Chap. I. 



A N 



ACCURATE DESCRIPTION 



O F 



AMERICA- 



CHAP. L 



America, unknown to the aAntients. 



— TT~ ._iT 



HE Sea, that takes feveral Denominations from the 

 Countreys which it wafheth, and furrounding the dry' 

 Land , cuts out , and fhapes fo many winding Bays, 

 Creeks, and Meandring In-lets, feems no where fo 

 much confiivd and penn'd into fo narrow a Channel, 

 as the Straights of Magellan : From whence again, 

 foon expatiating , it fpreads it felf into two immenfe, 

 and airnoft boundlefs Oceans, that which opens to the 

 North, gives terminarie^ to the four Regions of the 

 Earth ; that to the South, onely to Afia and Jmerica ; both which, indeed, ate 

 but one continued Sea, extending it felf round the Univerfal Globe. 



This watry part of the World, that almoft through all Ages lay Fallow, hath 

 in theft later times been Furrow'd by feveral Expert and Stout Captains, who 

 now by tt^jr Art and InduftTy, have given a good Account of, and made clear 

 Difcoveries from Eaft to Weft, where-ever the Sun rifes or fets. 



The Northern BdurvJs under the Artick-Zone , have been hitherto fo ob- 

 ftruded with Ice, that the undertakings of fuch as adventur'd either to find 

 by the North*Eaft or North- Weft a PaiTage to India, have been utterly 

 fruftrate. Of the Southern, no fuch pains hath as yet been taken in the Difco- 

 very , fq, that for the moft part it is yet unknown how far the Water, either 

 . deep or (hallow, overfpreads the Earth, onely thus much Experience hath made 

 out, that the Jntartick needs lefler Line to Fathom, than the Mick-Ocean. 



The antient Greeks, Pbenicians^nd %omans,ot whofoever that were Renoyvn d 

 by Antiquity, and Lifted in the number of their famous Navigators , were no 

 lefs Timerous than Ignorant concerning Maritim Affairs , and are noc fit to 

 ftand in the leaft degree of competition with our later Voyagers. 



B Of 



Defcriptioh of th* Ocean. 



The Ancients had little 

 knowledge iu Navigation. 



