z6d 7he V O Y A G E S of Book l 
As fodri as the Ships were brought to an Anchor, they 
hoifted out theft Shallops, in order to fend the Sick on 
fhore, as well as to look for Provifions and Refreffiments : 
And as foon as the Men landed, who were appointed to take 
a View of the Hand, and amongft whom the Author was 
One, they began to confider the propereft Method for col- 
lecting together what might be necelTary towards forming 
Cabins or Huts for the Ufe of the Sick : Accordingly 
they got together a great Quantity of Oat-ftraw, with 
which they thatched the Huts, that were foon run up with 
green Boughs. This may reafonabiy furprife the Reader, 
who probably might not expect to hear of Oats in an un- 
inhabited Ifland : And, indeed, the Author does not pre- 
tend to account for their coming there •, for he fays plainly, 
that it was a Doubt with him, whether they grew there of 
themfelves, or had, been fowed. He fpeaks likewife of 
Muftard-feed and Turneps, but complains that the latter 
were very bitter. In the Courfe of thefe Voyages, we 
have met with feveral Defcriptions of thefe Hands of Juan 
Fernandez •, and therefore we fhall difpenfe here with fome 
of the Butch Author’s Remarks •, but there are others of 
too great Importance to be flighted, efpecially when we 
confider the Defign with which they were made. Accord- 
ing, therefore, to this Writer, the larger Ifland of Juan 
Fernandez is one of the fineft and belt fituated Countries 
in the World ; the Climate equally pleafant and whol- 
fome ; the Air fo temperate and fweet, as to reftore Health 
to the Sick, and give a conftant Flow of Spirits to thofe 
that were well •, which the Author himfelf experienced by 
recovering here from a bad State of Health, and a Com- 
plication of Diftempers. The Hills are covered with tall 
Trees of different kinds, fit for all forts of Ufes ; and the 
Valleys are fo fruitful, as to produce, with a very little 
Cultivation, all the Neceffaries of Life. 
Here are abundance of little Rivers and Brooks, 
the Banks of which are covered with wholfome Plants ; 
and the Waters that run from the Mountains, though not 
in the lead difagreeable to the Take, are fo charged with 
mineral Particles, that they never corrupt. On the Eaft 
Side of the Bay there are three Mountains, the middlemoft 
of which refembles die Table at the Cape of Good Hope : 
Behind thefe, there are many other Mountains, that rife to 
a prodigious Height, and arq generally covered with a very 
thick Miff, efpecially in the Mornings and Evenings : 
Whence our Author conjectures, that thefe are mineral Ex- 
halations •, and that, in thefe Mountains, rich Mines might 
be found, which is an Oblervation that I have not met 
with before. He concludes his Defcription with this Re- 
mark ; that, in order to give a juft Idea of the Ifland to 
his Reader in a few Words, he cannot think of abetter Ex- 
pedient, than telling him, that the Country refembles, in 
all refpects, that about the Cape of Good Hope , where, 
every body knows, the Buich have one of the fineft Plan- 
tations in the World, and the greateft Plenty of all Euro- 
pean and Indian Fruits. He fpeaks much, as all our Eng- 
lish Writers do, of the vaft Plenty of wild Goats here ; 
but adds, that they were fo unable to catch them by hunt- 
ing, and fo much at a Lofs how to come at their Bodies 
when fhot, that, during the Time they flayed here, they 
fcarce talked them. But the Truth feems to be, that an 
unlucky Accident, which befel one of their Ship’s Stewards 
foon after their Arrival, frighted them from this fort of 
Sport for this Man, rambling towards Evening among 
the Mountains, pitched fuddenly from the Top of a Rock, 
and was found next Morning beat to-pieces. 
Our Author mentions not only Sea-lions and Seles, which 
are called Sea-calves, but Sca-cows alfo of an enormous 
Size, fome of them weighing, as he affures us, near a 
thoufand W eight •, and adds, that this Creature is well 
known in Guiney , where they not only eat the Flefh, as 
fweet and well-tafted Meat, but believe it alfo exceedingly 
wholfome. , The fame Notion prevails likewife among the 
Inhabitants of the Ifhhmus of Banen, who efteem this 
Food a kind of univerial Medicine. He mentions the 
Plenty and Excellency of the Fi.ffi on that Coaft with Ad- 
miration *, and informs us, that, during their fhort Stay 
there, they caught and cured many thoufand of them, 
which proved extraordinary good, and were extremely fer- 
viccable during the reft of their long Voyage. They took 
fo much Time alfo, as to examine very clofely the Spanijh 
Wreck before-mentioned, but to very little Purpofe •, for 
all that was any way valuable had been taken out of her 
as foon as fhe was call away. I cannot help interpofing 
an Obfervation here, the Truth of which will be obvious 
to every attentive Reader, viz. that our Author was mif- 
taken in thinkirig this a Spanijh Wreck •, fince, without 
Queftion, it was the Remains of the Speedwel , Captain 
Shelvocke loft here exactly a Year before : However, the 
Butchmen did not altogether lofe their Labour, fince fome 
of the Sailors, by diving, recovered feveral Pieces of Sil- 
ver Plate. 
