1578. Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a patent for settling kinds in America. In 1583 he discovered and took possession of the harbour of St. John, and the country to the south, but was lost on his return.*

The voyage of Drake round the world served to kindle the enthusiasm of the English; and Ralegh obtained a patent similar to that of Gilbert.

1584. Two small vessels dispatched by Ralegh unfortunately bent their course to that country now called North Carolina, instead of reaching the noble bays of Chesapeak or Delaware. They touched at an island called Wokocon, probably Ocakoki, situated on the inlet into Pamlico sound; and afterwards at Roanoke near the mouth of Albemarle Sound. These vessels returned to England, with two of the natives; and Elizabeth assigned to this region the name of Virginia, an appellation which became laxly applied to the British settlements in North America, till it was confined to a different country from the original Virginia.

1585. Ralegh sent a small colony, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, who settled in the isle of Roanoke, a most incommodious and useless station, whence they returned in 1586. The account of this settlement, illustrated by curious prints, was published under the auspices of Ralegh; who made other unsuccessful attempts to colonize the country, and afterwards resigned his patent to some merchants, who were contented with a petty traffic. At the death of Elizabeth, 1603, there was not, so far as is now known, one Englishman settled in America: and the Spaniards and Portuguese alone had formed any establishment on that vast continent.

The venerable Hakluyt, anxious that his countrymen should partake of the benefit of colonies, procured an association of men of rank and talents for this purpose: and a patent was granted by James I, April the 10th, 1606, that monarch being wholly unconscious that he was about to establish an independent and mighty empire. The bay of Chesapeak was discovered in 1607; and the first lasting settlement was founded at James town, in modern Virginia. Captain John Smith, who afterwards published an interesting account of his voyages, displayed remarkable spirit and enterprize: yet the colony was about to return to England, when Lord Delawar arrived in 1610, and though he remained only a short time yet his prudent conduct firmly established the settlement. The subsequent events would be tedious to detail, but the following table, extracted from Mr. Morse's work, will supply the chief epochs.

* Hakluyt.

t Robertson's America, iv. 39. But compare the map by John White in the curious account of Grenville's expedition, published in English at Franckfort 1590, folio.

Plate 2d represents the spot of the settlement on the isle Roanoke, with parts of the adjacent continent called Secotan and Weaprmeoc, which now seem to belong to the Dismal Swamp; so injudicious was this first settlement. But the book is deeply interesting, as the earliest monument of the English power in America: and it seems to have given rise to the noted Latin Collection of Voyages published by De Bry.

........about 1728. Erected into a separate government;

South Carolina,.
Pennsylvania,..
North Carolina,

settled before by the English.

1732. By General Oglethorp. ....1773. By Col. Daniel Boon.

..about 1764. By emigrants from Connecticut, and

other parts of New England.

.1787. By the Ohio and other companies.

of Ohio river,

Tennessee on the south

of Kentucky.

Having thus mentioned the progress of the English settlements as intimately connected with the discovery of the country, it may be necessary briefly to state the epochs of a few other remarkable discoveries, rather unconnected with these settlements. In 1585 John Davis an experienced navigator, visited the western coast of Greenland, and explored the narrow sea, absurdly enough called Davis's strait, while it is as wide as the Baltic. On another voyage he proceeded as far north as the island of Disco, and the opposite shores of Greenland, which he named London coast. He also discovered Cumberland strait; and upon the whole, the three voyages of this navigator are of great consequence. His furthest point of discovery appears to have been Sanderson's Hope, latitude 72°, whence turning to the west he was impeded by fields of ice*.

In 1607, Hudson made his first voyage; and is said to have proceeded along the eastern coast of Greenland as far as latitude 82° but probably not above latitude 80°, or the furthest extremities of Spitz

* Sec Forster's Voyages and Discoveries in the north, p. 293, &c.

bergen. In a voyage which he made to America in the year 1609, ho discovered the noble river which still bears his name, in the state of New York. On his voyage of 1610, he discovered the straits of Hudson, and that vast inland sea, approaching in size to the Baltic, which however is best known by the name of Hudson's Bay.

In 1616 some public spirited gentlemen sent Captain Robert Bylot, (or as Purchas calls him, Bylett) to attempt a north-west passage. William Baffin sailed with him as pilot. This voyage, it has been justly observed, is one of the most singular in the whole circle of geogra phy. Far exceeding the utmost stretch of Davis, they discovered Horn sound, Cape Dudley Diggs, Hakluyt Island, Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, Gary's Islands, Alderman Jones's Sound, and Sir James Lancaster's Sound; all of them totally unknown to any preceding or succeeding navigator. Baffin thus pretended that he had, in an inland and narrow spa, (which to increase the absurdity, is laid down in our maps with all its shores, a matter never before attempted from a first and imperfect visit,) proceeded to the latitude of more than 78°, while Captain Cook, one of the most skilful of modern navigators, could not exceed 72° in the open arctic ocean, and Davis himself was stopped at 72°, in this very sea, supposed to be inland, while it is probably only part of that ocean. It is further remarkable that this voyage is verv imperfectly known from Baffin's relation, published by Purchas; and all the charts and maps of this pretended bay, have been merely laid down from the observations contained in his journal; for if Baffin made any chart it was not published by Purchas. It is perhaps equally remarkable, that no doubt seems yet to have been entertained concerning the existence of Baffin's Bay: while it is not improbable that he is merely a bold impostor, who wished to recommend himself to his employers, by the pretence of having imposed their names on grand and important features of nature, and by his numerous Sounds, to have laid a scheme for drawing more money from his protectors, for the investigation of a north-west passage. Yet it would seem that strong doubts prevailed even at the time, for these supposed discoveries were entirely neglected.

