PREFACE. Xtll 



nothing seems to have been more carefully considered 

 by the authors, than the commercial history of these 

 countries. We find here, not only the principal 

 commodities of every province distinctly enume- 

 rated ; but we are also informed of the particular 

 places where they grow, their different qualities and 

 degrees in value, the method of collecting and 

 curing most part of them, the manufactures of 

 cotton, wool, and other materials, the produce of 

 their mines and different kinds of metal, their pot- 

 teries, and whatever else is the object of industry 

 and skill: The manner of conveying them from 

 one province to another, the great roads, the inland 

 and coasting navigation, their commerce with Spain, 

 their contraband trade, the manner of introducing, 

 and the great consumption, of European commo** 

 dities and manufactures, the advantages and dis- 

 advantages attending their present regulations, ths 

 discoveries that are yet to be made, and the im- 

 provements which may still take place in the ma- 

 nagement of affairs in those countries : The singular 

 inventions of the natives for passing great rivers, 

 transporting their goods by the help of vessels of 

 their own construction, their adroitness in some re- 

 spects, and their stupidity in others. — From the due 

 consideration of this part of the work, the reader 

 will perceive, that in many things we have been im* 

 posed upon, in former accounts ; and that other things, 

 in a long course of years, are very much changed from 

 what they were. But instead of old errors, we shall 

 find many new truths, and some established from 

 example and experience, that are of too great con- 

 sequence not to be frequently remembered, and 

 perfectly understood : Such as, that countries are 

 not the better, and, which is still stranger, are not 

 the richer, for producing immense quantities of 

 gold and silver; since this prevents their being cul- 

 tivated, 



