144 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



thofe happy climates with the tears and blood of 

 tlie human race ? Ah ! had liberty and virtue col- 

 leded and united their firft planters, how many 

 charms would French induflry have added to the 

 natural fecundity of the foil, and to the happy 

 temperature of the tropical regions 1 



No fogs or excefiîve heats are there to be dread- 

 ed ; and though the Sun pâlies twice a year over 

 their Zenith, he every day brings with him, as he 

 rifes above the Horizon, along the furface of the 

 Sea, a cooling breeze, which all day long rcfrelhes 

 the mountains, the forefts, and the valleys. What 

 delicious retreats might our poor foldiers, andpof- 

 feffionlefs peafants, find, in thofe fortunate iflands I 

 What expenfe in garrifons might there have been 

 fpared ! What petty feigniories might there have 

 become the recompenfe either of gallant officers, 

 or of virtuous citizens ! What nurferies of excellent 

 fcamen might be formed by the turtle-fifhery, fo 

 abundant on the fliallows furrounding the iflands, 

 or by the ftill more extenfive and profitable cod- 

 fifliery of the banks of Newfoundland ! It would 

 not have coft Europe much more than the expenfe 

 of the fettlement of the firft families. With what 

 facility might they have been fucceffively extended 

 to the moft remote diftances, by forming them, 

 after the manner of the Caraïbs themfelves, one 

 after another, and at the expenfe of the commu- 

 nity ! 



