4^4 HISTORY of the Book IL 
Wine of Palm-Trees^ and have feveral other Sorts of 
Liquors. They fmoak very much, and have good . 
Tobacco, which grows in their Country without any 
Culture. 
“ The Climate is very temperate, and the Inhabitants 
live to a great Age, without being troubled with Dip 
eafes. The Country affords all forts of Fruits both of 
the Indies of Europe. They have Abundance of 
“ Indian Wheat, and wild Oats, which are as white 
and as good as Rice. They make Bread of both, but 
cultivate only the former. They haVe large Plains, 
which afford excellent Pafture for all forts of Cattle. 
“ Their Rivers are full of Fifh, and their Woods abound 
with all forts of Birds, efpecially Parrots^ They have 
Monkies and Animals peculiar to that Country. Their 
“ capital City lies "within fix Leagues of the River 
“ which fignifies the River of Gold. The French^ upon 
“ taking their Leave of that King, promifed to return 
“ in 3 6 Moons, i. e. in threeYears, and to bring with them 
‘‘ feveral Goods from Canada.^ to barter with their Gold, 
which they value fo little, that the King bid them take 
as much as they pleafed, which they did, and brought 
aWay each fixty Bars, weighing about two hundred and 
“ forty Pounds. Two of the Adventurers had the Cu- 
“ riofity to go to the Place from whence they bring their 
“ Gold, and informed the others, that the Mines are 
“ within the hollow Parts of the Mountains, from which 
“ the Gold is carried away by Rivers, and is found on 
“ the Banks of thenl; Thofe Rivers are almoft quite 
“ dryed up for four Months in the Year* Moftofthefe 
‘‘ Adventurers returning home, were killed at the Mouth 
“ of the River iS"/. Laurence.^ by an Engtijh Pirate, and 
“ two of them only efcaped, who, after a long Captivity, 
“ during which they had been in feveral Bays in the Eajl 
and Weft Indies^ and in Chma., at laft arrived at Breft *, 
and ofered, upon pain of their Lives, if conduced 
to the Miftiftippi, eafily to find back again from thence 
“ the Way leading to that New Ppm. 
It would be no very difficult Matter to afiemble other 
Pafifages of a like Nature from the Works of various 
Authors, Englijh.i French, and Spanijh, all concurring in 
the Report, that there are very great Nations in the moft 
Northern Parts of and that they trade and have 
Correfpondence with the Inhabitants of fome other Coun- 
try abfolutely unknown *, but that this feems to be unne- 
cefiary after w'hat has been before related. One Thing 
however I will take tire Liberty of hinting to the Reader, 
becaufe I think it may contribute to give fome Light to 
thefe Stories of a civilized Nation in North America % and 
it is this, that the Mexicans theitifelves always acknow- 
ledged, that they came from the North, and were not the 
original Inhabitants of that Country where the Spaniards 
found them i So that if we fuppofe the French Adven- 
turers above-mentioned fpoke Truth, we may very well 
' conclude that it Was not the laft Motezuma, but a former 
Prince of that Name thefe Indians fpoke of ; and that in- 
ftead of being the Mexicans expelled by the Spaniards, 
they may be the original Nation from whom thofe Mexi- 
cans were derived that contended with the Spaniards. This 
[ do not pretend to lay down as a Thing certain, but as a 
Thing poffible, if not probable, and therefore worthy of 
future Confideration. 
Thirteenthly, The laft Argiiment I ffiall offer Is from 
the conferring and comparing together thofe that have 
gone before *, for I think it can hardly be efteemed pof- 
fible, that Nature, Art and Tradition, ftiould confpire 
to lead Mankind into Error in this Refpeft, by affording 
fo many probable Inducements to look upon the finding 
fuch a Paffage to the North-weft as not only probable but 
pra6Ucable. The wifeft Philofophers, as well as Cofmo- 
graphers,have admitted this Propofition, confidering only 
the Reafon of the Thing. The moft able Seamen have 
been of thatOpinion, after repeatedTrials and Experiments; 
fuch as Cahot, Davis, Hudfon, Button and Baffin, not to 
mention others that have been employed in the Danijh 
Service. We find the Rumour of fuch a Paffage fpread 
every where in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as in 
Great Britain, Denmark and Holland. In the Eaft Indies, 
and in the Weft, amongft the Indian Natives, as well as 
European Planters : Whence I conclude, that as no Fic- 
tion was ever fo generally believed, this will fooner or 
later be found a Truth, and then the W^onder will be that 
it was found no fooner. But let us now proceed, from 
the Reafon of the Thing, ;which I have laboured to make 
as clear as I could, to an Hiftorical Account of the Expe- 
ditions which thePerfuafion that there is fuch a Paffage by 
the North-weft has occafioned; in difcourfing of which I 
fhall be as Concife as it is poffible. 
