Confidence in all her qualities daily increased, and, with a strong breeze on the quarter, she was now sailing, under canvas only, at the rate of eight to nine and a half knots an hour. The lee-board was found at all times useful in making the ship stanch under sail, but as it was constructed in haste, and only with such materials as were at hand, it required to be repaired and strengthened several times. At length, on the 29th, being still two hundred and thirty miles from the Cape, but well down to the southward, and it appearing that there was sufficient fuel left to carry her into port, the steam was for the last time got up. On the morning of the 1st July, the remarkable land of the Table Mountain, and the conical peak to the southward of it, were well in sight. The Nemesis had made a long and tiresome voyage in the most unfavourable season of the year, and the anxiety which had been shared by all on board may well be conceived. The dangers of the Cape, at that time of year, have not been exaggerated. On the 1st July, much to the astonishment of every one at Cape Town, she was descried, late in the evening, quietly steaming into Table Bay. FOOTNOTES: [3] A native African from the so-called Kroo country. [4] About one thousand logs make up twenty-two tons and a half of fire-wood. [5] Another remark, perhaps worthy of being attended to, suggested itself on this occasion, and it has been frequently confirmed since--namely, that no steamer constructed according to the model of the Nemesis should be sent to sea upon a long and uncertain voyage, without having a _fixed keel_ running the whole way fore and aft, and bolted strongly through her bottom. This would be found of the greatest possible utility at sea, and it could easily be taken off, and the moveable keels put on, whenever the vessel were employed on a coast, or in river navigation. It may further be questionable, in the event of a smaller steamer being intended to be sent out, whether it would not be both safer and less expensive to send it _in pieces_, and have it put together, by the mechanics and engineers belonging to it, at the place where it might be destined for use, than to send it ready equipped, to make its own way to its destination by steam and canvas, with all the necessary risk. CHAPTER III. During the winter season, few vessels, and those only of light burden, venture into Table Bay, exposed as it is to the full fury of the north-west gales. But the Nemesis had little cause for fear; her light draught of water enabling her to anchor in a well-sheltered cove, near the stone jetty which has recently been constructed.