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 PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 Uuke University 
 
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 Kare Uooks 
 
A 
 
 DISCOURSE, 
 
 INTENDED TO COMMEMORATE THE 
 
 DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 
 
 BY Chrijiopher Columbus ; 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE HISTORICAL 
 SOCIETY IN MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE 23d DAY 
 OF OCTOBER, 1792, BEING THE COMPLE- 
 TION OF THE THIRD CENTURY SINCE 
 THAT MEMORABLE EVENT. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 FOUR DISSERTATIONS, 
 
 Conn filed ivitb various farts of the DifiourfCf viz, 
 
 I. On the circumnavigation of Africa by the ancients. 
 
 %. An Examination of the pretenfions of Martin Bebaim to 
 a difcovery of America prior to that of Columbus, with a 
 Chronological detail of all the Difcoverics made in the 15th 
 Century. 
 
 3. On the queflion, whether the Honey-bee is a native of Amer- 
 
 ica ? 
 
 4. On the colour of the native Americans mAdit recent popula- 
 
 tion of this Continent. 
 
 BY JEREMY BELKNAP, D. D. 
 
 Venient annh 
 
 Stculaferis, ijitibus Oceanus 
 Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens 
 Pateat tellus, Tiphyfque nouos 
 Detegat orbes ; ncc Jit terrls 
 Ultima Thule." 
 
 Seneca's Medea, -written in the reign oJ'HtKO , 
 
 PRINTED AT THE i^poUo I3rCfe, IN BOSTON, 
 
 BY BELKNAP AND HALL, 
 
 STATE STREET, mdccxcu. 
 
AT a Meeting of the Hijlorical Society of 
 Maffachufetts, 06lober 23d, 1792 ; 
 Voted, That Dr. Aaron Dexter, Rev. Dr. 
 Peter Thacher, and William Tudor, Efq. be 
 a Committee to wait on the Rev. Dr. Jeremy 
 Belknap, and in the name of the Society, to 
 thank him for the Difcourfe delivered by him 
 this day, at their requeft, upon the fubjefl of 
 the Difcovery of America hy Columbus. 
 Atteft, G. R. MINOT, 
 
 Recording Secretary, 
 
 C I 
 
DiJlriSl of Maffachufetts, to wit : 
 
 / ^N T>E it remembered, That on the twenty- 
 y L.S.J J3 third dayot October, in the feventeenth 
 ^ — year of the Independence of the United 
 States of America, Jeremy Belknap of the faid 
 diftricl, hath depofiied in this office the titleof a book, 
 the right whereof he claims as Author, in the words 
 following, to wit, " A Difcourfe intended to com- 
 memorate the Difcovery of America by Chrijlopher 
 Coluvibus ; delivered at the requeft ot the Hiftorical 
 Society, in Maflachufetts, on the twenty-third day of 
 October, 1792, being the completion of the third 
 Century fince that memorable event. To which are 
 added four DiiTertations connefted with various parts 
 of the Difcourfe, viz. 
 *' 1. On the circumnavigation of Africa by the 
 
 Ancients. 
 "2. An examination of the pretenfions oi Martin 
 Eehai?n to a difcovery ot America prior to that 
 of Coluvibus, with a Chronological detail of all 
 the Difcoveries made in the 13th Century. 
 *' 3. On the queftion, whether the Honey-bee is a 
 
 native of America ? 
 " 4. On the colour of the native Americans and 
 the recent population of this Continent. 
 "BY JEREMY BELKNAP, d. d." 
 In contormity to the Aft of the Congrefs ot the 
 United States, intituled " An Aft for the encourage- 
 ment of learning, by fecuring the copies of Maps, 
 Charts and Books to the authors and proprietors ot 
 fuch copies, during the times therein mentioned." 
 
 N. GOODALE, Clerk of the 
 Dijlrid of Uajfachufetis,. 
 A true copy of Record, 
 Attefi, N. Good ALE, 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 DICOVERY OF AMERICA, 
 
 W E are met together, this day, my 
 refpeftable auditors, to commemorate an event; 
 which, whether it be confidered in its caufes, 
 in its execution, or in its confequences, muft 
 be acknowledged, a fplendid inftance of the 
 accomphflimcnt of that remarkable predic- 
 tion of the prophet, 
 
 Daniel, Chap. xii. ver. 4. 
 " ManyJJiall run to and fro and knowledge Jliall 
 he increafed." 
 
 Thefe words in their obvious and literal 
 meaning point out a vafl increafe of fcience, 
 and the (ubferviency of travelling to this im- 
 portant purpofe. The time to which they 
 refer cannot be precifely defined ; but it mud 
 
 be 
 
6 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 be confidered as remote from that in which 
 they were delivered ; and, it is evidently con- 
 nefted with the appearance of that glorious 
 perfon " Michael the Prince," whofe coming 
 and kingdom, and the falvation of which he 
 is the author are foretold in the fame proph- 
 ecy. 
 
 A thought of this kind would not readily 
 have occurred to the mind of a captive Jew, 
 had he not been under the influence of the 
 prophetic fpirit. Tranfported by the fortune 
 of war into the dominions of a foreign Prince, 
 as was Daniel, his higheft expe£lation would 
 be to return to the land of his nativity and 
 lefume his former employments and mode of 
 acquiring knowledge ; the objedls of which 
 were, the antiquities of the world, the doc- 
 trine of the divine unity, the feries of prophe- 
 cy, the ritual worfhip and the fyftem of moral 
 duty, which were taught in the facred books. 
 The hope of fuch a return, grounded on a 
 divine promife was one fource of confolation 
 to the Jews in their captivity ; but this proph- 
 et was favoured with fuch divine communica- 
 tions refpefting the future fortunes of his na- 
 tion and the Hate of the Church of God un- 
 der the reign of the MelTiah, as carried his 
 
 views 
 
f DISCOVERY 01 AMERICA. 7 
 
 \iews into the moft diftant ages, and prefent- 
 ed fcenes and events, of a nature very differ- 
 ent from the genius and charadler of the times 
 in which he lived. Among thefe, the increafc 
 of fcience, as it is connefted with traveUing, 
 is not the leaft confpicuous. Though brief- 
 ly mentioned, yet it is placed among the mofl 
 important fa6ls, and is reprefented as one of 
 the happy events attending the reign of the 
 Prince Mefliah, of the increafe of whofe gov- 
 ernment and peace there Ihall be no end. 
 
 Subfequent ages and tranfadions have 
 proved that this prediction was founded in 
 truth. Time has unfolded what was forefeen 
 in prophetic vifion ; and the hand of divine 
 Providence has fpread before our eyes, thofe 
 great events, which many prophets and wife 
 men defired to fee, but faw them not. 
 
 As " the teftimony of Jefus is the fpirit of 
 prophecy," fo we may very properly confider 
 the travels of the Apo files to fpread the knowl- 
 edge of the gofpel, as one capital inflance of 
 the fulfilment of Daniel's predi6lion. By 
 virtue of the commifTion which they received 
 from their Lord, and the fpecial powers with 
 which they were vefled, particularly the gift 
 of tongues, thofe chofen witnelTes carried the 
 
 knowledge 
 
6 A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 knowledge of the truth to all parts of the 
 world, then known ; fo that it might be faid 
 of them, as of the luminaries of heaven, " their 
 found went into all the earth and their words 
 to the end of the world ; there was no fpeech 
 nor language where their voice was not 
 heard." The effefts of that evangelic mif- 
 fion, though in fome places tranfient, yet in 
 others were abiding. Though a corrupt form 
 of chriilianity overfpread many of the na- 
 tions who had heard the glad tidings of fal- 
 vation ; yet fo much of the truth remained, 
 as to be a foundation for reviving the pure 
 dodrines and pradlices of the apollolic age, 
 when a concurrence of circumftances prefent- 
 ed a favourable opportunity. 
 
 Befide the miraculous fpreading of divine 
 truth by the labours and travels of the Apof- 
 tles, there was no remarkable event, which 
 might be called another inflance of the ac- 
 complifhment of the prophecy of Daniel, 
 till feveral centuries had elapfed. Other 
 caufes then contributed to produce events, 
 which, either in their nature or confequences, 
 proved beneficial to the intereft of fcience. 
 Even the fuperftition which prompted the 
 crufades, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, 
 
 opened 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 9 
 
 (5pened a communication between the moft 
 diftant countries of Europe and Afia ; and 
 the adventurers, who returned from the holy 
 land, brought home a tafte for the manners, 
 habits and produftions of the eaft, which 
 proved favourable to the fpirit of commerce ; 
 the moft powerful of all caufe^ which have 
 contributed to enlarge the fphere of fcience ; 
 becaufe it is ftimulatcd by one of the moft 
 aftive principles of the human mind. 
 
 But even the operations of commerce were 
 flow and languid, till the difcovery of the 
 macrnetic needle, in the beorinnins of the 
 fourteenth century. Before that period, the 
 cautious mariner followed the indentings of 
 the ftiore, and confumed much time in creep- 
 ing along from Cape to Cape ; feeking a port 
 before every tempeft, and drawing up his bark 
 to land during the reign of winter, or of ad- 
 verfe winds. But when the polarity of the 
 magnet became known, he ventured farther 
 into the ocean, and began to alTume that do- 
 minion over the fea, for which man had a 
 gra'it from his Creator, when he was original- 
 ly formed in the divine image. Then the 
 deep rooted errors of antiquity were gradual- 
 
 B ly 
 
lo A DISCOURSE on tui 
 
 ly correfled : The torrid and frigid zone* 
 were found to be habitable. The dream of 
 Scipio proved to be an illufion : Thule was 
 no longer the laft of lands, nor the pillars of 
 Hercules the boundary of the univerfe. 
 
 About the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 when the Portuguefe under the condudl of 
 Prince Henry, and afterward of King John 
 IL were pulhirig their difcoveries along the 
 weflern flioVei of Africa^ to find a palfage by 
 the fouth to India ; a genius arofe, whofe 
 memory has been preferred with veneration 
 in the pages of hiflory, as the inllrument of 
 enlarging the region of fcience and commerce^ 
 beyond any of his predecelTors. CHRIST- 
 OPHER COLUMBUS, a native of the 
 Republic of Genoa, was born in the year 
 1447, and at the age of fourteen entered on 
 a feafaring life, as the proper fphere, in which 
 his vigorotis mind was deftined to perforni ex- 
 ploits which ftiould aftonifh mankind.* He 
 was educated in the fciences of Geometry 
 atid Aflronomy, which form the bafis of nav- 
 igation ; 
 
 * Life of Columbus by liis fon Ferdinand — 
 Cliap. 4. See Vol. II. of ChurchiU's ColleQion 
 of Voyages, 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. u 
 
 igation ; and he was well verfed in Cofmo- 
 graphy, Hiftory and Philofophy. His a£live 
 and enterprifing genius, though it enabled 
 him to comprehend the old fyftems, yet would 
 not fufFer him to reft in their decifions, how- 
 ever fandified by time or by venerable names ; 
 but, determined to examine them by a6lual 
 experiment, he firft viCted the feas within the 
 polar circle, and afterward thofe parts of Af- 
 rica, which the Portuguefe had dilcovered, as 
 far as the coaft of Guinea ; and by the time 
 that he had attained the age of thirty-feven, 
 he had from his own experience received the 
 fulleft convi6lion, that the opinion of the an- 
 cients refpe<3:ing the torrid and frigid zones 
 was void of any juft foundation. 
 
 When an old fyftem is found erroneous in 
 one point, it is natural to fulpeQ; it of farther 
 imperfeflions ; and when one difficulty is o- 
 vercome, others appear lefs formidable. Such 
 was the cafe with Columbus ; and his views 
 were accelerated by an incident, which threat- 
 ened to put an end to his life. During one 
 of his voyages, the fliip in which he failed 
 took fire in an engagement with a Venetian 
 ga^Uey, and the crew were obliged to Irrip in- 
 to 
 
tt A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 to the fea, to avoid periQiing in the flames. 
 In this extremity, Columbus by the help of a^ 
 floating oar fwam upwards of two leagues, to 
 the coafl of Portugal near Lifl>on, and met 
 with a welcome reception from many of his 
 countrymen who were fettled there. 
 
 At Lifbon, he married the daughter of 
 Pereftrello, an old feainan, who had been 
 concerned in the difcovery of Porto Santo 
 ?ind Madeira; from whofe journals and charts, 
 he received the higbeft entertainment. Pur- 
 fuing his inquiries in Geography, and obferv- 
 ing what flow progrefs the Portuguefe made 
 in their attempts to find a way round Africa 
 to India, " he began to refleft that as the 
 Portuguefe travelled fo far fouthward, it were 
 no lefs proper to fail wefliward,"* and that it 
 was reafonable to expefl to find the defired 
 land in that dire6lion. 
 
 It muft here be remembered, that India 
 was in part known to the ancients, and that 
 its rich and ufeful produdions had for many 
 centuries been conveyed into Europe, either 
 by Caravans through the defarts of Syria and 
 Arabia; or by the way of the Red Sea, through 
 
 Egypt, 
 
 * Life, Chap. V. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. i^ 
 
 Egypt, into the Mediterranean.* This lu- 
 crative commerce had been fucceflively en- 
 groffed by the Phenicians, the Hebrews, the 
 Egyptians, the AfTyrians, the Palmyrenes, 
 the Arabians, the Genoefe and the Venetians. 
 The Portuguefe were then feeking it by at- 
 tempting the circumnavigation of Africa ; and 
 their expeftation of finding it in that direc- 
 tion was grounded on ancient hiftorical tra- 
 ditions, that a voyage had been formerly 
 made by the orders of Necho King of Egypt, 
 from the Red Sea, round the fouthern part 
 of Africa to the ftraights of Hercules ; and 
 that the fame route had been traverfed by 
 Hanno the Carthaginian, by Eudoxus the 
 Egyptian and others. The Portuguefe had 
 confumed about half a century in making va- 
 rious attempts, and had advanced no farther, 
 on the wellern Coafl of Africa, than ju ft to 
 crofs the Equator, when Columbus conceiv- 
 ed his great defign of finding India in the 
 weft. 
 
 The caufes which led him to entertain 
 this idea are diftinguiftied by his fon, the 
 writer of his life into thefe three,t " natural 
 
 rcafon, 
 
 * Robertfon's India. Bruce's Travels. 
 
 + Life, Ch^p. \']. 
 
M A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 reafon, the authority of writers, and the teftU 
 tnony of failors." 
 
 By the help of '-'reafon," he argued in this 
 Tnanner, That the earth and fea compofed 
 one globe or fphere. This was known by 
 obferving the fliadow of the earth in lunar 
 ^clipfes. Hence he concluded that it might 
 be travelled over from eaft to weft or from 
 weft to eaft. It had been explored to the 
 the eaft by fome European travellers as fai' 
 as Cipango or Japan, and as far weftward as 
 the Azores or Weftern Iflands, The re- 
 maining fpace though now known to be more 
 than half, he fuppofed to be but one third 
 part of the circumference of the globe. If 
 this fpace, were an open fea, he imagined it 
 might be eafily failed over ; and if there were 
 any land extending ealiwardly beyond the 
 known limits of Afia. he fuppofed that it muft 
 be nearer to Spain by the weft than by the 
 eaft. For it was then a received opinion 
 that the continent and iflands of India ex- 
 tended over one third part of the circumfer- 
 ence of the globe ; that aiiother third part 
 was comprehended between India and the 
 weftern fiiore of Spain ; therefore it was con- 
 cluded, that the caftern part of India muft be 
 
 as 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. t^ 
 
 as near to Spain as the weftern part. This- 
 opinion though now known to be erroneous, 
 yet being then admitted as true, made it ap- 
 pear to Columbus veiy eafy and pra6licable 
 to difcover India in the wefl. He hoped al- 
 io that between Spain and India, in that di- 
 rection, there might be found fome iflands 5 
 by the help of which, as refling places in his^ 
 voyage, he might the better purfue his main 
 defign. The probability of the exiftence of 
 land in that Ocean, he argued, partly from 
 the opinion of philofophers, that there waj 
 more land than Tea on the furface of the 
 globe ; and partly from the neceflity of x 
 counterpoife in the weft, for the immenfe 
 quantity of land which was known to be in 
 the eaft. 
 
 Another fource from which he drew his- 
 conclufion, was " the authority of learned, 
 men," who had affirmed the poflibility of fail- 
 ing from the weftern coaft of Spain, to the 
 eaftern bounds of India. Some of the an- 
 cient Geographers had admitted this for 
 truth, and one of them* had affirmed that 
 forty days were fufficient to perform this nav^ 
 igation. Thefe authcfities fell in with the 
 
 theory 
 * Pliny. 
 
i6 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 theory which Columbus had formed ; and 
 having as early as 1474, communicated his 
 ideas in writing to Paul, a learned Phyfician 
 of Florence, he received from him letters of 
 that date, confirming his opinion and encour- 
 aging his dcfign ; accompanied with a chart, 
 in which Paul had laid down the city of 
 Quifay (fuppofed to be the capital of China) 
 but little more than two thoufand leagues 
 weftward from Lifbon, which in fa 61; is but 
 half the diftance. Thus by arguing from 
 true principles, and by indulging conjeflures 
 partly well founded and partly erroneous, 
 Columbus was led to the execution of a plan, 
 bold in its conception, and to his view eafily 
 praQicable ; for great minds overlook inter- 
 mediate obftacles, which men of fmaller views 
 magnify into infuperable difhculties. 
 
 The third ground on which he formed his 
 idea was " the teftimony of mariners ;" a clafs 
 of men who at that time, and in that imper- 
 fefl; ftate of fcience, were too prone to mix 
 fable with fa6l ; and were often milled by ap- 
 pearances, which they could not folve. In 
 the fea, between Madeira and the Weftern 
 I Hands, pieces of carved wood and large joints 
 of cane had been difcovered, which were fup- 
 pofed 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 17 
 
 pofed to be brought by vvefteily winds. 
 Branches of pine trees, a canoe, and two hu- 
 man bodies of a complexion difFerent from 
 the Europeans and Africans had been found, 
 on the ftiores of thefe iflands. Some na- 
 vigators had affirmed, that they had feen 
 iflands not more than an hundred leagues 
 wefl;ward from the Azores. There was a 
 tradition, that when Spain was cdnquered by 
 the Moors in the eighth century, feven Bifh- 
 ops who were exiled from their country, had 
 built feven cities and churches, on an iflandcal- 
 led Antilla ; which was fuppofcd to be not more 
 than two hundred leagues weft of the Canaries ; 
 and it was faid that a Portuguefe fhip had 
 once difcovered this ifland, but could never 
 find it again. Thefe ftories, partly true and 
 partly fabulous, had their efFeft on the mind 
 ©f Columbus. He believed that iflands 
 were to be found, wcftward of the Azores and 
 Canaries, though according to his theory, they 
 were at a greater djftance than any of his 
 contemporaries had imagined. His candour 
 led him to adopt an opinion from Pliny re- 
 fpcding floating iflands, by the help of which 
 he accounted for the appearances related to 
 C him, 
 
i8 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 him. by his marine brethren. It is not im- 
 pfobable that the large iflands of floating 
 ice, driven from the Polar Seas to the fouth- 
 ward ; or the Fog Banks, which form many 
 lingular appearances refembling land and 
 trees, might have been the true foundation of 
 this opinion and of thefe reports.* 
 
 It 
 
 * The following account of a curious deception, 
 €xtra£lecl from the Gentleman's Magazine, may eluc- 
 idate the above obfervations. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, 1752, page 88. — "March 
 4, 1748 — 9, at two in the afternoon, made land, 
 which bore N. ■ E. feven leagues diftance by ef- 
 timation : at live tacked, being about three Je«<gues 
 from faid ifland, wind E. S. E. latitude by obferva- 
 tion 49^ 40' ;■ longitude 24^ 30', from the lizard. This 
 ifland ftretches N. W. and S. E. about 5 leagues long, 
 and 9 miles wide. On the fouth fide fine valleys and 
 a great number of birds. 
 
