n8 AMERICA. Chap. I. 



bious Creature (for it is (aid to live very much on the Land,as well as in the Water) 

 there (licks out a crooked Tusk, winding downward like an Elephants <Probofcis, 

 above a Cubit in length, and as white and hard as Ivory : It is efteem'd of great 

 vertue, at lead it palTes for fuch among thofe who take it for other than what it is, 

 for it is frequently vended for Unicorns.horn j of which impofturc Dr. Brown takes 

 notice, and gives a Caution againft in his Vulgar Errors. 



This Countrey is fuppos'd, and that probably enough, to have (lore of Brafs and 

 Iron Mines- but for the Mines of Gold andSilver,which fomehave imagined therc > 

 the Northerly Situation of the Countrey, and by confequence the coldnefs of the 

 Climate, give fufficient caufe to queftion the truth of any fuch affertion. What 

 chief Towns, Cities, Rivers and Mountains there are in this Province, is not yet 

 deliver'd by any, onely Maginus and Quadut make mention of four principal Rivers, 

 which difperfe themfelves through the Countrey, and take their fource out of a 

 great Mountain in the midft thereof. 



Sect. III. 



Terra Laboratoris. 



situation, f B "^Erra Laboratoris, by fome call'd 2fyv* Britannia, by others Qorterealis, (though 

 there arc fome who make Laboratoris and Corterealis two diftinft Countreys, 

 ■ t comprehended, according to <Peter du Val, under NoVa Britannia, as the more 

 general Province j or, according to Guver'tut, under Canada) lies from about fifty 

 four to fifty feven Degrees of "Northern Latitude, between EJiotiland and the River 

 Canada, which Maginus and fome others, though fof what reafon is not exprefs'd, 

 name Fretum trium Fratrum, The Bay of the three Brethren ; others, The GJjver of 

 St. Laurence, and is, according to the (aid Author, of fo vaft a bignefs, that the 

 Mouth of it extends it felf thirty five Italian Miles wide ; likewifc of fuch a length, 

 as to have been navigated a continu'd Voyage of eight hundred Miles. The deno- 

 mination of Terra de Laborador, or Laboratoris, feems probably enough conjectur'd 

 to be from the cultivability (if one may fo term it) of the Soil, or its aptnefs for 

 Cultivation or Tillage ; that is, becaufe by the painful Hand of the Labourer or 

 Husband-man it may be rendred fo fertile, as to yield all forts of Grain and Fruits ; 

 haply in allufion to that fruitful Countrey of Qampania in Italy, vulgarly known by 

 the Name of Terradi Lavoro. As for the Appellation of Terra Qorterealis, it need not 

 be queftion'd, but that it derives it felf from Galpar Corterealis, a Vortuguefe Gentle* 

 man, who about the Year of our Lord i joo. is thought by fome to have made the 

 firft difcovery of thefe Parts 5 though Sir Sebaftian Cabot a Venetian, is more generally 

 believ'd to have been the Man that (under the favour and countenance of Henry 

 the Seventh, King of England) firft difcover'd them, at lead the adjoyning Ifland 

 Terra NoVa, or Tsfj^found Land ; but juft onely difcover'd, being hinder'd the far- 

 ther profecution of that Defign, by the important Affairs in which the faid King 

 was about that time involv'd . neither did Corterealis, whether he was the firft, or 

 came after, do any more, for returning within a year after his firft fctting out, he 

 was never heard of j nor, as Oforius a Tortuguefe Hiftorian writes, any of his Com- 

 pany, being all fuppos'd to have been drown'd by Shipwrack; and in like man- 

 ner Michael Qorterealis, who the year following fet forth with two Ships in queft of 

 his Brother Gafyar. Upon which feries of Misfortunes the Tortuguefe being wholly 

 jHfcourag'd, and giving over this Defign, the French of Jrmorica or Bretany fucceed 

 them in it with fome what better fuccefs about the Year 1504-whereupon it came to 



be 



