The Commander perſuaded me, as the veſſels were already ſo much lumbered, to leave the collections of natural hiſtory, which I had made during our ſtay at the Cape, in the hands of Gui, agent of the French government. This perſon promiſed to ſend them to France by the firſt opportunity. They, however, never arrived there, and I was informed at the Iſle de France, upon my return from the South Sea, that they had been ſeen by the naturaliſts Macé and Aubert Petit Thouars, depoſited in a granary belonging to this agent, long after our departure from the Cape; though he had had plenty of opportunities to ſend them to France, if his deſign had been to fulfil his engagement.
Few ſpots of the globe ſo well deſerve the attention of a commercial nation, as the Cape of Good Hope. Its ſituation has rendered it as an anchoring ſtation almoſt indiſpenſably neceſſary for ſhips ſailing to the Eaſt Indies. It affords abundance of proviſions; but the reſtrictive regulations daily diminiſh the number of ſhips frequenting this harbour, as they now endeavour to reach the place of their deſtination without touching at the Cape; and ſome put into the harbour at St. Helena, where they are able to proviſion themſelves at an eaſier rate.
The ſpirit of ſpeculation that prevails amongſt
the