 March 5, faid ifland bore N. three leagues. N. W. 
 a reef of rocks three miles. This day a fhip's maft 
 came along fide. On the fouth point of faid ifland 
 is a fmall marlhy iiland." 
 
 " A copy of my journal on board the fnow St. Paul 
 of London, bound from South Carolina to London. 
 " William Otton, Commander'" 
 
 P. S. Captain Otton thought he faw a tent on the 
 illand, and would have gone alhore, but had unfortu- 
 ;iately flove his boat fome time before. 
 
 Gent. Mag. 175 1,/?. 235. — "Commodore Rodney 
 is commiffioned to go in queft of an ifland, which, ac- 
 cording to the report of a mafter of a (hip, and fome 
 
 others^ 
 
DISCOVERY OP AMERICA. 19 
 
 It is not pretended that Columbus was the 
 only perfon of his age who had acquired thefe 
 ideas of the form, dimenfions and balancing 
 of the globe ; but he was one of the few who 
 had begun to think for themfelves, and he had 
 a genius of that kind, which makes ufe of fpec- 
 
 ulation 
 
 others, on examination before the Lords ot the Ad- 
 miralty, h'es about 50*^ N. and about 300 leagues weft 
 of England. Capt. Murdock Mackenzie, an excel- 
 lent mathematician, and author of the fea charts of 
 the Orkney and Lewis ifiands, attends hira in the 
 Culloden floop, to bring back an account of what dif- 
 coveries he may make. As this Ifland lies out of the 
 track of the trade to America, it is fuppofed to have 
 been mifled by navigators to our colonics, though 
 marked in fome Dutch viaps. If the Commodore dif- 
 covers it, he is to take poireilion of it by the name of 
 Rodney's ifland." 
 
 Gent. Mag. 1752, p. 189. — " Friday, April 10, 
 1752, Commodore Rodney arrived at Woolwich ; 
 he had been cruifing ten days in queft of an illand, 
 and the men at the top-maft-head were more than 
 once deceived with what the failors call fog-banks. 
 About the 6th or 7th day (he crew obferved branches 
 of trees with their leaves on, and flights of gulls, 
 and pieces of ftiipwreck, which are generally regarded 
 as certain figns oi an adjacent flrore, but could not. 
 difcover any." 
 
 N. B. The ifland marked in the Dutch maps, lies 
 in latitude 57*^, and longitude 13" W. It has been 
 feen by American Ihips in their pafTage from RufTia, 
 and is now marked in the Englifli charts ; it could not 
 have been miflaken for this imaginary ifland, being 
 but a fingle rock. 
 
&0 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 ulation and reafoning only as excitements 
 to aftion. He was not a clofet proje£lor, but 
 an enlerprifing adventurer ; and having ef- 
 tablifhed his theory on principles, he was de- 
 termined to exert himfelf to the utmoft, to 
 demonftrate its truth by experiment. But 
 deeming the enterprife too great to be under- 
 taken by any but a fovereign ftate, he firft ap- 
 plied (as it is faid) to the Republic of Genoa, 
 by whom his proje£l was treated as vifionary .* 
 He then propofed his plan to John II. King 
 of Portugal, who, though a Prince of good 
 underllanding and of an enterprifing difpofi- 
 tion, yet was fo deeply engaged in profccuting 
 difcoveries on the African coafl, with a view 
 to find a way to India round that continent ; 
 and had been at fo vafl an expenfe without 
 any confiderable fuccefs, that he had no in- 
 clination to accept the terms which Columbus 
 propofed. Influenced however by the advice 
 pf Calzadilla, a favourite courtier, he private- 
 
 * This is faid on the authority of Herrera the 
 Spanifh hiftorian ; Ferdinando Columbus, in the life 
 of his father, fays nothing of it; but reprefents his 
 application to the King of Portugal as the firft, an4 
 gives this reafon for it, " bccaufe he lived under 
 him." 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. &% 
 
 ly gave orders to a fliip, bound to the iflands 
 of Cape de Verd, to attempt a difcovery in 
 the weft, but through ignorance and want of 
 enterprife, the navigators, after wandering 
 for fome time in the ocean and making no 
 difcovery, reached their deftined port and 
 turned the projeft of Columbus mto ridicule. 
 
 Difgufted with this bafe artifice he quitted 
 Portugal, and went to Ferdinand, King of 
 Spain, having previoufly fent his brother to 
 England to folicit the patronage of Henry 
 VII. But being taken by pirates, and de- 
 tained feveral years in captivity, Bartholo- 
 mew had it not in his power to reveal his pro- 
 je£l to Henry, till Chriftopher Columbus had 
 fucceeded in Spain. Before this could be ac- 
 complifhed, he had various obftacles to fur- 
 mount ; and it was not till after feven years 
 of painful felicitation that he obtained his re- 
 queft. 
 
 The objections made to the prcpofal of 
 Columbus, by the mofl learned men in Spain, 
 to whom the confideration of it was referred, 
 will give us fome idea of the ftate of geogra- 
 phical fcience at that time. One obje^ion 
 was, How fhould he knew more than all the 
 
 wife 
 
ss A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 wik men and fkilful failors who had exifted 
 iince the creation ? Another was the author- 
 ity of Seneca who had doubted whether it 
 were pofiible to navigate the ocean at any 
 -great diftance from the fhore ; but admitting 
 that it were navigable, they imagined, that 
 three years would be required to perform the 
 voyage, which Columbus propofed. A 
 third was, that if a Ihip fhould fail weftward 
 on a round globe, fhe would neceffarily go 
 down, on the oppofite fide, and then it would 
 be impoffible to return, becaufe it would be 
 like climbing up a hill, which no fhip could 
 do with the ftrongeft wind. A fourth ob- 
 jeSion was grounded on a book of St. Au- 
 guftirie, in which he had exprejDTed his doubt 
 of the exiftence of antipodes and the poflibil- 
 ity of going from one hemifphere to the oth- 
 er. As the writings of this Holy Father had 
 received the fan6lion of the Church, to con- 
 tradift him was deemed herefy.* 
 
 For fuch reafons, and by fuch reafoners the 
 propofal of Columbus was at firft reje6ied ; 
 but by the influence of father Perez, a Span- 
 ifii Prieft, and Lewis Santangel, an officer of 
 
 the 
 * Life of Columbus, Chap. XIL 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 23 
 
 the King's houlhold, Queen Ifabella was per- 
 fuaded to liften to his folicitation, and after 
 he had been twice repulfed, to recal him to 
 Court ; when fhe offered to pawn her jewels 
 to defray the expcnfe of the equipment, 
 amounting to no more than 2500 crowns ; 
 which fum was advanced by Santangel, and 
 the Queen's jewels were faved. Thus, to the 
 generous decifion of a female mind, we owe 
 the difcovery of America. 
 
 The neceffary preparations being made, 
 and a year's provifion laid in, on the 3d of 
 Auguft, 1492, Columbus failed from Pales, 
 a port of Spain, on the Mediterranean, with 
 three veffels, one of which was called a Car- 
 rack, and the other two, Caravels ; having 
 on boai-d, the whole, ninety men. Having 
 paffed through the ftraights of Gibraltar, he 
 arrived at the Canaries, on the 12th of the 
 fame month ; where he was detained in refit- 
 ting one of the Caravels, and taking in wood 
 and water, till the 6th 6f September, when 
 he failed weftward on his voyage of difcovery. 
 This voyage, which now is confidered as 
 an ealy and pleafant run, between the lati- 
 tudes of 20 and 30 degrees, with a trade wind, 
 was then the boldeft attempt which had ever 
 
 been 
 
24 A DISCOURSE o^T tiiE 
 
 been made, and filled the minds of the belt 
 feamen with apprehenGon. They were go- 
 ing direftly from home, and from all hope of 
 relief, if any accident fhould befal them. No 
 friendly port nor human being was known to 
 be in that diredlion. Every bird which flew 
 in the air, every fifli which appeared in the 
 fea, and every weed which floated on its fur- 
 face, was regarded with the mofl minute at- 
 tention,* as if the fate of the voyage depend- 
 ed on it. A phenomenon which had never 
 before been obferved flruck them with terror. 
 The magnetic needle appeared to vary from 
 the pole : They began to apprehend that 
 their compafs would prove an unfaithful 
 guide ; and the trade wind, which wafted 
 them along with its friendly wings, they fear- 
 ed would obIlru6l their return. 
 
 To be twenty days at fea, without fight of 
 land was what the boldefl mariner had never 
 before attempted. At the expiration of that 
 time the impatient failors began to talk of 
 throwing their commander into the ocean 
 and returnmg home. Their murmurs reach- 
 ed 
 
 * See the journal of the voyage iathe Life of Co- 
 lumbus, Chap. XVIII— XXI. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. &5 
 
 ed his ears ; but his aftive mind was never at 
 a lofs for expedients, even in the grcateft ex- 
 tremity. By foothing, flattery and artifice, 
 by inventing realons for every uncommon ap- 
 pearance, by promifing rewards to the obedi- 
 ent, and a gratuity to him who fliould firft 
 difcover land, in addition to what the King 
 had ordered, and by deceiving them in the 
 fhip's reckoning, he kept them on their courfe 
 for fixteen days longer. In the night of the 
 1 ith of Oftober, he himfelf faw a light, which 
 feemcd to be on fhore, and in the morning of 
 the 12th, they had the joyful fight of land, 
 which proved to be the ifland of Guanahana, 
 ©ne of the duller called Bahamas, in the 25th 
 decree of north latitude. 
 
 o 
 
 Thus in the fpace of thirty-fix days, and in 
 the 45th year of his age, Columbus complet- 
 ed a voyage which he had fpent twenty years 
 in proje6ling and executing ; a voyage which 
 opened to the Europeans a new world ; which 
 gave a new turn to their thoughts, to their 
 fpirit of enterprife and of commerce ; which 
 enlarged the empire of Spain, and flampcd 
 with immortality the name of Columbus. 
 
 After fpending feveral months in lailins: 
 
 Irom one ifland to another in that vaft archi- 
 
 P pelago, 
 
26 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 pelago, which, from the miftakes of the age, 
 received ihe name of the Weft-Indies, Colum- 
 bus returned to Spain with the two fmaller 
 vcITels, the larger having been wrecked on the 
 ifland of Hifpaniola. During his paffagc he 
 met with a violent tempeft which threatened 
 him with deftrudion. In this extremity he 
 gave an admirable proof of his calmnefs and 
 forefight. He wrote on parchment an ac- 
 count of his difcoveries, wrapped it in a piece 
 of oiled cloth, and inclofed it in a cake of wax, 
 which he put into a tight cafk and threw into 
 the fea. Another parchment, fecured in the 
 fame manner he placed on the flern, that if 
 the fhip fhould fink, the cafk might float, and 
 poflibly one or the other might be driven on 
 ihore, or taken up at fea by fome future navi- 
 gator. But this precaution proved fruitlefs. 
 He arrived fafe in Spain in March, 1493, '^^^ 
 was received with the honours due to his 
 merit. 
 
 After this, he made three other voyages to 
 America, in one of which he difcovered the 
 continent ; and in a fucceeding voyage he 
 endeavoured to find a pafiage through it to 
 India, but in vain ; that dslirable country he 
 never law. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 27 
 
 To particularize all the fucceeding events 
 m thelife of that great man, is not the defign 
 of this difcourfe ; let it fuffice to obferve, that 
 his latter days were embittered by the envy 
 of his rivals, the death of his patronefs and 
 the jealoufy of his fovereign. Though he 
 merited the honour of giving his own name 
 to the continent which he difcovered, yet it 
 was called after an inferior, but more fortu- 
 nate adventurer.* Nor have endeavours been 
 wanting both formerly and lately to rob him 
 of the merit of originating this capital dilcov- 
 €ry. But in the pages of impartial hiflory, 
 he will always be celebrated as a man of ge- 
 nius and fcienc€ ; as a prudent, Ikilful, in- 
 trepid navigator ; as having firft reafoned out 
 
 the 
 
 * This fortunate adventurer was Amerigo Vef. 
 pucci or Americus Vefputius, a Florentine merchant 
 and mathematician, who failed as a private adventur- 
 er with Ojcda, in i-}99, and difcovered the conti- 
 nent in the latitude of ,5° N. which Columhus, in the 
 prcccdingyear had difcovered in the latitude oi 9° N. 
 In 1^01, Amerigo made another voyage to the Weft- 
 Indies ; and after the death of Columhus, was em- 
 ployed hy Ferdinand, King of Spain, to dehneate 
 the new difcoveries on charts. From thefc cliarts, 
 and a book which he puhhfhed, defcribing the new 
 world, this continent unjuftlv obtained tbc name -of 
 AMF-RICA, 
 
28 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 the probability, and then demonftrated the, 
 certainty of the exiftence of this continent. 
 
 It is remarkable, that a fate fimilar to that 
 of Columbus, hath befallen others of the firfl 
 adventurers to America. The great Raleigh 
 was facrificed to the jealoufy of Spain by the 
 pufilJAnimity of his fovereign. Smith, Gor- 
 ges, Maso?^ and Popham, confumed their 
 time and fortunes in profecuting difcoveries, 
 and laying a foundation for the profperity of 
 their fuccelTors. Yet the names of thefe men 
 have not been given to any confiderable part 
 of this territory, the obje6l of their painful 
 and expenfive undertakings. Hiftory how- 
 ever will preferve the memory of their exer- 
 tions, though forgotten by thofe States 
 which are indebted to them for their exift- 
 ence. 
 
 Having thus traced the fteps by which the 
 dijcovery of America was made to the Euro- 
 peans ; let us take a view of its connexion 
 with the advancement of Jciencc. 
 
 The firft branch of fcience which prefents 
 itfelf in this inquiry is Geography ; the knowl- 
 edge of which has been moft effentially im- 
 proved by means of this difcovery. It is to 
 
DISGOVERY OF AMERICA. 29 
 
 us very aftoniftiing, that the ancient phi- 
 lofophers perfifted fo tenacioufly m their 
 opinion refpefting the five zones ; and efpec- 
 ially that they deemed the equatorial regions 
 uninhabitable, when they had the means of 
 better information. For, voyages were fre- 
 quently made from the red fea to the coaft of 
 India, within ten or twelve degrees of the 
 equator. The Carthaginians planted colo- 
 nies on the weftern fide of Africa, within five 
 degrees of it; and if the country of Ophir 
 was the fame with Sofala, on the eaftern fhore 
 of Africa, the navy of Solomon mud have 
 crolfed the equator both in going and return- 
 ing. Notwithflanding this advantage which 
 they certainly had, it was a received opinion 
 among the Greeks and Romans, which no one 
 dared to controvert ; that the torrid zone was 
 fcorched bv the vertical fun, and that no hu- 
 man being could refide init,orpafs through it, 
 from the northern to the fouthernhemilphere. 
 This error, it is probable, firll arofe from the 
 knowledge which they had of the vaft, fandy 
 defarts of Africa, which had fomctimes prov- 
 ed dc{lru6tive to whole armies who had at- 
 tempted to pafs them. The only way, in 
 
 which 
 
30 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 which we can account for their not correfting 
 this miRake, is, that the navigation of the 
 fouthern feas was performed chiefly by the 
 Phenicians and Carthaginians, who were the 
 enemies and rivals of the Greeks and Romans, 
 and kept their knowledge to themfelves* We 
 find among them no philofophers, and very 
 few authors. They were praQical feamcn 
 and merchants, intent on gain, a^d monopo- 
 lizers of commerce. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans had very little 
 more of the fpirit of enterprife than was con- 
 ne6led with their hoflile expeditions; but 
 they formed theories of geography, either by 
 theobfervations and reports of their military 
 commanders, or by fecond hand information, 
 or by conjefture and hypothefis. Thefe na- 
 tions produced many authors, and many of 
 their books are prcferved to our times, ia 
 which we lee the imperfe6lion of their knowl- 
 edge of the globe, their prejudice in favour of 
 their erroneous fyftem, and their incredulity 
 when evidence was offered againil their pre* 
 conceived h3'potheris. 
 
 On the authority of thefe philofophers, the 
 Koman woild for many ages founded all their 
 
 geographical 
 
DISCOVERY or AMERICA. 31 
 
 geographical knowledge. That imperfed 
 fyftem became at length a part of the creed of 
 the Roman church, and was defended by the 
 court of inquifition. If St. Auguftine doubt- 
 ed the diurnal motion of the earth, or the ex' 
 iilence of antipodes, or the habitablenefs of 
 the torrid zone ; St. Dominic was ready with 
 his infernal logic, to filence every one who 
 prefumed to dilTent from the infallible chair. 
 Thus ignorance and error were canonized, 
 and the feeble dawn of fcience was fcarcely 
 able to penetrate the dark mift of the middle 
 ages. Even after the difcoveries made by the 
 Portuguefe in the eaft, and by the Spaniards 
 in the weft, the Roman Pontiff gravely af- 
 fumed a right to divide the world between 
 them by a line drawn from pole to pole, at 
 the diftance of an hundred leagues from the 
 Azores or weftern iflands ; without any pro- 
 vifion, in cafe they Ihould meet, and their 
 claims fhould interfere on the oppofite fide of 
 the globe.* 
 
 By the progrefs of difcovery, thofe ancient 
 fyflems have gradually vaniflied, and man- 
 kind 
 
 * See .the Bu!! at large in Hazard's Colleftion, vol, 
 1. page 5. 
 
32 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 kind have founded their knowledge of the 
 form and contents of the terraqueous globe, 
 on fa6i and experience. One traveller has 
 fucceeded another, and one nation has emu- 
 lated another, in the furrey of the earth, till 
 within the laft twenty years the boundaries of 
 navigation have been precifely afcertained, 
 and the circuit of the globe is now become a 
 familiar voyage among our marine brethren. 
 The reign of George III, though flaincd with 
 the grollcft political errors, and difgraced by 
 the lols of a large portion of this continent 
 from his dominion ; yet deferves refpeft, for 
 giving birth to many expenfive adventures to 
 the rnoft diflant regions, efpecially in the vaft 
 pacific ocean ; by which the fcience of geog- 
 raphy has been much improved. Indeed we 
 are now fo fai advanced in our acquaintance 
 with the globe, that every fchool-boy knows 
 more of it than all the philofophers of antiqui- 
 ty ; and as we proceed in our inquiries into 
 this noble fcience, we learn more and more 
 of the wonderful works of him who is perfeft 
 in wifdom and knowledge. 
 
