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Chap. I, North-west Passage. 
that there is a like Separation on the North, and that 
this Country Js not contiguous to any of the other 
Continents. 
Fifthly, The Situation of the Northern Parts of Ame- 
rica^ fo far as they are yet difcovered, afford very ftrong 
Prefumptions in favour of this Opinion. The great Ridge 
of Mountains beyond the Lakes of Canada^ have many 
Rivers running from them into thofe Lakes, and we may 
from thence conclude, and the Teftimony of the Natives 
fufficiently confirm it, that there are alfo Rivers running 
on the oppofite Side, and thefe muft therefore neceffarily 
fall into this Weft Sea, or Channel, which we feek. Part 
of this Argument is real and certain, viz. that there are 
fuch Mountains, and though we cannot affirm as much, 
in refpeft to the other, as no European has yet reached 
thofe Mountains, yet there is nothing in it abfurd or 
improbable, but rather quite the contrary. 
Sixthly, We have no Tradition, either on the Green- 
land or American Side, of any Communication between 
them ; but quite the contrary : The Greenlanders never 
fpeak of any civilized Nations near their Country diftinfl 
from the Europeans ; whereas the Americans do, and have 
- always perfifted in a Story of Perfons coming in very 
large Canoes, or Ships, to the North- weft Coaft, and 
trading there with the People, who, according to their 
Accounts are alfo more civilized than any other Nation, 
Natives of America. If any Credit be due to this Account 
then we muft conceive that thefe Traders come from 
Japo 7 i (which is very improbable) or from fome northern 
Country' hitherto unknown, equally feparated from Ame- 
rica and Afta. 
Seventhly, It is afferted that this Streight has been 
pafted before and fmee the Difeovery of America.^ and that 
Various Memorials of thefe Tranfits are ftill preferved in 
authenric Hiftories. Gemma Frifius reports, that it was 
pafted by three Brethren, and thence received the Name of 
Fretum Frium Fratrum \ but he does not tell us when or 
where thefe Brethren lived, whence they failed, or whither 
they returned after performing this Voyage. It is re- 
ported by an ancient Latin Author, that certain Indians 
being caft on Shore in Germany., were prefented by a 
barbarous King, into whofe Dominions they came, to 
Fduintus Metellus Celer ; and it is taken for granted they 
came through thk Paftage. It may be queftioned whe- 
ther xh.z^Q Indians were any other than Greenlanders \ and 
if fo, without queftion, their being caft upon the Coaft 
di Germany., proves nothing. About the Year i i6o, un- 
der the Reign- of the Emperor F^^ederick Barharoffa., certain 
Indians alfo are reported to have been wrecked on' the 
German Coaft, and of thefe we may fay the fame thing. 
William of Newberry has a Story of much the fame Na- 
ture, only accompanied with fome very incredible, not 
to fay ridiculous, Circumftances, of two Green Children, 
which in the Reign of King Stephen came hither from the 
Land of St. Martin., which, by their Defeription, ap- 
pears to be Iceland ; So that take them all together thefe 
Stories prove little or nothing. One Cortereal, a Portu- 
gueze, is alfo faid to have pafted this Streight, and to 
have beftowed upon it his Name ; but how, when, 
or where, is not to be enquired, or at leaft not 
to be refolved. One Gomez is faid to have offered the 
Difeovery of this Paftage to the Emperor Charles V. 
