Chap. L lying round /.^^NORTHPOLE. 595 
“ Reys^ in Latitude 53 Degrees ; fmce by all other Ac- 
counts the Coaft of Aymrka falls off North-eaft from 
“ Cape Blanco. This muft have been a Country diftindt 
“ from Aynerica ; here he found two Rivers, one came 
“ from the North, from the Lake Velafco., which Ber- 
“ narda failed up, and the other came from the North- 
“ eaft, from the Lake Belle, which lay betwixt Latitude 
“ 45 and 55 Degrees. Upon what Point the Par- 
“ mentiers ran out of the Lake Belle is not mention- 
cd, but at Rio los Reys it ran South-weft. We may 
“ fuppofe the other ran Eaft, or South-eaft, and fell 
“ into the Sea, which he calls the Lake de Ponte, in 
“ near the fame Latitude, that Lake, or Arm of the 
“ Sea, ftretching thence Eaft-north-eaft one hundred and 
“ fixty Leagues, if there was any Weft Variation, as 
“ there is nov/, the North-eaft End of that Lake might 
“ be in Latitude 57 or 58, almoft Weft of Churchill ; 
“ and the Streight Ronquillo running ftill North-eaft, 
“ might end in Latitude 59. In two Days from thence 
“ he came to an Indian Town, probably about Latitude 
“ 60, near which the Bojlon Ship lay •, fo that it may be 
imagined the Bojion Ship had paffed into fome of the 
“ Openings near Whale Cove, and got to Latitude 
“ 60, or, perhaps, to 59 Degrees, and was trading 
‘‘ for Furs, and the Ship might have been afterwards 
loft or furprized by the EJkimaux, upon her return, 
‘‘ having but twelve or thirteen Hands aboard, fmce no 
Account of this Voyage was ever tranfmitted from 
Bojlon. Upon Enquiry, made by Order of Sir Charles 
“ Wager, whether any one of the Name of Shapley, which 
“ was the Mafter’s Name, lived at that Time in Bojlon, 
“ it appeared from fome Writings, that fome of that 
“ Name then lived in Bojlon, which adds to the Weight 
“ of de Ponte‘s Letter, and confirms its being an au- 
thentic Journal.” 
24. We have now gone compleatly round the Globe, 
making the North Pole our Centre and have, fo far as 
the beft Difcoveries would enable us, given the Reader a 
Defcription of the Countries which lie in thefe cold Cli- 
mates i this, for any thing I know, is a Work never before 
performed, or at leaft not fo fully and circumftantially. 
I muft, however, admit there would be no great Merit 
in doing this, if no Ufe could be made of it ; but this is 
Very far from being the Cafe 5 for in the firft Place it 
opens to us the entire Knowledge of the terraqueous 
Globe *, I fay the intire Knowledge, becaufe if we were 
once thoroughly acquainted with the Manner in which 
the Countries are difpofed about the North Pole, we 
might, from thence, gain tolerable Satisfaftion with re- 
gard to the antarftic Regions, in refpehl to which, from 
adtual Difcoveries, we know very little. In the next 
Place, we ought to confider, that hitherto no new Coun- 
tries have been found without confiderable Advantages 
refulting to thofe who difcovered them ; and before we 
conclude this Section, we fnall ftiew that the Whale-fifti- 
jng, in thefe Northern Seas, is an abundant Recompence 
to fuch as take the trouble of failing on them. There 
is yet a third Conlideration, which is the Means of find- 
ing a Pafifage this Way round the Globe, which every 
body knows would be not only a great, but a gainful, Dif- 
covery, rnore efpecially to us who lie fo conveniently for 
taking the Advantage of it, and to whom the bleak and 
barren Ifiands of the Orkneys, would become a kind of 
Indies, if once fuch a Difcovery was made. We can ne- 
ver, however, rationally hope for this, unlefs the Situa- 
tion of all the Countries round the Globe, confidering 
the Pole as the Centre of the Northern Hemifphere, be 
tolerably well known. 
What can be done with refpedl to this, from the Pe- 
rufal of acftual Surveys has been already ftiewn *, we 
will now therefore endeavour to carry it a little farther, 
by adding Reafon to Experience, and refiefting upon 
the Lights we have received. It is certain, becaufe it is 
felf-evident to every Reader, that the Countries round the 
Pole muft be difpofed in one of thefe three Manners : 
Firft they may be joined together, and alfo to fome of 
the great Continents already known. Or, zdly, they 
may be joined together, and make a diftinft Continent. 