 Conne6led with geography, we may view 
 the fcience of nav'^aimi as alfo greatly irji- 
 
 pvovfcd 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 33 
 
 proved (ince this difcoveiy. By navigation 
 I do not meanr barely the mathematical 
 knowledge neceffary to keep the reckoning of 
 a fliip, and the celeftial obfervations to deter- 
 mine its pofition ; though even thefe are re- 
 duced to more accuracy, and performed by 
 better inftruments than formerly; but I would 
 comprehend the whole art of travelling by 
 fea, the conflru6Hon and equipment of fhips, 
 and the methods ufed to preferve the lives 
 and health of leamcn in all climates. When 
 Columbus failed on his hrft voyage, two of 
 the veffels employed in that fervice were with- 
 out decks,* and in the fhoit run from Spain 
 to the Canaries one of them loft her rudder. 
 This mull give us an idea of the very imper- 
 fe6l ftatc of naval architcdure at that period ; 
 for thefe were doubtlefs the beft fiiips which 
 could be procured in the dominion of Queen 
 Ifabella, and they were three months in pre- 
 paring for the voyage. After that period, 
 commerce, the foul of navigation, diftated 
 the building and equipment of larger, ftrong- 
 
 er 
 * "Ex regio fifco deflinata funt tria navigia ; 
 unum omrarium cavealum, alia duo levia fnercatoria 
 fine conns, qua. ab Hifpanis Caravela: vocantur." 
 
 Peter Matyr, de orbe novo. 
 E 
 
34 A' biSCOURSE on the 
 
 erand more commodious veflels, for the pur- 
 pofe of tranrporting merchandife, and explor- 
 ing new regions. But that fatal diftemper 
 the fcurvy, was an obftacle which for many- 
 years baffled the ingenuity of man, and the 
 power of medicine. It is but half a century 
 lince the fquadron of AnsOxN, in circumnav- 
 igating the globe, were reduced to the utmoft 
 diftrefs, by its uncontroled ravages. But 
 within the laft tweiity years, methods have 
 been adopted to prevent it ; and the n^the 
 of CooKE will always be renowned in naval 
 hiftory, for having fuccefsfully perfected the 
 means of pi-eferving the lives of feamen 
 jn the longeft voyages ; as well as for 
 having eflablillied the limits of navigation, 
 toward the foutherh arid the northern poles. 
 It IS now known by experience, that the 
 human conftitution is capable, by proper 
 management, of enduring all the viciffitudes 
 of heat and cold, of moifture and drynefs, to 
 which any acceflible part of the earth is fub- 
 je6t ; and that its health may be preferved in 
 all climates and fituations. This difcovery is 
 in the higheft degree favourable to the pur- 
 pofes of commerce, which in the prefeni age.. 
 
 affords 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 35 
 
 affords its friendly afliftance to the progiels 
 of knowledge and humanity. 
 
 We may alfo reckon the fcience of natural 
 hi/lory as greatly improved by the difcovery 
 of this continent. It has given mankind more 
 juft and fublime ideas of the works of God, 
 fome of which appear to be conflru6led on a 
 larger fcale,,.and in a more magnificent ftyle, 
 than in the old continent. The immenle 
 Andes of South America are elevated above 
 the Alps, the Taurus or the Atlas. The Am- 
 azon, Oronooque and La Plata difcharge 
 greater quantities of water than the Danube, 
 the Ganges or the Nile. ThQ vafl: chain of 
 lakes which flow into the St. Lawrence, forms 
 a Angular phenomenon, which no part of the 
 old continent can parallel. Befides, America 
 can boaft of the mofl: extenlive and fertile 
 plains, whilfl; it is entirely free from thofe 
 Icorching fands and parched defarts, which 
 deform the countries of Africa and Arabia. 
 In America are found feveral fpecies of an- 
 ^^.mals unknown in other parts of the world, 
 befide the remains of fome fuppofcd to be 
 now extinct, which for bulk and ftrcngth mtift 
 at leafl have equalled the elephant of Afia 
 and Africa. The vegetable produ^ions of 
 
 this 
 
36 A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 this continent have alfo enriched the medical 
 art, with many valuable acquifitions before 
 unknown. The precious metals, gold and 
 filver as well as diamonds and pearls are vaft- 
 ly more common, and of lefs value than 
 before ; and the foflil trealures which have 
 been difcovcred, afford not only many uieful 
 articles in commerce and the arts, but dcm- 
 onftrate the certainty of an univerfal difrup- 
 tion of the earth, at fome remote period, and 
 thus confirm the truth of facred hiflory. 
 
 The difcovery of Amciica has alfo open- 
 ed an important page in the hijlcry of man. 
 We find our brethren of the human race, 
 fcattered over all parts of this continent, and 
 the adjacent iflands. We fee mankind in 
 their feveral varieties of colour, form and 
 habit, and we learn to confider ourfelves as 
 one great family, fent into the world to make 
 various experiments for happmefs. 
 
 One of the grandeft of thefe experiments 
 has been made in our own part of this conti- 
 nent. Freedom, that noble gift of heaven, has 
 here fixed her ftandard, and invited the diftrelF- 
 edof all countries to take refuge under it. Our 
 virtuous anceftors fled from the impofitions 
 and perfecutions to which they were fubjcft- 
 
 ed 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 37 
 
 cd in England; and found in this wildernefs 
 an afylum from that tyranny. Their exam- 
 ple was followed by others, and in North A- 
 merica, the opprefled of Europe have always 
 found fafety and relief. But we were dcfign- 
 ed by Providence for a nobler experiment 
 , ftill : Not only to open a door of fafety to 
 our European brethren here ; but to Ihow 
 them that they are entitled to the fame rights 
 in their native countries ; and we have fet 
 them an example of a hazardous, but fuccefs- 
 ful vindication of thofe rights, which are the 
 gift of God to man. 
 
 It is both amufing and infl;ru6live to re- 
 view our former notions of liberty, both civil 
 and religious ; and to fee what imperfeft 
 ideas we had on thefe fubjetls, derived by tra- 
 dition from our European anceflors. Like 
 them we boafted of Engli/h liberty ; as if Eng- 
 lilhmen had fome exclulive rights, beyond 
 any other people, on the face of the earth. 
 And what was Englifti, liberty ? Its origin 
 mufl be fought in ancient charters, and par- 
 ticularly in magna charta, granted by, or rath- 
 er forced from, one of the worfl princes that 
 ever difgraced a throne. The liberties of 
 Erjglifhmcn, after the Norman Conquell, 
 
38 A DISCOURSE ON the 
 
 were the grants of their Kings ;* and the pre- 
 rogative was the claim of thofe Kings to pow- 
 er and dominion fuppofed to be founded on 
 a divine right. 
 
 In the early flages of our con trover fy, we 
 had formed an idea of hberty, as an inherit- 
 ance, defcended to us from our anceftors, who 
 were Englifhmen ;t fome of whom, when 
 they quitted England, jiad received of the 
 then reigning prince, charters under the 
 great feal ; by which it was fuppofed that 
 their privileges were confirmed to them and 
 their poflerity ; and the colonies which had 
 thefe charters plumed themfelves on poffef- 
 ling more and greater privileges, than thofe 
 
 ftykd 
 
 * " I have always confidered the boafted birth- 
 right of an Englilhman, as an arrogant pretenfion 
 built on a beggarly foundation. It is arrogant, be- 
 caufe it intimates a kind of exclufion to the reft of 
 mankind from the fame privileges ; and it is beggar- 
 Iv, beeaufe it reds our legitimate freedom on the alms 
 of our princes." Catharine Macaulay Graham, 
 
 i " Few people have extended their inquiries af- 
 ter the toupdation of their rights beyond a charter 
 from the crown. Others think when they have got 
 back to old magna charta^ that they arc at the begin- 
 ning of all things. They imagine themfelves on the 
 borders of Chaos, and fee creation rifing out of the 
 unfoimcd mafs. Hence, fay they, ipiing^all the 
 rights of men and of citizens." 
 
 James Ody. 1764. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 39 
 
 ftyled royal provinces, which were governed 
 by temporary commiflions from the crown, 
 revocable at the royal pleafure. 
 
 In like manner, our title to religious free- 
 dom was fuppofed to be derived, partly from 
 the fame charters and commiflions ; in 
 which, liberty of confcience was granted by 
 the King, to fuch of his fubjefts as fhould 
 fettle in the plantations ; partly from a6ls of 
 toleration, made in England, and conftrued 
 to extend to the colonies ; and, partly from 
 our own laws made to favour the religious 
 opinions and praftices of thofe who diffented 
 from the majority. Religious liberty was 
 not placed on its right foundation, nor deriv- 
 ed from its true fource. The world was not 
 obliged to the ftatefman or the divine, for the 
 firft acknowledgment of this darling right; but 
 to the fpirit of commerce and to the interelled 
 views of the merchant. Religious toleration 
 was introduced into the European countries 
 for the benefit of trade. When the merchants 
 of Holland flruck out the idea, it was regard- 
 ed by their neighbours, with the fame horror 
 as a peflilence. It was imported into England, 
 with William, Prince of Orange, under whofe 
 
 patronage 
 
40 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 patronage it was formed into a law ; but it 
 has never been there fo extenfively admitted 
 as to put all fe6ls and parties on an equal foot- 
 ing. A preference is flili given to one de- 
 nomination above all others ; and if an Eng- 
 lishman would fully enjoy the privileges of 
 an Engliihman, he muft conform to the rites 
 and ceremonies of what is called the eftablifh- 
 ed church ; all other perfons are fubjedl to 
 burdens and incapacities, from which they 
 cannot be free, whilfl they continue within 
 that realm ; and the oppofers of thefe une- 
 qual burdens are expofed to the rage of par- 
 ty zeal, which in fome late inftances has been 
 carried to the moft criminal excefs. 
 
 Too much of the fame fpirit,it muft be con- 
 felTed, has reigned here. Our anceftors in 
 New England ertablifhed a teft before any 
 was enacted by the Englifh parliament ; 
 and though it has, long fince, been abrogat- 
 ed, yet the idea of an exclufive right to the 
 honours and emoluments of government, by 
 the prevailing religious denomination, con- 
 tinued till very lately. Some of us can re- 
 member the time, when it was thought a fuffi- 
 cient objeftion to a man's being chofen to a 
 feat in the legiflature, that he belonged to the 
 
 Epilcopal 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 41 
 
 Epifcopal Church. And, even at this enlight- 
 ened period, I blufh to own, that, by the 
 Conftitutionof this Commonweahh, the Jew, 
 the Mahometan, the Gentoo, and the Dilci- 
 ple of Confucius, are excluded from our pub- 
 lic councils, be they ever fo good citizens ; 
 whilfl men, who for convenience, call them- 
 felves Chriflians, though deeply tinged with 
 infidelity, and deftitute of moral principles, 
 may freely be admitted. 
 
 But though imperfe6lion is more or lefs 
 interwoven with all human conflitutions ; yet 
 a fpirit of improvement is evidently pervad- 
 ing this country. Several of the firft forms 
 of government which were made for thefe 
 States, have been reviewed and amended. Re- 
 ligious tefts have been gradually aboliflied ; 
 and our national form of government is en- 
 tirely free from them. It leaves religion 
 where all civil government ought to leave it; 
 to the confciences of individuals, under the 
 control of the fuprcme Lord. 
 
 As learning is acknowledged to be eflen- 
 tially neceflary to the prefervatron of a repub- 
 lican government, fo wherever the true fpirit 
 of liberty reigns it will cherifli the intcreft 
 F Ot 
 
4* A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 of fcience. This principle was well under- 
 llood by the fathers of New England, and 
 we their pofterity have reaped th€ benefit of 
 their wife and faithful care to provide the 
 means of inftrutlion for us. The fame fpirit 
 feems more and more to prevail throughout 
 this country, and forms one of the moft hap- 
 py omens of the prefervation of liberty to 
 future generations. 
 
 From our example of a government found- 
 ed on the principle of reprefentation, exclud- 
 ing all family pretenfions and titles of nobil- 
 ity, other nations are beginning to look into 
 their natural and original rights as men ; and 
 to aflfert and maintain them againft the claims 
 of defpotifm. As far as the prefent ftrugglc 
 in Europe againft civil and fpiritual ufurpa- 
 tion, is conducied on virtuous principles, we 
 cordially wilh it fuccefs. But have we not 
 reafon to fear that the caufe of liberty may 
 be injured by the intemperate zeal of its 
 friends, as much as by the fyftematic oppofi- 
 tion of its enemies ? If wifdom, harmony and 
 fortitude were combined with patriotifm on 
 the fide of liberty, we might hope that the 
 time was approaching, when an hereditary 
 right to govern a nation would appear as con- 
 temptible 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 43 
 
 temptible as the royal touch for the King's 
 evil ; and when the loftieft prelates of Europe 
 would find themfelves reduced to the fame level 
 with the curate of a parifh. But what fcenes 
 of anarchy and diftrefs may take place before 
 thefe defirable events, we mufl waft: for time 
 to unfold. 
 
 It is an old obfervation of Solomon, " He 
 thatincreafeth knowledge increafeth forrow." 
 This may juftly be applied to the enlarge- 
 ment of fcience which is made by the difcov- 
 ery of America. The field is extended, but 
 difficulties have arifen which are not yet folv- 
 ed. Though we have learned more of the 
 works of creation and providence than was 
 known to preceding ages, yet we find that 
 there is ftill more behind the curtain. 
 
 Among thefe difficulties we may reckon the 
 queftion, whence was Amerka peopled ? For 
 three centuries this has been a fubjeft of de- 
 bate among the learned ; %nd it is amufing, 
 to fee how national prejudice has become in- 
 volved with philofophical difquifition, in 
 the attempts which have been made to folve 
 the queftion. The claims of Hanno the Car- 
 thaginian, of Madoc the Wclchman, of the 
 
 feven 
 
44 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 feven Bifhops of Spain, and the ten tribes of 
 Ifrael. have had their feveral advocates ; and 
 after all, the claim of the fix nations is as well 
 founded as any, that their anceflors fprung 
 like trees out of the foil. The true philofo- 
 pher will treat them all with indifference, and 
 will fufpend his judgment till he has better 
 information than any which has yet appear- 
 ed. Since the late difcovery of many cluf- 
 ters of iflands in the Pacific Ocean, and the 
 near approach of the Afian to the American 
 continent, the difficulty with rcfpeft to the 
 population of America, by the human fpccies 
 is leffened ; and had this continent been dif- 
 covered by a fcientific people on its weftern, 
 before it was on its caftern fide, perhaps the 
 queftion would not have been fo long nor fo 
 warmly agitated. But flill the tianfporta- 
 tion of other animals from the old to the new 
 continent, and the exiRence of fome here 
 which arc not known there, is a fubjeft, which 
 remains involved in obfcurity. 
 
 Before we have folved one difficulty anoth- 
 er rifes to view. It is not many years fince 
 the large bones found in the neighbourhood 
 pf the Ohio excited mucli attention. We 
 
 had 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 45 
 
 had fcarcely conjeftured to what animal they 
 belonged when a new objeft was brought for- 
 ward. Mounds and fortifications of a regular 
 conftrudion were difcovered in the thickeft 
 Ihades of the American foreft, overgrown 
 with trees of immenfe age, which are fuppof- 
 ed to be not the firft growth upon the fpot 
 fince the dereliftion of its ancient pofreffors. 
 
 The mod obvious mode of folving the dif- 
 ficulty which arofe in the curious mind on 
 this occafion was by making inquiry of the 
 natives. But the ftru6lures are too ancient 
 for their tradition, their nldefl and wifefl men 
 know nothing of their original. Indeed the 
 form and materials of thefe works feem to 
 indicate the exigence of a race of men in a 
 flage of improvement fuperior to thofe natives 
 of whom we or our fathers have had any 
 knowledge ; who Iiad different ideas of con- 
 venience and utility; who were more patient 
 of labour, and better acquainted with the art 
 of defence. 
 
 That thefe woiks were not conflrufled bv 
 any Europeans who have penetrated the A- 
 merican wilderncfs hnce the difcovery of the 
 continent, appears from various confidera- 
 
 tions : 
 
46 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 tions;* but mod decifively from the trees 
 found growing on them ; which by indubit- 
 able marks are known to be upwards of three 
 hundred years old. At what remote period 
 thefe works were ercfted and by whom ; what 
 became of their builders ; whether they were 
 driven away or deftroyed by a more fierce and 
 favage people, the Goths and Vandals of 
 America ; or whether they voluntarily mi- 
 grated to a diflant region ; and where that 
 region is, are queftions which at prefent can 
 not be fatisfaftorily anfwered. 
 
 Our aftonifhment is further excited, by 
 confidering that the difcovery of America has 
 opened a large mart for the commtru injlavts. 
 from the oppolite continent of Africa. So 
 much has been written and fpoken on the in- 
 iquity attending this deteftable fpecies of traf- 
 fic, that I need not attempt again to excite 
 the feelings of indignation and horror, which 
 I doubt not have pervaded the bread of every 
 perfon now prefent, when contemplating this 
 flagrant infult on the laws of jullice and hu- 
 manity. Ilhall only obferve, that thefirftintro. 
 
 du6lion 
 
 * See the Columbian Magizine, for J788. P. 477, 
 645. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 47 
 
 du^ion of the negro flavery into America, 
 was occafioned by the previous deftruftion 
 of the native inhabitants of the Weft-India 
 iflands, by the cruelty of their Spanifh con- 
 querors, in exafling of them more labour 
 than they were able to perform. The moft 
 remarkable and unaccountable circumftancc 
 attending the beginning of this traffic, is, that: 
 it was recommended by a Spanifti Bifhop, 
 one of the moft benevolent friends of the In- 
 dians, whom he could not bear to fee fo wan- 
 tonly deftroyed by his countrymen. When 
 they prelfed him with this difficulty, " How 
 fhall our plantations be cultivated if we may 
 not ufe the natives as our Haves ?" He ad- 
 vifed them to fend to Africa, for a more ro- 
 buft and patient race of men, who could bet- 
 ter bear the fatigue of labour in a warm cli- 
 mate. Thus from a principle of lenity to- 
 ward the favages of America, he introduced 
 the commerce of flaves from Africa ; which 
 has proved deftruftive to human life and 
 happinefs, in the fame proportion that it has 
 encouraged avarice, luxury, pride and cruelty. 
 But do I not fee the dawn of that aufpi- 
 cious day which fhall put a ftop to this in- 
 famous 
 
48 A DISCOURSE ox thi 
 
 famous traffic, and fhall teach mankind that 
 Africans have a native right to liberty and 
 property as well as Europeans and Americans ? . 
 May thefe rights ever be refpedled, and nev- 
 er more be infringed, efpecially by thofe who 
 have luccefsfully contended for the eflablifh' 
 ment of their own. 
 
 Let us now turn our attention to another 
 fubjeft of debate, arifing from the knowledge 
 of this continent. If the gofpel was defigned 
 for an univerfal benefit to mankind, why was 
 it not brought by the Apoflles to America, 
 as well as propagated in the feveral regions of 
 the old continent ? To folve this difficulty, 
 it has been alleged that America wa^ known 
 to the ancients ; and that it was enlightened 
 by the perfonal miniftry of the Apoflles.* 
 With equal propriety it might be folved, by 
 denying that America was at that time in- 
 habited by any human being, and it might 
 not be impofTible to maintain this negative po- 
 rtion, again fl any pofitive proof which can 
 be adduced to the contrary. But both are 
 attended with difhculties which require more 
 
 light 
 
 * See an elaborat-e Eflay on this fubjecl by the late 
 Dr. Samuel Mather. 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 49 
 
 light to unravel than has yet appeared. If 
 America was peopled at that period, perhaps 
 the (late of human fociety was fuch, that the 
 wife and benevolent Author of chriftianity 
 faw no profpeft of fuccefs, to the propagation 
 of his gofpel here, without the intervention of 
 more and greater miracles, than were confift- 
 ent with divine wifdom or the nature of nfwin 
 to permit. 
 
