Ch. r. SOUTH AMERICA. 3 



which they were found immerfed. At lenirih the happy 

 sera arrived, when indnftry, affifted by refohition, 

 was to remove all the difficulties exaggerated by ig- 

 norance. This is the epocha which diiringDiilied the 

 reign, in many other reípeóis fo glorious, of Ferdmand 

 of Arragon, and Ifabella of Cafiile. Reafon and ex- 

 perience at once exploded all the ideas of rafhncis and 

 ridicule vvhich had hitherto prevailed. !t teems as if 

 Providence permitted the refufal of other nations, to 

 augment the glory of our own ; and to reward the 

 zeal of our tbvereigns, who countenanced this import- 

 ant enterprife; the prudence of their fubjeéts in the 

 conduót of it, and the religious end propofed by both. 

 I mentioned accident orrencdtion, being not yet con- 

 vinced, whether the confidence with which Chriftopher 

 Columbus maintained, that weñward there were lands 

 unditcovered, was the rcfult of his knowledge in cof- 

 mography and experience in .navigation, or whether it 

 was founded on the information of a pilot, who had 

 adlually difcovered them, having been driven on the 

 coafts by fírefs of weather ; and who, in return fq^r 

 the kind reception he had met with at Columbus's 

 houfe, delivered to him, in his lalt momentSj the pa- 

 pers and charts relating to them. 



The prodigious magnitude of this continent ; the 

 multitude and extent of its provinces; the variety of 

 its climates, products, and curious particulars ; and, 

 lafily, the diÜanee and diiiirniUy of one part communi- 

 cating with another, and efpccially with Europe, have 

 been thecaule, that America, though dilcovered and 

 inhabited in its principal parts by Europeans, is but 

 imperfectly known by them ; and at the fame time 

 kept them totally ignorant of many things, which would 

 greatly contribute to give a more perfeál: idea of fo con- 

 ñderable a part of our globe. But though invelliga- 

 tions of this kind are worthy the attention of a great 

 prince, and the ííudies of the moft piercing genius 

 amonff his fubjeCls ; yet this was not the principal 



B 2 intention 



