could not be too thankful that the collision had been averted; it would have brought all my labours of the last four years to a deplorable end. I had proposed bringing my good horse Mosco with me, and was much disappointed that circumstances prevented me from including him with my general baggage.
As the “Arab” was bound to leave that day, and it was too late for me to get my property conveyed on board, I consented to go without it, leaving it in charge of Herr von Mosenthal, the newly-appointed Austrian Consul, who most kindly undertook to have it forwarded to Cape Town.
The same cordial reception awaited me at Cape Town as I had found at Port Elizabeth, and I delivered several lectures, one of them before the Philosophical Society, which, a year before, had elected me one of their corresponding members. It was here that I had the honour of an introduction to Sir Bartle Frere and several of the members of his staff; I also made the acquaintance of many of the most distinguished members of both houses of the Cape Parliament, and of the leading scientific men and newspaper editors of theplace. All alike entered warmly into my plans for the exploration of Central South Africa, and for the opening up of the great continent from the south. The very day that I left Cape Town Mr. Brown did me the honour of bringing forward a motion (which, at the desire of the Government, was only withdrawn on account of my departure) that my services should be secured for making an investigation of the district between the Vaal and the Zambesi.
I passed most of my time on the sea-shore, still adding to my collection of fishes and sponges. Algoa
