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able precipices which, in appearance, encircle his inveftigation. The reafon is, becaufethe obftacles are painted, by the imagination, in the molt lively colours but the me-thods of furmounting them efcape our attention ; till, fmoothed by labour and applica-tion, a more eafy paflage is difcovered.
Among the difcoveries mentioned in hiftory, whether owing to accident or reflection,that of the Indies is not the leaft advantageous. Thefe parts were for many ages un-known to the Europeans , or - , at leaft, the remembrance of them was buried in oblivion.They were loft through a long fucceflion of time, and disfigured by the confufion anddarknefs in which they were found immerfed. At length the happy sera arrived, wheninduftry, aflifted by refolution, was to remove all the difficulties exaggerated by igno-rance. This is the epocha which diftinguilhed the reign, in many other refpe&s fo glo-rious, of Ferdinand of Arragon, and Ifabella of Caftile. Reafon and experience at once ex-ploded all the ideas of raffinefs and ridicule which had hitherto prevailed. It feems asif Providence permitted the refufal of other nations to augment the glory of our own ;and to reward the zeal of our fovereigns, who countenanced this important enter-prife ; the prudence of their fubjects in the conduct of it, and the religious end pro-pofed by both. I mentioned accident or reflection, being not yet convinced whetherthe confidence with which Chriftopher Columbus maintained, that weftward there werelands undifcovered, was the refult of his knowledge in cofmography and experience innavigation, or whether it was founded on the information of a pilot who had actuallydifcovered them, having been driven on the coafts by ftrefs of weather; and who, inreturn for the kind reception he had met with at Columbus’s houfe, delivered to himin his laft moments the papers and charts relating to them.
The prodigious magnitude of this continent $ the multitude and extent of its pro-vinces ; the variety of its climates, products, and curious particulars ; and, laftly, thediftance and difficulty of one part communicating with another, and efpecially withEurope, have been the caufe, that America , though difcovered and inhabited in its prin-cipal parts by Europeans, is but imperfectly known by them ; and at the fame timekept them totally ignorant of many things, which would greatly contribute to give amore perfeCt idea of fo confiderable a part of our globe. But though inveftigations ofthis kind are worthy the attention of a great prince, and the ftudies of the moft piercinggenius among his fubjeCts, yet this was not the principal intention of our voyage. HisMajefty’s wife refolution of fending us to this continent was principally owing to a moreelevated and important defign. The literary world are no ftrangers to the celebratedftueftion that has lately produced fo many treatifes on the figure and magnitude of thee arth which had hitherto been thought perfectly fpherical. The prolixity of laterpbfervations had given rife to two oppofite opinions among philofophers. Both fuppofedto be elliptical; but one affirmed its tranfverfe diameter was that of the poles, and the°ther, that it was that of the equator. The folution of this . problem, in which notonly geography and cofmography are interefted, but alfo navigation, aftronomy, and°ther arts and fciences of public utility, was what gave rife to our expedition. Who^ould have imagined that thefe countries, lately difcovered, would have proved thertlea ns of our attaining a perfect knowledge of the old world ; and that, if the former° We d its difcovery to the latter, it would make it ample amends by determining its realgore, which had hitherto been unknown or uncontroverted ? who, I fay, would havempeCted that the fciences Ihould in that country meet with treafures not lefs valuable§ oId ks mines, which has fo greatly enriched other countries ? How manyifficulties were to be furmounted in the execution! What a feries of obftacles were toe overcome in fuch long operations, flowing from the inclemency of the climates $ the
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