ron's
arrival there from hence. It is true that, if once a considerable
settlement was made in the most southern part of Terra Australis, the
company might then fall into a large commerce in the most valuable East
India goods, very probably gold, and spices of all sorts: yet I cannot
think that even these would fall within the exclusive proviso of their
charter; for that was certainly intended to hinder their trading in such
goods as are brought hither by our East India Company; and I must confess
I see no difference, with respect to the interest of that company,
between our having cloves, cinnamon, and mace, by the South Sea Company's
ships from Juan Fernandez, and our receiving them from Holland, after the
Dutch East India Company's ships have brought them thither by the way of
the Cape of Good Hope. 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. Besides
all which advantages, as it was never hitherto visited by the Dutch, they