I 
434 Captain James’j Foyage into Hudfon’s Bav, Book li 
^ ‘ Tfiefe Refieclions may, to feme Readers, appear 
long, but I hope to very few they will appear ufelefs 
or unentertaining ; for I will freely confefs, that if I 
had not intended thefe Refieclions, I would not have 
inferred this Voyage, though In all refpetfls the beftof 
its kind that^ ever was written. ' But the Excellency of 
Ranujio’ s Colledlion, is allowed to confill in his Re- 
“ marks \ and without Remarks, this Voyage, as well 
‘‘ written as it is, might do a great deal of Mifchief. 
“ Nay, 1 am perfuaded did do a great deal of Mifchief ; 
“ for from the Time of his Return in i632,to 1667, there 
never was any Voyage made into thefe Parts, nor pro- 
bably ever v/oiild have been made, but for the Saga- 
city of Mr. Montague-^ our Embaffador m France^ af- 
terwards ] 3 uke oi Montague^ and Father to the prefent 
Duke, both eminent Friends to the Commerce of this 
Nation. He it was that lurniihied us with the firft Lights 
tliat revived our Correfpondence to HudfoFs i>Vy, to 
which Captain was fent in 1668, and w^e have 
been poffelled of the Trade thither ever hnce. A Trade 
granted to private Perfons, by a Charter in Trull: for 
the public Benefit, which was to arife from their En- 
deavours to find a North- weft Palfage j whi^h public 
Advantage they have neglefted in the very fame Pro- 
portion they have been ftudious after their own *, a 
“ thing fo very common with Companies, that they 
might Certainly be acquitted, if Cuftom could be 
‘‘ efteemed a juft Excufe. Yet from their fettling a 
Trade in thefe Parts, it has been found extremely ad- 
“ vantageoLis, as drawing to their Faftories Indians from 
very diftant Countries, who bring them very rich Furs, 
but who declared alfo that a much larger Trade 
might be carried on, provided their Fadlories were 
“ more in Number, and fixed more conveniently •, nay, 
“ they have brought down and fold, at fome of the Set- 
“ tlemenrs. Copper Oar, fo very rich, that by barely 
“ beating it between two Stones, it has been reduced into 
“ Metal. But neither what they faw, nor what they 
“ heard, could tempt them to alter their Manner of 
proceeding ; they judged, and no Queftion judged 
right, that as they were circumftanced, the Method 
they are in was the mpft beneficial that could be, 
and that by extending their Comimerce they imuft open 
it, and fo render it Icfs beneficial. 
Ail this was natural enough, and I do not repeat 
it here (for I know that I have touched it often before) 
“ out of any Spirit of Malice or Ill-will j for I really 
wifh the Hudfon’s Bay as well as I do any Company ; 
“ but only as it makes for. my Purpofe ; which is to fhew 
that notwithftanding Capt. James was a very honeft 
Man, a very experienced Seaman, and one who very 
“ probably had no private Views ; yet, in his Conclufions 
from this his perilous Expedition, he was abfolutely 
wrong, and by his Authority gave Credit to many 
“ Falfhoods, of which thefe Inftances may fuffice : 
“ I. He thought the tlardfnips in navigating thefe Seas, 
“ and wintering on thefe Coafes, were invincible ; but 
“ we know the contrary. 2. He judged the Country 
“ fo barren as to furnifn no Subfiftance, and the Inhabit- 
“ ants fo poor as to have nothing v/orth feeking ; in 
both which Experience fliews he was miftaken. 
“ 3. He firmly believed, that if any Streight was dif- 
covered more to the North than about the Place he 
“ wintered, it would be impaflable, and its Coafts unin- 
“ habited ; but we are fatisfied this is groundlefs, from 
“ the many Openings difeovered along the Welcome *, 
and their being all in the Neighbourhood of very 
“ friendly and tractable Indian Nations. 4. He was 
clearly fatisfied, that from what he had feen and 
“ difeovered in his Voyage, there no longer remained 
any Hopes of finding fuch a North- w'eft Palfage through 
Hudfon’s Bay: But here too his Art failed him j for even 
‘‘ Capt. Middleton^ w^Iio I think his Equal as a Mariner, 
thought it highly probable, till very lately. 5. He 
, does not appear, from what he has written, to have 
“ had any diftindl Notion of what Part of the Vforld he 
was in, or how the Countries lay round about him ; 
but to the prefent Navigators all this is very clear and 
certain ; v/c know that from Canada to New Mexico^ 
and probably^ even to Califortna^ is ail one Continent 
‘‘ the Weft-fide of which only remains undifcovered j 
‘‘ and we further know, that all that has been hitherto 
found, agrees eXaftly with, and is every way conform- 
able to, the Notions that have been entertained of 
“ fuch a North- weft Paflage, and even with all the tra- 
ditional, and other kind of Accounts, that we have 
“ received of it. But having now made this Piece as 
‘‘ ufeful as we can, without curtailing or interpolating 
it ; let us return to Captain James’ % Conclufion , * 
and having attended him through his long and dan- 
“ geroiis Voyage, his cold an-d comfortlefs wintering, his 
“ difficult and wmnderful Paffiige homewards, let us fee 
“ him fafe affiore, and fo take our leaves.” 
