268 TRAVELS IN 
much more than sufficient to maintain tlie whole establish- 
ment of the Cape for a twelvemonth ; and, in all probabilit}', 
more than the profits might amount to of the cargoes so con- 
voyed. Saint Helena, besides, is not adequate to furnish 
any supplies for such a convoy. With the greatest exertions 
a few refreshments are raised for the use of the island, and 
the surplus is disposed of at a most extravagant rate to the- 
shipping of the East India Company. They have fev; horned 
cattle, and not one of these can there be killed v/ithout the 
consent of the Governor. Yet this is the only place we now 
have left where a convoy can be assembled ; a fixed point, 
•where it is exactly known to all the world at what periods, 
within a month, the several convoys will be collected. How 
incalculable then were the advantages of possessing a middle 
point between India and Europe, where every necessary re^ 
freshment might be had in the greatest abundance ; and 
which, instead of being a point of danger and annoyance as 
it now is, was the bulwark of security to our Indian trade and 
possessions. 
Those who may feel inclined to console themselves for the 
loss of the Cape, by reflecting that nothing of serious moment 
happened to our Indian fleets and possessions during the 
American war, should recollect the great change of circum- 
stances that has taken place since that event. Holland, at 
that time, though an impoverished and declining nation, was 
independent on France, and had her own possessions in India 
to protect ; and France, though equally then, as now, zealous 
to accomplish the ruin of our wealth and power in India, 
which she had long in vain endeavoured to emulate, had huX 
