2,86 5^&,D ISC O V E R I E s 
Of the Adventurers who came with him, fix v/ere no- 
minated to be of the Council, as alfo fix of the Inhabitants, 
who had never been Pirates themfelves •, and thus the Ap- 
pearance of Government was renev/ed. As foon as the 
Governor and Council had fettled the Board, about two 
hundred of thofe that had been Pirates furrendered them- 
felves to them, had Certificates of their Surrender, and 
took the Oaths of Allegiance, as did, voluntarily, the 
greateil Part of the Inhabitants of Providence', wherein, 
a few Years after, were computed to be one thoufand 
five hundred Souls, out of thefe were formed three Com- 
panies of Militia, under Officers of their own Ifland ; 
thefe Companies took their turn every Night in the Town 
Guard at Najfau, and the independent Company was 
always upon Duty in the Fort here, and another of eight 
Guns eredted at the eaftermoft Entrance into the Har- 
bour. 
It was by thefe Methods that the Face of Affairs, 
in this Part of the World, was entirely changed •, the 
Town of Najfau rebuilt ; a regular Force eftabliffied in 
Providence, and Plantations fo laid out, that the Country 
looked like an Englijlo Settlement. Within a ffiort Time 
after, the neighbouring Ifland of Eluthera was fettled 
likewife, upon which, about fixty Families fixed them- 
felves, erefted a fmall Fort for their Defence, and raifed 
a Company of Militia under their Deputy-Governor, 
Mr. Holmes, by whofe prudent Management Matters 
were chiefly brought to bear; the like was done in Har- 
bour IJland, where the Plantation foon grew more confider- 
able, and a larger Fort was built for the Proteblion of the 
Inhabitants. Captain Woods Rogers returning to England, 
was fucceeded in his Government by Captain Fitz-willia 77 is, 
in whofe Time an independent Company, that had been 
fent thither, mutinied, which had like to have produced 
fome very fatal Confequences, but was happily fupprefled ; 
and by the Moderation of the Governor, only a few of 
the moll Guilty were made Examples, 
This happened in the Year 1736? from which Time 
thefe Elands have been improving, though flowly. It 
may well be wondered at by confiderate Perfons, that 
confidering the Number of poor People and Men out 
of Employment, which before the War peflered the 
Streets of this City, and of all the great Towns in the 
Kingdom ; fome Methods were not taken for fending 
them over to thefe Hands, which would have been a Re- 
lief to the People here, afforded them a comfortable Sub- 
fiftance, and have contributed to augment the Strength 
and increafe the Riches of this Nation. I fhall content 
myfelf with juft hinting this as it falls in my Way, and 
proceed to the next Corporation formed for enlarging our 
Commerce within the Period of Time affigned to this 
Sebtion. 
II. This was the Hudfon^s Bay Company, erebled by 
King Charles the Ild. upon the following Occafion : Mon- 
fieur Radifon, and Monfieur Goofelier, two Frenchmen, 
meeting with fome Savages in the Lake of Ajfimponals 
in Canada, they learnt of them that they might go by 
Land to the Bottom of the Bay, where the Englijh had 
not yet been ; . upon which they defired them to condubt 
them thither, and the Savages accordingly did it. The 
two Frenchmen returned to the upper Lake the fame 
Way they came, and thence to ^ebec, the Capital of Ca- 
nada ; where they offered the principal Merchants to carry 
Ships to HudfoAs Bay, but their Projebl was rejebted ; 
thence they went to France, in Hopes of a more favour- 
able hearing at Court ; but after prefenting feveral Me- 
morials, and fpending a great dealof Timic and Money, 
they were anfwered as they had been at Fluehec, and 
their Projebl looked upon as chimerical. The King of 
England's, Embaffador at Paris, hearing v/hat Propofals 
they had made, imagined he fhould do his Country good 
Service by engaging them to ferve the Englijh, who had 
already Pretences to the Bay, perfuaded them to go 
for London, where they met with a favourable Recep- 
tion from fome Men of Quality, Merchants, and others, 
who employed Mr. Gillani, a Perfon long ufed to the 
Hew England Trade, to perfebt this Difcovery. 
