 0 0 | |
| „ „ „ Foreign states | 1,892 0 0 | |
| 30,711 | ||
| £218,606 | ||
In the amount of exports, from the three ports named, twenty-nine thousand and thirty-six pounds were articles of foreign growth or manufacture, leaving the sum of one hundred and eighty-nine thousand, five hundred and seventy pounds, being the value of articles of colonial produce for the year 1831.