Page:A Dissuasion from the Slave Trade.djvu/47

tion a few observations which Mr. Postlethwayt makes upon the great qualities which this country abound with. "Its situation for commerce is certainly beyond any of the other quarters of the world, for it stands in the center between the other three, and has thereby a much nearer communication with Europe, Asia, and America, than any other quarter has with the rest. It is wonderfully accommodated for commerce by the interposion of islands, and more particularly by the assistance of the trade winds, which render the navigation safe, easy, and constant. It is furnished with the greatest and most convenient navigable rivers, and perhaps with as many of them as any other of the chief parts of the world: Such are the Nile, Nubia, Niger, Natal, which are rivers of the first magnitude; besides these there are innumerable others, though not equal to the former, are yet very excellent streams, situated for navigation and commerce, and which by their noble courses penetrate far inland; if the Europeans, &c. would cultivate a human and Christian like commerce with the Africans, they might through these rivers become the medium of an endless beneficial commerce. The country is populous beyond credibi-lity