V O Y A G E S of Book I 
feafon $f th^ir fcorbutic Habit of Body, died not 'long 
alter, notwithstanding all the Care that could be taken of 
them. As focn as they had difengaged themfelves from 
the Enemy*, they retired, and carried the Sacks of Herbs 
they had gathered, on board their Ships ; where the Report 
they made of what had befallen them, affebted their Ship’s 
Company to fuch a Degree, that when a Motion was made 
for landing again, there was no body could be brought to 
bear the Thoughts of it; 
To this Ille, before the happening of this unlucky 
Accident, they Had given the Name of the Mand 
Recreation , on account of the Herbs and Sallading they 
found there. This Mand is fituated in the Height of i6° 
South Latitude, and in the Longitude of 285° : It is in 
Extent about twelve Leagues, the Soil extremely fertile* 
producing great Quantities of Trees, but more efpecially 
Palms, Cocoas, and Iron-wood ; the Batch thought they 
had Reafon to believe, that, in the Lleart of the Country, 
there were rich Mines, and other valuable Things •, but, 
as they were not at Liberty to make a very flribl Search, 
our Author fays he cannot pofitively affirm it. The 
Inhabitants were Men of a middle Size, robuft, abtive* 
and feemed to be very well exercifed in their fort of Dif- 
cipline * their Hair was long, black, and ffiining, owing 
principally to anointing it with Oil of Cocoas* which is prac- 
tifed by other Indian Nations. They were painted all over 
like the Natives of the Mand of Pafch. The Men cover 
the Middle of their Bodies with a kind of Net-work, which 
is drawn between their Legs, and tucked up behind. As 
for the Women* they were intirely covered with a kind of 
Mantle of their own Manufacture, which, to the Sight and 
Touch, had a near Refemblance to Silk * and they wear 
about their Necks and Wrifts, byway of Ornament, long 
Strings of Pearl. As the Anchorage was every-where bad, 
and the rocky Shore of this Mand fo exceffively fteep, as 
not to permit, from the Sea, any View of the inner Part 
of the Country, the Commodore thought proper to fail, 
without farther Lofs of Time, as knowing, that it was to 
Bo Purpofe for him to remain longer, fince the Men ab- 
folutely refufed to attempt going on fhore any m6re, be- 
caufe thofe who had been wounded in the late Skirmifh, 
were dropping off daily. 
15. The Commodore, before his Departure, thought 
fit to hold a Council of War, in which he communicated 
to his Officers the Contents of hislnftrubtions ; which were, 
that if, in the Latitude and Longitude they were now in, 
they could make no Difcovery of Importance, he fhould 
return Home. There were fome of the Council who were 
very much aftoniffied at this Order, and could not forbear 
telling the Commodore, that, being advanced fo far, and 
having met with fo great Encouragement, it would betray 
a great want of Spirit, if they did not proceed. To this 
he anfwered, that they had been already out ten Months * 
that they had ft ill a long Voyage to nfake to the Eaji In- 
dies •, that Proviffons began to grow very fhort * and, 
above all, that their Crew was already fo much diminifhed, 
and thofe who furvived in fo weak a Condition, that, if 
twenty more fhould die, or fall lick, there would not be 
enough left to navigate both Ships * not to mention other 
Reafons of equal Importance. 
The true Secret, however, fays my Author, of this fud- 
den Change, was the great Defire, that fome of the princi- 
pal Officers had to get to the Eaji Indies ; for they were 
afraid of miffing the Monfoon, in which cafe they muff 
have remained ftill fix Months longer in the South Seas. 
Thus, fays he, all our grand Defign was at once defeated 
and overturned, after our having taken fuch incredible Pains 
to lucceed, and after meeting with fo many Omens of Suc- 
cefs. Some Officers, however, oppofed this Motion to 
the very laft *, and, forefeeing the Mifchiefs that muff at- 
tend it, earneftly perfuacled the Commodore to attempt 
rather wintering in the Countries mentioned by Ferdinand 
de Quiros, from which, as they Ihewed him, they could 
not be above an hundred and fifty Leagues. But when they 
found he was inflexible, a new Difpute arofe about the 
Paffage home : Thofe who had the Good of the Voyage 
only at Heart, infilled peremptorily, that it was wrong to 
think of going by the Eaji Indies , fince it was directly 
contrary to the Defign of their Inflrubtions * that, by con- 
tinuing the frflt Courfe, they muff neceftarily fall in with 
fome Mand or other, where they might land, take in Re- 
frefhments, and Hay till their fick Men recovered: That, 
in this cafe, they ought firft of all to erebl a Fort for their 
own Security againft the Natives * in the next, to treat 
thofe People with all imaginable Gentlenefs and Candour* 
that, by this means, they fhould infallibly engage them to 
trade and cbiiverfe with them, which would enable them to 
learn their Language, and carry Home a clear, diflinbt, 
and full Account of the Country in which they had lived. 
