Chap. I. and his wintering in Chariton Ifland. .435 
® penetrating the Difpofition of the different Parts of 
the Globe, independent of Difcoveries which frequent- 
ly owe as much to Accident as to Reafon ; In regard 
to Authority, Americus Vefpucius^ v/ho had the beft 
“ Genius for Theory of any Man of his Time, and 
“ . gave his Name to the new difcovered Continent, not be- 
“ caufe he firfl found it, but becaufe he firft laid it down 
“ handfomely in a Map, and was miftaken in reference to 
“ the Southern Paffage •, therefore though we may al- 
low Capt. James to be as great a Man, in doing which 
perhaps we pay him no great Compliment ; yet this 
‘‘ will give no great San6lion to his Authority j for he 
“ may as well be miftaken in the North, as the famous 
“ Floreiitin in the South : Befides, Difappointment gives 
“ a Bias to moft Mens Opinion, and. Why may we not 
fuppofe fomething of this in both Cafes ? The Paf- 
‘‘ fage from the North Seas into the South, by the Str eights 
before mentioned, and the Coaft to the Northward in 
“ the fame Latitudes, refembling, in all Refpedts, that 
“ to the Southward, being low broken Iflands before a 
“ bold rocky Shore, fuggefts very naturally, that there 
“ is fomc fuch Paffage there. 
“ But after laying dow'n thefe Reafons, Capt. James 
“ very plainly difcovers how much they have operated 
“ upon his own Mind, and to how great a Degree he 
“ is fatisfied no North- weft Paffage is to be found •, he 
“ attacks the very Expediency of finding it, and feems 
“ to think it an Argument there is no fuch Paffage, be- 
“ caufe he has wrought himfelf into a Notion that it 
“ would be of no great Confequence,- if there was fuch 
a Paffage. Why be it fo ; But there was no fort of 
“ Occafion for making his perilous Voyage into Hud- 
“ foA s Bay, to know this \ he might have faid all that he 
has faid againft the Expediency of enquiring any farther 
‘‘ after the North-weft Paffage, without ftirring from 
“ Brijiol. It is therefore manifeft, that his failing in 
“ his hoped-for Difcovery changed his Mind, and in- 
“ duced him to fee Things in a different Light, than 
“ he did before ; becaufe otherwife, thofe very Argu- 
“ ments which he urges at laft againft making any future 
“ Attempts on this Side were as ftrong, to have diffuad- 
“ ed his going. If before he went he never thought of, 
“ or regarded, thefe Arguments, he did not fufficiently 
“ .weigh and examine the Nature of the Expedition in 
“ which he rifqued his Life, and on which he fet his 
“ Reputation .at Stake. But if he had (which is certain- 
ly much more probable) taken Pains to examine all 
‘‘ thefe Reafons •, then his very going, his wintering, and 
the Conftancy he lEewed in aiming at the Profecution 
of the Difcovery afterwards, vifibly dernonftrate tliofe 
Reafons made no Impreffion on him then •, if they had, 
he would have ftaid at home, and never have given 
the King, or the Adventurers, fuch Encourage- 
ment as was requifite for the fitting him out for that 
Voyage ; but this we muft own would be not much 
to the Purpofe, if the Reafons he gives us were ab- 
folutely conclufive for whether he bethought him- 
felf of them firft or laft, makes nothing for or againft 
the Reafons themfelves ; but it fo falls out that when 
“ maturely confidered, they will be found to have very 
“ little or no Weight at all. Asjo the Narrownefs, or 
“ Inconvenience, of the Streight, if there be one, that is 
“ mere Matter of Conjedure, fo is the Length of it j 
the Hardfliips of the Voyage are now known to be 
“ very inconfiderable j and as to its being no fhorter 
Rout to the Eaji-Indies than by the £ape of Good Hope, 
no body ever laid that it was. He acknowledges it is 
“ much nearer to the South Seas, to T erra Borealis Incog- 
7Tita, to Japan and China, which is all that is defired, 
and more than fufficient to recommend it. 
“ It is clear enough, from the Whole of Capt. 
Account that he had a very indifferent Opinion of 
his Expedition, and confidered it in no other Light than 
as tending to fatisfy the Englijh Nation, that it was to 
no fort of Purpofe to venture any more Veffels into 
thofe Seas, and upon thofe Coafts, upon that or 
any other Defign ; for it is plain' that he thought a 
more barren, a more inhofpitable, and more wwth- 
lefs. Part of the World was not to be found i yet Ex- 
VoL. II. Numb. 58. 
