together with ſome of my travelling companions, at the houſe of a M. de Lettre.
19th. The ſummit of the Table Mountain was hid in thick clouds, which at this ſeaſon of the year is a certain prognoſtic of high winds from the ſouth-eaſt, that generally continue for two or three days. The gales were this time ſo violent, that during the whole time they prevailed no veſſel of the ſize of a ſloop dare venture to approach the ſhore.
Though the clouds appeared immovably attached to the top of the mountain, even when the winds blew with their greateſt violence, they were, in fact, perpetually replaced by others; but the force with which they were driven along, after their ſeparation from the mountain, diminiſhing their coheſion, they were ſoon diſſipated in the atmoſphere. We often obſerved large maſſes of theſe clouds, which as ſoon as they were detached from the ſummit, immediately diſappeared.
Theſe violent gales from the ſouth-eaſt, which have often been noticed by travellers, appeared to me to proceed from the nature of the coaſt, which forms a very high ridge from the Cape Town as far as to the mouth of Falſe Bay, and acts as a barrier, preventing the ſouth-eaſt winds from paſſing beyond it. Whenever theſe winds get
into