 Nearly akin to this, is another difficulty. 
 The native inhabitants of Peru, for fome 
 centuries before the Spanilh invafion, are re- 
 prefented as worflaipers of the fun; whofe uni- 
 verfally benignant influence to the world they 
 thought themfelves bound to imitate.* Ac- 
 cordingly their national chara6ter was mild, 
 gentle and humane. They made no ofFen- 
 five wars ; and when they repelled the inva- 
 lions of their favage neighbours, and conquer- 
 ed them, it was done with a view to reduce 
 them from their native ferocity, under the 
 government of rational and focial principles ; 
 and to incorporate them with themfelves, 
 that they might enjoy the benefits of their own 
 pacific fyflem. Their code of laws, deliver- 
 ed 
 
 * See Garciiaffo de la Vega's Royal Commenta- 
 tions of Peru. 
 
 G 
 
50 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 ed by the founder of their empire, was a 
 work of reafon and benevolence, and bore a 
 great refemblance to the divine precepts giv- 
 en hy Mofes and confirmed by Jefus Chrift. 
 In fhort, they fceni to have made the neareft 
 approach to the fyflem of chriftianity, I mean 
 the moral part of it, of any people who had 
 never been formally inftru6ted in its princi- 
 ples. 
 
 It would feem then to human reafon, that 
 they were fit obje61s for an apoflolic mifTion ; 
 and, that if the pure, fimple, original doQrine 
 of the gofpei had been preached to them they 
 would readily have embraced it. 
 
 But when we find that thefe mild and 
 peaceful people were invaded by avaricious 
 Spaniards, under a pretence of converting 
 them to the catholic faith ; when inflead of 
 the meek and humble language of a primi- 
 tive evangelift, we fee a bigoted Friar grave- 
 ly advancing at the head of a Spanifh army, 
 and, in a language unknown to the Peruvians, 
 declaring that their country was given to his 
 nation, by the Pope of Rome, God's only vic- 
 ar on earth, and comm anding them to re- 
 ceive their new maftcrs on pain of death ; 
 when we confider this parade of arrogant hy- 
 
 pocri fy 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 51 
 
 pocrify as the fignal for flaughtcr, and fee the 
 innocent viftims falling by the fword of thefe 
 minifters of deflruftion ; when we fee 
 the whole nation vanquifhed, difheartened, 
 and either murdered or reduced to flavery, 
 by their favage conquerors ; when inftead of 
 the worfhip which they addrcffed to the lu- 
 minary of heaven, and which needed but one 
 flep more to conduft them to the knowledge 
 of its invifible Creator, we fee the pomp of 
 Popifh idolatry, with the infernal horrors of 
 the Inquifition introduced into their country ; 
 our aftonifhment is excited to the hi5heft de- 
 gree, and we can only exclaim, " Thy judg- 
 ments, O Lord, are a great deep ! and thy 
 ways are pall finding out !" 
 
 It wouldgive me the greatell pleafure, if in 
 concluding this difcourfe I could fay any thing, 
 with refpeft to the propagation of chriftian- 
 ity, among the original natives of America, 
 which could be conftrued into a fulfilment of 
 the predidion of Daniel, concerning the pro- 
 grefs of knowledge. 
 
 Every European nation, which pofTefTcs 
 any confiderable fhnrc of the continent, has 
 made this dcfireable work a part of their pro- 
 fefTed defign ; ^in planting .ind fettling the 
 
 countr)-; 
 
5f ' A DISCOURSE on th« 
 
 country ; and it mufl: be acknowledged that 
 fomc very zealous aind well meant endeavours 
 have been made, by men who had neither 
 wealth nor power in their view ; but the fuc- 
 cefs has not been anfwerable to the goodnefs 
 of the defign, nor to the wilhes of thofc who 
 have engaged in it. If we furvey the whole 
 continent, from the firll difcovery of Ameri- 
 ca, to the prefent time, the number of con- 
 verts to chriftianity, among the Indians, bears 
 hut a fmall proportion to thofe, who have 
 been deflroyed either by war, by flavery or 
 hy fpirituous liquors. And, with refpe^l to 
 many of thofe who have been called con- 
 verts, it may juftly be inquired, whether any 
 thing more can be faid in favour of their con- 
 verfion, than that they have exchanged their 
 original fuperftitions, for others, more glit- 
 tering and refined. 
 
 If the truths of our holy religion are to be 
 propagated among the favages, it will become 
 us to confider, whether we had not better firft 
 agree among ourfelves, what thefe truths are. 
 For whilft they fee diverfities of opinion a- 
 mong us, and that fome of the more zealous 
 advocates of particular tenets, are endeavour- 
 ing to inftil the peculiarities of their refpec- 
 
 tive 
 
DISCOVERY or AMERICA. $3 
 
 tivc fefts among them, and to prejudice them 
 againfl; others ; the native fagacity with which 
 thefe people are endowed will lead them to 
 avoid confounding themfelves with our dif- 
 tin6lions, and to retain the religion of their 
 anceftors, till they can find one, more free 
 from perplexity, than chriftianity appears by 
 the diverfity of our opinions concerning it. 
 
 It is alfo worthy of confideration, whether 
 the vicious lives and condu6l of our own peo- 
 ple, and efpecially thofe on the frontiers, with 
 whom the Indians are moft acquainted, be 
 not a great obfl;ru6lion to the fpreading of 
 divine knowledge among them. It is very 
 natural to eflimate the goodncfs of any reli- 
 gion, by the influence which it appears to 
 have on thofe who profefs it ; and, if they 
 are to regard the condu6l of the people by 
 whom they have been cheated, robbed, and 
 murdered, as a fpecimen of the influence of 
 chriflianity on the human mind, it would be 
 a greater wonder that they fhould embrace 
 it than reje6l it. 
 
 If the chrifl.ian religion is to be propagated, 
 without the afTiRance of miracles, among the 
 laviiges of this continent, it muft be. in fome 
 fuch manner as (he Moravians have attempt- 
 ed. 
 
54 A DISCOURSE on the 
 
 ed. Thefe people feem to have an art of at- 
 taching favage nations to their faith and man- 
 ners, and of forming them into civilized and 
 laborious fociety, beyond any other denomi- 
 nation of chnftians ; and, for the honour of 
 the common caule, I cannot but wifh them 
 all that fupport and encouragement which 
 their zealous and benevolent efforts deferve. 
 
 It is much to be wilhed, that the fpirit of 
 bigotry and the Jhibboletk of party were to- 
 tally abolifhed ; that the chriflian religion 
 may appear in its native fimplicity and pu- 
 rity, and that the profefTors of it would diftin- 
 guifti themfelves by that love, that meeknefs 
 and gentlenefs which marked the charaQer 
 of its author and his primitive followers. By 
 thefe marks all men will know us to be his 
 difciples ; our light will fo fhine before men, 
 that they will fee our good works, and glorify 
 our father who is in heaven. 
 
 Notwithftanding any prefent unfavourable 
 appearances, yet we have the greateft reafon 
 to expe6l that the time will come when knowl- 
 edge will univerfally prevail ; when fpecu- 
 lative truth will be reduced to praftice, and 
 men will be led to a devout acknowledgement 
 of the only true God, and of Jefus Chrifl 
 
 whor^ 
 
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 55 
 
 whom he hath fent, evidenced by a careful 
 obedience to the laws of virtue and righteouf- 
 nefs. Then will " the earth be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover 
 the fea." Then will be fulfilled thofe fub- 
 lime prediftions of the infpired Ifaiah. " I 
 will bring thy feed from the eaft and gather 
 them from the weft ; 1 will fay to the north, 
 give up ; and to the fouth, keep not back, 
 bring my fons from far and my daughters 
 from the ends of the earth. Thy gates fhall 
 be open continually, they fliall not be fhut 
 day nor night; becaufe the abundance of the 
 fea (hall be converted to thee, the forces of 
 the Gentiles fhall come to thee. Violence 
 fhall no more be heard in thy land, wafting 
 nor dcftrudion within thy borders ; but thy 
 walls ftiall be falvation and thy gates praiie. 
 Thy fun fhall no more go down, neither 
 fliall thy moon withdraw itfelf ; for the Lord 
 fhall be thy everlafting light, and thy God 
 fhall be thy glory. Thy people alfo fliall be 
 all righteous ; they fliall inherit the land for- 
 ever, the branch of my planting, the work of 
 my hand that I may be glorified. I the Lord 
 will haften it in his time." 
 
ss 
 
 ODE 
 
 FOR tHF. 23d OF OCTOBER, 1/92. 
 
 Sung after the Difcourfe, by Mr. Re a and afeledt 
 ChotTt accompanied by the Organ, 
 
 I. 
 
 TTTTHEN form'd by GOD's creating hand, 
 • ' This beauteous fabric firfl; appear'd; 
 Eternal Wifdom gave command, 
 All Nature with attention heard. 
 
 II. 
 " Here, Ocean, roll thy fwelling tide ; 
 
 *' Here fpread thy vaft Atlantic main ; 
 *' From European eyes to hide [^cign." 
 
 ♦' That Weftern World, which bounds thy 
 
 III. 
 Whilfl Ocean kept his facred charge, 
 
 And fair C o L u M B I A lay conceal'd ; 
 Through Europe, Difcord roam'd at large, 
 
 Till War had crimfon'd every field. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Black Sitperjlition's difmal night 
 
 Extinguifli'd Reafons. golden ray ; 
 
 And Science, driven from the light, 
 
 beneath monallic rubbifh lay. 
 
 V. 
 
57 
 
 y. 
 
 Xti^:Crown and Mitre, cloiQ ally'd,.^ Josv.t: •» 
 
 Trampled whole nations to the duft 5 ,, 
 Whilft Freedom, wandering far and wide, ^ 
 "And pure R£ lig ion y_ quite were loft. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Then, guided by th' Almighty Hand, 
 COLUMBUS fpread his daring fail ♦ 
 
 Ocean receiv'd a new command, 
 
 And Zephyrs breath'd a gerrtle gale:' 
 
 ;j /ilT 
 
 VII. 
 The Weftern World appear'd to viev/^ "^^"^^ 
 
 Her friendly arms extended wid6 j*"^^'^ ^ 
 Then Freedom o'er th' Atlantic flewi''^ X"'^ 
 
 With pure Rkligioi^ by her fide. -1""^^' 
 
 VII. 
 
 Tyrants with mortal hate purfu'd ; 
 
 In vain their fortes t_hey employ ; 
 In vain the Serpent poiifS his flood,* 
 
 Thofe heaven-born Exiles to deftroy. 
 
 IX. 
 " No weapon form'd againft my flock 
 
 *' Shall profper," faith th' Almighty Lord ; 
 " Their proudeftthreatenings thou Ihalt mock. 
 
 " For I will be thy Ihield and fword. 
 
 H X. 
 
 * Rev. xii, >5, 
 
X. 
 
 «« Sweet peace ahd "heiv'nly trttth (hall fiiinc 
 " Onfeir C6^lcjm^ia's happy ground ; 
 
 ** Ifkre FuEEDOkand Religion join, 
 " And fpread their inflaerice all trhnndj* 
 
 CHORUS. 
 Hail f 6r EAT Columbia ! favour'd foil ; 
 Thy fields vvith plenty crown thy toil ; 
 Thy (hore;, the Ceat of growing wealth ; 
 Thy clime the fource of balmy health. 
 
 From thee proceeds the virtuous plan, 
 To vindicate, the Rights of Man, 
 Thy fame (hall fpread from pole to polc^ 
 Whilfl; everlalliiiig ages roll. 
 
 , 0:i\-:i'ri : 
 
 :AJoii vfn :}i: .■.::..l iic:: 
 
 ija^ ^Isdli/oriugn^n? 
 
 ■ ■ .biowl hnu bliidi >(di sd i'h' I lol '* 
 .X H 
 
53^ 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 • N THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA 
 BY THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 X HE authenticity of hiftorical tra- 
 ditions on this fubjeft hath been quellioned 
 by feveral writers ancient and modern. I 
 fhall here place in one view, what evidence 
 hath been produced on both fides of the quef- 
 tion, as far as I have had opportunity to in- 
 quire ; with fuch obfervations as have occur- 
 red to me during the inquiry. 
 
 The firft navigaiors of whom wc have any 
 account were the Phenicians, who were Icat- 
 tered along the coafts of the Mediterranean 
 and of the Red Sea. As early as the days of 
 Mofes, they had extended their h<ivi'gation 
 teyond the pillars of Hercules, on the weflern 
 coaft of Africa, toward the foutli ; and as far 
 northward as the ifland of Britain^ whence 
 they imported tin and lead,* which according 
 to the univerfal teftimony of the ancients, 
 were not then found in any other country. 
 
 From 
 
 * Sec Numbers, Chap. xxxi. ver. 22. 
 
4i> 
 
 From the accounts given in ancient hif- 
 tory of the expeditions of Sefoftris, King of 
 Egypt, fojne have Been led to conclude, that 
 l^e fnade a difcoy^ry q^all the poafts qf Af- 
 jica.* However thi^ Jpigbt ^e, there is no 
 doubt that he opened, or revived a commer- 
 cial intercourfe with India and Ethiopia, by 
 wayof theRed Sea. It hath alfo been thought, 
 that the voyages of the Phenicians and He- 
 brews to Ophir, in the time of Solomon, were 
 nothing more nor lefs than circumnaviga- 
 tions of Africa.''t.f;. i.r.^ „.._ 
 
 But., leaving thefe for the prefent in tjie 
 region of conje6lure ; the earliefl regulAr ac- 
 count which we have,^ of any voj'age round 
 the continent of Africa, is th2,t performed by 
 prder of Necho, King of Egypt, and recorded 
 hy Herodotus; the moft ancient hiilorian, 
 except th,e facred, writers, whofe works havp 
 come down tp our tim^. His charaQ£r as ^ 
 hiftorian is^ "candid \n his acknowledgment 
 of what is uncertain, and abfolute when he 
 fpeaks of what he knows." The date of N9- 
 cho's r^i^n is fixed by RoHin 616 years before 
 Chrift. , The date of I^erodptus's hiflory is 
 
 placed 
 
 * Forfler's Hiflory of Voyages and Difcoyerie^, 
 page 7. i Ibid. 
 
placed by Dufrefnoy in the tliird year of the 
 83d Olympiad anfwering to 446 years before 
 Chrift. So that he muft hax'e penned his nar- 
 ration of this voyage, in lefs than two cen- 
 turies after it was performed. I fhail give 
 his account at large, in a literal tranflation, 
 l"rom the Geneva Edition of his work, in 
 Greek and Latin, by Stcphanus.* In de- 
 fcribingthefcvcral great divifions of the earth, 
 he fpcaks thus : 
 
 " I wonder at thofe who have divided and 
 diflinguifhcd Libyaj't Afia and Europe; be- 
 tween which there is not a little diflPerencc. 
 If indeed Europe agrees with the others iii 
 length, yet in breadth it does not feem to me, 
 worthy to be copipared. For Libya fhews it- 
 fe!f to he fiirroundcd by the fca. except where it 
 joins to Afia. Necos, King of the Egyptians, 
 being the firfl of thofe, whom we know, to 
 demonflrate it. After he had defifled from 
 digging a ditch from the Nile to the Arabic 
 gulf [m which work above twenty thoufand 
 Egyptians perifhed ; he betook himCelf to 
 raifing armies and building lliips, partly in 
 
 the 
 
 * Lib. iv. Cap. 42. 
 
 + Libya is the name by which tlie whole continent 
 qI Africa was called bv the Greeks. 
 
the north fea* and partly in the Arabian gulf, 
 at the Red Sea, of which they yet fhow fome 
 remains. t] He fent certain Phenicians ia 
 Ihips, commanding them, that having pafled 
 the pillars of Hercules, they fhould penetrate 
 the north fea, and fo return to Egypt. The 
 Phenicians therefore loofing from the Red Sea, 
 went awa,y into the fouthern fea, and, dire6t- 
 ang their fhips to land, made a feed time, that 
 when autumn fhould come, they might ex- 
 pe6t a harvefl, and might afliduoufly coafl 
 Libya. Then, having gathered the harvefl, 
 they failed. J ThuSj two years being con- 
 fumed ; in the third year, coming round the 
 pillars of HerculeSj, they returned to Egypt ; 
 reporting things which with mp have no 
 credit, but may pprhaps with others, that iri 
 Jailing^ round Libya they. had the fun on the right 
 kaiid.\ In this manner it was firfl known. ' 
 
 " In 
 
 * By the north fea is meant the Mediterranean, 
 which lies north of Egypt. ^ 
 
 f Lib. ii. Cap. 48, 
 
 % "Into whatever part of Libya fcamen came, tbey 
 waited for harveft, and when they had reaped, they 
 loofed from the diore." (Note of Stephanus.) 
 
 § i. e. They being in the fouthern hemifphere and 
 failing to the.weft.ward, had the fun to the right hand 
 cr to the northward. 
 
" in the fecond place, there have been 
 Carthaginians, who havfe f^id, that a certairi 
 Satafpes, fon of Teafpis, a man of the Acha- 
 jnenides did not fail roiitid Libya, when he 
 was fent ; but being deterred by the length of 
 the navigation and the folitude of the country 
 returned home, having Hot fulfilled the la- 
 bour which his mother enjoined him. For 
 he had violated a virgin daughter of Zopy- 
 taSf the fon of Megabyfus ; and for that 
 caufe, being by Xerxes condemned to be cru- 
 cified, his mother, who was filler to Darius, 
 liberated him ; becaufe he faid, he had rath- 
 er impofe on himfelf that piinifhment, than 
 fubmit to the King's command. Wherefore 
 it became neceffary for him to fail round all 
 Libya, till he fhould come to the Arabian 
 Gulf. Xerxes confentirig to this, Satafpes 
 went into Egypt, and, having there taken a 
 fhip and companions, failed to the pillars of 
 Hercules. Having paffed them, and having 
 doubled the promontory of Libya called Sy- 
 loes,* he kept a fouthern courfe. Having 
 traverfed much of the fea in many months, 
 
 and 
 
 * Now called Cape Bojador in the 26th degree of 
 north latitude. 
 
and finding much more time tieceiLry, iie 
 turned about and came back to Egypt. Re- 
 turning to Xerjces, he reported, that m vifit- 
 ing the remoteft coafts, he had fcen fmall 
 men, clothed in Phenician garments ; who 
 at the approach of his ihips, fled to the moun-. 
 tains and left their villages ^ which he enter- 
 ed, and took nothing from them but cattle- 
 He gave this rcafon for not having failed 
 round Libya, that his fhip could fa^il no far- 
 ther ; but was flopped. Xerxes did not be- 
 lieve him, and bccaufe he had not performed 
 his engagement, ordered him to undergo hLi, 
 deflined punifhment." 
 
 To the authenticity of this circvimnaviga- 
 tion of the African continent, the following 
 objedions have been made. 
 
 Firft, it is faid that " the vefTcls which the 
 ancients employed, were fo fmall as not to 
 afiFord flowage for provifions, fufficient to 
 fubfifl a crew during a long voyage." 
 