They farther reprefented, that* if this Propofal was com- 
plied with, they fliould have it always in their Power to 
return Home, by fleering ah Eaft Courfe, and, by taking 
time, perfebt effeblually the Difcoveries they were fent to 
make. 
Thefe Reafcm§ Were heard with Patience and Civility,' 
though they had not the Weight that they deferved * and, 
on the Whole, a Refolution was taken to continue their 
Courfe towards New Britain and New Gurney , and thence 
by the Way of the Moluccas to the Eaji Indies , where 
they were in hopes of procuring not only a Supply of Pro- 
vifions, and other Neceffafies, but of Seamen alfo, in cafe 
they fhould be in fo weak a Condition, as not to be able to 
navigate their Ships back to Europe. By this Refolution, 
our Author fays, an End was put to all Hopes of tifiting 
the Land of de Quiros, which, it was the Opinion of the 
belt Seamen on board, they might certainly and eafily have 
difeovered. This Opinion of theirs was grounded upon 
three Reafons : Firft, that the Situation of this Country i& 
better laid down, than thofe of moft new-difeovered Coun- 
tries, which are not as yet thoroughly known.- Secondly,* 1 
that the Iftands they had hitherto met with, agreed* in every 
relpebt, as to their Situation, Inhabitants, and Produbt, 
with the Defcriptions in de ghiiros’s Memorials. And laftly* 
becaufe the Wind plainly blew off fome Continent, or ver/ 
large Mand, and would therefore have been extremely favour- 
able to their Defign, if they had thought fit to profecuteiL 
Our Author takes Occafion here to enter into a large Dif- 
courfe on the Certainty of fuch a Southern Continent, the 
Advantages that would probably refult from the Difcovery 
of it, and the Means moll likely to effebt that Difcovery* 1 
the Subfiance of which we fhall endeavour to give the 
Reader in as few Words as it is poffible. 
It is very certain, that the Difcovery of T erra Aujlralis 
incognita is confidered, by many wife and knowing Peo- 
ple, as a kind of Philofophers-flone, perpetual Motion, 1 
or, in plain Englijh , as a Chimera, fit only to take up the 
empty Brains of wild Projeblors. Yet this feems to be no 
fufficient Reafon, why fuch as are competent Judges of 
the Matter in Difpute, fliould decide, peremptorily, that 
there is no fuch Country 5 or, if there be, that, it is not worth 
the finding. Thefe fort of hafly Conclufions’are extremely 
fatal to Science in general, and to the Art of Navigation 
in particular. To fay the Truth, all Notions built upon 
Conjeblures only, however beautifully ranged in a Syflem, 
ferve only to puzzle and miflead People. The Difcovery 
of all Parts of the World feems to be, at once, the Bufi- 
nefs and the Glory of Man. It is the peculiar Privilege of 
our Species, that we can traverfe this Globe by Land and 
Water, and thereby become intelligent with refpebl to all 
the various Scenes of Wifdom, which the World’s 
Creator and ours has difplayed therein. This is fufficient 
to ffiew, that there cannot be any thing more noble, or 
more worthy of a great Mind, than the furveying, either 
in Theory or Prablice, the Difpofition of this terraque- 
ous Globe, the Harmony of its Parts, and their Relation 
to each other. Whoever employs any Part of his Time 
in this Way, will difeern that there is wanting to the Eye 
a Southern Continent, in order to give one Side of the 
Globe a Refemblance to the other. This is the firft Argu- 
ment, that there is fuch a Southern Continent the next is, 
that Experience confirms this Notion * the Fowls, the 
Winds, the Currents, the Ice, beyond Cape Horn , all 
confirm this Opinion, that there is Land towards the 
Southern Pole. We are to confider again, that tho’ we 
have numberlefs Voyages to the Eaji Indies , and a great 
many round the Globe, yet we have few, very few, thro’ 
that Ocean, in which this Continent is fuppofed to lie * and 
thefe Voyages, ferve all, in fome meafure, to confirm this 
Opinion ; 
