neither its extent nor figure should have been ascertained. But the cause has probably been, that sovereign Princes have seldom any other motive for attempting the discovery of new countries than to conquer them, that the advantages of conquering countries which must first be discovered are remote and uncertain, and that ambition has always found objects nearer home. It is the diftinguishing characteristic of Your Majefty to act from more liberal motives; and having the best fleet, and the bravest as well as most able navigators in Europe, Your Majesty has, not with a view to the acquifition of treasure, or the extent of dominion, but the improvement of commerce and the increase and diffusion of knowlege, undertaken what has fo long been neglected; and under Your Majesty's aufpices, in little more than feven years, difcoveries have been made far greater than thofe of all the navigators in the world collectively, from the expedition of Columbus. to the present time. To have been appointed to record them, and permitted to inscribe the Narrative to Your Majefty, is an honour, the fenfe of which will always be retained with the warmest gratitude, by OF THE FIRST VOL U M E. Course from Port Defire, in Search of Pepys' Island, and afterwards to the Coaft of Patagonia, with a Defcription of the Inhabitants. The Paffage through the Streight of Magellan as far as Cape Monday, with a Defcription of feveral Bays and Harbours, formed by the The Paffage from Cape Monday, in the Streight of Magellan, into the South Seas; with fome general Remarks on the Navigation of that The Run from King George's lands to the Islands of Saypan, Tinian, and Aguigan; with an Account of several Islands that were dif The Arrival of the Dolphin and Tamar at Tinian, a Description of the prefent Condition of that Ifland, and an Account of the Tranfac- The Run from Tinian to Pulo Timoan, with fome Account of that Island, its Inhabitants and Productions, and thence to Batavia. CHAP. XIII. |