“ perience has fince ftiewn us, that as wild andAvafte as 
“ the Countries about HudfoAs Bay were and are, yet they 
“ have been found to deferve both Notice and Keeping ; 
“ and I dare fay, have produced this Nation full as rniichi? 
“ if not more, than the Colony of Canada, ftriclly and di~ 
“ ftindlly confidered, ever did to the Frennh which is a 
“ Proof that no Man’s Authority ought to be regarded 
“ where it tends to difcourage a Nation from extend- 
“ ing its Navigations or Difcoveries. It is not intended 
“ by this, to leffen the Reputation of Capt. James, or 
“ that Efteem which his Work has very juftly procured 
“ him from the very beft Judges. There is no doubt, 
“ that he did wTat he could, and much more than moft 
“ other Men could have done j and there is as little 
“ Reafon to doubt, that he fpoke what he thought, and 
“ v/hat he fpoke was upon good Grounds •, but not with- 
“ ftanding this, we fee he was miftaken, and miftaken in 
“ many Refpefts. He doubtlefs conceived, that a more 
“ perilous Navigation could not be, and that it would be 
“ a very difficult Thing to fend Ships into this Bay con- 
“ ftantly without lofing t^em ; yet this is a Thing now 
“ io common, that there is nothing of Wonder in it ; 
“ he apprehended that there muft be always an infinite 
“ Difficulty in failing amongft Mifts and Ice, but we fee 
“ from Capt, Middiet oFs Letters, that there is now very 
“ little in this, and that the Seamen and Officers ufed 
“ to the Hudfon\ Bay Trade, have fo far overcome all 
“ Inconveniencies, that taking it with every Circumftance, 
“ there is, perhaps, no Navigation now ufed, fo fafe as 
“ this -, and from the Account he has given us of his 
“ Wintering, we may very fairly infer, that he never fo 
“ much as fufpedled that an Englijh Eaftory would be 
“ fettled in a higher Latitude than Charlton IJland, and 
“ yet the Faftory of Fort Churchill has fubfifted for 
“ many Years. There is one Paffage in his Voyage which 
“ fhews his very great Sagacity ^ for by pulling up fomC 
“ Stakes in a defart Ifiand, and perceiving they were 
“ cut by a fharp Inftrument, he judged that the Savages 
“ muft have had fome Communication with Chriftians, 
“ in which he judged very right; but it was near half a 
“ Century after, before this Riddle could be explained, 
“ or any body could guefs, that thefe Savages had thofe 
“ Hatchets from thtFre7uh. 
“ But to return to the North-weft Paffage. The Ex- 
“ perience we have of thefe Countries has convinced us 
“ of many things, that to Captain James, without doubt, 
“ after his Return from this Expedition, would have ap- 
“ peared abfurd and incredible. As for Inftance, that 
“ the Continent Weft and North- weft from Charlto7i 
“ IJland, is inhabited by feveral Nations, and that the 
“ moft Northern of thefe Nations are the beft clad and 
“ the moft civilized. Amongft thefe there is a Nation, 
“ diftinguiflied by the Name of the Mofe7nleek Indians, 
“ who are not only a very rational People themfelves, 
“ but vrho conftantly affirm, and there is no Reafon to 
“ fufpeft that they affirm a Falffiood, there are large 
“ Towns, and a civilized People, to the North-weft of 
“ them, who trade upon a large fait Lake, in Veffels 
“ twenty times as big as their Canoes ; and what Nations 
“ may live beyond thefe, is, indeed,, to us uncertain ; 
“ but this is very certain, that if there be a North-weft 
“ Paffage they muft inhabit the Coafts of it •, and there 
“ never yet was a Country found inhabited, but it was 
“ found alfo that thofe Inhabitants might be traded with 
“ to Advantage. But this is not all, the oppofite Coaft 
“ muft, very probably, be inhabited too, and it is very 
“ likely that the Streight that falls into the South Seas, 
“ may be under a Climate, milder, in many refpedls, 
“ than Charlton IJland in the Summer. Upon the whole, 
“ therefore, all the Difficulties and Difeouragements, 
“ which, from too ftrong a Senfe of his own Difappoint- 
“ ment, Captain James has conjured up, fink to nothing, 
“ when duly confidered and compared with the Circum- 
“ ftances that later Difcoveries have brought to light ; fo 
“ that there feems to be no Reafon his Conjedfures ffiould 
“ have any Weight to deter us from profecuting Attempts 
“ on this Side, even though they ffiould ftill continue to 
“ prove, in feveral Inftances, as they have hitherto done, 
‘‘ abortive. 
5 S ^ J Theft 
