36 A. D. 1509. 



• agents or attorneys thither, or who may fend moneys for payments to be 

 ' made), all fuch fums of money as they are minded to fend, and to de- 



* liver to them fufficient letters (bills) of exchange to the faid parts, as 

 ' is cuftomary, making fuch agrements for the faid bills as confcience 

 ' and the various circumftances of diilance, and other hazards, require, 

 ' and to receive fuch fums out of the faid exchangings as are due to us, 

 ' he paying anually to us ^50 : 6 : 8, and no more.' [Foedera, V. xiii, 



p. 258.]^ 



We find frequent orders made by the crown againfl making ex ' 

 changes any where but at the faid royal office; yet the frequent repetition 

 of thefe orders fufficiently (IjOWs that they had been frequently evaded. 



Admiral James Columbus (fon of the great Chriftnpher) now fettled 

 and planted the ifland of Jamaica. The next year they fixed at Nombre 

 de Dios in Darien, the firfl plac^' .v^here th.y got permanent footing on 

 the continent. In 1511, they fettled on the great ifland of Cuba, and 

 in 151 2 they landed on Florida, In 1513, they crofTed the ifthmus of 

 Darien, near where Panama was afterward built, and now firfl difcov- 

 ered the great South fea. In 15 15, John Dias de Solis landed at Brafil, 

 and loaded his two fliips with Brafil wood for Spain. In 1516, the 

 Spaniards fettled at Panama, and with incre iible labour carried thither, 

 over land, from the bay of Darien, the timber, iron-work, and rigging 

 of two brigantines, which produced the fubfequent difcovery of Peru, 

 &c. In 1 5 17 and i>i8, the Spaniards difcovered, on the coafls of 

 Yucatan and Mexico, many ftrudures built with lime and fione ; and 

 it is laid that Montezuma king of Mexico, had ordered his officers to 

 treat the Spaniards kindly, who already began to trade with them for 

 gold, &c. All thefe matters, for the fpace of about ten years, we have 

 curforily thrown together, as being very little material to be enlarged 

 en; for as, in their many attempts to make new Settlements, they met 

 with various loffes from the native Indians (whom they often treated 

 cruelly), as alfo from florms, and the change of climates, fo, upon the 

 whole, it may be truely faid, that, until the year 15 19, when they maf- 

 tered the empire or kingdom of Mexico, and thereby gained an im- 

 menfe fun.d of treafure to old Spain, all their expeditions and fettle- 

 .nrents were rather promiling, than immediately profitable to Spain. 



It is well worthy of remark, how much England has improved in 

 gardening, fruits, roots, and pot-herbs, within the two lafl centuries. 

 In the former part of king Henry VIII's reign, it feems there were no 

 fort of what we ufually call fiiUads to be found in Engl. ad, nor any car- 

 rots, cabbages, turnips, or other fuch edible roots, bui thofe roots were 

 brought from Holland and Flanders. This we find in fundry autuors, 

 how much foever fome moderns may be furprized thereat. And [ac- 

 cording to the author of a laboured fcheme (printed at London anna 

 172^ iu 8vo,) for relief of the poor, and for paying old debts without 



