The tedious and perilous passage round Africa would soon be abandoned.

The merchant would no longer expose his cargoes to the mountainous billows and capricious gales of the Antarctic seas.

The greater part of the voyage from Europe to Darien, and the whole voyage from Darien to the richest kingdoms of Asia, would be a rapid yet easy gliding before the trade winds over blue and sparkling waters.

The voyage back across the Pacific would, in the latitude of Japan, be almost equally speedy and pleasant.

Time, labour, money, would be saved.