“Wood is not to be had here, except by purchase, and is extravagantly dear; nor is there any sort of fuel to be procured.
“Water is plentiful and of an excellent quality; a stream is brought by pipes to the extremity of the wharf, where two boats may fill with hoses at the same time, but as the run of water which supplies it is frequently diverted to other purposes by the inhabitants, it is rather a tedious mode of watering, and better calculated for keeping up the daily consumption after being once completed, than for supplying the wants of a squadron or ship arriving from a voyage.
“The method generally used by the men-of-war is to land their casks on the sandy beach on the N.W. part of the bay, a little to the Westward of the North battery, where there are two or three considerable runs of water down the sides of the mountains, and make wells or dipping-places by sinking half-casks in the sand. In this way, many ships fill their water at the same time without at all interfering with or retarding each other’s progress. The casks so filled must be rafted off, as there is generally too much surf to get them into the boats, and when the South-easters set in strong it is impracticable to get them off at all. The casks may however remain on shore without injury, and being ready filled may be got off when the weather suits. Both watering-places are completely commanded by the batteries as well as by the ships at anchorage.
“The anchorage is protected and commanded by two batteries and a round tower. One on the South-east point of the bay, called the Block-house, on which are three twenty-four-pounders, and a ten-inch mortar. It is elevated about thirty feet above the level of the sea, and commands the whole of the bay, as well as the passage into the westward of the Roman Rocks.
“The round tower is close at the back of, and indeed may be considered as appertaining to the Block-house. It has one twenty-four-pounder mounted on a traversing carriage, and contains very good barracks for fifty or sixty soldiers. The other, called the North Battery, is, as its name bespeaks, on the north side of the bay. It stands on a small rocky point between two sandy bays, on an elevation of twenty or twenty-five feet above the level of the sea, and is mounted with three long eighteen-pounders and two ten-inch mortars. Neither of these works could make much resistance if regularly attacked by sea or land, and are all completely commanded by higher ground in their rear within half cannon-shot. There is besides these another battery called Tucker’s, about half a mile to the southward of the Block-house, but not in sight from the anchorage; on it are three eighteen-pounders. It was constructed in consequence of a French frigate running into the bay (not knowing it to be in the possession of the English) and getting aground somewhere near that spot. It is however so placed as to be of no use as a defence to the bay, for a ship, or squadron, coming in with hostile intentions need not, except from choice, pass within reach of its guns, and as a military post it is confessedly untenable, being completely commanded by higher ground behind it.
“The only regular landing-place is at the wharf which runs out about fifty yards into the sea, and is very convenient, having always sufficient water to allow of the largest boats when loaded to lie alongside it without taking the ground. In moderate weather, boats may, if required to do so, land in almost any part of the bay, and it is, except where the rocks show themselves, a beach of very fine sand. There is very little trade here, it having been chiefly used whilst in the possession of the Dutch as a kind of half-way house for their ships on their passage both to and from India and China.
“The produce of those countries may however be generally procured, and on reasonable terms, as duties on importation are so moderate that the officers of the East India ships frequently find it worth their while to dispose of their private investments here, rather than carry them to England. There has been a whale fishery lately established by a few individuals in a bay about four miles to the north-east, called Calp’s or Calk’s Bay, which appears to be doing very well, but I imagine could not be very much extended. There is no ship or vessel whatever belonging to the place, and only a few small boats used for the purposes of fishing.
“The arsenal or naval yard is a compact row of storehouses under one roof, and enclosed with a wall and gates, well situated for its purpose, fronting a sandy beach and adjoining the wharf. It contains all the necessary buildings and accommodations as a depot of naval and victualling stores on a small scale, adequate however to the probable wants of any squadron which is ever likely to be stationed there.
“The inhabitants are a mongrel breed, a mixture of many nations, but principally descended from the first Dutch settlers whose language (probably a good deal corrupted both in ideas and pronunciation) is in general use. The Government is now English, but the civil, as well as the criminal jurisprudence is regulated by the colonial laws, as originally established by the Dutch East India Company, somewhat modified and ameliorated by the milder influence of English law. The prevailing religion is Calvinistic, but there are many Lutherans, and some of various sects.”
The contrast between the Cape in 1807 and the Cape in 1905 is so strong that it needs no emphasising.