198 D ISC O V E R I E S 
my fecond Anfwer will overturn thefe. -For I fay next, 
That the Country of New Mexico lies diredUy behind 
New Albion^ on the other Side of a narrow Bay, and in 
that Country are ' the Mines of Santo Fe, which' are 
allowed to be the richeft Silver-Mines in North America : 
Here then is a very valuable Country, to which we have a 
very fair Title. 
But perhaps it may be afked. How fliall we come at 
it, llnce, as Things hand at prefent, it feems to be the 
Counti-y in the World moft out of our Reach ? But if it 
had been fo, I would not have given myfelf or the Rea- 
der fo much Trouble about it ; and therefore I am next 
to tell him, that if Mr. Arthur Dobbs^ -Expedition for 
difcovering a North-weft Paftage fucceeds. New Albion 
w'ill be a Country very much within our Reach, and, I 
dare fay, prove to the full as habitable as the Coaft of 
Hudfon’^ Bay \ and therefore I hope that this Example 
will fully fhew the Ufe and Value of good Colledtions of 
Voyages, becaufe it is imppffible to forefee all the Ad- 
vantages that may arife from any Difcovery or Settlement 
at once, nor is it eafy to pronounce, that any Difcovery, 
how unpromifirig focver in itS' firft Appearance,- is abfo- 
lutely Lifelefs, and not worth minding. 
This is a Caution of a very ferious Nature, fince there 
is nothing eaher than for Men of quick Wits and tolera- 
ble Learning in other Refpedfs, to ridicule Voyages to 
cold, barren, defarGiCountries, and to reprefent that as 
Folly and Madnefs, which is in truth a moft noble kind 
of public Spirit, which, if puflued ftill Either than it has 
ever been, would be attended with Confequences of 
ftill greater Advantage to Mankind, than thofe that have 
flowed from it already ; and yet thefe have been very 
beneficial to this and other Nations, as any judicious Man 
will very eafily and clearly difcern, by comparing the State 
of thofe Nations, before they addifted themfelves to Com- 
merce, and fince they have reaped the Profits of it. 
II. We have already fliewn the Right this Nation has 
to Newfoundland \ which is an Ifland of a triangular 
Figure, about the Size of Irdand ; and, according to the 
beft Computation that can be made, about eight or nine 
hundred Leagues in Circumference : On the North it is 
feparated from the Continent by the narrow Streights of 
Bellijle ; on the W eft it has the Bay of St. Laurence \ on 
the South, Cape Breton and the Banks ; and on the Eaft 
it has the Ocean. It lies about fix hundred Leagues from 
the Land’s-end in England.^ and the great Bank is generally 
Idoked upon as half way to Virginia. There is no Coun- 
try in the World better furnifhed with Harbours, and it 
is abundantly fupplied with frefh Water. The tlimate is 
very hot in Summer, and very cold in Winter, fo that 
the Snow lies upon the Ground for four or five Months 
at leaft. This is the beft Account that we are able to 
give with Certainty about it ; for if we read the different 
Relations written of this Country, by Perfons who ought 
to have been beft acquainted with it, we fliall find them 
fo oppofite and contradi6lory, that it will be very hard to 
judge from them, whether it be one of the beft or worft 
Countries in the World. 
But by confidering the Views with which thefe feveral 
Accounts were written, and adverting to the Situation of 
this Country, between 47 and 52 Degrees of Northern 
L atitude, we may be eafily perfuaded that it is no Pa- 
radife ; and yet it is mor'e to the South than our own 
Ifland j but lying off a Continent very little better than 
frozen, the Winds which blow over muft bring along 
with them Weather very different from ours. It is, 
however, very certain, that Filberds, Strawberries, fome 
Kinds of Cherries, and other fuch-like Fruits, grow 
here •, and, though Corn and Hay fucceed but indiffe- 
rently, yet there is great Plenty of Venifon, wild Fowl and 
Fifh •, fo that with dry Food in plenty from Europe.^ Peo- 
ple may live here very comfortably even in Winter, fince 
the Country produces Fuel of feveral Kinds in abundance. 
