4% The V O Y 
States General to have relieved them from the Hardfhips 
to which the Pride and Avarice of the Eafi India Company 
had fubjefted them. The Proprietors of the Unity , and 
the Horn , finding, that, notwithftanding they had carried 
their Point in refpeft to the Difcovery of a new Paffage to 
the Eafi Indies to the South of the Streights of Magellan, 
they had loft their Ships and Cargoes, and, confequently, 
all the immediate Benefit they expedited from it, deter- 
mined, however, to follow the dying Advice of Jaques le 
Maire , and to publifh an Account of the Difcovery as foon 
as it was pofiible. In order to this, they caufed the 
Journals of le Maire and Clawfon to be tranfcribed, exa- 
mined, and compared ; and then, drawing out of them fuch 
Points as feemed in any Degree obfcure, they recom- 
mended them to the View of the Mailers, and other Officers 
of the Unity , for Explanation : And, having thus procured 
an authentic Relation of this mod memorable Expedition, 
they pubiifhed it the very next Year in Hutch , that every 
body in their own Country might read it. In the Year 
1619. an Englijh Tranflation of it appeared, which was 
dedicated to Sir Thomas Smith , then Governor of the 
Englijh Eafi India Company •, in which Dedication, the 
Difcovery is particularly recommended to his Confider- 
ation, with a View to the Ufe that might be made of it 
in favour of our Commerce. But, notwithftanding the 
Author of this Dedication certainly meant well, it does 
not appear, that his Book was confidered in any other Light 
than as an hiftorical Account of new Difcoveries, whereas 
he certainly intended it for more important Purpofesl 
Within the Compafs of a few Years, it appeared in French , 
Italian , and Latin ; and the Fame of thefe Navigators 
fpread all over Europe, while the original Adventurers 
were contefting the Point of Confifcation with the Eafi 
India Company in Holland. The Accounts of this Voyage, 
hitherto pubiifhed" in our Colleftions, have been all of them 
very fhort and imperfect, efpecially as to the Defign of 
the Voyage, which we hope the Reader will here find 
throughly explained ; which Pains we have rather taken, 
becaufe, as we fnail prefently fhew, there never was a 
Voyage that deferved it better. Other Difcoveries, other 
Voyages to the Eafi Indies, may be read for Amufement, 
or hiftorical Inftruftion ; but this ffiould be regarded in 
another Light, fince it points out to us a kind of Navi- 
gation capable of prodigious Improvement, and to which, 
perhaps, no Nation has a better Title than ourfelves ; 
fince the South Sea Company feems to have been originally 
eftabliffied for the Profecution of thofe Difcoveries which in 
this Expedition were begun. 
27. There are few Voyages that deferve Remarks fo 
much as this of le Maire , and yet it is not the eafieft 
Matter in the World to make them. The Generality of 
Mankind imagine, that molt great Difcoveries are made 
by Chance, and that the ableft Seamen have been lefs 
indebted to Knowledge than to Fortune, for the Fame 
they have acquired by their finding out new Countries. But 
the elder le Maire , I mean Ifaac the Merchant, actually 
difcovered more in his Clofet, than his Son did in his 
Voyage, though, in point of Difcovery, it was farfuperior 
to any made in his Time. For the elder le Maire, from 
the Difpofition of Earth and Water in the other Parts of 
the Globe, imagined, that there could not be a Fourth 
Part Water in the Southern Hemifphere. In refpeft to 
the Streights of Magellan , he faw they lay but in the Tenth 
Climate, whereas a great Part of Europe, Afia, and Ame- 
rica, lay as far as the Twenty-fourth •, from whence he 
concluded, that there muft be a Continent to the South of 
thofe Streights which ftretched itfelf into a warmer Lati- 
tude, and made a very confiderable Part of the World, 
though hitherto undifcovered •, and this was the Foundation 
of his Project of finding out a new Paffage to unknown 
Countries. But the Reader may poffibly inquire, why, 
fiippofing there were fuch a Continent, it muft be con- 
cluded another Indies: And, to anfwer this Queftion, I 
muft ©Bferve, that the only way of gueffing rationally at 
the Prod lifts of unknown Countries, is by confidering the 
Climates in which they lie, and the Nature of thofe Coun- 
tries that are well known, and lie in the fame Climates. Le 
Maire very judicioufly conjeftured, that, if there was fuch 
a Southern Continent, the greateft Part of it muft lie be- 
AGES of Book 1 
tween Thirty and Thirty-fix Degrees of Latitude; and, 