Or, 3dly,' they may be feparated from each other, and 
from all the other Continents. We muft allow, that 
there are Authorities, in favour of each of the three Dift 
pofitions, and therefore we will fpeak of them feparately, 
though very briefly. Firft then, that they are joined to- 
gether, and to the known Continents, there are two Mat- 
ters of Eaft alledged in . the Nature of Proofsa The firft' 
is, that the People of Groenland, by which I mean the 
old Chriftian Colonies, had a Tradition of a Harald Goat, 
that travelled into their Country from Norway, wliich^ 
whether true or falfe, by the Way proves nothing, or 
at leaft proves nothing to the purpofe. If the Story of 
the Goat be a Fable, there is an End of it ; but if it was 
Truth, which, however, is very improbable, then it came 
by Sea, that is, in the Winter-Seafon upon the lee j for 
that Greenland is not joined to Norway, is as certain as 
any thing can be. Tradition may probably prove fome’* 
thing, where there is no other Evidence •, but Tradition 
againft Evidence is Nonfenfe. The other Point of Fa6t 
is, that a Jefuit, who had been in California, going after- 
wards to the Philippines, and from thence to China, fays 
there he faw a Woman whom he had known in the firft of 
thefe Countries, who faid ftie was brought thither over 
Land, except one or two little Streights which flie paffed 
in fmall Veffels ; but this does not come up to the Point, 
fmce, however fmall thefe Streights might be, they 
moft certainly disjoin the Countries of each Side of 
them. 
As to the fecond Opinion, that thefe Lands join toge- 
ther, though disjoined from the great Continent, I know 
nothing that has been faid for it, except the Tradition of 
the Greenlanders, about the narrow Streight between their 
Country and America, and of there being great Countries 
to the Eaft of them, of which they own they know no- 
thing. The third Opinion, though it cannot be fully 
proved, feems to be very probable, and if it be not cen- 
fiftent with Truth, looks, at leaft, very like it. It is 
thought that Groenland is disjoined from America by lOa- 
vis’s Streights, and that it is aftually disjoined from 
Greenland we have tolerable Evidence from thofe who 
have vifited the laft mentioned Coaft, none of them 
fpeaking of any Land on the Weft. It was formerly 
thought that Greenland, or Spitzbergen, and Nova Zem^ 
bla were the fame Continent, and that they were fepa- 
rated from Rujfia, or Part ary, by the Streights of W %y- 
gatz but we are now fatisfied it is not fo, but that in all 
probability Greenland is an Ifland, or rather a Clufter of 
Iflands, feparated by the Ocean, from the Land of T'edzo, 
as that Country moft certainly is from Companies .Rand, 
by the Streights of Uriez *, as on the other Hand, this 
Arftic Continent is thought to be feparated from California, 
by the Streights of Anian. The Truth of the Matter 
feems to be, that there are a multitude of Iflands of dif- 
ferent Sizes, lying all round the North Pole, but how 
difpofed we cannot yet fay j and it is upon this Suppoft- 
tion, that the Hopes of finding a North-eaft, or a North- 
weft, Paflage has been built. 
What Reafons may be offered in both Cafes } What 
Attempts havei been made And how they have ended? 
the Reader will hereafter fee. At prefent we will con- 
tent ourfelves with obferving, that fome very great Men 
have been of Opinion, that the moft probable, the moft 
feafible, and fhorteft Paflage, muft be by failing diretftly 
North, and under the very Pole itfelf. A bold and ama- 
zing Propofition at firft Sight, and which we have more 
than once promifed the Reader ftiould be fairly examined j 
for ftrange and furprizing as it feems, it is not all im- 
poflible that it may be true. It has been already obferv- 
ed, there are really fufficient Reafons to perfuade us, 
that the Countries round the Pole, are fo many Iflands 
feparated from the known Continents, as well as from each 
other, it will thence appear highly probable that there may 
be an open Paflage immediately and direblly under the 
Pole, becaufe it is plain there can be nothing but Sea 
there. 
It may, indeed, be faid, that though there be Sea, there 
may, for all that, be no Pafifage j in Proof of which it 
may be alledged, that the Dutch, in 1679, found it im- 
poflible to pafs for Ice, to the Northward of Nova Zem- 
bla j and if the Sea be thus frozen, in 79 or 80 Degrees, 
what 
