I 
i8o TRAVELS IN 
arrives under incurable disease. I think I have heard that 
not more than three out of five are calculated upon as able 
to enter the lists on their arrival in India ; and that of those 
who may chance to arrive in tolerable health, a great pro- 
portion may be expected to die in the seasoning, from the 
debilitating effects of a hot climate. India is, perhaps, the 
worst place in the whole world for forming an European 
recruit into a soldier. Unable to bear the fatigue of being 
exercised, his spirits are moreover depressed by observing 
how little exertion men of the sanie rank and condition as 
himself are accustomed to make. It cannot, therefore, be 
denied that, as long as it shall be found necessary to recruit 
our large armies in India with European troops, it would 
be a most desirable object to be in possession of some 
middle station to break the length of the sea-voyage ; a sta- 
tion which at the same time enjoys a middle temperature 
of climate, between the extremes of heat and cold, to season 
the body and adapt it to sustain an increased quantity of the 
one or the other. 
The Cape of Good Hope eminently, points out such a 
station. Its geographical position on the globe is so com- 
manding a feature, that the bare inspection of a map, with- 
out any other information, must at once obtrude its im- 
portance and value in this respect. Its distance from the 
coast of Brazil is the voyage of a month ; from the Dutch 
colonies of Surinam, Demarara, Beibice, and Essiquebo, 
with the West India islands, six weeks ; the same to the Red 
Sea ; and two months to the coasts of Malabar and Coro- 
mandel. With the east apd the west coasts of Africa and 
