252 TRAVELS IN 
ing to suppose the importance of them, however great even 
in this point of view, might be considered as inadequate to 
counterbalance the expence of keeping up the necessary es- 
tablishment, although I have shewn that, under a prudent 
administration of the revenues, this expence would be re- 
duced to a mere trifle. The Directors, indeed, thought they 
had sufficiently proved, by the measures they adopted with 
regard to the Cape, that it was by no means necessary for 
their trade as a place of refreshment. The Directors, how- 
ever, were soon convinced of their mistake, having discovered 
that, although English seamen could bear the run between 
England and India, the native blacks, which they are under 
the necessity of employing in time of war, could not do it ; 
and it is to be apprehended they either have or soon will dis- 
cover, that unseasoned troops, sent directly from England, are 
no more able to bear an uninterrupted voyage, than the Las- 
cars. It will remain, therefore, for the Directors to find out 
some other place, in lieu of the Cape, now that they are ex- 
cluded from it, a circumstance which, indeed, their own con- 
duct seemed to invite. 
But, as I have aheady observed, all maritime afiairs are 
peculiarly liable to casualties, and, on this consideration, 
one would be led to conclude that a friendly port must al- 
ways be held as a valuable acquisition to all who are con- 
cerned in such affairs; and more esjjecially to the East India 
Company, whose concerns are of such vast magnitude. The 
number of ships that meet with stress of weather, and suffer 
from the tremendous storms that are freqvient in the winter 
