SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
245 
the ufe of the fquadron which, we may prefume, is already there. 
Thefe three important ftations, all hoftile to us, form a triangle, 
within the boundary lines of which every fhip, bound to or 
from the Indies, muft neceffarily pafs; and the refpedlive pofi- 
iiSns of thefe three points are fo favourable for annoying our 
trade, that, were the fkill and adivity of the enemies who hold 
them commenfurate with our own, which, fortunately for us, 
they certainly are not, it would be almoft an hopelefs attempt 
for a fliip to efcape» 
It may be urged, perhaps, that the great extent which may 
be taken in crofling the equator from eighteen to twenty-fix 
degrees of longitude, leaving it to the difcretion of the com- 
manders of our Eafl: India Company's fhips to keep the Ame- 
rican fhore clofe on board, or to pafs it at a diftance ; and the 
equally great extent that may be chofen in doubling the Cape, 
from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fecond degree of latitude, 
would render the cruizing of the enemy fo precarious, that the 
odds of efcaping them are greatly in our favour. It is granted 
that it may be fo ; and I am, moreover, perfuaded that neither 
the French nor the Dutch would attempt to intercept our out- 
ward-bound fhips, for thefe two reafons ; firft, becaufe their va-* 
lue is fo much lefs oa the outward than on the homeward-bound 
paffage ; and fecondly, on account of the uncertainty of falling 
in with them, as well as in confideration of the violent ftorms 
their cruizers would be almoft fure to encounter off the Gape of 
Good Hope. 
But 
