CHAPTER V.
September 1787 to January 1788 Prospercus passage from Rio to the Cape--Account of the Harbours there--The Cape of Good Hope not the most Southern point--Height of Table Mountain and others--Supineness of the European nations in neglecting to occupy the Cape--Live stock laid in--Departure--Separation of the fleet--Arrival of the Supply at Botany Bay.
4 September 1787 A Prosperous course by sea, like a state of profound peace and tranquility in civil society, though most advantageous to those who enjoy it, is unfavourable to the purposes of narration.

The striking facts which the writer exerts himself to record, and the reader is eager to peruse, arise only from difficult situations: uniform prosperity is described in very few words.

Of this acceptable but unproductive kind was the passage of the Botany Bay fleet from Rio de Janeiro to the Cape of Good Hope; uniformly favourable, and not marked by any extraordinary incidents.

This run, from about lat.

22 deg.