STUDY V. fiSi 



fible, which will ever diflinguifh them to advan- 

 tage, notvvithftanding their fimplicity, from the 

 learned defcriptions which have been given of 

 them in modern times. 



To the influence of thefe firft afpedls, I afcribe 

 the ftiperior talents of the earliefl Writers who have 

 painted Nature, and the fublimeenthufiafm which 

 a Homer and an Orpheus have transfufed into 

 their poëfy. Among the Moderns, the Hiftorian 

 9>( Jnjons expedition. Cook, Banks, Solander, and 

 fome others, have defcribed feveral of thefe natural 

 iites, in the iflands of Tinian, Maffo, Juan Fer- 

 nandisz, and Taïti, which have delighted all per^ 

 fons of real taftc, though thefe iflands had been, in 

 part, degraded by the Indians and Spaniards. 



I have feen only countries frequented by Euro- 

 peans, and defolated by war, or by flavery ? but I 

 fhall ever recolle<ft with pleafure two of thefe fîtes, 

 the one on this fide the Tropic of Capricorn ; the 

 other beyond the fixtieth degree of North Lati- 

 tude. Notwithftanding my inability, I am going 

 to attempt a fkctch of thefe, in order to convey, 

 as well I can, an idea of the manner in which Na- 

 ture difpofes her plans in Climates fo very oppofite. 



The firft was a part, then uninhabited, of the 

 Ifle of France, of fourteen leagues extent, which 



appeared 