 Secondly, '•' their conflrutlion was fuch . 
 that they could fcldom venture to depart far 
 from land, and their mode of fteering along 
 the coafl was fo circuitous and flow, that we 
 may pronounce a voyage from the Mediter- 
 ranean to India, by the Cape of Good Hop6, 
 
 to 
 
ii 
 
 IQ h^ive been an undertaking beyond thqr 
 power to accomplifh, in fuch a manner as to 
 render it in any degree fubfervient to com* 
 roerce. To this decifion, the account pre- 
 ferved by Herodotus of a voyage performed 
 by fome Pheuician ibips employed by the 
 King of Egypt, can hardly be coniidered as^ 
 repugnant."* 
 
 I have chofen to confide?: botb tbefe objec- 
 tions together, becaufe that each one helps tp, 
 deftroy the other/ For if the veffqls werp fo. 
 fmall, as not to contain provifions for a long 
 voyage, this was one reafon for the navigators 
 to keep their courfe near the land ; that they 
 might find water fruits, game and cattle on thq| 
 fbore, as well as filh on the fhoals and rocks 
 near the coaft, for their fubfiftence. And if it 
 was their defign to keep near the land, fou 
 the fake of difcovery, fmall v^flels weije })eft 
 
 adapted 
 
 * Robertfon's India, p, 175, American edition. 
 The objeftionstakenfromthislearned author w^rejiot 
 made direfllyagainft the voyage mentioned by Hero- 
 dotus ; but rather againft the pofTibility of a parfage tO 
 ^ndia by way of the Atlantic Ocean, and round the Af^ 
 rican continent. However, as he brings this voyage into 
 view in the fame argument, and fpealcs of it dubiouf- 
 ly, it is conceived that his fentiments are BOtmifrep- 
 refentcd in the abovjc quotation*. ;iiijCJ 
 
 I 
 
«g 
 
 adapted to the purpbfe j becaufe they could 
 ^i(s over fhoals atid through fmall openings, 
 between iflands and rocks, which 'ire general- 
 ly lituate near the cdafts of great continents. 
 Befides, if the velTels were fmair they could 
 Carry but fniall crews, who would not require 
 very large quantities of provifion. - 
 
 But Herodotus has helped us to folve the 
 difficulty refpeOiirig jirovifiohs, in a manner 
 perfe6lly agreeable t'd' the practice of'antiquii 
 ty, though unknown to modern navigators^ 
 Tliey weht oii'ithore and fowed corn, and 
 when ifwas ripe gathered the harveft. This 
 enables' us to account for two circumftances 
 attending the voyage of Necho ; the length 
 of time employed, and ^he -fupply of pio- 
 vilion, at lead of bread, confumed in it. 
 ~'^Nor was this fowing and reaping any lof« 
 of time ; for the monfoons in the Indian 
 ecean would not permit them to proceed any 
 fafte?- A Ihip failing from the Red Sea with 
 the N. E.' monfoon, in the fummer or au- 
 tumn, would meet with the S.W. monibon, 
 inf the beginning of » December,; which niuft 
 have detained her in fome of thfe harbours, on 
 the eallern coafl of Africa, till, tfe next April. 
 During this time in that w^rm cHinate, corn 
 
 f: might 
 
might be fown and reaped; and any ptbe^ 
 articles, either of provifion or merchandif<rj 
 might be taken on board. Then the N. E. 
 monfoon vvould carry her to the fouthem, 
 parts of Africa, into the region of variable 
 winds. This regular courfe and changing, of 
 the monfoons was familiarly known to thje 
 navigators of Solomon's iliips, and wa^.tbe 
 caufe . of thfsir fpendiug, tliree years, i^,th^ 
 voyage to and from Ophir. "In going and 
 returning, they changed the mor^oon fix 
 times, which made thirty fix months.^;, Thiejf 
 needed no longer time to complete the.vfpyage^ 
 and they could not perform it in lefs.'"t ,; 
 '. It is not pleaded, that the voyage of Nec;ho 
 was undertaken for the fake of commerce ; or 
 if the authenticity of it were efbbliflred, that 
 it would prove the pra6licabiJity of a voyage 
 from the Mediterranean to India, round the 
 Cape of Good Hope, by the veffels then in 
 ufe, and the nautical Ikill then acquired. 
 The voyage of which Herodotus fpeaks might 
 have been a voyage of dii'covery ; fuch an 
 one as was perfeQly agreeable to the genius of 
 the people by whom it was performed, and 
 of the prince, by whole order and at whofe 
 
 ' :- . '. .. . c-^penfe 
 
 t Bruce's Travels-r^B. il. chap, iv. 
 
fH 
 
 expfenfe It was untSertateft. " Tbe progrefs 
 of the Phenicians and Carthaginians, in their 
 knowledge of the gl^be, was not owing en- 
 fi]fdy to the defire of extending their trade 
 from one country to another. Commerce 
 was followed by its ufual effefts, among both 
 thofe people. It awakened curiofity, enlarg- 
 ed the ideas and defires of men, and incited 
 them to bold enterpriles. Voyages were un« 
 dertaken, the fole objeft of which was to dif^ 
 cover new countries and to explore vnknownfeas,"* 
 Tbe knowledge acquired in thefe voyages of 
 difcovery might afterward be fubfervient to 
 commerce ; and though the Phenicians niigtit 
 not think it convenient, to circumnavigate Af- 
 rica, more than once, yet that they carried on 
 ^ commercial intercoutfe with different parts 
 ctf that country, and particularly with places 
 iituate on the eaftern coaft, in the Indiail 
 ocean, we have evidence from the facred wiut*- 
 ings/r In the reigA of Solomon *' blie king's 
 -ftips with the fervants of Hiram and the navy 
 of Tharftiifh every three years brought ivory, t 
 apes and peacocks, befides filver and the gold 
 of Opkir," which is with great reafon fuppofed 
 
 to 
 
 * Robertfon's America — Vol. I. p. ii, 4th edit. 
 + 2 Chron. viii. 18. ix. 21. 
 
to be the •ountiy now called SofaU on the 
 cafterh coift of Africa, in the fouthern hem- 
 isphere ; as tlie learned Bruce, in his late book 
 of travek, has^ fatisfaiftarily |)rovedk 
 
 The J)rophet Ezekiel, who wgs contempo- 
 rary with Necho, King of Egypt, in the ac- 
 count which he give:i of the inerchandife of 
 Tyre, enumerates feveral commodities, which 
 it is well known belong to Africa, " horns of 
 itory and ebony, and the perions of men/** 
 We may form feme idea of the ftrength and 
 materials of the (hips of the Tyrians, and of 
 their fkill in navigation, from the following 
 paffages in his apoftrophe to Tyrus. " They 
 have made all thy fhip-boards of fir trees of 
 Senir ; they have taken cedars of Lebanon to 
 make mafts for thee ; of the oaks of Bafhan 
 have they made thine oars. Thy wife men, 
 O Tyi'Uiy, were thy pilots. The ancients of 
 Oebal, the u'ile men thereof were thy calkers. 
 The ihips of Tharfhifli did fing of thee ; thou 
 wall replenifhed and made very glorious in 
 the midfl of the Teas ; thy rowers have brought 
 thee into great waters." Though we have 
 no particular defcription of the lire or model 
 of their ihips; yet they certainly had mafts and 
 
 fails 
 
 * Ezckiel, chap, .xxvii. ver. 13, jj. 
 
70 
 
 fails and oars ; their pilots and calkers were: 
 wife men, and they were not afraid to fail in 
 great waters, by whi<ih h probably meant the 
 ocean, in diftinftion from the Mediterranean. 
 '*-^Of the form and ftrufture of the Grecian 
 vcffels we have a more particular knowledge.-^ 
 *' They were of inconfiderable burden, and 
 moftly without decks. . They had only one 
 mad; iartd were ftiangcrs to the ufe of an-r 
 chors."* But then it muft be remembered, 
 that *' the Phenicians, v/ho infli'u6led the 
 Greeks in other ufeful arts, did not communi- 
 cate to them that extenfive knowledge of nav- 
 jgation, which they themfelves poffeffcd/'t 
 We may hence conclude that thefhips of the 
 Phenicians were much fuperior to the Grecian 
 Veffels ; thatthey were fitted with mafts ; fails 
 Sand oars, arid ' with expert pilots.' ' We have 
 then no evidence from -the ftruOiure of their 
 veffels or their mode of failirrg, to warrant a 
 doubt of the ability of their fhips or Teamen, 
 to perform a voyage round the continent of 
 Africa in three years. 
 
 To an European theorift fuch a voyage 
 may feem lefs praflicable than to an AmeH- 
 
 can. 
 
 * Robertfon's America — Vol. I. p. 15. 
 
 t Il>icl. p 14. 
 
It 
 
 can.' The Europeans have ufually employed 
 jion<i but (hips of great burden, in their trade 
 to India and China ; but fince the Ameri- 
 cans-' have vifited thofe countries, floops of 
 fifty or fixty tons have failed round the Cape 
 of Good Hope to China, and round Cape 
 Horn to the north we fl coaft of America, 
 and acrofs the north Pacific Ocean. If any 
 doubt can yet remain, it may be entirely re- 
 moved by the rccolleftion of a voyage per- 
 formed in the year 1789, by Lieutenant ^\\^\ 
 of the JBritifli navy ; who, being turned adrift 
 by his mutinous crew, traverfed the foutb Pa- 
 cific Ocean, above twelve hundred leagues, in 
 a boat of twenty three feet long, without a 
 deck, in much flormy weather, with fcanty 
 provifions ; and having paflfed many danger- 
 ous rocks and (heals, among unknown iflands, 
 arrived in forty one days at a Dutch fettle- 
 ment in the Moluccas.* The objedions 
 then againft the reality of Necho's voyage, 
 from the fize and ftrufture of the Pheni- 
 cian veflTcls, and the want of provifion are 
 not fo formidable on examination as at the 
 firft appearance, 
 
 A third 
 * See the printed narrative by Lieut. Bligh. 
 
7« 
 
 A third objeftion againft the credibility pf 
 this early circumnavigation is, th4i: " feveral 
 writers of the greateft eminence among thQ 
 ancients, and Bioft diftinguifted for their 
 knowledge of geography, regarded this ac» 
 cc^unt rather as an amufing tale, than the hifr 
 tory of A real tranfa6lion ; and, either enter- 
 tained doubts concerning the ppflibility pf 
 failinground Africa, or abfoluteiy denied jt."^ 
 That the Roman geographer^ and hiflorians 
 did doubt and difbelieve the Hory is very cvt 
 ident ; and the caufes are not far to be fought. 
 The firft was the jealoufyof the Phenicir 
 ans- *^' Whatever a<g:quaintance with the re- 
 mote regions .of the «arth the Phenician? Pf 
 Carthaginians acquired, wa^ concealed from 
 the reft of manlQind with a mercantile jealoufy. 
 Every thing relative to the courfe.of naviga- 
 tion was a fecret of ilate as well as a my fiery 
 of trade, E>xtraordhiary fa6ls are recorded 
 concerning their Solicitude to prevent other 
 nations from penetrating into what they wifli". 
 cd fhould remain undivulged."t One of 
 tbefe extraordinary fafts is thus related by 
 Strabo. The Romans being defirous to dif- 
 
 cover 
 
 * Robertfon'slpdia, p. 175. 
 
 f Robertfon's America, vol. I. p. 13. 
 
73 
 
 cdver the places, whence the Carthaginians 
 fetched tin and amber " fent a vcfTel, wi:h 
 orders to fail in the wake of a Phenician vef- 
 fel. This being obferved by the Carthagi- , 
 nian, he purpofely ra,n his vcffel among rocks 
 and fand banks ; fo that it was loft, together 
 with that of the inquifitive Roman. The 
 patriotic commander of the former was in- 
 demnified for his lofs by his country."* 
 
 A fccond rcafon was the pride of the Ro- 
 mans. If, as Pope tells us, 
 " With hoiieft fcorn the firft fam'd Cato view'd 
 " Rome learningarts fromGreece whom flic fubdu'd ;" 
 the fame pride would make their wife men 
 fcorn to learn geography or navigation, theo- 
 retically, from thote who were beft able to 
 teach them. It is acknowledged that the 
 Romans " did not imbite that commercial 
 fpirit and ardor for difcovery vvhich diftiti- 
 guifhed their rivals. "t It mull alfo be ob- 
 ferved, (hat there was but little intercourfe 
 between them ; and that the Carthaginian 5 
 were deficient in thofe fcierices for which the 
 
 Romans 
 
 * Former's Hiftory of Voyages and Difcoveric^, 
 chap. I. 
 
 t Robcrtfon's America, vol, I. p. 14. 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 Romans were famous. Among, the Pheni- 
 cians and Carthaginians, the ftudyandknowl* 
 edge of their youth were confined to writing, 
 arithmetic and mercantile accounts j whilft 
 polite literature, hi (lory and philofophy were 
 in little repute ; and by a law of Carthage, 
 the ftudy of the Greek language was prohib- 
 ited ; left any communication ftiould be car-^ 
 ried on with their enemies.* 
 
 A third reafon was the opinion which the 
 wifeft men among the Romans had formed, 
 and to which they obftinately adhered, con- 
 cerning the five zones, and the impoflibility 
 of paffing from one hemifphere to the other, 
 bepaufe of the torrid zone lying between.' 
 This do6lrine of the zones is fo fiilly repre-" 
 fetited by Dr. Robertfont that I need only 
 refei* the reader to what he has written on the 
 fubjeft. ' 
 
 ,. But notwithftan(Jing the doubts and the 
 infidelity of the Roman Philofophers, and 
 tl^e gfreat deference paid to them by this learn- 
 ed and. cautious inquirer ; there is one cir- 
 cumllance which has almojl convinced him of 
 
 the 
 
 * RoUin's Ancient Hiftory, book 11. part I. feftw 7. 
 t Robertfon's America, vol. I, note 8. 
 
3?6 
 
 the reality of Necho's voyage, as related by 
 Herodotus. It is this, that the Phenicians, 
 in failing round Africa, " had the fun on their 
 right hand ;" which Herodotus, with his ufu- 
 al modefty and candor fays, " with me has no 
 credit, though it may with others." On this 
 the Do6lorjudicioufly remarks, "Thefcicnce 
 of aflronomy was in that early period fo im- 
 perfedl, that it was by experience only, that the 
 Phenicians could come at the knowledge of 
 this faft ; they durft not, without this, have ven- 
 tured to aifert what would have appeared to 
 be an improbable fitlion."* Indeed if they 
 had not known it by experience, there is not 
 the leail conceivable reafon for their invent- 
 ing fuch a report ; nor even for the entrance 
 of fuch an idea into their imagination. The 
 modeft doubt of Herodotus is another arsu- 
 ment in favour of the truth-and genuinenefs 
 of it ; for as he had no experience to guide 
 him, and the idea was new, it was very prop- 
 er for him to hefitale in admitting it, thougli 
 he fhowed his impartiality by inferting it in 
 his relation. 
 
 So much for the voyage performed by the 
 Phenicians under the orders of Necho. which 
 
 is 
 * Robertfon's India, note ^4. 
 
zi- 
 
 is the Jirjl proof produced by Herodotus of 
 his pofition that " Libya is furrounded by 
 the fea, except where it joins Alia." 
 
 His fecond proof is not fo conclufive, por 
 the defign of his introducing it fo obvious. 
 It is the relation of a voyage undertaken by 
 Satafpes a Perfian, whofe puniftiment was 
 commuted frotii crucifixion to failing round 
 Libya ; which voyage he began, but returned 
 by the fame route, not having completed it. 
 The reafon which he gave for returning was, 
 that " his fhip was flopped and could fail no 
 farther," which his fovereign did not believe, 
 and therefore put him to death, to which he 
 had before been condemned. 
 
 The only evidence which this flory can af- 
 ford is, that the circumnavigation of the Af- 
 rican continent was, at that time, thought 
 prafticable.' Satafpes thought fo, or he would 
 not have propofed it to his fovereign ; and 
 Xerxes thought fo, or he would not have dif- 
 believed the ftory of the fhip being flopped ; 
 by whidi exprcffion was meant that the fea 
 was no farther navigable, by reafon of land. 
 
 The exaft date of this voyage is not afcer- 
 ^aincd ; but as Xerxes ireigned twelve years, 
 
 and 
 
n 
 
 and died in the year 473 before Chrift, it 
 could not have been much more than thirty- 
 years, preceding the time when Herodotus 
 pubUflied his hiftory. 
 
 The voyage of Hanno the Carthaginian, h 
 thus briefly mentioned by Pliny. " In the 
 flouriftiing flate of Carthage, Hanno having 
 failed round from Gades j^CadizJ to the bord- 
 er of Arabia, committed to writing an account 
 of his voyage ; as did Plimilco, who was at the 
 fame time fent to difcover the extreme parts 
 of Europe."* The chara6ler of Pliny, as a 
 hiflorian is, that " he colle6led from all au- 
 thors, good and bad, who had written before 
 him ; and that his work is a mixture of truth 
 and error, which it '\^ difficult to feparate." 
 An inflance in confirmation of this remark 
 occurs in this very chapter ; where he fpcaks 
 of feme merchants, (ailing from India, and 
 thrown by a tempcft, on \.\\^ coaft of Germa- 
 ny. He alfo mentions a voyage, made bv 
 Eudoxus ; from the Arabian gulf to Gades, 
 and another of Coelius Antipatcr from Spain 
 to Ethiopia. 
 
 Qf thefe voyages, that of Hanno is beft au- 
 thenticated. He failed from Carthage with 
 
 fixty 
 * Pliny's Natural Hiftoiy, lib. 2, cap. ^-j. 
 
iixty gallics, caeh carrying fifty oars, having 
 on board thirty thoufand men and women, 
 ■with provifions and articles of trafl&c. The 
 deCgn of this equipment was to plant colo- 
 Jiies along the weft ern fliore of Africa, which 
 the Carthaginians, from priority of difcove- 
 ,fy,- and from its contiguity to their territory, 
 confidered as their own dominion. Hanno 
 was abfcnt five years, on this coloni2ing ex- 
 pedition ; but there is no certainty of his 
 having proceeded any farther fouthward, 
 than the Bay of Benin, in the eighth degree 
 of north latitude. A fragment of his journal, 
 which at his return he depofited in the temple 
 of Saturn, at Carthage, is now extant; and 
 though it has been treated as fabulous by 
 feveral authors, ancient and modern, yet its 
 authenticity has been vindicated by M. Bou- 
 gainville, in the 26th volume of the Memoirs 
 of the Royal Academy of Infcriptions and 
 Belles Lettres ; where a French tranflation of 
 it is given from the Greek, into which Ian- 
 <rua?c it was rendered from the original Punic. 
 Concerning the voyage of Eudoxus, the fol- 
 lowing account is given by Bruce.* He was 
 
 fent 
 
 * Travels, book II. chap. V. The voyage of 
 EudoK^s was originally written by Pojidonius, but I 
 have not met wi:h that author. 
 
fent by Ptolemy Euerg^tes, as an ambaflador 
 to Itidfa, to remove the bad eflfefts of the. 
 King's conduct: in the beginning of his^ reign, 
 who had extorted contributions from mer- 
 chants of that and other trading countric&r 
 Eudoxus returned after the King's death, and. 
 was wrecked on the coaft of Ethiopia ; where, 
 he difcovered the prow of a £hip, which had 
 fuffered the fame fate. It was the figure of a.' 
 horfe, and the failors, who had been employ- 
 ed in. European voyages, knew this to have 
 been part of one of thofe vefiels, which traded/ 
 on the Atlantic ocean ; of which trade Gades. 
 was the principal port. This circumQance 
 amounted to a proof, thai' there was a paUage 
 round Africa, from the Indian to the Atlan- 
 tic ocean. The difcovery was of no greater 
 importance to any perfon, than to Eudoxus 
 himfelf ; for, fome time afterward, falling un- 
 der the difpleafure of Ptelemy Lathyrus, and 
 being in danger of his life, he fled ; and em- 
 barking on the Red Sea, failed round Africa 
 and came to Gades. 
 
