s,oz The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book L 
Expedition of Eanno , that they contain much more to 
affright and terrify, than to allure and invite Men to un- 
dertake long Voyages, and endeavour great Difcoveries, 
which had this bad EffeCt, that it quite daftardized com- 
mon Minds, and rendered them incapable of being 
wrought into a Temper fit to go through the Hardships 
that muff be met with in fuch Undertakings. 
The third Difadvantage they laboured under was, the 
frequent Revolutions their own Countries were expofed 
to *, for this laid them under many and great Difficulties. 
They had this Method or that prefcribed to them by a 
fuperior Power, and they were to purfue fuch Plans only as 
were agreeable to the Government under which they lived, 
and thofe too no longer than they were agreeable. Ano- 
ther Inconvenience was, the Interpolation of the State on 
any Difcovery, or furmifed Difcovery. It was to be cul- 
tivated or negleCted at the Will of the Government, and 
not of the Adventurers, for the Spirit of Negotiation was 
not fo free as it is now *, but any Attempts out of the or- 
dinary Mode of Commerce gave Jealoufies to fuch as 
ought to have been belt pleafed with them. 
Thefe Difcouragements, at particular Times, and under 
particular Circumftances, interrupted feveral kinds of Com- 
merce, and kept the whole in fuch a Condition as hindered 
private Men from turning their Thoughts this Way ; for, 
otherwife, no doubt, they would have thought of fettling 
Colonies, and fecuring fome Footing in the Indies , in 
order to have examined the whole of it, and putting the 
Navigation of it into a certain and irreverfible Order ; fo 
that nothing which happened at home might have affeCted 
thofe Colonies : But after the Time of Alexander , or at 
leaft, of his immediate Succeffors, we find nothing of this 
fort thought of, but every Thing abandoned to Chance 
and the Humour of the Times. 
12. There were many Impediments befides thofe already 
mentioned, which hindered the Progrefs of Difcoveries 
among the Ancients, and fome of them of fuch a Nature 
as to be almoft invincible. Their Ships were built in fuch 
a Manner, as did not, by any means, render them fit 
for long Voyages ; for their Contrivance was fuch, that 
they could not bear a high Sea, or go fafely before the 
Wind at any great Rate. In the next place, their Ships 
wanted Room ; and though this feems to be contradicted 
by the Accounts we have of Veffels that carried feveral 
hundred Men, yet, when thefe come to be clofely exa- 
mined, they appear to be no other than a fort of Barges, 
or rather Gallies, fit for tranfporting Men acrofs an Arm 
of the Sea, or for fighting, where this could be done in a 
few Hours after they were on Board ; and this will be the 
more evident, if we refleCt on the Scenes of naval Combats 
mentioned in the Greek and Roman Hiftories. The Labour 
of working their Ships was likewife intolerable in a long 
Voyage •, and thefe Inconveniencies taken together, appeared 
Irt the Eyes of their Seamen fo dreadful, that they were 
more apt to mutiny, efpecially when employed in Difco- 
veries than can welf be imagined, fo that if it had not been 
for fome Accidents, and their being encouraged by the Ex- 
amples of the Arabians and Indians , it is fcarce credible, that 
they would have made fuch long Voyages as they really 
did. 
If it ffiould be inquired how the Arabians and Indians 
made fuch frequent Voyages in fpite of thefe Inconvenien- 
cies, the Anfwer is eafy, they made ufe of another fort of 
Veffels, which, though lefs ftout in Appearance, were 
much better Sailers *, nor would it be difficult to prove, 
even from the Accounts of Strabo and other ancient Wri- 
ters, that the Indians abtually made ufe in thofe Days of 
the Paraos or Proes, which before a Wind are allowed to 
be the beft failing Veffels in the World. The Ancients 
wanted likewife the Affiftance of Charts, which are fo effen- 
tially neceffary to Navigation ; for it appears plainly from the 
Voyages already inferted, and from the Accounts we have 
in Pliny , and in other Authors, that they were guided 
folely by a kind of Tables, containing the Names of Places 
on the Coaft, and their Diftances from each other ; neither 
had they any Ideas of failing in a different manner, becaufe 
they knew not how to regulate their Courfe in an open 
Sea, which forced them upon the Choice of that fort of 
Navigation which is now with Reafon held to be the moft 
dangerous, and in which they could make ufe of fuch Vef- 
fels only as had a final! Draught of Water ; and this was 
particularly inconvenient in the Navigation of which we are 
fpeaking, becaufe the Indian Coafts are very foul, and by 
failing near them they loft the Advantage of the Trade- 
Winds, which before the Invention of the Compafs, af- 
forded the only means of making long Voyages with 
Safety. 