The Butch Commodore, having attentively considered 
the advantageous Situation, and the many Conveniences 
this Ifland afforded, immediately conceived a Defign of 
fettling it, as the moft proper Place that could be thought 
of, for affording Shelter and Refrefhment to Ships bound, 
as he was, to Southern Lands : And he was encouraged 
particularly to perfevere in this Defign, from the Confii- 
deration of' the Hand’s Fertility, which, as our Author 
cbferves, allowed them no Reafon to doubt, that it would 
afford fufficient Subfiftence for 600 Families at leak : 
Llowever, this, like the Settlement of Belgia Aujlralis , 
was put off to their Return ; by which Accident it hap- 
pened, that neither of thefe Hands was fettled at all. It. 
mu ft be allowed, that both thefe Projects ol the Butch 
Commodore were every way wife and prudent, and fhewed 
how fit a Man he was to execute what his Father had de~ 
figned ; for, by the Help of thefe two Colonies, undoubt- 
edly the Southern Indies had been, by this time, effectu- 
ally difcovered. The former Settlement would have af- 
forded a proper Place for Ships to careen in, and refit, after 
fo long a V oyage as from Europe to the Streights of Ma - 
gellan *, and the latter would have furnifhed them with all 
imaginable Conveniences for repairing whatever Injuries 
they might have received by fo hazardous a Paffage as that 
round Cape Horn. I therefore venture to pronounce it the 
beft-laid Scheme for promoting Southern Difcoveries, 
that ever yet entered the Head of Man ; and I make no 
manner of Queftion, that whatever Nation fhall revive and 
profecute Mr. Roggcwein ’ s Plan, will become, in a few 
Years, Maker of as rich and profitable a Commerce, as the 
Spaniards have from their own Country to Mexico and 
Peru , or the Portuguefe to Brafil. 
1 o. As they were now ready to enter on the Difcoveries, 
the Hopes of which had brought them into thofe Seas, 
it was but natural for the Commodore, and his principal 
Officers, to lay before the Ship’s Company a Part of the 
Reafons, which induced them to believe their Pains and 
Labour would not be thrown away. Our Author has pre- 
ferved the Subftance of thofe Difcourfes, which are, beyond 
Queftion, the moft valuable Part of his Book, inafmuch as 
they diftinguifh between Wanderers or Adventurers, who 
know not what they feek, and fuch as have a real Title to 
the honourable Name of Difcoverers, as going in actual 
Search of what their prudent Forefight has fhewed them, 
might be found; and alfo plentifully reward their Trouble in 
finding. The main End propofed, in fuch States as fub- 
fift by Commerce, with regard to Difcoveries, is the find- 
ing fuch Countries as may take off their Commodities, and 
be in a Condition to furmffi them with what may be more 
valuable in Return. It is agreeable to Reafon, and juftified 
by Experience, that Countries exceffively cold are gene- 
rally barren •, and that thofe which are immoderately hot, 
are not the moft fruitful : It follows therefore, that the 
middle Climates are, by the Laws of Nature, the moft 
fruitful. In order to diftinguiffi thofe, we axe to remember, 
that, in the Height of 66° 30', the Days are twenty-four 
Hours long ; and confequently the middle Climate, which 
Geographers have diftinguifhed in their Tables for the fifth, 
will be found in the Height of :.8\ If this appears agree- 
able to Reafon, it feems to be put out of doubt, when wb 
join the Arguments derived from Experience ; for it muft 
be allowed, that fuch Provinces of Barbary , Perfm> Syria , 
Chaldea, and Indofian 7 as well as the Hands Candia, Cyprus , 
and Japan , which lie all in this Climate, that is to fay, 
from the thirtieth to. the thirty-fixth Degree of Latitude, 
are the richeft, pleafanteft, and moft fruitful Countries in 
the World. The fame thing is remarkable in the Country 
