Sure I Am They Would Come To
Us Sooner By Some Months By The Way Of Cape Horn.
If this reasoning
does not satisfy people, but they still remain persuaded that the
South Sea Company ought not
To intermeddle with the East India trade
at all, I desire to know why the West India merchants are allowed to
import coffee from Jamaica, when it is well known that the East
India Company can supply the whole demand of this kingdom from
Mocha? If it be answered that the Jamaica coffee comes cheaper, and
is the growth of our own plantations, I reply, that these spices
will not only be cheaper, but better, and be purchased by our own
manufacturers; and these, I think, are the strongest reasons that
can be given.
If it be demanded what certainty I have that spices can be had from
thence, I answer, all the certainty that in a thing of this nature
can be reasonably expected: Ferdinand de Quiros met with all sorts
of spices in the country he discovered; William Schovten, and
Jacques le Maire, saw ginger and nutmegs; so did Dampier; and the
author of Commodore Roggewein's Voyage asserts, that the free
burgesses of Amboyna purchase nutmegs from the natives of New Guinea
for bits of iron. All, therefore, I contend for, is that these bits
of iron may be sent them from Old England.
The reason I recommend settling on the south coast of Terra
Australis, if this design should be prosecuted, from Juan Fernandez,
rather than the island of New Britain, which I mentioned before, is,
because that coast is nearer, and is situated in a better and
pleasanter climate.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 81 of 180
Words from 22848 to 23127
of 50938