It muft be owned that many of thefe FaCts have been 
difputed, and that too by very learned Men, who have en- 
deavoured to perfuade us, that the Ancients wanted very 
few of the Conveniencies poffeffed by modern Navigators, 
as will be largely fhewn in another Place ; but at prefent it 
may be fufficient to obferve, that moft of their Arguments 
are drawn from their own Explications of perplexed and 
obfcure Paffages in Hiftorians or Poets, whereas ours are 
grounded on the Scope of their general Pliftories, and on 
Declarations in our Favour, as exprefs as can be defired. 
For inftance, Vegetius affures us, that the Seas were ffiut 
from November to March , and that it was not thought fafe 
to undertake any Voyage of Confequence before the Month 
of May. This very plainly proves the DefeCts of their 
Navigation, and that they loft a great Part of the Year for 
want of thofe Helps and Advantages, which purely from 
a Spirit of Contradiction thefe learned Men would perfuade 
us they enjoyed. 
It may not be amifs to remark, that fuppofing their Opi- 
nion to be true, it is fo far from adding to the Credit of 
the Ancients, that it really does a greater Injury to their 
Reputation, than the contrary Affertion taken in the 
ftrongeft Senfe j for if the Ancients had the Ufe of the 
Compafs, and of Sea-Charts, as thefe learned Writers 
maintain, their not making a better Ufe of them is alto- 
gether inexcufable, and fliews fuch a want of Spirit, and 
fuch a DefeCt of Genius, as is abfolutely irreconcileable to 
their Performances in other Arts *, but* what feems to put 
the Matter beyond all Queftion is this, that the Arabians 
becoming Mafters of the Greek Learning as well as of their 
Empire, and mandating into their own Language the beft 
Books that were written on thefe Subjects, met witli no- 
thing that at all coroborates this Notion of the great Know- 
ledge of the Ancients, with refpeCt to the Inftruments of 
Navigation neceffary in long Voyages. 
Sir John Chardin , who was a Man of much reading, as 
well as of a good Underftanding, and withal a great Tra- 
veller, has delivered his Sentiments upon this SubjeCt in the 
following Terms, which I the rather cite in this Place, be- 
caufe I ffiall not hereafter have any Opportunity of entering 
again on fuch Reflections in the Courfe of this Chapter. 44 I 
44 cannot tell, fays he, whether the Chinefe found out the 
44 Art of Navigation and the Compafs, as they did the Art 
44 of Printing and Artillery ; we fhould confult the learned . 
44 Men amongft them to be affured of it. But for the 
44 other Afiatics , I boldly affert, they are beholden to us 
44 for this wonderful Inftrument which they had from . 
44 Europe by the Hands of the Arabs> a long time before : 
44 the Portugueze Conquefts : For, firft, their Compaffes ; 
44 are exaCtly like ours, and they buy them up of the Eu- • 
44 ropeans as much as they can, fcarce daring to meddle : 
44 with their Needles themfelves. Secondly, it is certain . 
46 the old Navigators only coafted it, which I impute to » 
44 the Want of this Inftrument to guide them, and inftruCt 
44 them in the wide Ocean. We cannot pretend to fay 
44 they were afraid of venturing far from home ; for the : 
44 Arabs , the firft Navigators in the World in my Opinion, ,i 
44 at leaft for the Eaftern Seas, have. Time out of Mind, j 
44 failed from the Bottom of the Red-Sea all along the Coaft i 
44 of Africk , down to the Tropick of Capricorn , which is i 
44 a Space of fifty Degrees j and the Chinefe have always s 
44 traded with the Inhabitants of the Hands of Java and t 
44 Sumatra , which is alfo a very confiderable Voyage. So s 
44 many Hands uninhabited, and at the fame time produc- - 
44 tive, fo many Lands unknown to the People I ipeak of I 
44 are a Proof that the old Navigators had not the Art of 1 
44 failing on the wide Sea. I have nothing but Argument if 
44 and Conjecture to offer touching this Matter, having * 
44 never met with any body in Perfia, or the Indies , to i 
44 inform me when the Compafs was firft known among \ 
44 them, though I made Enquiry of the moft learned 3 
4 44 Men 
