246 TRAVELS IN 
health, whether the run be made at once, or the voyage be 
broken for the sake of obtaining refreshments at some inter- 
mediate port. This being the case, the former method is 
usually preferred, and much delay, as well as expence, is 
thereby avoided. 
Since, however, all maritime expeditions and transactions 
are, in a very peculiar degree, liable to accident and misfor- 
tune, it must always be considered as a desirable object to 
have some neighbouring port to resort to in case of urgent 
necessity. In the short voyage to the ports of the Levant and 
others in the Mediterranean, Malta, and a number of other 
islands, present themselves as places of refuge for ships in dis- 
tress. The bay of Madeira lies open to the outward bound 
ships in the West India trade, and the Western Islands, if 
necessary, may be approached on the return-voyage. And, 
although the Portugueze settlement of Rio de Janeiro in 
South America is not greatly out of the way of ships, in their 
outward-bound passage to the East Indies and China, nor the 
island of Saint Helena on their return, yet it cannot be denied 
that the Cape of Good Hope is infinitely preferable to both 
of these places, since it not only divides the passage more 
equally, but supplies, in general, better refreshments, and 
in greater plenty, and is alike convenient for shipping to 
touch at, whether in their outward or homeward-bound 
voyage. 
In the early periods of foreign navigation, the ships of 
every nation, trading to the East Indies, found it convenient 
to call at the Cape for water and fresh provisions, long before 
