Chap. II. through the greateft Part 
Streets and Water-channels, and the Neatnefs and Splendor 
of the Bridges and Houfes of Amfierdam is not to lie ima- 
gined, except by thofe who have been Eye-wkneffes of it, 
efpecially thofe in the new Town, and many of which ought 
rather to be called Palaces than the Houfes of private Per- 
fons. Among the publick Structures the old and new 
Churches are worth Obfervation, and if the Town-houfe 
be compleated, according to the Draught I faw of it, it 
will, beyond Queftion, vie with any of the nobleft Struc- 
tures in the World, and the Exchange of Amfierdam furpaffes 
that of London , in the Number of People that daily refort 
thither, as it does that of Antwerp in Magnificence ; not to 
mention here the Gates of the City, and its three Sluices, 
which cannot be matched in the World, the publick School, 
Colledge, Arfenal, a Piay-houfe, Anatorny-hall, and other 
publick Edifices, which deferve the Travellers peculiar 
Obfervation. But to come to a Conclufion of my Voyage ; 
after a Stay of eight Days at Amfierdam , I took Shipping 
for Hamburgh the. 23d of Aprils where I arrived fafely the 
28th, and after I had refted myfelf there for one Day and 
Night, continued my Journey to Gottorp , which I reached 
the 1 ft of May\ and had the Honour to be admitted to their 
Highneffes the Duke and Dutchefs of Holftein , unto whom 
1 gave a fhort Account of the Suecefs of my long and toil- 
fome Travels. 
31. The Obfervations publiffied by our Author are of 
a mixed Nature, part of them from his own known Know- 
ledge, and part from Information. It may be necefiary 
therefore to fay feme what as to the Reafons which induced 
us to prefer thefe Obfervations to thofe of other Men, who 
might be Eye-witneffes of all they wrote. In the firft place, 
let it be confidered, that it is neceftary to give the Reader 
the moft Matter poffible in the dealt Room, and therefore 
oneextenfive and well- wrote Voyage anfwers this End better 
than feveral, and at the fame time avoids ufelcfs and tedi- 
ous Repetitions. The Merit of the Writer was another 
great Confideration. It is manifeft from the Commiffion 
with which he was intruded, that he was a Man of Abili- 
ties, or otherwife he would not have been chofen. It ap- 
pears from the foregoing Part of his Travels, that his Con- 
duct juftified their Choice, and that he made it his Bufinefs 
to bring back into Germany the cleared and belt Intelligence 
that could be had, with regard to the Defign which his 
M after had then in View, and that was the Opening a new 
Channel of Trade between Europe and the Indies. The 
fame Reafons therefore that recommended him to, and pro- 
cured him the Approbation of his Mailer, gave his Works 
a Title to a Place in this Collection, notwithftanding the 
Objections to which they may teem liable at the firft Sight. 
But farther ft II! , he was not only a Man of great Judgment 
himfelf, but of great Experience alfo arid as he was very 
capable of diftinguiUiing upon Information what was fit for 
him to report, and what not, fo he was no lefs careful in 
feeding his Information from fuch as had it mod in their 
Power to inftruct, and at the fame time were Jeaft likely 
to impofe upon him. The Advantage he had of confut- 
ing the Englijh Prefident upon what he was told by the 
Spaniards and Portuguese mud have been of infinite Ser- 
vice, by enabling him to correCt and explain whatever he 
received from them ; therefore taking all thele Advantages 
together, we may very 'fafely conclude, that there hardly 
ever was a Voyage Writer better qualified to deliver what 
was fit for the Publick to fee, than our Author. 
It remains to give forne Account of that Prince, by whofe 
Direction thefe Voyages were undertaken, the Views he 
had in caufing them to be undertaken, and the Confequen- 
ces of fuch ‘extraordinary and hazardous Undertakings fo 
well and happily performed. Frederick the third, Duke 
of Holfie'm Gottorp , was the Son of. John Frederick , So- 
vereign of that Country, and the Princefs Augufta , Daughter 
to Frederick the fecond. King of Denmark. He fucceeded 
his Father in his Dominions in the Year 1616, and having 
fpent a great Part of his Time in improving his Country, 
fettling new Manufactures there, and opening a free Com- 
merce to Sweden^ .Poland^ and Rujfia , he began about the 
Y ear 1 630 to think of putting in Execution a ProjeCt which 
had long employed his Thoughts, by which he hoped 
throughly to people, and greatly to enrich, his new City of 
Fredcrickfiadt. He was led' to this by the Incitement of 
Numb. 54, 
of the E A S T -INDIE S. 809 
feme Merchants, whom he had drawn to fettle in his 
Country by the great Encouragements he gaVe them, and 
who fuggefted the PofTibility of bringing into, and fettling 
the Silk Trade iri his Dominions. At firft Sight this muft 
appear a very ftrarige, arid almoft impracticable .ProjeCt » 
but when attentively confidered, it will appear in quite sm- 
other Light. 