4. The firft who attempted this Difcovery, as has been 
often faid, was the famous John Cahot, towards the latter- 
end of the fifteenth Century, but was prevented from 
finifhing his Difcovery by a Mutiny on board his Ship. 
He conftantly retained his Opinion that there was a Pal- 
fage this Way, and that he fhonld have found it if this 
Accident had not happened. It was however fifty Years 
before another Attempt was made, and then Sir Martin 
Frohijher, in 1576, failed with two Barks in fearch of this 
Paffage. He difeovered in the Height of 62 Degrees, on 
the Coaft of Groenland, a large Inlet, to which he gave 
the Name of FrohiJhePs Streights, through which he fail- 
ed about fixty Leagues, with main Land on both Sides, 
and faw fome of the Inhabitants. He made a fecond and 
a third Voyage, and called the Country he difeovered 
Meta Incognita. In 15 S3 SFc Humphry Gilbert (diiltd. to 
the River of St . Laurence, took Poffeffiion of that Country 
which the French call Canada, and fettled our Fifliery upon 
that Coaft. In 1585 Capt. John Davis, of whom we 
have given elfewhere a large Account, made an Attempt 
to find this North-weft Paflage, and difeovered a Part of 
Groenland, to which he gave the Name of the Land of 
Defolation. He failed afterwards as high as 64 Degrees 
15 Minutes, through that which has been fince called 
DavNs Streights, and thence to theT.atitude of 66 De- 
grees 40 Minutes. In 1586 he made another Voyage, in 
which he made farther DifeoVeries, and returned full of 
Elopes that a third Voyage would compleat his Defign. 
Accordingly in 1587 he proceeded through Davis's 
Streights to of 72 Degrees 12 Minutes, and 
found an open Sea to the South-weft. 
In 1610 Mr. Henry Hudfon, after he had in vain made 
Trial of the North-eaft Paffage, attempted a Difcovery 
to the North-weft, and made a great Progrefs therein ; 
paffing through the Streights that have fince bore his 
Name into a large open Sea, csiWed Hudfon' s Bay, and 
would have proceeded further, but was hindered by a 
Mutiny among his Seamen, who bafely deferted him, as 
we have formerly mentioned. In 1612 James Hall and 
William Baffin made a like Attempt, in which the former 
was killed by a Savage. This Accident did not hinder 
Mr. Baffin from going thither in the Year 1615, who pro- 
ceeded to the utmoft Extremity of that Sea, which com- 
municated with Davis's Streights, and found it to be no 
other than a large Bay, which has been fince known by 
his Name. He went thither again the next Year, and 
difeovered an Inlet, which he called Sir Fhomas Smith's 
Sound, in the Latitude of 78 Degrees, but returned to 
England without Succefs, though he remained firm in his 
Opinion of a North-weft Paffage to his Death, which hap- ' 
pened in the Eaft^ Indies, yet his Mifcarriage difeou- 
raged for a long Time any Attempts from hence. 
5. Mr. Henry Button, (afterwards Sir Henry) in the 
Year 1611, having been encouraged by Prince Henry to 
attempt a more perfed Knowledge of that Sea which had 
been found by Mr. Hudfon, went thither accordingly, 
and proceeded 200 Leagues farther to the South-weft, 
coafting along a great Continent, to which he gave the 
Name of New South Wales, and winter’d at Port-Nelfon ^ 
then failing crofs that Sea, which has fince been called 
Button's Bay, he difeovered another Country, to which 
he gave the Name of New North Wales, which feems to 
be only an Ifland in that great Sea, which opens into the 
Northern Ocean by the Paffages of Hudfon' s Streights and 
Davis's Streights, and of which Hudfon's Bay, Button's 
Bay, and Baffin's Bay, are only Parts, bounded by the 
Continents of Groenland and North America. In his win- 
tering at Port-Nelfon, which is in the Latitude of 57 De- 
grees 10 Minutes North, he loft the beft Part of his Crew 
through extreme Cold, notwithftanding all the Precau- 
tions 