Supposing that Baffin's Bay were dismissed from our maps, it is probable that Greenland is a continuation of the continent, and spreads to the west about latitude 75°: or it may be detached land, like New Holland, extending towards the pole. The general line of the arctic sea in this quarter, as seen by Mr. Hearne 1773, and by Mr. Mackenzie 1789, is about latitude 70°; and it is not improbable that at a jittle higher latitude it coalesces with what is called Baffin's Bay; in which case Greenland is a detached land, and the country on the north of Hudson's Bay consists of several large islands in the arctic ocean.

The discoveries pf the Russians, and of Cook, and Vancouver, seem to have completed those of the western coasts of America; and the ioinnies of Hearne and Mackenzie have imparted some idea of its

confines on the arctic ocean.

Population. The general population of this immense continent has been a subject cf considerable discussion, some having sup posed that it amounted to one hundred and fifty millions, while others ;nfyr that there are only fifteen or twenty millions. The ridiculous

exaggerations of some of the old Spanish authors, who rival Mendez de Pinto, have swelled villages to cities, and thousands to millions. The savages in North America are thinly scattered, as in the extremities of Asia, where a thousand families constitute a nation. A writer, who has examined the subject with some attention, observes that the population of British America does not exceed 200,000; and supposing the savages an equal number, and the inhabitants of the Spanish part of North America 100,000, these together will amount to half a million. Supposing the United States to have five millions; there will be five millions and a half. The empire of Mexico, (which he ought to have included in North America,) from the enumerations made in some provinces, probably contains four millions of the native race, and about three millions of foreign extract. Hence there are in Mexico seven millions. Peru and Chili can scarcely contain. more, and he estimates the other Spanish possessions in South America at two millions, with four millions for Brazil and Paraguay. The other parts are mostly wide deserts; so that he concludes that the inhabitants of South America do not exceed twenty millions; nor those of North America five millions and a half.

As Mexico belongs to NORTH America, seven millions, added to five and a half, will yield Twelve Millions Ann A Ralf for that division; while Soutr America, by the same calculation, will contain Trirteen Millions. In the opinion of the late learned Dr. Stiles the aboriginal population" never exceeded two or three million souls, in all North and South America since the days of Columbus."* Some even infer that fifteen millions is too large an estimate for the whole population of the new continent. But there are good reasons to believe that the population considerably exceeds this calculation; and the monuments of the Mexicans and Peruvians, the actual state of some parts of Florida, when that country was visited by Soto, leave little room to doubt that the Indian population of America was much more considerable than many writers have imagined.f

The United States elevated to glory and honour. A sermon, &c. p. 20. This is a singular but very interesting work. B.

t Mr. Finkerton (in the original work) thinks it probable that the population of Africa has also been exaggerated by geographers, and "does not *xceed 30,000,000." B.

NORTH AMERICA.

■OUNDARIES. ORIGINAL POPULATION.—LANGUAGES.--CLIMATE.

INLAND SEAS. LAKES. RIVKUS. MOUNTAINS.

Bounnaries. THIS division of the new continent is bounded «o the east by the Atlantic; and on the west by the Great Pacific ocean. On the south it is understood to extend to the vicinity of Panama, the province of Veragua being universally considered as pail «f North America*. The northern limits have not yet been clearly ascertained; but as it is improbable that a slip of land, on the northwest of Hudson's Bay, should extend far to the north, the limit may probably be discovered about 74° or 75°. In the meantime 72° may be safely assumed; whence to the southern boundary, about north latitude 7° 30', as marked in the map of Lacruz, there will be 641°, or 3870 geographical miles; more than 4500 British. The breadth from Ihe promontory of Alaska to the extreme point of Labrador, or the Cape of St. Charles, will, by somewhat of a solecism, exceed the length of the general continent. If it should be discovered that Greenland is united to arctic lands of America, as Kamtchatka is, for instance, to Asia, both the length and breadth will be greatly inincreased.

Original Population. In pursuing the arrangement of topics, here adopted in the general description of a continent, the first which occurs is the ancient population; but our knowledge of the American languages is still so imperfect that the subject is involved in great doubts. There seems, however, to be good reason for believing, that the greater number, if not the whole, of the nations of America are of Asiatic origin. Physical affinities would almost impel a candid

In the large map of South America, published at Madrid in 1775, by Don Juan de la Cruz, Cano, y Olmedilla, Geographer to his Catholic Majesty, the province of Panama extends to the bay del Almirante, in the north, and includes the bay of Panama, in the south, Sant Yago, in Vesagua, being the first town in North America. According to the maps of Lopez there is a chain of mountains running north and south, called Sietras de Canatagua, and ending in the point Higuera: which dividing the provinces of Panama and Veragua, forms a natural boundary between North and South America.