Opinion •, becaufe* in, every one of thefe Voyages, foine 
Land or other was difeovered, either Continent or Ifland. 
Now it is certain, that Hands, great ahd foiall, are feldom* 
if ever, at a very great Pittance from a Cdntihent * and 
therefore* where there are many Iflands, it is at leaft a Very 
probable Sign, that there is fome Continent not far from 
them. Thus much as to the Certainty of the Thing, that 
there really is fuch a Country; 
With regard to the next Point, Whether it is worth the 
Difcdvery ? this requires a much more ample Inquiry. 
It is obvious* in the firft Place, that the Difcovery of all 
new Lands has a natural Tendency to the Increafe of Com- 
merce * of which we have an Inftance in the Whale- 
fifhery on the Coaft of Greenland , and the Trade carried 
on in Hudfon’s Bay * but, with refped to the Lands we are 
now fpeaking of, we have as much Certainty as the Nature 
of the Thing will admit, that they are really as rich and 
plentiful, as any Countries on the Face of the Globe, with- 
out Exception. We have already proved, that the fifth 
Climate is, according to the Laws of Nature, the moil 
fertile* as well as the moft wholfome ; and it mutt on all 
Hands be allowed, that a great Part of the Terra Jujlralis 
lies under that Climate. Ferdinand de Fhtiros, in his Me- 
morials, calls it a fourth Part of the Globe, and with good 
Reafon * for* from the Weftern Point of New Guiney, to 
the Eaftern Extremity of the Country difeovered by Her- 
nando Gallego, there is a Space of 2000 Leagues, a great 
Part of which has been, and the reft may be, certainly dif- 
eovered; But, of all Proofs that can be offered in fuch a 
Cafe, thofe are certainly the moft convincing, that are 
taken from Fads. Now de Fluiros, and Torres , who ac- 
tually vifited thofe Hands, which, by their firft Difcoverer 
j dlonfo Savederd, were called the Hands of Solomon , not 
Only report, that the Country is beautiful in Profped, and 
exceedingly fertile in its Produce, but that it abounds alfo 
with every thing that has hitherto been accounted Riches, 
fuch as Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, and Spices. 
It is true* that they acknowledged they vifited only the 
Coafts * but this rather fortifies than lefieiis their Teftimony * 
fof though the Coafts are ofteh die moft pleafant, yet they 
are feldom the richeft Part of a Country. It is owing to 
Accident, and the Curiofity of fuch as report thefe Things, 
that we have ever heard of thefe Countries ; and it is 
chiefly the Effect of the Impatience of Difcoverers, that 
we are not better acquainted with them. A Man cannot 
be expected to deferibe a Country he has only gallopped 
through 5 and it is the fame Thing With regard to Difco- 
verers* who pretend to give diftindt Accounts of Coun- 
tries, without vifiting any Part of them but their Ports : 
Yet fuch People may have Leave to fay, that they have 
feen, and later Experience feems to confirm, the Relations 
of de Fluiros and Torres , with this Difference only, that 
they remained longer on fhore, and were confequently more 
capable of entering into Particulars; 
All who have vifited thefe Southern Countries agree, 
that there are in them three different forts of Inhabitants, 
viz. the Olive-coloured, the Black, and the White. 
William Schovten obferves* as a kind of Prodigy, that, 
amongft a great Number of Blacks, he faw one perfectly 
white Man; The Spanilh Hiftorian Herrera tells us* that, 
on the Eaftern Point of New Guiney , and efpecially about 
Madre de Deo, the Inhabitants are all white, though that 
Country received its Name from its Inhabitants appearing 
to be Negroes. Our Author confirms all this of his own 
Knowledge, and carries it ftill further * for he fays, he faw 
not only yellow, black, and white People, but a fourth Sort 
iikewife, who were red : He adds, that, having inquired 
of fuch as had lived fome time in New Guiney , about the 
white Men, which Herrera mentions, he found the Fadt 
to be true, though thefe People could give but a very in- 
different Account of them. In this* however, they all 
agreed, that thefe white People had very little Converfa- 
tion or Commerce with the Blacks : That they wore a 
different Drefs, refembiing that of the oriental Nations* 
wore long Beards* and had not either Idols or Ornartients 
in their Temples. They Iikewife allured him* that the 
Language of thefe white People differs greatly from the 
Languages fpoken by their Neighbours. In the Memo- 
rial of de Flair os it is laid, that the Inhabitants of the Hands 
....... _ . ' ‘ \ , 
he vifited werfe prone to Idolatry, which is very agree- 
able to the Account that has been given of the People ill 
Pafch Ifland, 
As to Government, de Fpeifos reports the People fie 
faw to have lived under a Republic, which agrees With the 
Situation of Things in that Ifland which has been jaft men- 
tioned : With refpedt, again, to Food and Provifions, de 
Flair os affirms, that he found, in thofe Countries he vifited* 
fuch Plenty of Cattle, Hogs, Goats, and Fowl, that the 
People had not only wherewith to live in Plenty themfelves* 
but were able, without diminiffiing that Plenty, tb fupply 
their Neighbours. Schovten affirms the fame Thing with 
refpeft to the Hands he faW, and fo do other Travellers * 
and our Author rightly obferves, that the Size; the Strength* 
and the Activity of the People they faw in the Ifland of 
Pafch, made it fufficiently evident, that they lived upon 
nouriffiing and fucctllent Food. De Fluiros informs us* 
that the Indians made a very fweet, folid, and nouriffiing 
Bread of three forts of Roots. It appears from this Voyage* 
that they met, in almoft all the Iflands they difeovered,. 
