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draughts, representing, besides the town and harbour, the church, the markets, the town-house, the hospital, and many other places and structures. All the habits of those parts are also represented. In short, the whole work contains eighty-two cuts, which being all drawn to truth, and not fancy, illustrate the work, and render it extraordinary valuable. All this is interwoven with discourses of the wars betwixt the Dutch and Indians in several parts; and many remarks of their history, both political and natural.

The third part is a voyage to the east side of Afric, in the year 1672, which is very short and imperfect; Mr. Nieuhoff being unfortunately killed in the island of Madagascar by the natives.

II. After Nieuhoff follow Smith's adventures, travels, and observations, beginning with his travels in the Low Countries, France, and Italy, proceeding thence to the wars betwixt the Turks and Transilvanians, where the author served; and being taken prisoner and carried into Tartary, he speaks somewhat of that country making his escape from the Tartars, he crossed all Europe, and passed into Barbary: hence he went to Virginia, the Summer Islands, and New England, and has left us the history of the English settlements in those places, and their state from the year 1624 to 1629, thence he passed to the Leeward Islands, of which he likewise gives an account.

III. Next to Smith's adventures, the reader will find two journals of men left in the frozen regions of Greenland and Spitzbergen, to winter there, and make some observations on those countries.

The first of these is of seven sailors, who voluntarily consented to stay in the isle of Maurice, on the coast of Greenland. These kept an exact diary, setting down the wind, weather, and all other particulars they could observe, from the twenty-sixth of August, 1633, till the twenty-ninth of April, 1634. The method is plain, and such as might be expected from sailors; and as there is nothing in the relation that seems incredible, so neither is there any ground to call the truth of it in question, because they all died one after another, and left this journal behind them without any alteration: and doubtless as they felt themselves declining, they would have no inclination to impose on the world.

The second journal is of seven other Dutch sailors, left to winter at Spitzbergen in the year 1634, where they also kept a diary from the eleventh of September, till the twenty-sixth of February, when being spent with the scurvy, and their limbs benumbed with the winter's cold, they could not help themselves, and, like the others, were all found dead at the return of the Dutch fleet in 1635.

IV. The next is a very brief relation of a shipwreck in Spitzbergen in 1646, and of the taking up of four of the men who escaped, after a wonderful manner; yet three of them died soon after, and only one returned home.

V. The descriptions of Iceland and Greenland were written about the year 1645, by Mr. la Peyrere, a learned Frenchman, author of the book about the Præ-Adamites, secretary to the French embassy at Copenhagen, at the request of the ingenious Mons. de la Mothe la Vayer, and sent to him: of Iceland, a country long inhabited, though so cold and northerly, he delivers something of ancient history, besides the description of the land, the manners of the people, and other things remarkable. In Greenland he follows much the same method, and both of them are well worthy to be read with attention, as delivering one of the most accomplished narratives we have of those parts, and esteemed as such by Mons. de la Mothe la Vayer, who was a very competent judge.

VI. The next in order is captain Thomas James's voyage, an. 1631, for the discovery of the north-west passage into the South Sea setting sail in May, he ran into the latitude of 63 degrees and upwards. It is very observable throughout the voyage, that we shall scarce meet with so continual a series of storms, and all sorts of hardships, miseries, and calamities, as this captain run through; who after struggling till September with tempests, cold and uninhabited shores, at last was driven upon a desert frozen island, and there forced to winter in miserable distress. The account he gives of the extremity of the cold in those quarters, and his observations on it, are curious, and were very useful to Mr. Boyle, in the experiments he made about cold. But the general esteem his relation is in among the ingenious will sufficiently recommend it. He returned safe home with most of his crew.

VII. The Muscovite ambassador's journey by land from Moscow to China in 1645 is so short that it requires little to be said of it, but that it describes the way from Moscow to Peking, and shows us that the city is the same with the so much talked of and little known Cambalu, mistakenly supposed to be in Tartary. This ambassador being never admitted to audience, could learn nothing of the Chinese court, and therefore does not pretend to inform us of any thing that relates to it.

VIII. Wagner's travels in Brasil and the East Indies about 1633, which are annexed to this embassy, are as short, and may so soon be read over, that it is needless to give a character of them.

IX. The life of Christopher Columbus has a short preface to it, partly the author's, and partly the translator's, which is sufficient to inform the reader both of the contents of the book, and the value of it above others that treat of the same subject. And indeed nothing can be described more authentic, if we will give credit to original papers, and those from so good a hand as the admiral himself and his own son, who bore part with him in some of his enterprises. But we must not omit to observe, that

under the title of his life is contained the narration of all that was done in the discovery of the West Indies in his time, about 1492, besides abundance of curious remarks, scarce to be found in any other author that writes upon this subject.

X. Greaves's account of the pyramids, needs little to be said of it. The universal approbation it has received is a greater character than can be here given of it; the judicious Mons. Thevenot set such a value upon it, that he translated it into French. In a word, it is the most accomplished narrative we have of those wonderful piles, and may spare all other travellers the trouble of writing of them. He has said all that can be expected: he instructs us who were the founders of the pyramids, the time of erecting them, the motive and design of them, and then describes them exactly, and gives draughts of them.

XI. His Roman foot and denarius added to his pyramids, is another piece of excellent literature, to give light into the weights and measures of the ancients.

XII. Christopher Borri's account of Cochin-china, where he lived about the year 1620, closes the second volume. It is short, but contains many curious things, being full of matter, without superfluity of words to swell it to a volume.