41. The 2 2d of October we arrived in the Road of 
Brijiol^ having been hindered and crofted with much 
contrary^ and tempeftuous Winds and Weather. The 
Ship being brought into Harbour, and haled on dry 
Ground, to look to her, it was there found, that all her cut 
Water were torn and beaten away, together with fourteen 
Feet of her Keel ; much of her Sheathing cut away, her 
Bows broken and bruifed, and much Timber cracked 
aboard, and under the Starboard bulged ; fharp Rocks 
had cut tnrough the Sheathing, the Plank, and an Inch 
and an Half into a Timber that it met withal. Many 
other Defedts there were befides ; fo that it was miracu- 
lous how this Veftel could bring us home again. Being 
all arrived we went to Church, and, gave God Thanks 
for his Prefervation of us amidft fo many Dangers. I 
very well know that what I have here haftily written, 
will never difeourage any noble Spirit, that is minded to 
bring this fo long-tried Adlion to abfolute Effedt ; and it 
is likely vrithal, that there be fome who have a better 
Underftanding, and a furer Way of profecuting it than, 
myfelf have, to whofe Defigns I wiffi a happy Succefs. 
And if they do but make a Review of what hath been 
done, and give more celeftial Obfervations, hydrographi- 
cal Deferiptions, or exadler Pradlice in 'Navigation, it will 
be a moft commendable Labour ; for although I have 
fpent fome Years of my ripeft Age, in procuring Intelli- 
gence from foreign Nations, and have travelled with di- 
verfe honourable and learned Perfonages of this King- 
dom, for their Inftrudlions ; have bought up whatever 
I could find in Print or Manufeript, and what Maps or 
Papers foever conducive to this Bufinefs, that poffibly I 
could procure ; and have lerved voluntary befides, and 
fpent fome time in rendering a Relation fince my coming 
home, and expended withal, of my own Money, in my 
aforefaid Endeavours, and in furnifining extraordinary Ne- 
ceflaries, above 200 /. in ready Money •, yet I repent not, 
but take a great deal of Comfort and Joy, that I am 
able to give an Account, in fom.e reafonable Way, of thofe 
Parts of the World, which Iieretofore I was not fo well 
fatisfied in. 
Thus ends this Voyage, which, as I have hinted be- 
fore, has been feveral times abridged, and more than 
once reprinted at large, but never, that I know of, com- 
pleat, and as it ft'ands in the original Edition’ of 1633; 
which is the Reafon this Book has been fo much valued. 
I have feen many Copies that concluded with Profeftbr 
Gelhhrand’?, Obfervations aftronomical *, but I never met 
with more than one Copy that had the Addrefs to the 
Univerfity of Cambridge ; which, though printed in a 
different Charadler, and in fuch a Manner as if it were a 
Piece by itfelf, yet is thus mentioned in the Title Page 
of this Book : An Advice concerning the Philo fophy of thefe 
late PifeoverieSy by W. W, though the Difeourfe itfelf is 
fubferibed X. Z. Who was the Author of it I cannot 
fay *, but whoever he was, it is plain that he had the Cor- 
reblion of Captain James’s Work, and was himfelf, for 
thofe times, a Perfon of furprizing Knowledge and Free- 
dom of Thought ; and therefore I judged the preferving 
this little Piece, by reprinting it, would be highly agree- 
able to all true Lovers of Learning ; and therefore it is 
here fubjoined. 
To the venerable Artists, and younger Students iir 
Divinity, in the famous Univerfity of Cambridge. 
You Nobly-witted, and Ingenuouily-ftudied, Aca- 
^ demiansj 
