264 TRAVELS IN 
been forced into 'hostility against us ; and the Isles of 
Fiance and Bourbon, deriving their usual supplies from the 
Cape, are enabled to send out their cruizing squadrons against 
our trade. These three important stations, all hostile to us, 
form a triangle, within the boundary lines of which every 
ship, bound to or from the Indies, must necessarily pass ; 
and the respective j)ositions of these three points are so fa- 
vorable for annoying our trade, that, were the skill and acti- 
vity of the enemies who hold them commensurate with our 
own, which, fortunately for us, they certainly are not, it would 
be almost an hopeless attempt for a ship to escape. 
It will be urged, perhaps, that the great extent which may 
be taken in crossing the equator from eighteen to twenty-six 
degrees of longitude, leaving it to the discretion of the com- 
manders of our East India Company's ships to keep the 
American shore close on board, or to pass it at a distance ; 
and the equally great extent that may be chosen in doubling 
the Cape, from the thirty-fourth to the forty-second degree of 
latitude, would render the cruizing of the enemy so pre- 
carious, that the odds of escaping them are greatly in our fa- 
vor. It is granted that it may be so ; and I am, moreover, 
persuaded that neither the French nor the Dutch would at- 
tempt to intercept our outward-bound ships, for these two 
reasons ; first, because their value is so mux3h less on the 
outward than on the homeward-bound passage ; and se- 
condly, on account of the uncertainty of falling in with 
them, as well as in consideration of the violent stonns their 
cruizers would be almost sure to encounter off the Cape of 
Good Hope. 
