cornets aforesaid to arrest any Kaffers or Ghonaquas belonging to Kaffer Kraals, whom they may discover within the boundaries of their respective divisions, and to conduct them to Graham's Town, there to be delivered to the officer commanding His Majesty's troops, for the purpose of their being dealt with according to such instructions as the military commander shall have received from me on this head. And in order to enforce a prompt and due compliance with this necessary regulation, I hereby order the respective courts of Landdrost and Heemraden of the aforesaid districts of Tulbagh, Graaff-Reinet, and Uitenhage, to take cognizance of the circumstances hereby prohibited, and to decide therein, affixing a fine not exceeding 300 rixdollars to a first offence against this ordinance, and empowering the aforesaid courts to banish from their district any person who shall be proved to have been guilty of a second offence. And that no person may plead ignorance hereof, this shall be published and affixed as usual. God save the King! Given under my hand and seal at the Cape of Good Hope, this 28th day of January 1820. Letter from SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN to EARL BATHURST. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MY LORD, It is with much concern that I have to acquaint your Lordship that intelligence has been received here, through the Isle de Bourbon, of an epidemic having broken out in the Mauritius, which has carried off, in a short space of time, about 4000 persons, White and Black. Mr. Mylius, the Governor of Bourbon, has sent to the French Consul here his Proclamations and the several orders he has judged it necessary to issue to prevent the introduction of the disease into that Island, with a request that they may be com municated to this Government, and by them he has placed all ships approaching the Isle de Bourbon in strict Quarantine, and indeed forbid their anchoring until examined. It seems not to be quite ascertained whether the infection has been carried to the Mauritius from Madagascar, or from India; if from India, there may be reason to fear that it is the Cholera Morbus, which fatal disease has for three years past, or more, been gradually travelling Westward. Under these circumstances I have judged it necessary to order that all vessels coming from the Eastward shall be put in Quarantine, till examined and reported on. Should this exclusion of ships from India and other places in the East be of any duration, it will be disadvantageous to this Colony; but, I trust, that Your Lordship will approve of my having established the Quarantine as a measure of precaution against a still greater evil. It will not be carried beyond what may be absolutely necessary for our own safety, and, as one report says the disease in Mauritius has abated, (which report has been brought from Bourbon by H. M. Ship Hardy, which vessel also brought the French Governor's Dispatch) I am in hopes that the restraint imposed here will not be of long duration. Vessels direct from China, or from any of the three Presidencies of India, which have not touched at the Mauritius or communicated with any vessels at Sea, will of course be immediately released from Quarantine, after being visited, so that no inconvenience will result to them, nor their progress homeward be retarded. It will be highly satisfactory to me if this first Public Act of my administration here should not be disapproved of by your Lordship. P.S. I have the honor of enclosing to your Lordship a copy of a Proclamation I have issued. [Copy.] Proclamation by SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN, Knight Commander of the Most Honorable and Military Order of the Bath, Acting Governor and Commanding in Chief His Majesty's Forces at the Cape of Good Hope, &c., &c., &c. Whereas undoubted information has been communicated to me of a malignant Disorder having broken out in the Island of Mauritius, which is said already to have carried off (after a few hours illness only) vast numbers of the unfortunate Inhabitants; and it becomes in consequence necessary to take the most rigid precautions for preventing, with the help of Divine Providence, so dreadful a Calamity from reaching these Shores. Fortunately, the communications between the two Settlements are not frequent, and thus it will be less difficult to enforce the Regulations, which are essential for obviating the consequences which might follow rashness or imprudence. It is accordingly hereby ordered and directed, that upon the arrival of any Vessel from the Mauritius direct, or having touched at the Mauritius, or its Dependencies, or at the Island of Madagascar, the Port Captain (if the arrival be in this Table Bay or in Simon's Bay) shall order the Vessel into strict Quarantine, directing her to anchor in the outward Road, and forbidding her from having any communication whatever with the Shore, or with any of the Vessels in the said Bays respectively. Such Vessel shall hoist a Yellow Jack at the Fore Top-Mast Head, and will receive such refreshments as she may absolutely stand in need of, by the Harbour Master's Boats only. And whereas it is at present uncertain, whether the Malady in question was communicated to the said Island of Mauritius from the Island of Madagascar, or 'whether it may not have reached the Settlement by Vessels from the East Indies, where the Cholera Morbus has raged in a most virulent degree for some time past; it therefore is incumbent on me, to take the greatest precautions with respect to Vessels coming from the East Indies, or any part of the Eastern Seas; and I, therefore, likewise direct, that all Vessels coming from any part of the East Indies, or from the China Seas, or from Ceylon, shall be put into Quarantine, and hoist a Yellow Jack at the Fore Top-Mast Head as aforesaid, until such time as it shall be completely ascertained, that no instance of Cholera or Dysentery has manifested itself on board such Vessels on the Passage. And whereas it frequently happens that Vessels entering into these Bays are irregularly and illegally boarded by Fishing Boats, which practice, if it should take place under present circumstances might endanger the safety of the good Inhabitants of this Colony; it is therefore hereby further directed and ordered, that the Fishing Boats, so long as the present Regulations shall be in force, shall confine themselves to fishing within the Bays only, and by no means proceed either to Robben Island, or beyond it; such Fishing Boats, or other Shore Boats, shall likewise be hauled up at night at the Rogge Bay, if belonging to this Harbour, or at the usual place of security, if belonging to Simon's Town; Boats of a larger description are to be moored every night opposite to the Port Offices, and not to unmoor until after the firing of the Morning Gun. With respect to the several Bays on the Coast, viz. Algoa Bay, Plettenberg's Bay, Mossel Bay, and the Harbour of the Knysna, the respective Government Residents at the three former, are hereby required, to take the strictest precautions for preventing any communication whatsoever, between any Vessels which may arrive in the said Bays, from the Eastward, and the Shore; should any such Vessels put into the said Bays, in want of Water, such Water is to be supplied under the usual and strictest precautions, and the Vessel warned to put to Sea as soon as possible. The respective Landdrosts of the several Districts bordering on the Coast, are likewise hereby directed, to give notice to the Field Cornets of the Coast Divisions, not to admit any communication with Vessels which may chance to come to anchor on any part of the Coast; while the Pilot at the Knysna is positively ordered, not to conduct or admit any Vessel from the East into that Harbour. And it is hereby made known, that, according to the general Law of all Civilized Nations, any infringement of the necessary Quarantine Regulations, renders the Offender liable to the punishment of Death, without any form of Trial. And in order to give the utmost publicity to this Proclamation, it is hereby ordered, that a Copy thereof shall be furnished to every Vessel coming into any of the Bays or Harbours of this Settlement, and that the Proclamation itself, shall be made known, published, and affixed, in the usual manner. God save the King! Given under my Hand and Seal, at the Cape of Good Hope, this 1st day of February 1820. Letter from SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN to EARL BATHURST. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN, February 4th 1820. MY LORD,-I have the honor of acquainting Your Lordship that I have this day caused to be shipped on board the Loyal Briton, Transport, Robert Plunket Master, fifty aums of Constantia Wine, directed to Your Lordship and marked from No. 1 to 50. I enclose the Master's receipt for the same, and have the honor to be, Letter from MAJOR W. C. HOLLOWAY to SIR RUFANE ROYAL ENGINEER OFFICE, SIR,- I have the honor to transmit, agreeably to your Excellency's commands, an Estimate of the probable expense of building by military working parties at Graham's Town, Barracks to contain 400 men, together with the complement of Officers, &ca, and the |