ld be very easy to point out some
advantages peculiarly convenient for that company; but it will be time
enough to think of these whenever the African Company shall discover an
inclination to prosecute this design. At present I have done what I
proposed, and have shown that such a collection of voyages as this ought
not to be considered as a work of mere amusement, but as a work
calculated for the benefit of mankind in general, and of this nation in
particular, which it is the duty of every man to promote in his station;
and whatever fate these reflections may meet with, I shall always have
the satisfaction of remembering that I have not neglected it in mine, but
have taken the utmost pains to turn a course of laborious reading to the
advantage of my country.

But, supposing that neither of these companies should think it expedient,
or, in other words, should not think it consistent with their interest to
attempt this discovery, there is yet a third company, within the spirit
of whose charter, I humbly conceive, the prosecution of such a scheme
immediately lies. The reader will easily discern that I mean the company
for carrying on a trade to the South Seas, who, notwithstanding the
extensiveness of their charter, confirmed and supported by authority of
parliament, have not, so far as my information reaches, ever attempted to
send so much as a single ship for the sake of discoveries into the South
Seas, which, however, was the great point proposed when this company was
first established. In order to prove this, I need only lay before the
reader the limits assigned that company by their charter, the substance
of which is contained in the following words:--

"The corporation, and their successors, shall, for ever, be vested in the
sole trade into and from all the kingdoms and lands on the east side of
America, from the River Oroonoco, to the southernmost part of Terra del
Fuego, and on the west side thereof from the said southernmost part of
Terra del Fuego, through the South Sea, to the northernmost part of
America, and into and through all the countries, islands, and places
within the said limits, which are reputed to belong to Spain, or which
shall hereafter be found out and discovered within the limits aforesaid,
not exceeding 300 leagues from the continent of America, between the
southernmost part of the Terra del Fuego and the northernmost part of
America, on the said west side thereof, except the Kingdom of Braz