Chap. IIL of the E N G L I S H A M E R I C A. 
“■ great, it perfefletli die Creature with great Expedi- 
“ tion, and in fliorter Time than is to be found in any 
“ other Places. As for the Caufes of this Extremity, 
“ they feem not to be fo deeply hidden, but that they^ 
“ may, at leaft in Part, be guefled at; the chiefeft 
“ of which we conceive to be the large fpreading of 
“ the Afian and American Continents, which (fomewhat 
Northward of thefe Parts) if they be not fully joined, 
yet feem they to come Very near one to the other ; 
from whofe high and Snow-covered Mountains the 
“ North and North-weft .Winds (the conftant Vifitants 
of thefe Coafts) fend abroad their frozen Nymphs to 
the infedling of the whole Air with this infu&rable 
“ Sharpnefs ; not permitting the Sun, no not in the Pride 
“ of his Heat, to diffolve that congealed Matter and 
“ Snow which they have breathed out fo nigh the Sun, 
and fo many Degrees diftant from themfelves. And 
that the North and North- weft Winds are here conftant 
“ in June and July^ as the North Wind is alone in Au- 
“ gufl and , September^ we not only found it by our 
own Experience, but were fully confirmed in the Opi- 
“ nion thereof by continual Obfervations of the Spa- 
** niards. 
Hence comes the Squalidnefs and Barrennefs of the 
Country ; hence comes it, that in the midft of their Sum- 
mer the Snow hardly departeth even from their Doors, 
“ but is never taken away from their Hills at all ; hence 
come thofe thick Mifts and moft {linking Fogs, which 
“ increafe fo much the more by how much higher the 
“ Pole is raifed, wherein a blind Pilot is as good as the beft 
Diredlor of a Courfe ; for the Sun ftriving to perform 
‘‘ his natural Office in elevating the Vapours out of thefe 
“ inferior Bodies, draws neceffarily abundance of Moifture 
“ out of the Sea; but the nipping Cold (from the former 
“ Caufes) meeting and oppofing the Sun’s Endeavours, 
“ force him to give over his Work imperfed, and, inftead 
“ of higherElevation, to leave, in the loweft Regions wan- 
“ denng upon the Face of the Earth and Waters, as it were 
“ a fecond Sea, through which its own Beams cannot 
“ poffibly pierce, unlefs fometimes when the hidden Vio- 
“ lence of the Winds doth help to fcatter and break thro’ 
“ it, which thing happeneth very feldom, and when it 
“ happeneth is of no Continuance. Some of our Mariners 
“ in this Voyage had formerly been at JVardhoufe, in 72 
Degrees of North I.atitude, who yet affirmed that they 
felt no fuch nipping Cold there in the end of Summer, 
when they departed , thence, as they did now in thefe 
“ hotteft Months of. June and July. And alfo from thefe 
“ Reafons we conjecture, that either there is no PalTage 
“ at all through thofe Northern Coafts (which is moft 
“ likely) or, if there be, yet it is unnavigable. Add 
hereunto, that though we fearched the Coaft diligently, 
even unto the forty-eighth Degree, yet found we not 
the Land to trend fo much as one Point, in any Place, 
towards the Eaft ; but rather running on continually 
North-weft, as if it went direClly to meet with Afa ; 
‘‘ and even in that Height, when we had a frank Wind 
“ to have carried us through, had there been a Paffage, 
yet v/e had a fmooth and calm Sea, with ordinary 
flowing and reflowing, which could not have been, had 
there been an Opening, of which we rather infallibly con- 
eluded than conjeClured that there was none.” 
Thisftiews us clearly Mr. F 7 ^Ai»^r’s Opinion, and he gives 
us likewifea very large and full, to fay the Truth, a very 
tedious and trifling. Account of their Landing and Stay 
here ; of their being taken for Gods by the Natives, and of 
their attempting to offer Sacrifices to them, with which, 
I fuppofe, the Reader will eafily difpenfe ; but after this 
he comes to the Point, and tells us. That thefe People 
behaved extremely well during their Stay •, and that their 
King,_ in teftimony of his Refped for, and Submiffion to. 
Captain Brake^ prefented him with the Enfigns of his 
Regal Dignity; which lie received as a Refignation of his 
Kingdom to the Queen his Miftrefs, in whofe Name, and on 
whofe Behalf, he tookPoffeffion of it, and fet up a wooden 
Crofs, with a Brafs Plate and a proper Infcription, in 
Teftimony thereof. This Country he called Nezv Albion., 
and this for two Reafons ; the firft was, becaufc of its 
VoL. IL Numb, 82, 
white Cliffs ; the other, that it might have fome AfE»- 
nity, as Mr. Fletcher expreffes it, in Name with our own 
. Country, which was fome time fo called. 