as he knew, that the Coaft of Barbary, all Syria , the moft 
fruitful and pleafant Provinces of Ferfia, the belt Part of 
the Indies, all that was known of Japan , what had been 
hitherto difcovered ol California , New Mexico , and Florida , 
lay within the fame Degrees of Northern Latitude, and 
that the beft Part of Chili , and the Countries about the 
River of Plate , lay in the fame Southern Climate, he, 
with great Juftice and Probability, inferred, that, if fuch 
a Country could be difcovered, it muft be extremely rich 
and fruitful, abounding with all the Commodities that are 
moft fought, and beft efteemed, in Europe. When he 
communicated his Thoughts to Captain Schovtem, he not 
only concurred with him in Opinion, but furniffied him 
with many other Reafons in Support of it, drawn from 
Experience, and the Knowledge he had of theCountries al- 
ready difcovered in the Eafi Indies ; fo that, on the Whole, 
they were fully perfuaded, that, if they could bring their 
Projeft to bear^ Spices, Gold, and precious Stones, might 
certainly be brought from thefe Southern Indies. They 
reafoned, in this refpeft, on the very fame Principles that 
Columbus had laid down in Support of his firft Expedition ; 
and, therefore, there never was a Voyage undertaken upon 
wifer or better Grounds than this, as, perhaps too, there never 
was a V oyage executed with greater Ability or Succefs ; of 
which the eafy Difcovery of the Streights of le Maire , and 
the going quite round the World with the Lofs of Four 
Men only, and one of thefe killed by Grief, are the 
ftrongeft Inftances. It is, indeed, very true, that no fuch 
Continent was difcovered by this Voyage ; and yet, when we 
confider the Matter fairly and maturely, this will be found 
no fort of Proof againft the Truth of their Conjectures, 
but rather the contrary : For Schovten and le Maire did not 
purfue their Voyage as they intended, but ran nearer the 
line, fo as to make few or no Difcoveries, but between 
Ten and Twenty Degrees of South Latitude ; and the 
Countries they did difcover were chiefly Elands, but Ifiands 
rich, fruitful, well inhabited, and well provided with 
Canoes, and other Veffels, all certain and infallible Marks 
of fome adjacent Continent ; fo that, confidering this was 
the firft Voyage ever attempted from this Part of the. 
World through thofe Seas, inftead of wondering, that they- 
made fo fmall a Progrefs, we ought rather to be furprifed, 
that with a Angle Ship, and with fo fmall a Force, they 
were able to do fo much. After all, Columbus did no 
mere in his firft Voyage than difcover the Ifiands that lay 
off America , and therefore Schovten and le Maire, as 
they went on the fame Plan, may be truly faid to have 
met with as much Succefs. We cannot, therefore, but 
be fenfible, that the Cenfure paffed on this Difcovery by 
the Dutch Writer of Spilbergen s Voyage, which we have 
taken notice of before, was equally cruel and urjuft ; for 
whereas he objefted, that they had difcovered no Countries 
or People with whom any Trade could be carried on, but 
barely a new Streight, the Faft is falfe, and they really 
difcovered as much as could be reafonably expefted The. 
only Wonder is, that this Difcovery was not profecuted, 
and that a Nation fo famous for Induftry, and fo well 
turned for all commercial Improvements, as the Dutch, 
ffiould let flip fo favourable an Opportunity as this offered 
for extending their Trade, efpecially at a time when this 
feemed to be peculiarly cheriffied by the State. In order to 
folve this Difficulty, we need only refleft on the Hardfhips 
that were endured by the Perfons who undertook this 
Voyage, and the Loffes that were fu teamed by its Pro- 
prietors : Thefe were more than fufficient to deter private 
Men from running the Rifque of fuch another Expedition ; 
becaufe, befides all the Dangers infeparabie from fuch an 
Undertaking, there was this invincible Obftacle of the Eafi 
India Company’s exelufive Charter, which, whatever be- 
came of them at Sea, was fore to overturn them on Shore 5, 
and, as to any public Profecution of the Projeft, that too 
was fcarce to be expefted, fince the State rarely reaps any 
Profit from Expeditions that would make private Men 
rich. But our Bufinefs here lies chiefly with the prefer it 
Difcovery. It may be wondered, why the People in thefe 
Ifiands are called Negroes, fince it does not appear by fob- 
fequent Difcoveries, that there are any fuch in thofe Parts. 
All that I can fay in Anfwer to this is, that they are fo 
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