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254 TRAVELS IN 
value of three hundred thousand pounds ; a sum of money 
equal to the maintenanee of the civil, military, and contin- 
gent expences of the Cape, for a whole year. 
Had the Cape, at this time, been in the hands of the 
Dutch, the fate of the Countess of Sutherland must have 
been inevitable. In war she would have been taken ; and in 
peace she would have been suffered to go on shore ; for the 
Dutch possess neither the activity nor the willingness to give 
speedy assistance to ships in cases of distress. This unfor- 
tunate ship has since been captured, and carried into the Isle 
of France ; and the loss of the Prince of Wales, in attempting 
to beat round the Cape in the winter season, may wholly be 
attributed to the circumstance of this colony being in the 
possession of an enemy. The value of these two ships would 
have maintained the garrison for two years. 
There is no place, in the homeward-bound voyage from 
India, so proper or so convenient for the valuable fleets of the 
East India Company to assemble at for convoy, in time of 
war, as the Cape of Good Hope. Here, at a very reasonable 
rate, their crews might be refreshed with fruits, vegetables, and 
fresh provisions. Salt beef, for the rest of the voyage, might 
here also be laid in, affording, thus, a considerable increase 
of tonnage in each ship for stowing goods, by her taking in 
only three instead of six months' provisions. 
If, in the second place, we consider the Cape as a naval 
station, commanding the entrance into the Indian Seas, its 
importance, in this respect, will be no less obvious. A small 
