what progress I have made in my inquiries among the Spaniards, ought to be afcribed chiefly to their knowing how much his lordship interested himself in my fuccefs.

But did I owe nothing more to lord Grantham, than the advantages which I have derived from his attention in engaging Mr. Waddilove, the chaplain of his embaffy, to take the conduct of my literary inquiries in Spain, the obligations I lie under to him would be very great. During five years, that gentleman has carried on refearches for my behoof, with fuch activity, perfeverance, and knowledge of the fubject, to which his attention was turned, as have filled me with no less astonishment than fatisfaction. He procured for me the greater part of the Spanish books, which I have confulted; and as many of them were printed early in the fixteenth century, and are become extremely rare, the collecting of thefe was fuch an occupation, as, alone, required much time and affiduity. To his friendly atten tion I am indebted for copies of several valuable manuscripts, containing facts and details which I might have fearched for in vain, in works that have been made public. Encouraged by the inviting good-will with which Mr. Waddilove conferred his favours, I transmitted to him a fet of queries, with refpect both to the customs and policy of the native Americans, and the nature of feveral inftitutions in the Spanish settlements, framed in fuch a manner, that a Spaniard might answer them, without difclofing any thing that was improper to be communicated to a foreigner. He tranflated these into Spanish, and obtained from various perfons who had refided in most of the Spanish

Spanish colonies, fuch replies as have afforded. me much inftruction.

Notwithstanding thofe peculiar advantages with which my inquiries were carried on in Spain, it is with regret I am obliged to add, that their fuccefs must be afcribed to the beneficence of individuals, not to any communication by public authority. By a fingle arrangement of Philip II. the records of the Spanish monarchy are depofited in the Archivo of Simancas, near Valladolid, at the distance of a hundred and twenty miles from the feat of government, and the fupreme courts of juftice. The papers relative to America, and chiefly to that early period of its history, towards which my attention was directed, are so numerous, that they alone, according to one account, fill the largest apartment in the Archivo; and according to another, they compofe eight hundred and feventy-three large bundles. Confcious of poffeffing, in some degree, the induftry which belongs to an hiftorian, the profpect of fuch a treasure excited my most ardent curiofity. But the profpect of it, is all that I have enjoyed. Spain, with an excess of caution, has uniformly thrown a veil over her tranfactions in America. From strangers they are concealed with peculiar folicitude. Even to her own fubjects the Archivo of Simancas is not opened without a particular order from the crown; and after obtaining that, papers cannot be copied, without paying fees of office fo exorbitant, that the expence exceeds what it would be proper to bestow, when the gratification of literary curiofity is the only object. It is to be hoped, that the Spaniards will at last discover

this fyftem of concealment to be no lefs impolitic than illiberal. From what I have experienced in the course of my inquiries, I am satisfied, that upon a more minute fcrutiny into their early operations in the New World, however reprehenfible the actions of individuals may appear, the conduct of the nation will be placed in a more fa vourable light.

In other parts of Europe very different fentiments prevail. Having fearched, without fuccefs, in Spain, for a letter of Cortes to Charles V. written foon after he landed in the Mexican empire, which has not hitherto been published; it occurred to me, that as the emperor was fetting out for Germany at the time when the meffengers from Cortes arrived in Europe, the letter with which they were intrufted might poffibly be preferved in the Imperial library of Vienna. I communicated this idea to fir Robert Murray Keith, with whom I have long had the honour to live in friendship, and I had foon the pleasure to learn that upon his application, her Imperial majefty had been graciously pleased to iffue an order, that not only a copy of that letter, (if it were found,) but of any other papers in the library, which could throw light upon the History of America, fhould be tranfmitted to me.

The letter from Cortes is not in the Imperial library, but an authentic copy, attefted by a notary, of the letter written by the magiftrates of the colony planted by him at Vera Cruz, which I have mentioned, vol. ii. p. 141, having been found, it was tranfcribed and fent to me. As this letter is no less curious, and as little known as that which was the object of my inquiries, I have

given fome account, in its proper place, of what is moft worthy of notice in it. Together with it, I received a copy of a letter from Cortes, containing a long account of his expedition to Honduras, with respect to which, I did not think it neceffary to enter into any particular detail; and likewise those curious Mexican paintings, which I have defcribed, vol. iii. p. 23.

My inquiries at St. Petersburg were carried on with equal facility and fuccefs. In examining into the nearest communication between our continent and that of America, it became of confequence to obtain authentic information concerning the difcoveries of the Ruffians in their navigation from Kamchatka towards the coaft of America. Accurate relations of their firft voyage, in 1741, have been published by Muller. and Gmelin. Several foreign authors have entertained an opinion, that the court of Ruffia ftudioufly conceals the progrefs which has been made by more recent navigators, and fuffers the Public to be amufed with falfe accounts of their route, Such conduct appeared to me unsuitable to those liberal fentiments, and that patronage of science, for which the present fovereign of Ruffia is eminent; nor could I difcern any political reason, that might render it improper to apply for information concerning the late attempts of the Ruffians to open a communication between Afia and America. My ingenious countryman, Dr. Rogerfon, firft phyfician to the emprefs, prefented my request to her Imperial majesty, who not only difclaimed any idea of concealment, but inftantly ordered the journal of captain Krenitzin, who conducted the only voyage of difcovery

made

made by public authority fince the year 1741, to be tranflated, and his original chart to be copied for my ufe. By confulting them, I have been enabled to give a more accurate view of the progrefs and extent of the Ruffian difcoveries, than has hitherto been communicated to the Public.

From other quarters I have received information of great utility and importance. M. le chevalier de Pinto, the minifter from Portugal to the court of Great Britain, who commanded for several years at Matagroffo, a fettlement of the Portuguese in the interior part of Brazil, where the Indians are numerous, and their original manners little altered by intercourse with Europeans, was pleafed to fend me very full anfwers to fome queries concerning the character and inftitutions of the natives of America, which his polite reception of an application made to him in my name, encouraged me to propose. Thefe fatisfied me, that he had contemplated with a difcerning attention the curious objects which his fituation prefented to his view, and I have often followed him as one of my beft-inftructed guides.

M. Suard, to whofe elegant translation of the Hiftory of the Reign of Charles V. I owe the favourable reception of that work on the continent, procured me anfwers to the fame queries from M. de Bougainville, who had opportunities. of obferving the Indians both of North and South America, and from M. Godin le Jeune, who refided fifteen years among the Indians in Quito, and twenty years in Cayenne. The latter are more valuable from having been examined by M. de la Condamine, who, a few weeks before