We muft in the firft place confider, that the Northern 
Countries of Europe were at that Time entirely ftipplied 
with all kinds of Silk Manufactures from the Southern 
Countries, and thefe at the greateft Diftarice from them, 
which was attended with many and great Inconveniencies » 
befides the capital Mifchief of fending annually vaft Sums 
of Money in return for thofe Manufactures. The only 
Remedy that could be applied to thefe Mifchiefs was the 
eftabiifiiing this Commodity in the North, by breeding and 
managing Silk- worms there, which was indeed a tedious, 
hazardous, and in all human Appearance, impracticable. 
Undertaking, or eife to fink a Step lower, and be content 
to import the Silk in the moft reafonable Method, and at 
the lowed Price, fo that the manufacturing it might prove 
diffidently profitable to the People engaged therein. This 
Defign too, though Ids difficult than the other, feemed hard 
enough to compafs, fince a Voyage from the 'Baltick to the 
Mediteranean , which was the only means whereby either 
French , Spamjh , or Italian Silks could be brought to Hoi - 
ftein, muft have been necefiarily attended with fuch an Ex- 
pence, and the Silks imported would have come at fo deaf 
,a rate, that it would have been irnpoffibfe, for many Years 
at leaft, to have manufactured them to any Advantage. The 
Commerce of the Levant , and the importing Silk from 
Aleppo , or Smyrna , muft have been attended with ftill 
greater Difficulties and Expence, fo that on this Side there 
feemed to be no Hopes of compaffing fuch a De fign. 
But Philip Criffius , who firft engaged the Duke to think 
of this Scheme, immediately obviated thefe Objections, by 
fhewing that the Perfian Silks might be had foorier, and at 
a cheaper rate in Holfiein than in any of the Countries where 
they were then manufactured. The Way he propofed was 
through Mufcovy , the Frontiers of which are divided 
from thofe of Perfia by the Cafpian Sea, the Silk Provinces 
of Perfia lying on the Coafts of that Sea, fo that the trans- 
porting them crofs the Ruffian Empire Could fcarce be 
efteemed a more laborious or difficult Undertaking than the 
conveying them by Caravans from Perfia through the 
Turki/h Empire to Smyrna , or Aleppo ; and confequently, if 
this Scheme could be executed, the Ports of Rujfia , which 
were very , near, would ferve as effectually for the Silk Ma- 
nufacture in Holfiein , as the Ports of the Levant for the 
Southern Parts, of Europe, Thefe were the Principles upon, 
which Crufius went, and on which the Embafty, which 
Duke Frederick fent into Perfia , was undertaken. Our Au- 
thor’s Journey from Perfia into the Indies was, as we have 
before reprefented it, an additional ProjeCt to this, of 
eftabiifiiing a Silk Manufacture, and the Grounds upon 
which the Duke went in this were likewife very juft and 
reafonable, as in a very few Words we fhall be able to fiiew. 
He was informed that a great Trade was carried on between 
Perfia and India by Land, and therefore he very rightly 
conceived, that if his firft Scheme took place, it might be 
very practicable to bring the Indian Commodities and Ma- 
nufactures from Perfia to the Coaft of the Cafpian Sea, and 
confequently, together with the Silk through Ruffia into his 
own Dominions. 
This, I fay, was that Prince’s Defign, and F thought it 
the more neceffary to infill upon it at large, beCaufe there 
is not a Word dropp’d about it by our Author. On the con- 
trary, his Obfervations look all another Way, and he leenis 
to have employed himfelf chiefly in remarking on the For - 
tugueze , Englijh and Dutch' Commerce in the Indies , which 
Obfervations, as they were fitted to be publiffied to the 
World, were likewife beft Hiked to conceal the true Defign 
of his Voyages. I muft take this Opportunity of remark- 
ing, that all the Civilities fhewn him by Strangers in thofe 
Parts of the World, may be accounted for from hence, I 
mean from their being morally certain, that the better he 
was acquainted, and the more thoroughly he was informed 
of the Nature of their 1 rade, the more impracticable his 
Maker’s Defign would appear of interfering therein, by a 
9 U , direCt 
I 
