Excerpt from History of the United States: From Their First Settlement as Colonies, to the Close of the Campaign of 1814 Exalted ideas of the wealth of the East Indies were then entertained by Europeans; and it was the darling object of all engaged in commerce to find a less expensive route to that country than the one by land then pursued. The information obtained in' these expeditions, and in one by land to Abyssinia and the coast of Malabar, gave rise to the hope that India might be reached by sailing first along the western coast of Africa, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and then sailing northward to the region of riches. This voyage, now so easily accomplished, was then only contemplated as a possible achievement, difficult, if possible, and sure to crown him who should first perform it with never-ending fame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.