1. The historical relation of the kingdom of Chili, by Alonso de Ovalle, about the year 1646, has the first place in the third volume. It is the only good account of that kingdom; the author, being a Jesuit, inserted the relations of several miracles in this work, which the translator has in great measure retrenched; for the rest, his veracity is unquestioned. The author himself is so modest, as to excuse any fault that may be found with this work, alleging its being written at Rome, where he was procurator for those of his order in Chili; and, being so far from home, ill-provided with papers and all materials for composing a history of this sort: but whosoever reads it, will find more ground for commendation than need of excuse, nothing of the kind being more complete, full, and accurate. Something might be here said as to the particulars contained in this book, but that the author and translator have done it already in two several prefaces before the book. The translator gives the author and his work that honourable character they deserve.

thor in his preface sums up the contents of his book, declares how sincerely he has dealt, in order to deliver nothing but the truth; gives his reasons for what he says relating to Peru and Mexico, and lastly demonstrates how this work may be diverting and useful to all sorts of readers.

II. After Ovalle, follow sir William Monson's naval tracts. Sir William was a gentleman well descended, but of small fortune, as he confesses, which made him take to the sea, where he served many years in several capacities, till merit raised him to the degree of an admiral, first under queen Elizabeth, and then under king James

and king Charles the First. Being bred from his youth at sea, and being a man of excellent natural parts, there is not the least shadow of reason to make a doubt of his capacity in maritime affairs. His integrity will sufficiently appear to any that reads him, for he every where carries such a visible ingenuity in what he delivers, that it plainly appears to be written with a true zeal for the public, and without prejudice or affectation. The excellent advice he gives to his eldest son, is a good instance of his virtuous inclination; and the small estate he declares he leaves him, after so many toils and dangers, plainly shows the honesty of his life. Thus much as to the author: as to his tracts, there is a preface before them, to which the reader is referred for other particulars not touched upon in this place.

The first book is chiefly a collection of every year's actions in the war against Spain, on our own and the Spanish coasts, and in the West Indies. Here the reader is not to expect a full narrative of these affairs, for many of them are so brief, that no more is said of them, but the force they are undertaken with, and the success of the enterprise; yet the design is to show the reasons, either why they miscarried, or why so little advantage was made where they succeeded. In some he is more particular than in others; and what perhaps may be still of use, he at last sets down the abuses in the fleet, and the methods for redressing them.

His second book continues somewhat of the method of the first, beginning with fatherly instructions to his son; whence he proceeds to the peace with Spain, which put an end to the warlike naval actions, yet not to his command, being employed against pirates. He inveighs against the Dutch, shows the ill management of a design against Algier, and makes very notable remarks on the attempt upon Cadiz by king Charles the First, proposing methods how Spain might have been much more endamaged, with other particulars about the shipping of England, and sovereignty of the seas.

The third book treats only of the admiralty, that is, of all things relating to the royal navy, from the lord high admiral to the meanest persons employed ashore, and to the cabin-boys at sea; and from a complete fleet to the smallest vessel and part of it, with instructions for all officers, the size of all sorts of guns, all sorts of allowances on board the king's ships, and excellent directions for fighting at sea; an account of all the harbours in these three kingdoms, with many more curious matters accurately handled.

The fourth book is of another nature from any of the rest, being a brief collection of Spanish and Portuguese discoveries and conquests in Afric, Asia, and America, with some voyages round the world, and somewhat of English and French plantations.

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The fifth book is full of projects or schemes, for managing affairs at sea to the best advantage for the nation.

This sixth and last treats of fishing, to show the infinite addition of wealth and strength it would bring to England; with all instructions necessary for putting such a design in execution.

III. This third volume ends with the description of the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, and the island of Ceylon in the East Indies, about the year 1649, by Philip Baldæus, a Dutch minister, who lived several years in those parts. The preface to the work gives a general idea of it, and of the author, to which the reader may recur to avoid repetition; but for his further information let it be observed, that he first gives a brief account of the actions and conquests of the Portuguese in those parts, and then an ample and full relation how the Dutch expelled them; where we shall find more particulars concerning those affairs than have been hitherto made public in English, which is a very considerable piece of history. And though he only promises to treat of the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel on the continent, yet to lead the more methodically into it, he begins with the description of Cambaya, the treaties of the Dutch with the great mogul, the trade of several European nations along that coast; and leads us even into the Red-Sea, describing many places of note upon those shores, and even up the inland country, acquainting the reader, at the same time, with all that is requisite to be known of the Mahometans in those parts. Hence he descends to treat of all the great peninsula on this side Ganges, of its product, the rivers Nile and Ganges, and more particularly than any other has done of the Malabar language. After this he proceeds to Ceylon, where he enlarges more than upon the rest, as having lived longest there, rnd concludes with a large account of the idolatry of the East India pagans.

I. The first voyage in the fourth volume is that of Dr. Francis Gemelli Careri round the world, a piece of extraordinary curiosity, altogether new, and but lately published in Italian in six octavo volumes, and now first in English, the author returning home from his long travels but at the end of the year 1698. His learning, as being a doctor of the civil law, and his excellent natural qualifications, have rendered his work so complete, that indeed it seems to be one of the most excellent pieces of this nature now extant. Nothing can be more diverting, as having that extraordinary variety which the whole compass of the earth affords, and that in the noblest and best parts of it. An air of truth appears throughout it, there being nothing but what is told with much modesty, and what is probable and natural enough in itself; besides that the most part of what is here related may be found dispersed in many other travellers, who saw but pieces of what Gemelli took a view of entire. His remarks aud ob

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