 This voyage of Eudoxus was treated as a 
 fable by Strabo, the Roman geographer, who 
 wrote about a century and a half after the 
 
 time 
 
8o 
 
 time irhen it is faid to have beeu performed. 
 The true caufe of the incredulity of him and 
 of other Roman authors in refpe^l; to thefe 
 voyages and difcoveries, was the do6liine of 
 the ^ones, to which they inflexibly adhered, 
 and which efFedually precluded all convic- 
 tion; 
 
 • Thefe are all the evidences which I have 
 had opportunity to examine refpeding the 
 qucftion of the circumnavigation of Africa,* 
 and upon the whole there appears to be this 
 peculiarity attending the fubjc6l, that it was 
 believed by thofe who lived neareft to the 
 time when the voyage of Necho is faid to 
 have been made ; amd, that in proportion to 
 thedillance of time afterward, it was doubted, 
 difbclieved and denied ; till its credibility 
 was eftablilhed beyond all doubt by the Por- 
 tuguefe adventurers in the fifteenth century. 
 
 *-Dr. FoRSTER.in bis hi (lory of Voyages and Dif-^ 
 coveiies (chap. 1) refers to three. German authors, 
 Gesner.Schlozer and Michaelis, who have 
 written on this fubjcfl, and obfervcs, that " the cir- 
 cumnavigation of Africa by the Pheniciansand Egyp- 
 tians is proved almoft to a demonftration." 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
8< 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 T O 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 The following Table exhibits a Chronological De- 
 tail of FaBs and Opinions, relative to the. 
 circunmavigation of Af&ic a. 
 
 Years be- 
 fore Chriji. 
 
 ^^^ NeCHO began to reign in Egypt, 
 and reigned 16 years. Rollin^ 
 In his reign the Phenicians failed 
 round Africa from the Red Sea 
 to the pillars of Hercules, and 
 returned to Egypt in three years, 
 
 Herodotus* 
 588 Ezekiel prophefied againfl Tyre. 
 
 Old Teflament. 
 
 485 Xerxes began to reign in Perfia, and 
 
 reigned twelve yeaVs. Rollin. 
 
 In his reign Satafpes failed to the vvefl- 
 
 crn coaft of Africa, and returned 
 
 to Egypt. Herodotus, 
 
 446 Herodotus publiflied his hiftory of the 
 
 Olympic games. Dufrcfnoy, 
 
 445 A Voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian 
 
 to V to colonize the weftern coaft of 
 
 440 J Africa, completed in five years. 
 
 L Bochart^ 
 
82 
 
 350 Ariftotle ellabliflied the do£lrIne of the 
 five zones, which had been be- 
 fore taught by Parmenides. 
 
 Dufrefnoy and Rob&rtjon. 
 
 152 Polybius doubted whether Africa were 
 a continent extending to the 
 fouth, or a peniofula furrounded 
 by the fea, excepting where it was 
 known to be united with Afia. 
 
 Hamptons Tran/lation. 
 
 ii6 Ptolemy Lathyrus, began to reign in 
 
 Egypt, and reigned ten years. 
 
 Dufrefnoy. 
 
 In his reign, is placed, the voyage of 
 
 Eudoxus from the Red Sea, round 
 
 Africa to Cadiz. Bruce, 
 
 55 Cicero delivered the doftrine of the five 
 
 zones, of which two only were 
 
 habitable, the middle zone being 
 
 fcorched with the fun. 
 
 Somnium Scipionis. 
 
 Tears afitr 
 Chrljl. 
 
 2g Strabo profefled to know nothing with 
 certainty refpefting the fouthern 
 parts of Africa, and treated the 
 
 voyage of Eudoxus as a fable. 
 
 Straho, 
 
 74. 
 
J3 
 
 74 PJiny denied any communication be- 
 tween the northern and fouthern 
 temperate zones ; but fpake of 
 the voyages of Hanno, Eudoxus 
 and others. , Pliny. 
 
 Sli Ptolemy the philofopher, fuppofed Af- 
 rica not to be furrounded by the 
 fea ; but to extend in its breadth 
 eaftwardly, and to be joined to 
 India. Ptolemy, 
 
 The opinions of thefe philofophers 
 were implicitly believed for the 
 fucceeding twelve centuries. 
 
 1497 Vafquez de Gama paCTed the fouthern 
 promontory of Africa, on his 
 voyage to India. Robert/on, 
 
»5 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 An EXAMINATION OF THE PRETENSIONS OF 
 
 MARTIN BEHAIM, to a discovery 
 OF America, PRIOR to that of CHRIS- 
 TOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 OO much has already been well writ- 
 ten on this fubjeft by Dr. Robertson, that 
 I jQiould not have thought of adding any thing 
 to it ; had not a Memoir appeared in the fec- 
 ond volume of the Tranfa6tions of the Ameri- 
 can Philofophical Society* at Philadelphia, 
 in which the pretenfions of Behaim are re- 
 vived by M. Otto; who has produced fome 
 authorities which he had obtained from Nu- 
 remberg, an imperial city of Germ any, and 
 which appear to him , " to eftablifh in the 
 cleareft manner a difcovery of America ante- 
 rior to that of Columbus." 
 
 It is conceded that Behaim was a man of 
 learning and enterprife ; that he was con- 
 temporary 
 
 * No. 25, p. 263, 
 
86 
 
 temporary withColumbus and was his friend; 
 that he purfued the fame ftudies and drew 
 the fame conclufions ; that he was employed 
 by King John II. in making difcoveries ; and, 
 that he met with deferved honour for the im- 
 portant fervices which he rendered to the 
 Crown of Portugal. But, there are fuch dif- 
 ficulties attending the ftory of his difcovering 
 America, as appear to mc infuperable. Thefe 
 I fhall flatc ; together with fome remarks on 
 the authorities produced by M. Otto. 
 
 The firft of his authorities contains fcveral 
 affertions which are contradi£led by other 
 hiflories ;* ( i )That Ifabella, daughterof John, 
 King of Portugal, reigned after the death of 
 Philip, Duke of Burgundy, furnamed the 
 Good. (2) That to this lady, when regent of 
 the Dutchy of Burgundy and Flanders, Be- 
 haim paid a vifit in 1459, and (3) that hav- 
 ing informed her of his defigns, he procured 
 a veflfel in which he made the difcovery of the 
 ifland of Fayal, in 1460. 
 
 It 
 
 * Memoirs of Philip de Comines. Mezeray's and 
 Henault's hiftory of France. Collier's Di6lionary. 
 
It is true that Philip, Duke of Burgundy 
 and Flanders, furnamed the Good, married 
 Ifabella the daughte;- of John I. King of 
 Portugal ; but Philip did not die till 1467, 
 and was immediately lucceeded by his fon 
 Charles, furnamed the Bold, then thirty-four 
 years of age. There could therefore have 
 been no interregnum, nor female regent after 
 the death of Philip ; and if there had been, 
 the time of Behaim's vifit will not correfpond 
 with it; that being placed in 1459, ^'g^t 
 years before the death of Philip. Such a 
 miftake, in point of fa6l,and of chronology, is 
 fufficient to induce a fufpicion that the " ar- 
 chives of Nuremberg" are too deficient in ac- 
 curacy to be depended on as authorities. 
 
 With refpeft to the difcovery of Fayal, in 
 1460, M. Otto acknowledges that it is " con- 
 trary to the received opinion ;" and well be 
 might ; for the firft of the Azores, St. Maria 
 was difcovered in 1431 ; the fecond, St. Mi- 
 chael in 1444 ; the third, Terceira in 1445 ; 
 and before 1449, the iflands, St. George, 
 Graciofa, Fayal and Pico, were known to the 
 
 Portuguefe» 
 
^s 
 
 Portuguefe.* However true it may be that 
 Behaim fettled in the ifland of Fayal, and liv- 
 ed there twenty years ;. yet his claim to the 
 difcovery of it muft have a better foundation 
 than the '* archives of Nuremberg," before it 
 can be admitted. 
 
 The genuine account of the fettlement of 
 Fayal, and the intereft which Behaim had in 
 it, is thus related by Dr. Forfter, a German 
 author of much learning and good credit. 
 
 " After the death of the infant Don Henry 
 l^which happened in 1463.] the ifland of Fayal 
 Was made a prefentof by [his fiftcr] Ifabeila, 
 Dutchefs of Burgundy, to Jobft von Hurter, 
 a native of Nuremberg. Hurter went in 
 1466, with a colony of more than 2000 Flem- 
 ings of both fexes, to his property, the ifle of 
 Fayal. The Dutchefs had provided the Flem- 
 ilh emigrants with all neceflaries for two years, 
 and the colony foon increafed. About the 
 vear i486, Martin Behaim married a daught- 
 er of the Chevalier Jobft von Hurter, and 
 had a fon by her named Martin.— Jobft von 
 Hurter, and Martin Behaim, both natives 
 
 of 
 
 * Former's hiftory of voyages and difcoveries, p. 2^6, 
 2,57, Dublin edition. 
 
ef Nuremberg, were Lords of Fayal and 
 Pico."* 
 
 The date of the fuppofed difcovery of 
 America, by Behaim, is placed by M. Otto, 
 in 1484, eight years before the celebrated 
 voyage of Columbus. In the lame year we 
 are toldt that Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva 
 was driven by a ftorm to the weftward for 
 twenty-nine days ; and faw an ifland, of which 
 at his return he gave information to Colum- 
 bus ; from both thefe fuppofed difcoverics 
 this conclufion is drawn, " That Columbus 
 would never have thought of his expedition 
 to America, had not Behaim gone there before 
 him." Whether it be fuppofed that Behaim 
 and Sanchez failed in the fame fliip, or that 
 they made a difcovery of two diflFerent parts 
 of America, in the fame year, it is not eafy to 
 underfland from the authorities produced j 
 but what deftroys the credibility of this plau- 
 fible tale, is, that Columbus had formed his 
 theory, and projeded his voyage, at leaft ten 
 years before ; as appears by his correfpond- 
 
 ence 
 
 * Forfter's hiftory of voyages, and difcoverics, 
 p.- 257, 258, 259. 
 
 + Garcilaffo de la Vega's Royal commentarics- 
 Preface. Purchas. vol. V. p. 1434. 
 M 
 
90 
 
 ence with Paul, a learned phyfician of Flor- 
 ence, which bears date in 1474.* It is uncer- 
 tain at what time Columbus firft made his ap- 
 plication to the King of Portugal, to fit him 
 out for a weftern voyage ; but it is certain 
 that after a negociation with him on the fub- 
 je6l, and after he had found out the fecret and 
 unfuccefsful attempt which had been made 
 to anticipate a difcovery ; he quitted that 
 kingdom in difguft, and went into Spain, in 
 the latter end of the year i484.t The au- 
 thority of thefe fafts is unqueftioned ; and 
 from them it fully appears, that a prior dif- 
 covery of America, by Behaim or Sanchez, 
 made in 1484, could not have been the foun- 
 dation of the enterprife of Columbus. 
 
 M. Otto fpeaks of letters written by Behaim 
 in i486, in the German language, and preferr- 
 ed in the '•' archives of Nuremberg" which 
 fupport this claim to a prior difcovery. As 
 thefe letters are not produced, no certain 
 opinion can be formed concerning them ; but 
 from the date of the letters, and from the 
 voyages which Behaim a£lually performed in 
 
 the 
 
 * Life, chap. vili. 
 
 + Ibid. chap. xii. 
 
9t 
 
 the two preceding years, we may with great 
 probability fuppofe, that they related to the 
 difcovery of Congo, in Africa; to which 
 Behaim has an uncontroverted claim. 
 
 I will now flate the fa6ls relative to this 
 event, partly from the authorities cited by M. 
 Otto; and partly from others. 
 
 Dr. Robertfon places the difcovery of Con- 
 go and Benin in 1483, and with him Dr. Forf- 
 ter agrees. The authors of the modern uni- 
 verfal hiflory* fpeak of two voyages to that 
 coaft, the firfl in. 1484 ; the fecond in 1485 ; 
 both of which were made by Diego Cam,f 
 who is faid to have been one of the moft ex- 
 pert failors and of an enterprifing genius. 
 From the chronicle of Hartman Schedl, as 
 quoted by M. Otto, we are informed, that 
 Behaim failed with Cam, in thefc voyages, 
 which are defcribed in the following terms, 
 " Thefe two, by the bounty of heaven, coafl- 
 ing along the fouthern ocean, and having 
 crofled the equator, got into the other hem- 
 
 ifphere ; 
 
 * Vol. XVI. p. 133,135. 
 
 + Diego is the Spanifh name of James, in Latin 
 Jacobus, and in Puitugucfe, Jaj^o. Cam is in Latin, 
 Camus or Canus, and in Spanifh, Cano; thefe differ- 
 ent names are found in different authors. 
 
ifphere; ^here, facing to the eafiward, their 
 Ihadows projected toward the fouth, and right 
 hand," No words could be more completely 
 defcriptive of a voyage from Portugal to Con- 
 go, as any perfon may be fatisfied by infpeft- 
 ing a map of Africa ; but how could M. Ot- 
 to imagine that the difcovery of America was 
 accompliflied in fuch a voyage as this ? " Hav- 
 ing finifhed this cruize (continues Schedl) in 
 the fpace of 26 months, they returned to Por- 
 tugal, with the lofs of many of their feamen, 
 hy the violence of the climate." This latter 
 circumftance alfo agrees very well with the 
 climate of the African coafl ;* but Schedl fays 
 not a word of the difcovery of America. 
 
 M. Otto goes on to tell us " that the moft 
 pofitive proof of the great fei vices rendered to 
 the crown of Portugal by Behaim, is the rec- 
 ompenfe bellowed on him by King John II ; 
 who in the moft folemn manner, knighted 
 him, in the prefence of all his court." Then 
 follows a particular detail of the ceremony of 
 inftaliation, as performed on the 18th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1485, and M. Otto fairly owns that 
 this was *' a reward for the difcovery of Con- 
 
 * See Brooks's Gazetteer, Benin. 
 
9$ 
 
 go." Now let us bring the detached parts of 
 the ftory together. 
 
 Behaim was knighted on the i8th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1485, for the difcovery of Congo, in 
 which he had been employed 26 months pre- 
 ceding ; having within that time made two 
 voyages thither in company with Diego Cam, 
 It will follow then that the whole of the pre- 
 ceding years, 1484 and 1483 were taken up 
 in thcfe two voyages. This agrees very well 
 with the accounts of the difcovery of Congo, 
 in Robertfon and Forfter, and does not difa- 
 grce with the modern univerfal hiftory, as far 
 as the year 1484 is concerned ; which unfor- 
 tunately is the year afligned for Behaim's dif- 
 covery of " that part of America called Brafil, 
 and his failing even to the Straights of Magel- 
 lan." 
 
 The only thing in M. Otto's memoir which 
 bears any refemblance to' a fblution of this 
 difficulty is this. " We may fuppofe that 
 Behaim, engaged in an expedition to Congo, 
 was driven by tiie winds to Fernambouc, and 
 from thence by the currents toward the coall 
 of Guiana.' Bat fuppontions without proof 
 will avail little ; and fujipoGtions againfl: 
 
 proof 
 
94 
 
 proof will avail nothing. The two voyages 
 to Congo are admitted. The courfe is def- 
 cribed ; and the time is determined ; and 
 both thefe are direftly oppofed to the fuppo- 
 iition of his being driven by winds and c)a,r- 
 rents to America^ For if he had been driven 
 out of his courfe and had fpent " feveral 
 years in examining the American iflands^ 
 and difcovering the ftraight which bears the 
 name of Magellan ;"* and if one of thofe 
 years was the year 1484, then he could not 
 have fpent 26 months preceding February, 
 1485, in the difcovery of Congo ; but of this 
 we have full and fatisfaftory evidence ; the 
 difcovery of America therefore mufl be given 
 up. 
 
 There is one thing further in this memoir 
 which defervcs a particular remark, and that 
 i& the reafon affigned by M. Otto, for which 
 the Kmg of Portugal declined the propofal 
 of Columbus to fail to India by the weft. 
 *' The refufal of John II. is a proof of the 
 knowledge v.'hich that politic prince had al- 
 ready procured, of the exiftence of a new con- 
 tinent, which offered him only barren lands, 
 
 inhabited 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 269. 
 
95 
 
 inhabited by unconquerable favages."* This 
 knowledge is fuppofed to have been derived 
 from the difcoveries made by Behaim. But, 
 not to urge again the chronological difficulty 
 wit.'i which this conjefture is embarraflfed, I 
 vill take notice of two circumftances in the 
 life of Columbus, which militate with this 
 idea. The firft is, that when Columbus had 
 propofed a weftern voyage to King John, 
 and he declined it, " The King by the ad- 
 vice of one Do6lor Calzadilla, refolved Lo 
 fend a caravel privately, to attempt that which 
 Columbus had propofed to him ; becaufe in 
 cafe thofe countries were fo difcovered, he 
 thought himfclf not obliged to bellow any 
 great reward. Having fpeedily equipped a 
 caravel, which was to carry fupplies to the 
 iflands of Cabo Verde, he fent it that way which 
 the admiral propofed to go. But thofe whom 
 he fent wanted the knowledge, conftancy and 
 fpirit of the admiral. After wandering many 
 days upon the fea, they turned back to the 
 iflands of Cabo Verde, laughing at the un- 
 dertaking, and faying it was impojfibk there 
 
 fliould be any land in thofe feas."f 
 
 Afterward 
 * Memoirs, p. :ij6. 
 
 t Life of Columbus, chap. xi. 
 
96_ 
 
 Afterward " tlie King being fcnfible how- 
 faulty they were whom he had lent with the 
 caravel, had a mind to reftore the admiral 
 to his favour, and deGred that he ihould re- 
 new the difcourfe of his enterprize ; but ^ot 
 being fo diligent to put this in execution as 
 the admiral was in getting away, he loft that 
 good opportunity ; the admiral, about the 
 end of the year 1484, ftole away privately 
 out of Portugal for fear of being ftopped by 
 the King."* This account does not agree 
 with the fuppofition of a prior difcovery. 
 
 The other circumftance is an interview 
 which Columbus had with the people of Lif- 
 bon, and the King of Portugal, on his re- 
 turn from his firft voyage. For it fo hap- 
 pened that Columbus on his return was by 
 ftrefs of weather obliged to take fhelter in the 
 port of Lifbon ; and as foon as it was knowa 
 that he had come from the Indies, " the peo- 
 ple thronged to fee the natives whom he had 
 brought and hear the news ; fo tbat the cara- 
 vel would not contain them. Some of them 
 praifing God for fo great a happinefs ; 
 others ftorming- that they had lojl the difcovery 
 through their Kings incredulity," When 
 
 * Life of Columbus, chap. xii. 
 
