S40 : ^ TRAVELS IN 
who, of late, by their carrying- trade alone, have worked them- 
felves into the greateft portion, next to England, of the India 
and China trade, notwithftanding the favourable fituation of 
their country to an extended commerce with India, they would 
find it extremely inconvenient to be obliged to relinquifh th« 
accommodation of refrefhing their crews, and difpofmg of part 
of their cargoes, at the Cape of Good Hope; from whence, in- 
deed, in cafe of any rupture, iheir trade might, at any time, be 
completely checked, a circumftance which would operate as a 
fecurity for the prefervation of amity and a good underftanding 
with that commercial nation. Had we, indeed, been fortunate 
enough to have retained this fettlement, there is every reafon to 
believe the indulgencies granted to their trade here might have 
been an important confideration with them, in the renewal of a 
commercial treaty with England. 
After what has been ftated with regard to the healthinefs of 
the climate, exemplified in the fmall degree of mortality among 
the troops, and in the vigour and ftability that their confl:itu- 
itions acquired, it is fcarcely neceffary to add that the fame 
falutary effe<3:s equally prevailed in the navy on this ftation. 
The mortality, indeed, among the feamen, was ftill lefs, pro- 
bably on account of their being lefs expofed to the fummer 
heats, and to their having fewer opportunities of committing 
irregularities. There was generally a difference of fix or eight 
degrees in the temperature of the bay and the town. When 
the thermometer, for inftance, in Cape Town was at 84°, it flood 
^0 higher than 76° on board the ihips in Table Bay. 
The 
