DEDICATIOISL 
wbat I h^Nt feen.^ and from what I have Icanu 
of the natives and the colonifts ; but it is to 
be fuppofed that both the Engli& andFrench 
plenipotentiaries have been very properly , 
inftrucled on this important fubjeft, aitho' 
they never vifited the countries, for the 
pofleffion of which they were contending. 
The people of England formerly confider- 
ed the Cape as a half-way houfe to their fet- 
tlements in the Eaft-Indies, and appreciated 
its value in proportion to the accommoda- 
tion which was given to their Ihipping ; but 
at prefent they are better informed, and 
BOY/ underfland, that, although the poffef- 
lion of that fettlement muft be of confidera- 
ble benefit to their Afiatic commerce, as a 
place of refrelliment and fupply, ftill, this 
advantage bears no proportion to thofe 
w^hich may be derived from the cultivation 
of the interior. I am perfectly convinced 
they are right in this opinion ; but it is not 
improbable, they are as yet unacquainted 
with the full extent of the benefits that may 
be derived from the fettlement of thefe 
countries. If on the map a direft line be 
dravvai from Cape Agulhas^ which is the 
fouthern extreme of Africa, about N. N. E. 
as far as 25 degrees South, which takes in 
Dekgca bay on the Eaft coaft, and that part 
of the Weft which is but little frequented, 
it will be perceived that a furface of territo- 
ry may be acquired of a prodigious extent, 
and coaiprehending countries on which na- 