He afterv/ards acknowledges, that upon taking a View 
of the Inland Parts, they found them very rich and fer- 
tile, contrary -to their Expedations ; but as to the People, 
he allows, that, both on the Coaft and within Land, their 
Behaviour was perfedly uniform, and they had no Rea- 
fon to complain of them, but rather to commend and 
applaud them. It is very true, that Mr, Fletcher^ Ac- 
count of Sir Francis Brake'' % Voyage is by much the 
largeft, but I am far from efteeming it the beft: I inferted 
fo long a Paffage from it, that the Reader might be able 
to judge of his Performance as well as my Sentiments. 
He has given us a very extraordinary Defeription of the 
exceffive Cold they met with both at. Sea- and on Shore, 
and difeourfes on it more largely, to £hew his Capacity 
and Judgment ; yet I do not find that Experience has at 
all confirmed this, as the Reader will perceive by turning 
to the other Voyages of Candijh^ and thofe who followed 
him, and who went to California as well as ^vc Francis 
Brake. 
I mention this the rather, becaufe Candifh was there 
fo foon after Sir Francis Brake ; for I find by the original 
Account of his Expedition, that he was there in November 
^ 5 ^ 7 "> fi^d that he f|id one Word of its 
being cold ; and tho’ it may be objected, that he was in 
the Southern Part of California only, yet the Difference 
is fo inconfiderable, that it is impoffible to reconcile the 
two Accounts, fuppofing them both to be exaft. ' Again,' 
in Sir Francis Brake's Voyage, printed by Hackluit, it 
is only faid. That in the Latitude of q.2 Degrees the 
Men were extremely pinched with Cold ; and finding it 
increafe as they failed farther North, it was refolved to 
alter their Courfe, and (land in for the Land more to the 
South ; where they found a good Bay, and a very gentle, 
friendly, and hoisieft People ; yet the Truth of the Matter 
is, that the Spaniards had, thirty-feven Years before, 
failed along this Coaft to the Heighth of 44 Degrees, as 
far as Cape Mendocino ; and they afterwards difeovered 
Cape Blanco beyond that, which is a plain Proof that the 
Cold is not fb intolerable as Mr. Fletcher would make 
it. But the real Defign of all his Remarks is, to dif- 
courage all Hopes of finding a Paffage this Way into the 
North Seas, which however was not Sir Francis Braked 
Opinion, if we may credit what other Writers have told 
us ; and indeed fo many Abfurdities have been difeovered 
in Mr. FletcheAs. Defeription of New Albion^ that Father 
Charlevoix makes no Scruple of calling it a fabulous 
Country, and from hence takes Occafion to make fome 
Reflections upon Sir Francis Brake, which that Gentle- 
man did not at all deferve. 
But to fhew the Reader the true Defign of dwelling fo 
long upon this Subjed I mull obferve, that his Account 
difcredits Brake’f Difeovery extremely, which not only 
turns to the Prejudice of that great Man’s Charadler, but 
may likewife prove difadvantageous to this Nation, by 
giving them a very mean Opinion of what ought to be 
conlidered as a very noble Acquifition. The Difeovery, 
as I conceive, conlifled chiefly in his marching up into 
the Country, which before that Time, if is probable, the 
Spaniards had never done ; and with refped to our Title 
to this Country, I conceive it to arife from the Good-will 
and voluntary Submiffion of the People, Fads as well 
proved as in the Nature of Things we can expedl, 
and which certainly give us as good (if not a better) 
Claim to N <>,w Albion, as the Spaniards can fliew for any 
Part of their Poffeflions. 
1 he Country too,' if we might depend upon what Sir 
Francis Brake or his Chaplain fays, may appear worth the 
feekmg and the keeping, fmee they affert that the Land 
IS rich in Gold and Silver, that upon the flighteft: 
turning it up with a Spade or Pick-ax, tliofe rich Metals 
p^amiy appear mixed with the Mould. It maybe ob- 
jected that this looks a little fabulous ; but to this, two 
fatisfaftory Anfwers may be given; the firft is, *That 
later Difeoveries on the Tame Coaft confirm theVrutli 
of k, which, for any thing I can fee, ought to put the 
Fact out of queftion, but if any Doubts fhould remain, 
E e e 