97 
 
 When the King fent for Columtus, " he 
 was doubtful what to do ; but to take off 
 all fufpicion that he came/rom his conquejls, 
 he confented." At the interview, " the King 
 offered him all that he flood in need of for 
 the fervice of their Catholic Majefties, though 
 he thought, that forafmuch as he had been a 
 captain in Portugal, that conqueft belonged to 
 him. To which the admiral anfwered, that 
 he knew of no fuch agreement, and that he 
 had ftriftly obferved his orders, which were 
 not to go to the mines of Portugal, £the gold 
 coaft] nor to Guinea."* Had John II. heard 
 of Behaim's voyage to a weflern continent, 
 would he not have claimed it by priority o£ 
 difcovery rather than by the commiffioa 
 which Columbus had formerly borne in his 
 fervice ? Had fuch a prior difcovery been 
 made, could it have been concealed from the 
 people of Lifbon ? And would they have 
 been angry that their King had loft it by his. 
 incredulity ? Thefe circumftances appear to 
 me to carry lufficient evidence, that no difcov- 
 ery of America prior to that of Columbus 
 had come to the knowledge of the King of. 
 Portugal. In 
 
 * Life, chap. xli. 
 
 N 
 
''in atrfwerto the qtieftion ** Why are wc 
 fearching the archives of an imperial city for 
 the caufes of an event, which took place in 
 the weftern extremity of Europe ?" M. Ot- 
 to gives us to underftand, that " from the 
 fourteenth to the fixteenth centuries, the Ger- 
 mans \veTt the beft geographers, the bed hif- 
 torians and the moft enlightened politicians.** 
 Kot to detraft from the merit of the German 
 Kterati of thofe ages, I think we may give 
 equal credit to a learned German author of 
 the prefent age, Dr. John Reinhold Forfter; 
 who appears to have a thorough underftand- 
 ing of the claims not only of his own country- 
 men, but of others. In his indefatigable re- 
 fearches into the difcoveries which have been 
 made by all nations, though he has given due 
 credit to the adventures of Behaim in Congo 
 and Fayal, yet he has not faid one word of 
 his vifiting America ; which he certainly 
 would have done if in his opinion there had 
 been any foundation for it. 
 
 He has indeed given us a long detail, with 
 much reafoning, on a difcovery made in the 
 iith century by the Normans, of a country 
 called Winland ; which he fuppofes to be the 
 
 ifland 
 
ifland of Newfoundland ; but neither he nor 
 any other writer pretends that the knowledge 
 of this difcovery was ever communicated to 
 Columbus. That great man therefore, is juft* 
 ly entitled to the honour of an original difcov- 
 ery of America. 
 
 og^ 
 
f^ 
 
 ■lurx Oil . 
 
I. — ■ ■■■ - ■■ » !■ Il l ■ — »^.— wm ■■ I 1 Wfc fci ■■■I 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 T O 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 X-zTTERS from PAUL a Phyfician of Florence, 
 to CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, con- 
 cerning the Difcovery of the Indies. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Christopher Columbus, Favl the Phy^ 
 
 fician wiJJieth health, ' 
 
 -• ♦ 
 
 I PERCEIVE your noble and earneft 
 
 defire to fail to thofe parts where the fpice is 
 
 produced ; and therefore in anfwer to a letter 
 
 of yours, I fend you another letter, which 
 
 fome days fince I wrote to a friend of mine, 
 
 and fervant to the King of Portugal before 
 
 the wars of Caftilc, in anfwer to another he 
 
 wrote to me by his highnefs's order, upon this 
 
 fame account ; and I fend you another fea- 
 
 chart like that I fent him, which will fatisfy 
 
 your demands. The copy of the letter is 
 
 this. 
 
 Ta 
 
To Ferdinand Martin EZ,wnowo/"Lifl)On, 
 Paul /A<r Phyjician wijlieth healthy 
 I AM very glad to hear of the familiarity 
 you have with your moft ferene and magnifi- 
 cent King ; and though I have very oftea dif- 
 courfed concerning tht Jhort way there is from 
 hence to the Indies where the fpice is produc- 
 ed, by fea, which I look upon to be fliorter 
 than that you take by the coaft of Guinea ; yet 
 you now tell me that his highnefs would have 
 me make out and demonftrate it, fo as it may 
 be underftood and put in pra6lice. There- 
 fore, though I could better Ihow it him witha 
 globe in my hand, and make him fenfible of 
 the figure of the world ; yet I have refolved 
 to render it more eafy and intelligible, to fhow 
 this way upon a chart, fuch as are ufed m. 
 navigation ; and therefore I fend one to his 
 tnajefty, made and drawn with my own hand; 
 wherein is fet down the utmoft bounds of the 
 weft, from Ireland in the north, to the fartheft 
 part of Guinea, with all the iflands that lie i«i 
 the way. Oppofite to which weftern coaft is 
 ^fcribed the beginning of the Indies, with the 
 iflands and places whither you may go, and 
 how far yon may bend from the north pole 
 
 toward 
 
1^ 
 
 toward the cquinoftlal, and for how long a 
 time ; that is, how many leagues you may fail, 
 hefove you come to thofe places moft fruitful 
 in all forts of fpice, jewels and precious ftones. 
 Do not wonder if I term that country where 
 the fpice grows tveji, that produ6l: being gene- 
 rally afcribed to the eaft ; becaufe thofe who 
 fiiall fail weftward will always find thofe places 
 in the weft ; and they that travel by land caft- 
 ward will ever find thofe places in the eaft. 
 The ftrait lines that lie lengthways in the 
 chart, ftiew the diftance there is from weft to 
 eaft ; the others crofs them, ftiew the diftance 
 from north to fouth. I have alio marked 
 down in the faid chart, feveral places in India, 
 where fliips might put in, upon any ftorm or 
 contrary winds, or any other accident unfore- 
 feen. 
 
 Moreover to give you full information of 
 all thofe places which you are very defirous 
 to know ; you muft underftand, that none 
 but traders live or refide in all thofe iflands, 
 and that there is as great a number of ftiips 
 and feafaring people with merchandife, as in 
 any other part of the world ; particularly in a 
 moft noble port called Zaclon, where tliere 
 
 are 
 
io4 
 
 arc every year a hundred large fhips of {)eppct 
 loaded and unloaded, befides many other 
 (hips that take in other fpice. 
 
 This country is mighty populous, and 
 thett are many provinces and kingdoms, and 
 innumerable cities under the dominion of a 
 prince called the great Kham, which name 
 iignifies King of Kmgs, who for the moft part 
 xeiides in the Province of Cathay. His pred- 
 eceffors were very delirous to have com- 
 merce and be in amity with Chriflians ; and 
 200 years fmce, fent ambafladors to the Pope ; 
 deliring him to fend them many learned men 
 and doftors to teach them our faith ; but by 
 reafon of fome obftacles the ambaffadors met 
 with, they returned back, without coming to 
 Rome. 
 
 Befides, there came an ambaflador to Pope 
 Eugenius IV. who told him the great friend- 
 Ihip there was between thofe princes, their 
 people and the Chriflians. I difcourfed with 
 him a long while upon the feveral matters of 
 the grandeur of their royal flruftures, and of 
 the greatnefs, length and breadth of their riv- 
 ers. He told me many wonderful things of 
 the multitude of towns and cities founded 
 
 along 
 
along the banks of the rivers ; and that there 
 were 200 cities upon one river only, with 
 marble bridges over it, of a great length and 
 breadth, and adorned with abundance of pii-. 
 lars. This country deferves as well as any 
 other to be difcovered ; and there li^ay ti6t 
 only be great profit made there, and Tniriy 
 things of value found, but alfo gold, filver, all 
 forts of precious ftones, and fpiccs in abund- 
 ance, which are not brought into our^art^. 
 And it is certain, that many wife men, phi- 
 lofophers, aftrologers, and other perfons fkil- 
 led in all arts, and very ingenious, govern that 
 mighty province, and command their armies. 
 From Lilbon direftly weftward, there arc 
 in the chart 26 fpaces, each of which contains 
 250 miles, to the moft noble and vafl; city of 
 Quifay, which is 100 miles in compafs, that is 
 35 leagues ; in it there are ten marble bridges, 
 the name fignifies a heavenly city ; of which, 
 wonderful things are reported, as to the inge- 
 nuity of the people, the buildings and the rev- 
 enues. This fpace abovementioned is almoft 
 the third part of the globe. This city is in 
 the province of Mango, bordering on that of 
 Cathay, where the King for the mofl part 
 re fides. O From 
 
From the ifland Antilla, which you call the 
 feven cities, and of which you havefome knowU 
 edge, to the mo ft noble ifland of Cipango are 
 ten fpaces, which make 2500 miles, or 225 
 leagues ; which ifland abounds in gold, pearls 
 and precious fliones ; and you mu{l under- 
 fland, they cover their temples and palaces 
 with plates of pure gold. So that for want 
 of knowing the way, all thefe things are hid- 
 den and concealed, and yet may be gone to 
 with fafety. 
 
 Much more might be faid, but having told 
 you what is mofl material, and you being wife 
 and judicious, I am fatisfied there is nothing 
 of it, but what you underfland, and therefore 
 I will not be more prolix. Thus much may 
 ferve to fatisfy your curiofity, it being as much 
 as the fliortncfs of time and mybufinefs would 
 permit me to fay. So I remain moft ready 
 to fatisfy and ferve his highnefs to the utmolt 
 in all the commands he ftiall lay upon me. 
 
 Florence i June 25, 1474. 
 
 LETTER 
 
10/ 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Phy^ 
 Jician -wi/heth health. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letters with th? 
 things you fent me, which I take as a great 
 favour, and commend your noble and ardent 
 defire of faiHngfrom eaft to weft, as it is mark- 
 ed out in the chart I lent you, which would 
 demonftrate itfelf better in the form of a globe. 
 I am glad it is well underftood, and 
 that the voyage laid down is not only polTible,' 
 but true, certain, honourable, very advantage- 
 ous and moft glorious among all Chrillians. 
 You cannot be perfeft in the knowledge of it,^ 
 but by experience and practice, as I have had 
 in great meafure, and by the folid and true 
 information of worthy and wife men, who are 
 come from thofe parts to this court of Rome ; 
 and from merchants who have traded long in 
 thofe parts, and are perions of good reputa- 
 tion. So that when the faid voyage is per- 
 formed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and 
 to the moft noble cities and provinces ; rich 
 and abounding '\^ all things we fland in need 
 of, particularly in all forts of fpice in great 
 quantities, and flore of jewels. Tins 
 
This will moreover be grateful to thofe 
 kings and princes, who are very delirous to 
 converfe and trade with Chriftians of thefe 
 our countries ; whether it be for fome of them 
 to become Chriftians, or elfe to have commu- 
 nication with the wife and ingenious men of 
 thefe parts, as well in point of religion, as in 
 all Iciences, becaufe of the extraordinary ac- 
 count they have of the kingdoms and govern- 
 ment of thefe parts. For which reafons, and 
 many more that might be alleged, I do not at 
 all admire, that you who have a great heart, and 
 all the Portuguefe nation which has ever had 
 notable men in all undertakings, be eagerly 
 bent upon performing this voyage. 
 
 <=^ 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
10^ 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 A Chronological detail of Difcoveries made in the. 
 f/tecnth Century, conncEled with Events in, the 
 Life oj- CoLUUBVs, 
 
 TOHN I, King 
 of Portugal. 
 1412. Sends vefTcls along 
 the weflern fliore of 
 Africa to difcover un- 
 known countries. 
 
 i^. Henry, fourth fon of 
 KingJohnI,condufts 
 the Portuguefe dif- 
 coveries, which are 
 puihed as far as Cape 
 Bojador, lat. 26° N. 
 Rohertfon. 
 
 18. The ifland of Porlo 
 Santo difcovered. 
 
 20. The ifland of Ma- 
 deira difcovered. 
 
 31, The iflands of St, 
 Mary, the firft of the 
 Azores difcovered, 
 
 43. Cape Arguin on tiie 
 African coaft, lat. 20*^ 
 N. difcovered. 
 
 44. St. Michael, the fec- 
 ond of the Azores, 
 
 difcovered. 14^5. A 
 
1445, A third id^nd of the 
 
 Azores difcovered, 
 
 which from that clr- 
 
 cumftance is called 
 
 Terce-ira. Forjltr. 
 
 Papal Bull conferring 
 
 the newly difcovered 
 
 countries on the Por- 
 
 tuguefe. 
 46. Companies of pri- 
 vate merchants in 
 
 Portugal undertake 
 
 difcoveries, and pufh 
 
 them as far as Cape 
 
 de Verd, on the coaft 
 
 of Africa, lat. 14° N. 
 
 Robertfon. i^^j, Chriftopher Co- 
 49. The iflands of Cape lumbus born at Ce- 
 
 de Verd difcovered ; noa. 
 
 and before this year 
 
 four other iflands of 
 
 the Azoresare known, 
 
 viz. St. George, Gra- 
 
 ciofa, Fayal and Pico. 61. Takes to lea at the 
 Forjkr. age of fourteen. 
 
 63. Prince Henry dies, 
 
 and the pafiion for 
 
 difcovery languifhes. 
 (Uncertain date. J Alphon- 
 
 fo V. King of Portu- 
 gal giants an exclu- five 
 
Ill 
 
 five right of difcovery 
 to Gomez, and gives 
 the ifland of Fayal to 
 his fifter Ifabclla, 
 Dutchefs of Burgun- 
 dy and Flanders. 
 
 Roh. Former. 
 1466. Ifabella fends Jobft 
 Von Hurter to Fayal 
 with acolony of Flem- 
 ings. Forjler. 
 67. PhilipMtf^oodf.Duke 
 of Burgundy & Flan- 
 ders, and hufband to 
 Ifabella, dies at Bru- 
 ges, Mx. 73 : Is fuc- 
 ceeded by his fon 
 Charles the bold, ^Et. 
 34. Collier. Meter ay. 
 7 \ . The Portuguefe dif- 
 cover Guinea, partic- 
 ularly the gold coaft, 
 and firft crofs the e- 
 quator. Forjler. 
 
 1467. ColOm«us 
 fails 1 00 leagues be- 
 yond Iceland, with- 
 in the polar circle, 
 as far as lat. 73^ N. 
 Follows the {ea 23 
 years, in which time 
 he vifits all the dif- 
 coveries made by 
 the Portuguefo^ in 
 Africa and tffie i- 
 flands ; during this 
 time he fettles and 
 marries at Lifhon. 
 74. Columbus corref- 
 ponds with Paul, ot 
 Florence,on the pro- 
 bability of finding 
 India in the weft. 
 Life of Col. by 
 Ferdinand CoL 
 
 { 
 
 14B3. 
 
112 
 
 1481. John II, King of 
 Portugal, revives the 
 fpirit ot difcovery, and 
 builds a fort on the 
 coaft of Guinea, cal- 
 led iS^. George de la 
 Mina, lat. 5° N. 
 
 Forfier. 
 
 83. Sends Diego Cam 
 
 and Martin Behaim.to 
 make new difcoveries 
 on the coaft of Africa. 
 
 84. They make two 
 voyages in 26 months, 
 and difcover Congo 
 and Benin. 
 
 8^. Feb. 18. Behaim is 
 knighted byKingJohn 
 II. He atterward mar- 
 ries the daughter of 
 Hurter, and thus be- 
 comes a proprietor and 
 Lord of the ifland ot 
 Fayal. Schedl. Forjier. 
 
 [Uncertain ) Columbus 
 propofes' his plan 
 of a weftern voyage 
 to the republic of 
 Genoa.without fuc- 
 cefs. Herrera. 
 
 Then to John II, of 
 Portugal ; who, by 
 the advice of Cal- 
 zadllla, privately 
 fends a vefTel to 
 make difcoveries in 
 the weft, which 
 comes back to Cape 
 de Verd, without 
 fuccefs. 
 1484. In the latter end of 
 this year Columbus 
 leaves Liftjon, and 
 goes into Spain, 
 having previoufly 
 fent his brother Bar- 
 tholomew to Eng- / 
 land. Ferd. Cot. 
 88. Bartholomew hav- 
 ing been taken and 
 detained feveral 
 years by pirates, 
 gets toEngland,em- 
 ploys himfeli in 
 making 
 
^^3 
 
 i486. Cape of Good Hope 
 difcovered byBarthol- 
 omew Diaz. Rob. 
 
 92. Martin Behaim vif- 
 its Nuremberg, his na- 
 tive city, where he 
 makes a globe, on 
 which are delineated 
 coafls and idands, 
 which, from their fit- 
 uaiion, 2iKtfuppo[cd\.o 
 be fome parts of A- 
 merica. 
 
 {Robertfon's Ame- 
 rica, vol. I. p. 322. 
 
 making maps and 
 globes, and prefents 
 one to Henry VH. 
 Mod. Univ, Eijl, 
 1491. Columbus having 
 madeapplication to 
 Ferdinand, King of 
 Caftile,and been re- 
 pulfed, refolves to 
 follow his brother 
 to England, but is 
 recalled by Queen 
 Ifabella. Ferdinand 
 being Hill inflexi- 
 ble, Columbus dif- 
 gufted refolves to 
 go to France. 
 92. Is again recalled, 
 and receives en- 
 couragement from 
 Ifabella. 
 
 May 12. Sets out 
 from Granada, for 
 Palos, whence, 
 Aug. 3, he fails 
 with three veffels. 
 Aug. 12, arrives 
 at the Canaries. 
 Septem. 6. Sails 
 thence to the weft- 
 ward. 
 
ii4 
 
 1493. Pop^ Alexander VI. 
 draws his line of de- 
 markation between the 
 difcoveries oi the Por- 
 tuguefe and Spaniards, 
 100 leagues weft of 
 the Azores. 
 Hazard's State pap. 
 
 96. John Cabot, a Ve- 
 netian, in the fervicc 
 of Henry Vll.of Eng- 
 land, difcovers part of 
 America, in lat. 43°' 
 N. and coafts it north- 
 ward to 68^,and fouth- 
 ward to 38°. 
 
 Prince's Chron. 
 
 gj. Vafquez de Gama 
 doubles the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and ar- 
 rives at Melinda. 
 
 98. Makes his voyage to 
 India, and thus com- 
 pletes the difcovery of 
 
 oa. 12. Difcoy- 
 
 ers Guanahana, one 
 of the Bahama i- 
 flands, diftant 950 
 leagues irom the 
 Canaries. 
 1493. Returns to Spain, 
 and arrives at Pa- 
 los March 15. 
 Sept. 25. Sails on 
 his fecond voyage 
 to the Weft-Indies. 
 94. His brotherBartho- 
 lomew meets him in 
 Hifpaniola. 
 96. Columbus returns 
 to Spain from his 
 fecond voyage. 
 
 98. Columbus fails a 
 third time, difcov- 
 ers the ifland of 
 
"5 
 
 that country by the 
 Eaft. 
 
 1500. Cabral, bound to In- 
 dia, difcovers by acci- 
 dent the continent of 
 America, in lat. 10^ 
 S. which is called Bra- 
 fil. Rob, 
 
 06. Martin Behaim dies 
 at Lifbon. Otto, 
 
 Trinidad, and thea 
 the continent. 
 
 1459. Ojeda.a private ad- 
 venturer, and A- 
 merigo Vefpucci, 
 follow the track of 
 Columbus,& claim 
 the honour of dif- 
 coveringthe contl. 
 nent, which from a 
 publication made 
 by Amerigo, is cal- 
 led AMERICA. 
 
 1500. Columbus is fcnt 
 prifoner to Spain, 
 by Bovadilla. 
 
 02. Makes his fourth 
 voyage to the wefl, 
 and fearches for a 
 
 03. pafTage through the 
 continent to India, 
 is wrecked on Ja- 
 maica. 
 
 04. Returns to Spain, 
 finds his friend and 
 patronefs, Ifabella, 
 dead. 
 
 06. Diesat Valladolid, 
 is buried at Sevil- 
 le,in the Cathedral, 
 ^t.59. 
 
 Ferd. Col. 
 