He failed in the Nonefuch Catch, in the Year 1667, 
into Barffins Bay, to the Height of 75 Degrees, and from 
2 
and S E T T L E M E N T s Book I. 
thence South v/ard to 5 1 Degrees, where he entered a Ri- 
ver, to which he gave the Name of Prince Rupert's Ri- 
ver-, and, finding the Savages ccSxioizd. to a friendly 
Commerce, he erebded a fmall Fcrtrefs there, which he 
ftiled Charles Fort. The Succefs of this Expedition was 
fo remarkable, that the Perfons concerned in fitting out 
this Veffel, upon the Return of Mr. Gillam, appli- 
ed themfelves to King Charles the lid. for a Patent, 
who accordingly granted them one, dated the 2d of 
May, in the 2zd Year of his Reign, A. D. 1670. 
The firft Direblors of what was called the Hudfon's Bay 
Company, were Prince Rupert, Sir James Hayes, Mr. 
William Toung, Mr. Gerrard Weymaits, Mr. Richard Cra- 
dock, Mr. John Letton, Chrijiopher Wren, Efq. and Mr. 
Nicholas Haywood. 
The Bay lies from 64 Degrees North Latitude, to 51 
Desrrees, and is 10 Decrees or fix hundred Miles in 
Length. The Mouth of the Streights lies in about 61 
Degrees North Latitude, and is fix Leagues over. At 
the Mouth is an Ifland called Refolution ; Chamles IJland, 
Salijhury IJland, and Nottingham are in the Streights, and 
Mansfield IJland is in the Mouth of the Bay. Hudjon's 
Streights, which leads to the Bay, are about one hundred 
and twenty Leagues in Length ; the Land on both Sides 
inhabited by Savages, of whom v/e have little or no 
Knowledge. The South Coaft is known by the Name of 
tht Ferra de Labrador, the North by as many Names as 
Men of feveral Nations have been there, and pretend to 
the Difcovery. On the Weft Side of the Bay the Englijh 
made a Settlement, built a Fort at Port Neljon, and all 
that Country goes by the Name of New South Wales. 
The Bay here is called Button's and Hudjon's Bay, which 
is broadeft in this Place, and may be near one hundred and 
thirty Leagues. On the other Shore, or the Coaft of La- 
brador, lie feveral Hands, called the Sleepers IJles, and the 
Baker's Dozen. The Bottom of the Bay, by which we 
underftand all that Part of it from Cape Henrietta Maria, 
in New South Wales, to Redonda, below Prince Rupert's 
River, is about 80 Leagues long, and all the Way be- 
tween 40 and 50 Leagues over. Here are feveral Hands 
to which the firft Adventurers gave the Names of fome 
great Men in England, or fome that employed them ; as 
Lord Wefion's IJland, Sir Thomas Roe's IJland, Charleton 
IJland, and others. 
The two oppofite Shores are Called the EaJi Main and 
Wefi Main, the former is Labrador, and the latter New 
South Wales. The Continent at the bottom of the Bay 
is, by the French, pretended to be Part of New France ; 
and, indeed, to crofs the Country from St. Margaret's 
River, which runs into the River of Canada, to Rupert's 
River, at the bottom of Hudjon's Bay, is not above one 
hundred and fifty Miles. At Rupert's River the Englijh 
built their firft Fort, which they called Charles Fort. They 
never had any Towns or Plantations here, but live with- 
in their Forts in little Houfes or Huts, wherein the 
Builders confider nothing but how to defend them from 
the Cold and Rains, though they are not fo much dif- 
turbed by the latter as by the former. There’s an Hand 
about five or fix Leagues from the Wefi Main called the 
little Rocky IJle, it being a mere heap of Rocks and 
Stones, with fome fmall Brufh-wood growing upon it ; 
it is fuppofed to overflow with great North-weft Winds, 
which make a high Tide all over the Bay ; in this He 
is plenty of Gulls and Sea Swallows ; about three Miles 
from the South-fouth-eaft Part of the Ifland lies a danger- 
ous Reef of Sand, which is dry at low, Water. Charle- 
ton IJland is a dry white Sand, covered over with a 
white Mofs, full of Trees, Juniper and Spruce, though 
not very large, ff'his He affords a beautiful Prol'pedl to 
fuch as are near it in the Spring, after a long Voyage of 
three or four Months, in the moft uncomfortable Seas in 
the World, occafioned by the vaft Mountains of Ice which 
drive in the Bay and Streights -, againft which, if Ships 
happen to ftrike, they are dafhed in Pieces, as certainly 
as if they ran againft Rocks ; for, indeed, they are 
Rocks petrified by the Violence of the continual Frofts. 
To fee one Day the Shore on the Wefi Main bare, the 
Mountains covered with Snow, and Nature looking as if 
frozen to Death ; and the next to behold Charleton 
