CAPE To NV sa the capital of the Cape of Good Hope, and the only place in the colony that deserves the name or a town, stands on a sloping plain at the south-west corner of Table Bay, and is surrounded, except towards the sea, by black and dreary mountains. It is a regular and neatly built town, and well watered by a plentiful stream which issues from the Table Mountain. Many of the streets are of considerable breadth, having canals of water running them, which arc walled in, and planted on each side with oaks ; but others arc narrow and ill-paved. They are all straight, however, being laid out with a line, and intersect each other at right angles. The houses are in general built of stone, and white washed, and the greatest numbers are two stories high, with flat roofs, and a kind of pediment in the cen tre. The spacious squares give the town an open and airy appearance ; the public market is held in one ; another is the common resort of the farmers and gra ziers with their waggons; and a third is used as a pa rade for exercising the troops. This last lies between the town and the castle, and has two of its sides com pletely built up with large and handsome- houses. The castle stands a little east of the town. It is a pentagon fort, surrounded with a ditch and regular outworks, and contains within its walls the Lombard Bank, the Orphan Chamber, and most of the public offices of go vernment. It also affords accommodation for 1000 men with their officers, and has magazines for artillery stores and ammunition. But though it commands the town and part of the anchorage, it is entirely indefen sible against the batteries which have been erected upon the rising ground towards the Devil's 11111. The barracks, originally intended for an hospit tl, granaries, &c. which, with its two wings, occtifiics a part of one of the sides of the great square, is a large and re gular edifice, and has sufficient convenience in the up per part of the building for 4000 men. The other pub lic buildings are the Calvinist church, the Lutheran church, the court of justice, the guard-house, and the theatre.
Behind the town, on the acclivity of Table Mountain, is the government house, and a beautiful public garden, which is an oblong piece of ground, containing about 40 acres of rich land, and divided into forty-four squares by oak hedges. Part of it has been appropriated for
the reception of scarce and curious native plants, and for experiments upon such Asiatic and European pro ductions as may seem most likely to be cultivated with benefit to the colony. Over the saute acclivity arc also scattered a number of handsome villas, each of which is surrounded with plantations and gardens. Besides the castle, Cape Town is defended by se% ural other forts. which have been erected along the shore of Table Bay On the east side of the tow ci is Fort Knokke, whip h is connected with the castle by a rampart called the sea toles; and a little farther on is Craig's tower and batte ry. On the west side, and surrounding- the Lion's hump. are Poggc-bay battery, Amsterdam battery, and Clia vonne battery, which all bear upon the anchorage ; and the entrance of the bay is comnranded by a small batte ry, called the Mouilhca This town contains 1143 are inhabited by 5500 whites and people of colour, and 10,000 blacks. The greatest portion of the day is de voted to drinking and smoking by inally. They have no relish for public amusements, and no taste for literature and the fine arts. Indeed, there is not a bookseller's shop in the whole town: and the only library of the plat, was left by an individual for the use of the public. I' is under the direction of the but it is very huh used. A public school even has never yct been esta• blished in the colony, though the exertions both of the government and the clergy have been united in the at tempt. Many of the inhabitants arc in easy circumstanees, although there are not many who can be called rich, a circumstance which results in a considerable degree from the republican law of the province, by which pro perty inherited is equally divided amongst children, male and female, without regard to sex or primogeniture. From the operation of this law, much family feud and dissensions have often arisen, from the children becoming; rivals and competitors for the effects of a parent at a public sale.