Hf 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 ON THE QUESTION, WHETHER THE HON- 
 EY BEE IS A NATIVE OF AMERICA. 
 
 Mi 
 
 .R. JEFFERSON, in his notes 
 on Virginia, has faid, that " the honey bee is 
 not a native of our continent. The Indians 
 concur with us in the tradition that it was 
 brought from Europe, but when, and by whom 
 we know not. The bees have generally ex- 
 tended themfelves into the country, a little 
 in advance of the white fettlers. The Indi- 
 ans therefore call them the white man's fly; 
 and confider their approach as indicating the 
 approach of the fettlement of the whites." 
 He allows that " in Brafil there is a fpecies of 
 honey bee, without a fling, but that it is very 
 different from the one we have, which perfe6l- 
 ly refembles that of Europe." The fafts ad- 
 duced by this refpe6lable author are true ; 
 but they \\ ill not warrant his conclufion that 
 " the honey bee, meaning the one refembling 
 that of Europe, is not a native of our conti- 
 nent."* There 
 
 ^ Page 79, American Edition. 121. Englifh. 
 
ii8 
 
 "There is one circumflance in the hiftory of 
 Columbus, which proves that bees were 
 known in the iflands of the Weft-Indies, at 
 the time of his difcovery. When on his firft 
 return to Europe he was in danger of perifti- 
 ing at fea, he wrote an account of his difcov- 
 ery on parchment, which he enclofed in a 
 cake of wax, and put into a tight calk, com- 
 mitting the whole to the fea, in hope of its 
 being driven on Ihore or taken up. This wax 
 was procured in the ifland of Hifpaniola* 
 which he had vifited, and it was one of the 
 firft fruits of his difcovery. 
 
 The indefatigable Purchas gives us an ac- 
 count of the revenues of the empire of Mex- 
 ico, before the arrival of the Spaniards, as 
 defcribed in its annals ; which were pi6lures 
 drawn on cotton cloth. Among other arti- 
 cles he exhibits the figures of covered pots, 
 with two handles, which are faid to be pots 
 of " bees honie."t Of thefe pots, two hun- 
 dred are depifted in one tribute-roll, and one 
 hundred in feveral others. 
 
 This account is confirmed by a late hiftory 
 
 of Mexico, written by the Abbe Clavigero, a 
 
 native of Vera Cruz, who from a refidence of 
 
 thirty 
 * See his Life, chap. xxx. 
 
 + Purchas, vol. IV. 
 
ir9 
 
 thirty-fix years in Mexico, and a minute in- 
 quiry into the natural hiftory and antiquities 
 of his country mult be fuppofed to he well 
 informed, and competent to give a juft ac- 
 count. He tells us, that a part of every uie- 
 ful production of nature or art was paid in 
 tribute to the Kings of Mexico ; and among 
 other articles of revenue he reckons " 600 
 cups of honey" paid annually by the inhabi- 
 tants of the fouthern parts of the empire.* 
 He alfo fays, " that though they extraftcd a 
 great quantity of wax from the honey comb ; 
 they either did not know how, or were not at 
 the pains to make lights of it." 
 
 In his enumeration of the infers of Mex- 
 ico, he reckons fix diflFerent kinds of bees 
 which make honey,t four of which have 
 no ftings, and of the other two which have 
 ftings, one " agrees with the common bee of 
 Europe, not only in fize, fhape and colour ; 
 but alfo in its difpofition and manners, and 
 in the qualities of its honey and wax." 
 
 In the account given by Purchas, of the 
 travels of Ferdinando de Soto, in Florida, it 
 is obferved, that when he came to Chiaha, 
 
 which 
 
 * Book VII, p. 351, 4to edit, 
 
 + Book I, p. 68. 
 
120 
 
 which by the defcription was on one of the 
 upper branches of the Mobille, [now in the 
 Hate of Georgia] he found among the provi- 
 £ons of the natives *' a pot full of honie of 
 hecs."* This was A. D. 1540, when there 
 were no Europeans fettled on the continent 
 of America, but in Mexico and Peru. 
 
 From thefe authorities it is evident that 
 honey bees were known in Mexico and the 
 iflands, before the arrival of the Europeans ; 
 and that they had extended as far northward 
 as Florida, a country fo denominated from 
 the numberlefs flowers, which grow there in 
 wild luxuriance and afford a plenty of food, 
 for this ufeful tribe of infedls. The inference 
 is, that bees were not imported by the Span- 
 iards ; for however fond they might be of 
 honey as an article of food, or of wax to make 
 tapers for common ufc, or for the illumina- 
 tion of their churches ; yet as bees were 
 known to be in the country, there could be 
 no need of importing them. The report of 
 honey and wax being found in the iflands, in, 
 Mexico, and in Florida, had reached Europe 
 and had been pubiiflied there long before any 
 
 emigrations were made to the northward ; if 
 
 therefore 
 * Purchas, vol. V. p, 1539. 
 
It I. 
 
 therefore if thefe had becnconfidered as articles 
 of fubfiftence or of commerce ; the fanguine 
 fpirit of thejirjl adventurers would have rath- 
 er led them to think oi finding them in Amer- 
 ica, than of tranfporting bees from Europe to 
 make them. 
 
 As to the circumftance of the bees " ex- 
 tending themfelves a little in advance of the 
 white fettlers," it cannot be confidered as a 
 conclufive argument in favour of their having 
 been firft brought from Europe. It is well 
 known, that where land is cultivated, bees 
 find a greater plenty of food than in the foreft. 
 The bloffoms of fruit trees, of graffes and 
 grain, particularly clover and buck wheat, af- 
 ford them a rich and plentiful repaft ; and 
 they are feen in vaft numbers in our fields and 
 orchards at the feafon of thofe bloffoms. Thev 
 therefore delight in the neighbourhood of 
 *' the white fettlers," and are able to increafe 
 in numbers, as well as to augment their quan- 
 tity of ftores, by availing themfelves of the 
 labour of man. Mav it not be from this cir- 
 cumftance that the Indians have given them 
 the name of " the white man's flv ;" and that 
 they '= confider their approach (or frequent: 
 Q appearance) 
 
122 
 
 appearance) as indicating the approach of the 
 fettlement of the whites ?" 
 
 The lirll European fettlement in Virginia 
 was made about feventy years after the expe- 
 dition of Soto, in Florida, and the firft; fettle- 
 ment in New England was ten years pofterior 
 to that in Virginia. The large intermediate 
 country was uncultivated for a long time af- 
 terward. The iouthern bees therefore could 
 have no inducement, to extend themfelves 
 very far to the northward, for many years af- 
 ter the fettlements were begun; and within 
 that time bees were imported from Europe. 
 
 That honey and wax were not known to 
 the Indians of New England is evident from 
 this, that they had no words in their language 
 for them. When Mr. Eliot tranflated the 
 bible into the Indian language, wherever 
 thefe terms occurred, he ufed the Englifh 
 words, though fometimes with an Indian 
 termination. 
 
 , Joffelyn, who vifited New England firft in 
 3638, and afterward in 1663, and wrote an 
 account of his voyages with fome Iketches of 
 natural hiilory in 1673, fpeaks of the honey 
 bee in thefe words, *' The honey bees are 
 
 carried 
 
323 
 
 carried over hy the Englifh, and thiive there 
 exceedingly."* 
 
 There is a tradition in New England, that 
 the perfon who firfl brought a hive of bees 
 into the country was rewarded with a grant 
 of land ; but the perfon's name, or the place 
 where the land lay, or by whom the grant 
 was made, I have not been able to learn. 
 
 It appears then, that the honey bee is a na* 
 tiveof America, and that its produ6lions were 
 found by the firfl European vifitors as far 
 northward as Florida and Georgia. It is al- 
 fo true that bees were imported from Europe 
 into New England, and probably into Virgi- 
 nia ; but whether, if this importation had not 
 taken place, the bees of the fouthern parts 
 would not have extended themfelves norther- 
 ly, or whether thofc which we now have are 
 not a rnixture of native and imported bees, 
 cannot be determined. It is however certain 
 that they have multiplied exceedingly, and 
 that they are frequently found in New Eng- 
 land, in a wild ftate, in the trunks of hollow 
 trees, as far northward as cultivation and fet- 
 tlements have extended, which is nearly to 
 the forty-fifth degree of latitude. 
 
 I have 
 
 * Voyage to New England, p, 120. 
 
124 
 
 I have made inquiry of feveral perfons from 
 Canada ; but have not learned that bees were 
 known during their refidence in that country. 
 It is however not improbable that as culti- 
 vation extends, the bees may find their way 
 to the northward of the lakes and river of Ca- 
 nada, even though none fhould be tranfport- 
 ^d thither by the inhabitants. 
 
»«5 
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 ON THE COLOUR OF THE NATIVE AMERI- 
 CANS, AND THE RECENT POPULATION 
 OF THIS CONTINENT. 
 
 I 
 
 .T has been queried, " if the black- 
 nefs of the Africans and the Eaft Indians with, 
 in the torrid zone, be the effeft of climate ; 
 why are not the original natives of America, 
 within the fame latitudes equally black ?"* 
 
 That the blacknefs mentioned is the efFe£l; 
 of climate is generally admitted by philofophi- 
 cal writers. Their meaning is, that the ex- 
 ceflive heat of the climate, in a long feries of 
 time, produces this effefl-. The heat of a 
 country depends not only on its proximity to 
 the equator ; but on its particular and rela- 
 tive fituation. A plain is hotter than a moun- 
 tain, a continent is hotter than an ifland, and 
 one fide of a continent is hotter than the other. 
 Though almoil all the countries and iflands 
 of Afia and Africa, between the tropics, have 
 black inhabitants ; yet there is a diverlity in 
 
 the 
 
 * American Mufeum, 1790 — p. 78. 
 
<«6 
 
 the fhades of their fable hus, as well as in the 
 form of their hair. The crifped woolly head- 
 ed inhabitants of the weftern coafl of Africa, 
 are faid to be the blackeft of mankind, becaufe 
 that country, from its peculiar lituation, re- 
 ceives and retains a greater degree of heat 
 than any other part of the globe ; the eafterly 
 winds which pafs over that continent being 
 extremely heated in their pallage. The fame 
 "wind (which at fea is called the trade wind) is 
 cooled in pafilng over the Atlantic. The 
 eaftern parts of South America are much 
 cooler than the cppofite coaft of Africa, in the 
 fame latitude ; and the natives of Guiana and 
 ]Prafil are of a brown colour. Between Bra- 
 fil and Peru are fituate thofe lofty mountains, 
 the Andes ; which again arrefl and cool the 
 eafterly wind, before it reaches the weftern 
 coaft of Amei lea ; and, the inhabitants of 
 Peru are of a lighter colour than thofc of Bra- 
 fiL Mexico is in the fame latitude with Se- 
 negal -and Gambia ; the inhabitants of the 
 two latter countries are black, whilft thofe of 
 tlie former arc of an olive complexion, which 
 is fuppofed to have been the original colour 
 of the human fpecics. 
 
 This 
 
This account is conformable to that given 
 by the celebrated naturalift, Buffon ; but he 
 has alfo formed an opinion, which, if it were 
 admitted, might folve the queftion in another 
 way. He conje6lures that America is '* of a 
 much more recent exiftence" than the old con- 
 tinent ; that it mufl have remained buried 
 under the waters of the fea much longer ; and 
 has but lately emerged from the waves. In 
 illuflration of this conjeflure he aflcs, " if this 
 continent be really as ancient as the other, 
 why did fo few men exifl on it ? Why were 
 thofe few favage and difperfed ? Why did 
 the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, (the only 
 ones which had the fmallefl; degree of fociety) 
 reckon only two or three hundred years from 
 the time that they were firft affemblcd to- 
 gether ?" He might have gone on with his 
 queries thus — Why are not the inhabitants of 
 the torrid zone in America, of as dark a com- 
 plexion as thofe of the Afian iflands, and the 
 eaftern fide of the African continent ? For it 
 is well known, that length of time as well as 
 Jicat of climate, is neceflary to produce any 
 great and permanent change in the human 
 colour. 
 
 This 
 
128 
 
 This conjefture of the late emerfion of the 
 American continent from the waters of the 
 ocean, advanced by BufFon, De Paw, and 
 other European theorifts, appears to me at- 
 tended with an infuperable difficulty. For 
 whilft buried in the water ic mull either have 
 been funk below, or the water muft have been 
 raifed above the prefent level of the continent- 
 On the former fuppolition, there muft have 
 been fome mighty convulfion of nature, and 
 of very long continuance ; to raife fo im- 
 menfe a bulk from the bottom of the ocean 
 to its prefent elevation ; and the water which 
 covered it muft have been fo driven back on 
 all fides, as to have made great encroachments 
 on the fhores of the other continent and iflands 
 of the globe. Or, on the latter fuppofition, 
 that the water was raifed above the prefent: 
 level of America, it would have been impof- 
 fible, for that element to preferve its equilib- 
 rium, according to the laws of hydroftatics, 
 without at the fame time overwhelming the 
 ancient continent. This difficulty renders 
 the conjecture inadmiffible, without fome hif- 
 torical proof of the exiftence of thefe effefts. 
 
 liUt, 
 
129 
 
 But, though the antiquity of America be al- 
 lowed equal to the reft of the world, yet it is 
 poffible that its population may be more recent. 
 It is very certain that the annals of Mexico and 
 Peru extended back but a few centuries pre- 
 vious to the Spanilh invafion. If we are to 
 believe them, Manco Capac, the founder of 
 the Peruvian monarchy, was contemporary 
 with Henry II. of England, in the twelfth 
 century ; and the Mexican empire was eftab- 
 liftied in the fourteenth. The moft elaborate 
 invefligation of the late hiftorian Clavigero, 
 carries the Jirjl population of Mexico by the 
 Toltecas, no further back than the feventh 
 century of the Chriftian ^ra. Beyond that, 
 they had no tradition, excepting that their 
 anceftors came from the north weft. 
 
 If any analogy can be drawn from the prog- 
 refs which the ancient Affyrians and Egyp- 
 tians made from a rude to a civilized ftate ; 
 that is, to the (ame degree of improvement 
 which the Mexicans and Peruvians had at- 
 tained ; there could not have intervened more 
 than four or five centuries, from their firft ar- 
 rival in America, to the appearance of Man- 
 co. This calculation will brmg the time of 
 R the 
 
130 
 
 the population of America, five or fix centu- 
 ries within the Chriftian ^Era. 
 
 Since modern voyagers have difcovered 
 the Pacific Ocean to be full of iflands, and 
 thofe iflands full of people, many of whom 
 are well fkilled in navigation, the population 
 of the weftern parts of America, from the eaft- 
 ern fhorcs and iflands of Afia is rendered 
 more credible than ever ; and if the Mexi- 
 cans and Peruvians came originally from the 
 north of China or Corea, they might proba- 
 bly bring fome degree of refinement with 
 them, beyond what thofe had who found 
 their way hither from the more northern de- 
 farts of Tartary. If this could be afcertained, 
 it would greatly ftrengthen the argument for 
 the recent population of America, and help 
 us to account for the diflFerence between the 
 inhabitants of thofe celebrated empires, and 
 the wild wanderers in the northern regions of 
 this vaft continent ; which is very analagous 
 to the difference between the people of China, 
 and the roving Tartars in the northern forefls 
 of Afia. 
 
 In fuch an inquiry, where fo little light 
 can be derived from hiftory or tradition, the 
 
 mind 
 
mind is apt to reft, perhaps too much on cir- 
 cumftantial proofs which feem to favour an 
 hypotheCs. Let this be my apology, if any 
 be neceffary, for introducing the following 
 quotation from the learned Dr. Forfter. 
 
 "From the year 1259 to 1294 of the Chrif- 
 tian ^ra, reigned Kublai-Khan, [Sove- 
 reign of Tartary, whofe refidence was in Ka- 
 thay, the northern part of China, and whofe 
 capital was a part of the prefent city of Pe- 
 king.J He fent a fleet and army to Niphon, 
 or Japan for the purpofe of conquering that 
 country. The fhips compofing his fleet were 
 very much fliattered by ftorms, and it is prob- 
 able that fome of them were not able to get 
 back to Japan or China. About this period 
 there fprung up in America almoll at one and 
 the fame time, two great empires, Mexico and 
 Peru, which had regular inftitutes of religion ; 
 notions of rank and fubordinations, were in 
 fome meafure civilized ; were connedled with 
 each other by various kinds of aflbciation ; 
 praftifed agriculture ; and in the matrimo- 
 nial ftate did not allow polygamy. In Mex- 
 ico, they had even a kind of hieroglyphic 
 writing, together with many other marks of 
 
 cultivation; 
 
?3* 
 
 cultivation ; nofwithftandlng that Both thefe 
 empires are furrounded on all fides by favage 
 and rude nations, very inconfiderable in point 
 of extent; and are bcfides at a diftance from 
 each other. All this favours the fuppofition, 
 that thefe two colonies came thither by fea, 
 in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; per- 
 liaps they are fome of the people who were 
 loft in the expedition to Japan, their ftiips 
 having been driven by the ftorm to Amer- 
 ica."* 
 
 * Forfter's Hillory of Voyages and Difcoverie?, 
 chap. I. p. 43. 
 
 c??s-o 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 There is now preparing for the Prefs, 
 
 A WORK, ENTITLED 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY; 
 
 O R, 
 
 An Hijlorical Account of thofe perfons who have 
 been dijlingui/hed in America, ai 
 
 Adventurers, 
 
 Statesmen, 
 
 Philosophers, 
 
 Divines, 
 
 Warriors, 
 
 Authors, 
 
 And other remarkable Charaders. 
 
 Comprehending a Recital of the Events connefled 
 with their Lives and Aftions. 
 
 jflr THIS work is begun, and will be prof- 
 ecuted with as much expedition as the difficulty of col- 
 lefting materials will permit. As foon as matter fuffi- 
 cient tor one volume is put into order it will be pub- 
 lifhed ; but it cannot be determined, at prefent, in how 
 many volumes the work will be compriled. It is hoped 
 that the firil will be finilhed within one year from this 
 date; the others will tollow as foon afterward z% pofli- 
 ble. 
 
 Gentlemen of curiofity and intelligence in every part 
 of the American continent, and iflands, are refpettfully 
 lolicited, to favour the Editor, with fuch communica- 
 tions, as the nature of the work requires ; which will 
 be gratefully accepted and acknowledged by their moft 
 humble fervant, 
 
 JEREMY BELKNAP. 
 
 Bojion, Nov. 10, 1792, 
 
PUB LIS HE D, by the fame Author, 
 
 [According to Ad of Congre/s.'] 
 THE 
 
 • HISTORY 
 
 OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE, 
 IN THREE VOLUMES, 8vo. 
 
 Vol. I. Comprehending the Events of one complete 
 Century, from the Difcovery ot the River 
 > Pafcataqua in 1614. 
 
 Vol. II. Comprehending the Events of feventy-five 
 years, trom 1715 to 1790, illuftrated by a 
 Map of the State. 
 
 Vol. III. Containing a Geographical Defcription of 
 the State, with (ketches of its natural Hiftory, 
 Produftions, Improvements, and prefent ftate 
 oi Society and Manners, Laws and Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Sold in Bo^on by James White ; in Philadelphia 
 by Thomas DoBSON ; and in London by Cuakles 
 
 DiLLY. 
 
^ 
 
w