Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/132

122 mit; but I found the ditant view had deceived me, for I dicovered a path in it of no very difficult acces to perons ued to climbing mountains, being the track motly frequented in order to arrive at the top, which is hardly to be urmounted by any other.

Though the part of the mountain where we now tood is about 500 toies perpendicular height, the heat of the atmophere raied the thermometer to twenty degrees in the hade.

Fuel is very carce at the Cape of Good Hope; but though the mildnes of the climate exempts the inhabitants from the neceity of employing artificial heat as a defence againt the everity of the weather, they want it, however, for the purpoes of cookery, and end their laves even far beyond the Table Mountain, to fetch the mall upply of wood which they require. We met everal blacks carrying to the town their bundles of fuel, which conited of the branches of different orts of hrubs: amongt others I ditinguihed cunonia capenis, and everal beautiful pecies of the protea. I was much gratified at having an opportunity to ee thee fine plants, and regretted only that they had been gathered for no other purpoe than to erve as fuel. I picked out ome pecimens for myelf, and the blacks, whoe burthens were not become much lighter for what I had