PREFACE. 
E following Volume, as it makes a Part of this great Work, the Reader 
ill find to be properly divided in refpecl to Books, Chapters, and Sections j 
but here we propofe to confider it in another Light, and according to that 
natural Wa}^ of Divifion arifing from the different Subjects that are treated in 
it. In the Beginning, more efpecially, we have largely confider’d the Nature of 
Settlements or Plantations j in the Middle Part of the Book we have fhewn 
from Examples, the Utility of Travelling through all Parts of the habitable 
Vv^orld 5 and- we have elfewhere difcourfed of the great Importance of new 
Difcoveries, and the Advantages which a Trading Nation may derive from 
the opening frefh Channels of Communication with the Inhabitants of di- 
ftant Countries, and confequently of difpofing of their Commodities and Manufadlures, in Places, 
r where, perhaps, they were never feen or heard of before. In this Place we fhall very fuccindtly 
mention fome of the Capital Ufes that may refult from the Manner in which we have treated 
j thefe feveral Branches of our Subjed, and refer the inquifitive Perufer, for a more copious and circum- 
ftantial View of the Difpofition and Connedion of the feveral Parts of this Defign, to the Conclulion, 
where we have Reafon to hope they are fo Hated, as to give him entire Satisfadion. 
I The great Point v/ith refped to Plantations, is to fhew, that the Riches, Power, and Happinefs of 
the Mother-Country, depends, in a great Meafure, upon them ; and that, on the other Hand, this 
Connedion is fo far from being grievous, burthenfome, or prejudicial to the Colonies, that, on the 
contrary, their Peace, Welfare, and Profperity, are dependant upon this, and upon this only j fo that 
the Benefits and Advantages of Settlements and their Mother-Countries are always reciprocal ; whence 
arifes the Tie of mutual Obligation, that renders it equally unnatural for one to regret the Share fhe pays 
out of the Profit of her Labours, or the other to repine at the Demands that are now and then made for 
Affiftance and Protedion. It is a Thing of the highefl Confequence, that thefe Notions fhould be 
thoroughly defeminated, and all the Points before infifted on univerfally underftood. The fending People 
abroad to fettle for a Time in a Plantation, ought to be confidered in the Light of publick Service, be- 
caufe fo in Fad it is, fince we have proved in the following Pages, that every Planter abroad, finds Em^ 
ployment for feveral Men, perhaps for feveral Families at Home ; there cannot therefore be any thing 
more unjuft, than to give a Preference of any Kind to thofe whom he maintains, before him who main- 
tains them. There is alfo nothing more abfurd, than to fancy that well regulated Colonies tend to de- 
populate their Mother-Countries ; which is fo far from being true, that the more populous any Planta- 
tions are, the better peopled their Mother-Countries mufi; be ; for the more flourifhing the Settle- 
ment, the greater Confumption of Manufadures and Home Commodities in that Settlement : Now 
thefe cannot be confumed unlefs they are furnifhed, and they cannot be furnifhed without a Multitude of 
Hands j but Employment will always procure thefe, and confequently People in a Plantation, like Wa- 
ter in the Sucker of a Pump, fets the Machine in Motion, and by a Kind of political Attradion, pro- 
duces that Circulation of Induftry which is the Health of the Conftitution. Laftly, Though all Trade is 
advantageous, the Trade between Mother-Countries and their Plantations is of all others mofi: advanta- 
geous, becaufe where-ever the Profit falls, the fame People reap it, and little or nothing is diverted into 
foreign Channels. The large Lliftory enfuing may be confidered as a pradical Commentary upon this 
Text, in which, by innumerable InHances it is proved, that where thefe Notions are adverted to and 
followed, Mother-Countries and their Plantations thrive equally, and that both pine, dwindle and 
decay, where thefe Maxims are either negleded or defpifed. 
/ 
In Regard to Travels by Land, tlie Benefits refulting from them are partly in common, and partly di- 
ftind from thofe which arife from Voyages ; we fliall infill here only upon the latter. We derive from 
' well-written Relations of thefe. Accounts that may be relied on as to the Natural Hillory of Countries, 
their Climate, Soil and Produce, whether Vegetables, Animals, or Minerals, and are thereby enabled to 
form fome Kind of Notion of thofe immenfe Treafures, which with a wife as well as bountiful Hand, 
the great Author ©f the World has dillributed through all its Parts, We are next informed concerning 
^ 2 the 