with different kinds of Roots* which ferved inftead of 
Bread* and were very pleafant ahd wholfome. Some of 
them, our Author fays, were very like Beet-roots * but 
whether it was of thefe Roots that the Inhabitants made 
their Bread, he does not pretend to fay : They had Iikewife 
Plenty of Potatoes, which were very good in their kind. 
As to Plants, Herbs, and Flowers, we find in de Fluiros' 
Memorial, that the Countries, in which he Was; abounded 
with them, as well as with Sugar-canes, which are indeed 
plenty in moft warm Countries, and of which there was 
fuch abundance in the Iflands vifited by our Author in this 
V oyage, that the People often brought the Dutch more 
than they wanted, or could tell what to do with, and there- 
fore they returned them ; and as to other Fruits of different 
forts, fome known* foiile unknown, but all excellent in 
their kind, the Plenty of them has been already mentioned 
more than once. 
Both our Author, and ill former Travellers, agree, that 
thefe Southern Indians are not only much pieafed with, 
but tolerably fkilled in, Mufic. Abel Tafman , whofe 
Difcoveries from the original Dutch lhall hereafter find a 
Place in this Work, heard an Horn founded among the 
Indians he converfed with * and Schovten lays; that, at an 
Entertainment made by two Indian Kings, at which he was 
prefent* there was a Perfon feiit for to play upon the Flute. 
Utenfils in their Houfes were* according to de Fluiros, 
moft of them made of Earth * and, as we have feen be- 
fore, bur Author found it lo Iikewife. De Fluiros abfo- 
lutely affirms, that they made ufe of Velfels, tolerably 
well built, for the Carrying on of Commerce between their 
Iflands, of the Truth of which our Author fays he was art 
Eye-witnefs * and Schovten in his Voyages confirms this* 
by telling us, that he took a Veffel with a confiderable 
Stock of live Provifions on board* which muft therefore 
have been intended for a Voyage of fome Length. Our 
Author not only maintains the Truth of this from his own 
Knowledge, but adds farther, that they examined the Sails 
of fome of thefe Velfels, and found them ds good as if 
they had been made in Holland * the Thread of them re- 
fembiing Hemp, and the Canvas furpaffihg, in all refpebts* 
any thing of that kind made in Java, or the Indies . We 
find, in de Fluiros " 1 s Manorial* an Account of a very fine 
Gulph, in the Latitude of 1 5% where Ships might anchor 
Very eommodioufly : He thought fit to call it Gotfe d& 
Philippe , where, according to him, Ships might anchor 
fafe from Winds, inafmuch as it ran twenty Leagties up 
into the Country. Hernando Gallego writes, that, in his 
Paffage from New Guiney to the Streights of Magellan , he 
was driven, by a Weft Wind, to a Country lying to the 
South, which he looked upon as cut off from the Conti- 
nent : This Very probably might be the Gulph mentioned 
by de Fluiros. Abel Tafman reports, that he found, in the 
Southern Continent, a large and fpacious Gulph, very 
commodious for Shipping ; William Schovten and Herrera 
make freqtient mention of Havens and Rivers in thefe 
Southern Countries * and Dumpier, as We fhall. ffiew elft- 
where* adually faw fome of thefe. If, therefore, we con- 
fider ail the Circumftances that haVe been mentioned, the 
Credit of the feveral Authors who report them, their ap» 
parent 
