PREFACE. XV 



have alfo a very copious memorial, drawn from the pa- 

 pers of the marquis de la Maifon Forte, of the colony 

 of New England, which he had an opportunity of 

 framing while he remained a prifoner at Bofton. k 

 would have been the more fatisfadlory if we had had 

 the whole of his memoirs ; for there is great reafon to 

 judge, from this fpecimen, that he muft have made 

 much deeper refearches than he communicated to his 

 Spanifh friend, or at leaft than he judged expedient 

 to communicate to the world; otherwife it is very- 

 hard to conceive upon what he grounded his notion, 

 that in the fpace of a century the people of New 

 would be as numerous as thofe in Old England, 

 and in a condition to give law to all the nations in 

 North America. "V^e have befides fome very ienfibie 

 j*emarks upon the dod fifhery, and the advantages 

 arifmg from it, as well as our difputes with the French 

 in that part of the world. Thefe fpeculations, though 

 jiot always critically right, deferve our notice, and even 

 our {lrid:eft: attention. For, however we may be at 

 liberty to conduct our own affairs, we cannot limit the 

 humour, or controul the politics, of our neighbours 5 

 and therefore it is of great fervice, to be well acquaint- 

 ed with their notions. The great importance of this 

 fubjed: might have been, and certainly was, difcovered 

 Jong ago, by our politicians of the firft order ; but it 

 is now become apparent to all ranks of people, and, 

 if the exprefiion may be allowed, from being th(S pb- 

 je6t fometimes of difcufiions in the cabinet, is at pre- 

 lent become the topic of vulgar politicians. 



Besides thofe that have been already touched, there 

 are a great variety of curious, inftru£live, and pleafing 

 incidents, in this performance, that cannot fail of giv- 

 ing fatisfadion to the ingenious and intelligent reader, 

 Such as the difcuffing the caufes, why it never rains 

 naturally at Lima, or the country of Valles in Peru : 

 the inquiries into the frequency of volcanoes in Soutl^ 



America I 