which muft not be underftood, as grounded on his own 
Knowledge, but from a Perfuafton of Mind that the 
finding fuch a Streight was practicable, in which how- 
ever upon Trial he failed. Some flying Reports of 
much the fame kind we meet with in many Writers, but 
though they have, without Caufe, been urged as Proofs 
of fuch a Paftage, yet this by no Means turns againft it ; 
nor can it be alledged, that fince thefe Stories are fome 
of them abfurd, others dark, and the reft incredible, there- 
fore the North-weft Paffage they are brought to prove is 
fabulous. If Truths were to fuffer by the bringing of 
improper or improbable Arguments to fupport them, 
fome even of greater Confequence than this, of which 
we are at prefent fpeaking, might run no fmall Rifk j 
but as debaflng Gold or Silver does not deftroy them, fo 
the Addition of Falfhoods, though they may fometimes 
diferedit Truths, cannot change their Nature, 
YqlJL Numb, g 5, 
Eighthly, There is one Argument in favour of this 
Paffage, which may be drawn even from thofe Fablesij 
without being at all tinctured with FiCtion ; It is this, that 
the general Opinion amongft the Learned in favour of 
it was ftrong ; which induced them to refer every thing 
of this Nature to the North-weft Streight ; In the like 
manner, the Notion of the Garden of Hyfperedes m ade 
way for the Difeovery of the Ca^iaries \ the Rumour of 
2 in Atlantis, or weftern World, proved the Means of un- 
folding America \ nay, in the prefent Cafe, though thefe 
Tales have not hitherto helped us to this fo much defired 
Paffage to the North-weft, yet they may be faid to have, 
guided us to the oppofite Streight of Magellan ; for it was 
upon the Reafons aftigned by Cabot, in favour of 
this Way of going round the Globe, that Magellan 
formed his ProjeCt to difeover a Paffage into the' farlie 
Seas, by failing fouthward ; which he happily effected at 
the firft Trial, and by doing this, gave fome Degree of 
Evidence that the original Scheme of opening a Way by 
the North- weft, is neither againft the Analogy of the 
Mundane Syftem, nor in its Nature impracticable from the 
Difficulties to which thofe employed to find it may be ex- 
pofed ; for though it appears that many have fuffered 
exceffively in the Attempts hitherto made for that Pur- 
pofe, yet no Account of Voyages to the North-weft re- 
prefents the Cold more intolerable, or the Troubles occa- 
fioned by the Ice, greater than in going round Cape Horn., 
through the Streights of le Maire, or thofe of Magellan. If 
therefore the Reafons perfuading this Paffage have (ge- 
nerally fpeaking) appeared fo conclufive to the Learned, 
as to give Credibility to ill-founded Stories ; if they have 
actually led to the finding a Paffage at the oppofite Ex- 
tremity of the Globe, and this Streight be practicable, 
notwithftanding its being full of Ice, and the Weather ri- 
gorous beyond Defeription, why fhould we fufpeCt that 
an Opinion having fo many Circumftances in its Favour is 
notwithftanding abfolutely groundlefs, becaufe it is as yet 
unfupported by Experience, as if every thing not hitherto 
performed muft be in its Nature impoffible, which though 
Warrant enough for a vulgar Notion, cannot be thoughts 
fit Foundation for a philofophical Principle ; yet granting 
it were, even this Foundation perhaps might be fhaken j 
for if nothing but Experience will prevail, there are fome 
Inftances independent of thofe romantic Tales before- 
mentioned, which look very ftrongly that way. 
Ninthly, There was, fo long ago as A. D. 1567, a 
Perfon in Portugal who affirmed, he had aClualiy failed 
through this Streight into Europe, and publiftied imme- 
diately, on his Return, a Relation of his Voyage, 
which, had it been falfe, might have been eafily confuted ; 
but inftead of that, by the King of Portugal?, Command, 
the Book was called in, and very carefully fuppreffed. 
The Proof of this FaCt, as it is very extraordinary and deci- 
five, is thus fet down by the laborious Purchas, in the third 
Part of his Pilgrims, Pag. 840 ; viz. “ I Fhomas Cowles 
“.of Bedminfter in the County of Somerfet, Mariner, do 
“ acknowledge, that fix Years paft, at my being at 
“ Lijbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal, I did hear one 
“ Martin Chacke, a Portugueze of Lijbon, read a Book 
“ of his own making, which he had fet out fix Years 
“ before that Time in Print, in the Portugal Tongue, 
“ declaring. That the faid Martin Chacke had found, 
“ twelve Years now paft, a Way from the Po^nugal 
“ Indies, through a Gulph of the, Newfoundkrnd, which 
“ he thought to be in 59 Degrees of the Elevation of 
“ the North Pole by Means that being in the faid 
“ Indies with four other Ships of great Burden, and h& 
“ himfelf in a fmall Ship of fourfeore Tons, was driven 
“ from the Company of the other four Ships, with a 
“ wefterly Wind *, after which he paffed along by a great 
“ Number of Iflands, which were in the Gulph of the faid 
“ Newfoundland. And after he over-fhot the Gulph, he 
“ faw no more of any other Ifland until he fell in with the 
“ North-weft Part of Ireland, and from thence he took 
“ his CoLirfe homewards, and by that Means he came t© 
“ Lijbon, four or five Weeks before the other four Ships 
“ of his Company that he was feparated from, as 
“ before-faid. And' fince the fame time, I could 
“ never fee any of thofe Books, becaufe the King com- 
5 K manded 
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