This is so true that for upwards of one hundred years we hear of no Dutch
voyage in pursuit of Le Maire's discoveries; and we see, when Commodore
Roggewein, in our own time, revived that noble design, it was again
cramped by the same power that stifled it before; and though the States
did justice to the West India Company, and to the parties injured, yet
the hardships they suffered, and the plain proof they gave of the
difficulties that must be met with in the prosecution of such a design,
seem to have done the business of the East India Company, and damped the
spirit of discovery, for perhaps another century, in Holland.
It is very observable that all the mighty discoveries that have been made
arose from these great men, who joined reasoning with practice, and were
men of genius and learning, as well as seamen. To Columbus we owe the
finding America; to Magellan the passing by the straits which bear his
name, by a new route to the East Indies; to Le Maire a more commodious
passage round Cape Horn, and without running up to California; Sir
Francis Drake, too, hinted the advantages that might arise by examining
the north-west side of America; and Candish had some notions of
discovering a passage between China and Japan.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122