The Hiftory of 



Book II. 



peans, yet only To far as the profecution of our Defign requires^ 

 which having difpatch'd, we (hall defcend to a more large and 

 particular consideration of the Indians, the natural and origi- 

 nary Inhabitants of the Country j a tafk which requires a more 

 ample deduction, and a more exact and curious difquifition, 

 upon this prefumption, that there hath yet been very little 

 publiuYd upon that fubjecl:. 



The Spaniards, grounding their Title upon the Donation 

 of Pope Alexander the fixth, and fome other apparent Rea- 

 fons and Pretences, prefume that the right of Navigation into 

 the late dhcover'd parr of the World, which is call'd America, 

 and of eftabliftiing and fetling Colonies there, whether it be 

 in the Continent, or in any of the Iftands, properly belongs to 

 them, exclusively to all others. But not to urge that the vani- 

 ty of that arrogant prefumption is fufficiently difcover'd of it 

 felf, and that it would prove a great digreffion from the defign 

 of our Hiftory to engage our felves in a particular difquifition 

 of that Controverfie, we need only fay, that Bergeron, a learn- 

 ed and curious Authour, hath fo exactly handled this Qyeftion, 

 and fo cleerly (hewn the abfurdity of that chimerical pretence, 

 in his Treatife of Navigations, that it would be loft labour for 

 us to infift upon it, or to think of any thing new that can be 

 produc'd upon that account. Accordingly all Chriftian Kings 

 and Princes have always difputed thar pretended Right with 

 the King of Spain, as unanimoufly concluding that he had un- 

 juftly attributed the fame to himfelf : Nor have they engag'd 

 againft him only by words and writings, but have efFe&ual>ly 

 profecuted their own pretentions, and from time to time fent 

 Fleets into America to fetle Plantations there, and to take into 

 their pofleffion feveral parts of that new World 3 wherein the 

 mo ft fuccefsful have been the Englijh, the French^ and the 

 Dutch. 



But it is to be obferv'd, that of all the Colonies which thefe 

 three European Nations have planted in America, thofe that 

 fetled themfelves in the Caribby-Ijlands are of greateft account,, 

 and the moft frequented by Merchants, as being the moft ad- 

 vantageous upon the fcore of Trade. The Englijh and French^ 

 as may have been noted in the firft Book of this Hiftory, are 

 the moft confiderable in thofe parts, and have divided between 

 them the greateft, the richeft, and the moft populous of all 

 thofe Iflands. 



We may further affirm it as a thing generally known, that 

 thefe Nations have not in their feveral eftablifhments follow'd 

 the inhumane and barbarous maximes of the Spaniards, nor 

 after their example unmercifully exterminated the originary 

 Inhabitants of the Country 5 for if they found any of them in 

 actual pofleffion of the Lands where they liv'd, they have for 

 the moft part preferv'd them therein, and contracted alliances 



