AMERICA. 23? 



and denominated the West Indies, in contradistinction to the countries 

 ana islands of Asia beyond the Cape of Good Hope, which are called 

 ;he East Indies. 



A country of such vast extent on each side of the equator must 

 necessarily have a variety of soils as well as climates. It is a trea- 

 sury of nature, producing most of the metals, minerals, plants, fruits, 

 trees, and wood, to be met with in the other parts of the world, and 

 many of them in greater quantities and higher perfection. The gold 

 and silver of America have supplied Europe with such immense 

 quantities of those valuable metals, that they are become vastly more 

 common ; so that the gold and silver of Europe now bear little pro- 

 portion to the high price set upon them before the discovery of 

 America. 



This country also produces diamonds, pearls, emeralds, amethysts, 

 and other valuable stones, which, by being brought into Europe, have 

 contributed likewise to lower their value. To these, which are chiefly 

 the production of Spanish America, may be added a great number of 

 other commodities, which, though of less price, are of much greater 

 use. Of these are the plentiful supplies of cochineal, indigo, anatto, 

 logwood, brasil, fustic, pimento, lignumvitae, rice, ginger, cocoa, or 

 the chocolate nut; sugar, cotton, tobacco, banillas, redwood, the bal- 

 sams of Tolu, Peru, and Chili, that valuable article in medicine the 

 Jesuits' bark, mechoacan, sassafras, sarsaparilla, eassia, tamarinds, 

 hides, furs, ambergris, and a great variety of woods, roots, and 

 plants, to which, before the discovery of America, Europeans were 

 either entire strangers, or forced to buy at an extravagant rate from 

 Asia and Africa, through the hands of the Venetians and Genoese, 

 who then engrossed the trade of the eastern world. 



This continent has also a variety of excellent fruits, which here 

 grow wild to great perfection ; as pine-apples, pomegranates, citrons, 

 lemons, oranges, malicatons, cherries, pears, apples, figs, grapes; 

 great numbers of culinary, medicinal, and other herbs, roots, and 

 plants ; and so fertile is the soil, that many exotic productions are 

 nourished in as great perfection as in their native ground. 



Though the Indians still live in quiet possession of many large 

 tracts, America is chiefly divided between the United States and 

 three European nations; the Spanish, English, and Portuguese. The 

 Spaniards, as they first discovered it, have the largest and richest 

 portions, extending from New Mexico and Louisiana, in North Ame- 

 rica, to the straits of Magellan, in the South Sea, excepting the large 

 province of Brasil, which belongs to Portugal ; for, though the 

 French and Dutch have some forts upon Surrinam and Guiana, they 

 scarcely deserve to be considered as proprietors of any part of the 

 southern continent. 



Next to Spain, the most considerable proprietor of America was 

 Great Britain, who derived her claim to North America from the 

 first discovery of that continent by Sebastian Cabot, in the name of 

 Henry VII, anno 1'497, about six years after the discovery of South 

 America by Columbus, in the name of the king of Spain. This coun- 

 try was generally called Newfoundland, a name which is now appro- 

 priated solely to an island upon its coast. It was a long time before 

 any attempt was made to settle in this country. Sir Walter Raleigh, an 

 uncommon genius, and a brave commander, first showed the way, by 

 planting a colony in the southern part, which he called Virginia, in 

 honour of his mistress, queen Elizabeth. 