The great Advantage, however, refulting from our 
Poffeffion of the Place never depended much upon its 
Produce j fo far from it, that one of the beft Writers 
upon the Trade of this Nation gave his Opinion clearly, 
that it was more for our Intereft there fliould be no Set- 
tlements upon it at all % which, in myjudgment,hehas by 
I ' 
nd Settlements Book I. 
unahfwerable Arguments made good ; but ' the Value 
of Newfoundland to this Crown and Country refults 
from the Fifhery upon its Coafts, and upon the Banks 
near it, which has been, and ftill is, of ineftimable Be- 
nefit, for Reafons that fliall be prefently given. It is 
very certain, that we did not profecute our Difcoveries 
in and about this Ifland, or attend to the Advantages 
that might be made from the Fifhery, in many Years 
after Cabot had taken Poffeffion of it j but I do not 
however believe, that we ever left or deferted it, as 
fome Writers would have us believe, and that we did 
not claim it again till the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
I am, on the contrary, perfuaded, that fome of our 
fifhing Veffels reforted yearly to this Coaft, though per- 
haps not many •, and this, for two Reafons ^ firft, be- 
caufe the unfettled State of our Affairs kept the beft part 
of our Seamen one way or other in the public Service 5, , 
and next, becaufe we had a great Fifhery, at that time, 
on the Coaft of Iceland. 
But that we really kept Poffeffion of the Newfound- ■ 
land Fifhery all that time may, I think, be undeniably 
proved by two Arguments likewife : The one taken 
from the Ad of Parliament before-mentioned, in the fe- 
cond Year of the Reign of Edward the Vlth, which 
would have been needlefs, if this Fifliery had not 
fubfifted ; and the other from the Account given us of 
the State of this Fifliery in 1578, by Mr. Parkhurfiy 
which is very curious, and yet little taken Notice of. 
He tells us, that in this Year there were about fifty Sail 
of Englifh Ships employed upon that Coaft ; but he 
tells us likewife, that there were one hundred Sail of 
Spaniardsy befides twenty or thirty Sail of BifcayneerSy 
fifty of Portuguezey and one hundred and fifty French. 
Fie adds another Circumftance, which is ftill more to our 
Purpofe and it is this, that wherever xh.z Englifh fifhed, 
they were reputed Lords of the Harbour, and exercifed 
an Authority over other Nations, by making ufe of 
their Boats when they had Occafion for them ; which 
makes it plain to me, that we conftantly kept up our 
Title, for otherwife it is impoflible to give any Reafon 
why we fhould have exercifed this Dominion, where we 
were fo far from being the moft powerful. An imme- 
morial Cuftom was Foundation enough for fuch a 
Pradice, and nothing but this could be efteemed fo. ^ 
He tells us alfo, that our own Ships v;ere the ftrongeft, 
largeft, and beft equipped ; and that, by this Means, 
we proteded our own I'rade and the 1 rade of other 
Nations, which is a Confirmation of what I have ob- 
ferved •, he fays, that next to ours the Spaniards were the 
beft equipped, and he computes the Tonnage of thefe 
Veffels at about fix thoufand, and the French at about 
feven thoufand. Ton •, but the PortuguezCy he fays, were 
the worft equipped of all. As for the BifcayneerSy they^ 
were chiefly employed in Whale-Filhing, and in making' 
Train-Oil. The great Confequence of this Trade to our 
Nation arofe from hence ; that, in the firft Place, it 
raifed a vaft Number of Seamen, and thofe the beft and 
■ableft; that were any where bred, fo that, even at this 
time, there could not be fewer than two thoufand em- 
■ ployed therein. Next, it gave Bread to a vaft Number 
of Manufadurers and Mechanics, fuch as Ship and Boat- 
Builders, Cfc. Thirdly, it produced a great deal of Mo- 
ney from the Sale of the Fifh. Fourthly, almoft all the 
Provifions confumed in Newfoundlandy fuch as Bread, 
Beef, Pork, Butter, Cheefe,, Linnen, and Woollen, 
Cloths, Nets, Hooks, and Lines, were all furniflied 
from England to which we may add, that thefe Vef- 
fels being fitted out in Marchy and returning in Septem- 
ber, they not only brought Home a Number of People 
full of Money, which they fpent in Englandy but they 
alfo left us a certain Proportion of ftout able Seamen, 
frefli Men going out in their room, and becoming in a 
Voyage or two as good Mariners as themfelves. 
Thus it clearly appears, how this bleak, barren, and 
inhofpitable Country came to be of fuch Confequence ; 
which was very foon difeerned by the wife Miniftry of 
Queen Elizabeth y towards, the Clofe of whofe Reign it 
grew to fuch a Height that we employed yearly two 
hundred Sail and upwards of Fifliing- Veffels, and on 
board 
