VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
25
and black rabbits; whoſe fur is ſuperior to that of the beaver. The otters and hares I have ſeen, and their ſkins would be a valuable article of commerce in China.
He further declares, as his decided opinion, that it would prove very diſadvantageous to the Spaniards, if the Engliſh were to form any ſettlement to the South of Brazil; there being ſeveral rivers, which communicate with the Weſtern ſide of America; and he gives a particular deſcription of the bay St. Fondo, and river Colorado.
This idea, however, had not awakened the attention of any court, till diſputes aroſe about Nootka Sound, in which I unfortunately, had ſo great a ſhare[1]. I cannot paſs over in ſilence the
- ↑ Mr. Thomas Falkner was the ſon of a ſurgeon of eminence at Mancheſter, and was brought up in his father's profeſſion, for which he always manifeſted the moſt promiſing diſpoſitions. To complete his profeſſional ſtudies, he was ſent to London to attend Saint Thomas's Hoſpital; and, happening to lodge in Tooley-Street, on the Surrey bank of the Thames, he made an acquaintance with the maſter of a ſhip, employed in the Guinea trade, who perſuaded the young ſurgeon to accompany him in his next voyage in his profeſſional capacity. On his return to England, he engaged to go in the ſame ſituation on board a merchant ſhip to Cadiz, from whence he continued his voyage to Buenos Ayres, a Spaniſh ſettlement on the River La Plata. Here he fell ſick, and was in ſo dangerous a ſtate when his ſhip was ready to depart, as not to be in a condition to be carried on board, ſo ſhe ſailed without him. The Jeſuits, of which there was a college at Buenos Ayres, nurſed him during his illneſs with the greateſt care and kindneſs
